Report on Undergraduate Forum of Feb. 3, 2010

The CSE Undergraduate Studies Committee (UGSC) organized the annual undergraduate forum on Feb. 3, '10 in DL 480. The forum started at about 5:30 pm and continued till about 7:00 pm, with most students staying on till near the end. The summary below tries to describe the main points that were made during the discussions but does not capture the enthusiasm of the participants.

Students:

Yiran Luo, sophomore;

Krit Suefany, sophomore;

Jamie Colley, junior;

Michael Yanovich, sophomore;

Adam Cotner, senior;

Kai Li, sophomore;

Jie Zhang, junior;

Patrick Mulac, junior;

Katie Gannon, sophomore;

Juan Roman, sophomore;

Hoa Vu, senior;

Tim Mclean, sophomore;

Andrew Herman, sophomore;

Chris Hofer, sophomore;

Jacob Peddicord, freshman;

Reid Gifford, senior;

Michael Diekeman, sophomore;

Robert Holbert, sophomore;

Michael Betts, sophomore;

Brian Claus, sophomore;

Brian Swaney, senior;

Vishal Bhatnagar, sophomore;

Alex Bunch, sophomore;

*name omitted*, sophomore;

Steve Bedell, freshman;

Alums:

Rob Carroll, BS-CIS alum;

Mike McGrath, BS-CSE alum;

Faculty: Paolo Bucci, Eric Fosler-Lussier, Rick Parent, Rajiv Ramnath, Neelam Soundarajan, Al Stutz, Bruce Weide, Xiaodong Zhang (Chair).

Advising Office: Peg Steele.

Systems Staff: Michael Compton, Shaun Rowland

1. Everyone in the room briefly introduced themselves.

2. Xiaodong made some brief remarks about how computing has changed quite a bit over the last few years, becoming an ever more important part of society. Moreover, and perhaps partly as a result of that, opportunities for computing majors continue to be very good even though the economy as a whole is going through quite difficult times.

3. Student organizations: Al Stutz has taken over as the advisor for the ACM student chapter. Bruce Weide mentioned that Moustafa Eid who is the president of the student chapter (but couldn't attend the forum) would like to have a student team compete in the ACM programming contest. Last year, an OSU team formed at the last minute did quite well at the regional contest. Brian Swaney of the Open Source Club urged students to consider participating in the club's many activities. Students should also consider joining the ACM-W; students should contact Jamie Colley (colley.26) for details. (Jamie was at the forum but had to leave before she got a chance to talk about ACM-W.) Mike McGrath who is president of the OSU-UPE urged students who have received an invitation to become members to do so.

4. Changes in courses, curricula: One recent course that should be of broad interest is CSE 652, Applied Information Security project. The course focuses on team projects that address information security challenges. Another recent course is CSE 723, Introduction to Crypotography.

   There was a discussion of several of the capstone design course (in particular CSE 682, 731, 758, 762, 772). BS-CSE majors are required to take one of the capstone design courses as part of their program; with the recent changes in the BS-CIS curriculum, these students are also required to take a capstone design course (unless they joined OSU before Au '08 in which case they are still advised to take such a course).

   There was a brief discussion of the individualized option that students in both BS-CIS and BS-CSE majors may pursue. It is important for students interested in this option to consult with their faculty advisor to design a coherent program before taking too many courses rather than assume that any arbitrary set of courses will be accepted as constituting an "individualized option program".

5. SOC lab: Mike Compton briefly described the various services provided by the system staff in a time of tight budgets. Students seemed generally satisfied with the computing facilities provided by the department.

6. Semester conversion: OSU is preparing to switch from quarters to semesters starting in Au 2012 (or, possibly, Su '12). Departments in the College of Engineering, including ours, have been asked to submit their plans for the switch in the next couple of months or so. Various committees in the department, consisting of graduate and undergraduate students, faculty, and staff have been discussing various alternatives. The current draft of proposed BS-CSE program is available; students are invited to send their comments on the draft to Bruce Weide (weide.1). The plans for the BS-CIS program are likely to be very similar to the proposed BS-CSE program.

   One question that was raised was whether students who graduate in 2012 will have the various capstone design courses available in that year? The department plans to do its best to offer as many courses as possible but students should plan ahead. The department will provide as much advance information to students as possible.

7. Job market: The job market for CSE and CIS majors, despite the serious recent problems in the overall economy, seems to be relatively well. Recent average starting salaries for new CIS/CSE grads have been in the mid-fifties. At the same time, students should do whatever they can to beef up their resumes. One particularly useful activity is internships in suitable companies. The Engineering Career Services office can be quite helpful in finding both internship as well as fulltime, permanent positions following graduation. Both CIS and CSE majors are eligible to use the services of ECS. CIS majors should also look into the services provided by the ASC Career Services.

8. Scholarship applications: Scholarship applications are due March 1. BS-CSE majors are required to complete the College of Engineering's on-line application; BS-CIS majors are required to complete a paper application and submit it to the advising office. The details are available on the announcements page of the undergrad program web site.