Spring 2024

CSE Graduate Student Orientation!

Today’s Outline

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• 2:30-3:40pm: General Department Orientation
• About CSE & you all, “Engineering Serendipity”, Finding answers, Getting started, Advising, Being successful, Giving back
• 3:40 - 4:00: Q&A, Advising specifics
• 4 - 5pm:
• MS students: Academic assessment (for those who brought laptops, administered via Canvas). Potential funding support or special advising available based on performance.
• PhD students: PhD orientation in K110 with Dr. Hyunsook Do and Kyle Baker

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About CSE

Almost 2,800 graduate students currently enrolled

• MS degrees in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence, Data Engineering and a Professional MS in CS (Frisco)
• PhD degree in Computer Science and Engineering
• Growing: Fall 2023, 54% acceptance rate. Under 30% acceptance rate for Spring 2024.

Over 2,300 undergraduate students (counting pre-majors)

35 Tenure/Tenure-track Faculty in 20+ Research Centers (https://computerscience.engineering.unt.edu/research)

~30 Clinical Faculty and Lecturers

7+ Staff (depends on how you count)

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About you all

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(1,700 responded in 2023)!

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Cut off to remain readable

Many Opportunities - but you have to seize them!!!

Courses for explicit skills, but also…

• Implicit learning and many other soft skills
• Networking, teamwork, collaboration

Extracurriculars

• Research labs
• Students groups - formal and informal
• Professional organizations
• Lifelong friendships and colleagues
• Sign up for the CSE Seminar - helping you to “Engineer Serendipity”

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Engineering Serendipity

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Finding Answers

Not everything can be found in these slides, or summarized in 1.5 hours.

So having a good approach to finding the information you need is critical.

Give a person a fish… teach a person to fish…

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Check the Website:

The majority of answers to questions in CSE can be answered by checking the website.

http://cse.unt.edu/ which expands to�https://computerscience.engineering.unt.edu/

In particular, check the tabs for Current Graduate Students, Future Graduate Students, and Forms.

For a unified resource, the CSE Grad Handbook is linked at the top here:�https://computerscience.engineering.unt.edu/graduate/students

Or google with the terms “unt” and “cse” for what you want!

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Attend events and engage on social media to learn more

You’re here… step 1 !!!

Interested in research? attend open houses, research seminars, engage on social media (LinkedIn/twitter) with labs and lab heads if they are active

Interested in jobs? CAREER CENTER, Career fair, resume help resources, etc

…

There are many questions that you don’t yet know to ask. If you just take classes you miss out on so much!

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Ask a friend in CSE

Don’t know someone? Get to know other students through various means to be discussed (classes, tea times, seminars, aeries)

Networking starts TODAY

Also, any conflict between what your friend thinks and faculty or staff tell you - trust the faculty or staff.

For critical/administrative issues, rely on the team of staff!

Let’s meet the team…

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Academic Advisors

Your first point of contact for questions related to your program. Know who it is! (and be patient on responses)

Olyne Hare, MS in Computer Science, Grad Track, Pathways program

Candace Eckwright, MS in Cybersecurity & MS in Computer Engineering

Anne Bavousett, MS in Artificial Intelligence & MS in Data Engineering

Jasmine Kabera, MS thesis and special programs departmental advisor

Kyle Baker. PhD Program advisor

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https://computerscience.engineering.unt.edu/people/staff

Academic Advisors - MS in CS

MS in CS advisors have been traditionally assigned by the student’s last name

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Last name starts with…

A - I : Olyne Hare, olyne.hare@unt.edu

J - K: Kathryn Beasley, kathryn.beasley@unt.edu

L - O: Candace Eckwright, candace.eckwright@unt.edu

P - R: Kathryn Beasley, kathryn.beasley@unt.edu

S : Olyne Hare, olyne.hare@unt.edu

T - Z : Anne Bavousett anne.bavousett@unt.edu

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https://computerscience.engineering.unt.edu/people/staff

Other staff and when to contact them (usually referred)

Todd Mendoza. Front desk Office Support Assistant. If you happen to be around and have a general question.

Trey Castillo. Marketing specialist. You get emails from him, but he is often the intermediary.

Vacant. Instructional Technician. You’d know if she’s the one to talk to.

Kathryn Beasley. Assistant Dean of Graduate Programs for College of Engineering (but 80% of grad students are in CSE, so she works with us a LOT)

Evin Shivers (grad) and Kimberly Bien (undergrad), scheduling (CSEScheduling@unt.edu). You may get emails from them, but generally wouldn’t contact them directly.

Chance Newkirk. Admin Coordinator. After the Chair, most likely person to be said “running the department”. Payroll questions generally.

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https://computerscience.engineering.unt.edu/people/staff

Administrative Faculty (and how to contact them)

Gergely Zaruba, CSE Department Chair - Generally, contact only when forwarded by faculty or staff, or when instructed by policy (5,000+ students…)

Mark V. Albert, Associate Chair for Graduate Studies - Mostly when forwarded. (2,800 students…)

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The rest: not as directly critical for you all.

David Keathly, Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies. You may see emails, but shouldn’t need to contact him.

Paul Krueger, CENG Dean

Nandika D’Souza, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

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No one here signs documents directly from students. Send documents to staff. Staff will get our signatures.

Help us to help you - consider these steps

• Try the website, a google search, or your reliable friends first (again, most questions asked are readily found with online resources)
• All prefer email for straightforward requests. Easy to respond at convenience, can look things up as needed or forward, and a correspondence record.
• Do NOT send the same email to multiple people separately, or to the same person about the same thing within days. �Wasting everyone’s time. Very unprofessional.
• Don’t email questions “to:” multiple people. We then don’t know who should respond. CC when a copy is needed to someone else.
• Refrain from contacting faculty and staff through Teams
• Give a few days for a response, or longer if it’s not time critical. There are often unforeseen administrative delays.
• Most concerns can be answered over email, otherwise schedule a meeting
• Generally, try to avoid just “showing up” - each staff member handles hundreds of students and has other responsibilities, and face-to-face will not help your chances to get TA/IA/RA without proper preparation and context.

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Questions? Go straight to the department chair!

Ummm… no!!!

Chair Gergely Zaruba has 5,000+ students and 50 faculty & staff to deal with.

e.g. If he met with each student only 15 minutes with 5 minute breaks, it would take 6 full months of nothing but student meetings.

He has a team, and it’s important that we work together to help you.

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Be respectful of time when contacting administrative faculty

Faculty are busy. Administrative faculty are crazy busy. Be respectful of time.

e.g. day before a previous orientation (Jan 12, 2021) Dr. Albert received 97 emails and sent 120 emails.

• Research: Tenured/tenure-track faculty manage research labs, which you don’t see. Writing grants & papers, training students…That’s the majority of their time.
• Teaching: We teach. Not just time in classroom but preparation time and follow-up. Some 1 class per semester, others up to 4.
• Service: not just to the university, but to the profession - associate editors, journal reviews, grant panels…

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Personal comment on being respectful of faculty time

Faculty have responsibilities beyond answering questions and teaching…

Who my lab is trying to help if we have more time to do the research →

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“How is the weather today?”

27 sec

“Could you say that again?”

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“I’m fine, how are you?”

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Figure 1: Example communication times with severe cerebral palsy using a Tobii Dynavox tablet fixed to a wheelchair for text-to-speech communication. Pictured: Hannah Thompson (with permission) using her primary means of communication, a tablet with a keyguard assist, requiring 20-30 seconds for three common phrases (avg. of 2 measures)

Advising and Enrollment

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First semester checklist

Full-time enrollment

To be full-time enrolled you need to be signed up for 9 credit hours.

Most international students need to be enrolled full time for visa purposes (exception being students in their last semester, or PhD students who are working on their dissertation research)

Full-time enrollment is also often required for financial support. Check your source of financial support (TA, RA, financial aid) if you plan to take less than 9 credits.

“Add” deadline is coming soon - often the Friday of the first week of class.

“Drop” deadline comes later. Be aware of issues if dipping below full-time enrollment. You won’t be able to add a new class after add deadline.

Withdrawals are different from drops. The withdrawal deadline is before the term starts. Each session (16 week, 8 week, etc.) is a different term, so each has a different withdrawal date.

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Course enrollment tips

• If you are unable to enroll, you may still have holds on your account. Please check your my.unt.edu portal. Details on how to remove holds can be found by clicking on the links.
• Waitlists:
• Neither the department or advisors can move you off of a waitlist into a class.
• You will not be removed from a waitlist for a course if you are already enrolled in 10 hours, if you are successfully enrolled in a different section of the same class, or if you are enrolled in a class that conflicts with the time of a waitlisted course.
• You may waitlist up to 9 credit hours during the regular Fall and Spring term. Please remove yourself from a waitlist when you are satisfied with your enrollment.
• Remember being on a waitlist does NOT guarantee an eventual enrollment into the section. Your email and MyUNT Portal will update you regarding your waitlist status. Note that you will not receive communication if you are #1 on the waitlist; if you have any of the conflicts listed in bullet #2, you will be skipped over.

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Your Degree Plan

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What is a degree plan, and how do I get one?

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• A degree plan is a road map for your academic program.
• You can meet with your academic advisor to discuss your plan, but it’s not required. Advisors can help you understand your degree requirements and help you stay on track to graduation.
• If there is an issue with your degree plan, it will be sent back to you with the changes that need to be made.
• Steps on how to fill out are on our website under “Degree Plans.”

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Why does a degree plan matter?

• Required for graduation.
• Keeps you on track to graduate on time with the courses you need and want and makes you eligible for travel grants.

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Degree Plans – MS (filled online)

Cybersecurity

Degree Plans – Doctoral

Your degree plan should be submitted when you have enrolled in 18 credit hours (usually at the end of your first semester or the beginning of your second semester).

Course selection priorities

• Highest priority - Bridge and Core courses
• e.g. MS in CS - groups A,B,C,D. Required courses. Restricted electives
• Foundation for later courses (e.g. Machine Learning before Deep Learning)
• Ideally you shouldn’t be taking any of these in your last semester. Why?...
• Degrees require and A or a B in core courses.
• Take a core course in your last semester, get a C, and you don’t graduate.
• Cs in core courses can count as electives.
• Restricted electives
• e.g. MS in AI concentration courses
• More flexibility in what you take, but still a restricted list
• Students can take one approved “wildcard” elective course outside of CSCE from the list of eligible courses.

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Wildcard Exception for MS students

We allow ONE wildcard exception to your degree (a non CSCE 5000-level course OR any CSCE course outside the program)

Traditionally used for students’ last semester to accommodate them given limited course opportunities - particularly if over the summer.

Exceptions must be approved by the department ahead of time by having a signed degree plan. These course exceptions can change each semester, so the same courses may not be an exception in a later semester. Also, some exceptions can’t be taken if you’ve taken a similar CSCE course; these are noted on the course exceptions table on the website listed below.

***You can find a grid of “pre-approved” course exceptions online here:�https://computerscience.engineering.unt.edu/graduate-course-scheduling

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Being Successful

Resources available to you

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Resources at Discovery Park

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• Center for Student Affairs at Discovery Park
• Career Center
• DP Library
• Park Place Market, Discovery Park’s dining operation
• Discovery Perks coffee shop
• General Access Computer Labs
• Shuttle buses
• UNT International, the Learning Center, and the Student Health and Wellness Center also visit DP

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F-1 International Student Reminders – the FACTS!

International Student & Scholar Services (ISSS)

ISSS is here to help!

UNT welcomes more than 6,000 international students and scholars to North Texas each year. International Student and Scholar Services is committed to providing top-notch, culturally sensitive services to UNT's international communities. Our staff is here to help you navigate U.S. immigration regulations throughout your time at UNT.

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Marquis Hall Suite 110

internationaladvising@unt.edu

940-565-2195

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Full-Time Enrollment

• All F-1 international students must enroll full time
• Graduate students must have at least 9 credit hours
• For Spring 2023, at least 1 credit hour must be face-to-face
• For Fall 2023 and beyond, at least 6 credit hours must be face-to-face

Employment

• F-1 Students are only permitted to work on-campus for 20 hours or less while enrolled
• Any work off-campus must have prior authorization from ISSS and/or USCIS
• The consequences for unauthorized employment are SEVERE including:
• Immediate loss of immigration status
• Requirement to depart the United States
• Negative impacts on future immigration requests such as work visas or permanent residency

Struggling?

If you are struggling with a course, ask for help!

Help Lab: https://learningcenter.unt.edu/tutoring

For mental health and wellness concerns, reach out to…

Counseling Services: https://studentaffairs.unt.edu/counseling-and-testing-services

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Academic Dishonesty

Academic Dishonesty

Students are expected to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with the University's status as an institution of higher education. In the class setting, students shall follow their instructors’ directions and observe all academic standards and requirements published in course syllabi and other course materials.

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 (See UNT Policy Student Standards of Academic Integrity)

Academic Dishonesty

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Categories of Academic Dishonesty

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A. Cheating - The use of unauthorized assistance in an academic exercise

B. Plagiarism - Use of another’s thoughts or words without proper attribution in any academic exercise, regardless of the student’s intent.

C. Forgery - Altering a score, grade or official academic university record or forging the signature of an instructor or other student.

D. Fabrication - Falsifying or inventing any information, data or research as part of an academic exercise.

E. Facilitating Academic Dishonesty - Helping or assisting another in the commission of academic dishonesty.

F. Sabotage - Acting to prevent others from completing their work or willfully

disrupting the academic work of others.

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All information is in the UNT Student Handbook

Penalties for Academic Dishonesty

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Academic Penalties

• Admonition – The student may be issued a verbal or written warning
• Assignment of Educational Coursework – The student may be required to perform additional coursework not required of students in the specific course.
• Partial or no credit for an assignment or assessment
• Course Failure (common result of cheating on exams)

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Available Misconduct Sanctions

• Probation extending for up to two long semesters
• Suspension for up to one year
• Expulsion from the university
• Revocation of a degree

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Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. Please read the UNT Academic Integrity Policy in the UNT Student Handbook

Heed these warnings - examples

• Cheating has consequences: One person caught helping other students cheat was expelled from the department. They only had a few more weeks left before finishing their degree but they can no longer graduate in CSE!
• Cheating on exams regularly leads to F’s in classes
• Grades are earned regardless of consequences:
• Student needed an A in seminar to graduate, but was off by a few % due to lack of attendance. Did not graduate.
• Many MS in CS students receive a C in a core course in their last semester by 1%, and still don’t graduate when they intended to be fair to other students
• 10’s of students suspended each semester due to low GPA - don’t be one of them!

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Additional comments

on grade appeals

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Maintain your grades

Graduate students who fall below 3.0 GPA (B-average) are on probation after that semester. Also, you will need to have a GPA at 3.0 or above to graduate.

If you are on probation and you have a semester with below a 3.0 average, you are suspended. You will have to reapply to the university and to your program; there is not a guarantee of readmission.

All MS degrees require a B or higher in core courses for the class to count toward the degree.

Courses with a D or lower grade do not count toward your degree completion.

A common resolution is to retake D or F grades to improve your overall GPA; you can retake 2 courses and replace the grade if you earn a better grade.

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Get involved

Semester starts: Projects Open House

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TOMORROW, Thursday 2-3:30pm in F285

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15+ projects each semester�

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E.g. Labs from a previous open house

Projects seeking students (1 year ago) - online form application

• SUPREME: A Cancer Subtype Prediction Methodology Integrating Multiple Biological Datatypes Using Graph Convolutional Neural Networks. Ziynet Nesibe KESIMOGLU (ZiynetNesibeKesimoglu@my.unt.edu)
• Prediction of Circular RNA from long non-coding RNA. Jubair Ibn Malik Rifat (jubairibnmalikrifat@my.unt.edu)
• Predicting Alzheimer’s disease progression using deep learning model. Mohammad Al Olaimat (mohammadalolaimat@my.unt.edu)
• Automating Heuristic Food Web Relationships. Morgan Bucher (Morgan.Bucher@unt.edu)
• Cybersecurity, cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), and social media analysis for cybersecurity (title TBD). Cihan Tunc (faculty seeking students, cihan.tunc@unt.edu)
• a) Organoid Image Colorization with Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) and b) Cardiac Organoid cell area prediction with Machine Learning. Brian Kim (joonghyunkim@my.unt.edu)
• Graph-Centric High-Performance Computing and Application in Cybersecurity. Boxiang Guo (Boxiang.guo@sjsu.edu)
• Cross-correlation analysis of gases in the milky way. David Downing (dldowning@gmail.com)
• Natural Language Processing (TBD). Taraka Rama K. (taraka.kasicheyanula@unt.edu)
• Predicting Polymer Properties Using Machine Learning. Micah Vallin (micahvallin@my.unt.edu)
• Conversation moderator - using Diarization to quantify Aphasia patient engagement and improvement. Thasina Tabashum (ThasinaTabashum@my.unt.edu).
• Temporally-biased clustering in contiguous time to identify scientific trends in academic papers. Sahar Behpour (sahar.behpour@unt.edu).
• Predicting surgical outcomes of children with Cerebral Palsy to inform decision making. Steve Wang (shou-JenWang@my.unt.edu). Only for experienced AI students
• Neural efficient coding. 1. Extending a published notebook and android app demonstrating efficient coding principles in the early visual/auditory systems. 2. Developing a binocular spontaneous activity model to “innately learn” depth perception. Namratha Urs (namrathaurs@my.unt.edu).
• Open AI Assessment - Creation of an open (always publicly available, question pool-based) short test for fundamental AI skills [prototype link for a data science one]. Seeking student lead. No breakout room. Contact Dr. Albert after the event if interested.

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UNT AI/CS Summer Research Program posters 3-4pm tomorrow in K120

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Seminars and speakers

The CSE Department Seminar takes place 4:00-5:00pm on Tuesdays in K150 unless otherwise noted. You can sign up today!

Side note, Thursdays at 4pm are relatively free for student groups to take advantage of.

Next week will include time for Q&A to help you start the semester

https://computerscience.engineering.unt.edu/seminar

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A plug for the CSE Seminar - get to know your department!

To help you hear more about all the interesting research in and outside the department, better engage in the department's TA/IA/RA employment opportunities, build extracurricular skills, and just generally celebrate CSE together we are offering a seminar course on Tuesdays at 4-5pm in Discovery Park K150. In addition to just knowing more about all the wonderful ideas, opportunities, faculty, students, and work going in CSE, here are a few added incentives:

• You can take the associated course (CSCE 5900-001 with Dr. Albert) for 1 credit. Future seminar courses will be available for 1 credit each Fall and Spring. You can also combine these with the 1 credit received from internships to take the place of a single 3-credit elective course on your degree plan.
• We will prioritize selection of at least 20 TAs/IAs for Spring 2023 from students who sign up for the course and are on track to receive an A for their regular participation. Additional criteria include a cumulative UNT GPA of at least 3.5 or above as of this semester.
• The added 1 credit does not count against your credit limit per semester (3 regular 3-credit courses without department consent, 4 regular 3-credit courses with consent) allowing you to fit in more courses without triggering angry emails from the department asking you to drop classes.
• Food/Snacks/Drinks... not always, but we will be seeking sponsorship with industry partners looking to hire students, and 4pm on a Tuesday can use some snacks. We will on occasion build in time to socialize or meet/discuss in small group efforts.

A link to the calendar is here:

https://computerscience.engineering.unt.edu/seminar

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Giving back

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Assistantships 101: Becoming a TA/IA

• There is an online form which opens at a specific period during the semester prior to becoming a TA/IA.
• All applications will need to be submitted through an online webform. We don’t take Resumes directly over email.
• Applicants should have officially completed one full semester at UNT.
• We would like applicants to possess a 3.5+ GPA and can’t move below 3.0 while employed.
• Current semester applications are closed and will be reopening later in the semester. (The deadline will be included on the webpage.)
• TAs (not IAs) and generally PhD students and are hired for 2 semesters
• IAs (formerly known as graders) are generally MS students and are hired per semester
• Note, For Fall 2022, 1000+ students applied for roughly 100 open slots!

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Assistantships 101: Becoming an RA

• Awarded by faculty, dependent on available grant funds
• Contact faculty who share your research interests
• Do not cold email multiple professors without compelling reasons - these will be ignored.
• Most common faculty response to an email about an RA is a non-response
• Common route is to take a regular class with the Professor, then after learning ask to do research
• Note on Directed Study courses – If you wish to register for a Directed Study course, please contact this instructor early to request an opportunity. Keep in mind, the typical answer given the time commitment of faculty is “No” unless you forward a lab’s goals.
• Or attend open house events each semester
• More on this in a future seminar

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Additional Sources of Funding

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Scholarships & Fellowships

• Tuition scholarships, university, local and nationally competitive
• UNT’s Office for Nationally Competitive Scholarships assists students in pursuing external scholarships and fellowships. Visit www.opgf.unt.edu for more information.
• Pivot is a resource to find funding sources https://pivot.cos.com/funding_main

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Graduate Assistantships – can be found through Eagle Careers

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Financial Aid – Financial Aid Office

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Travel Grants – Through the Graduate School

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WINGS

PRE-ARRIVAL ORIENTATION

INTERNATIONAL STUDENT

We want to hear your successes

We are not just hear to provide classes and handle problems…

We want you to engage and share your successes!

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Time for Q&A

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Aerie

An aerie is the nest of a large bird of prey somewhere high up, such as the branch of a tree or a clifftop.

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Establishing the Aerie program

• Goal: to bring students together, and proactively advise students
• Groups of up to 20 students
• Identify and and share achievements of top performers. “Stars” for achievements such as…
• Publishing a research paper at UNT
• Win a national competition / top 3 in regional competition
• Maintain a 4.0 GPA…
• Social media engagement targets on professional topic
• AI-based matching by shared interest
• Potential to visualize relative locations/relations between students within and across aeries
• Can be used to match sponsors and mentors to smaller teams
• Group name for identity
• Regular check-in meetings (e.g. each semester) with informal goals
• Similar time commitment to one-on-one schedule for 60 students performed earlier.
• Encourage group cohesion through establishing team goals