KSU Department of Computer Science: Information for Students

The Department of Computer Science maintains an email list that is used to contact all graduate students when necessary. It is required that every CS graduate student sign up for this email list.

To sign up, send an email to:

cs-grad-request@cs.kent.edu

with the word "subscribe" as the only content in your email. The server will acknowledge that you have successfully signed up for the list by sending you an email confirmation. It is your responsibility to make sure the email address is working properly. Your email address will be removed from the list without a notice if email bounces more than a certain tolerance threshold. Should you ever need to remove yourself to the list, send email to the same address with the world "unsubscribe" followed by the email address you used to sign up for the email list.

To send an email to everyone on the list, send email to cs-grad@cs.kent.edu. This list should only be used for official communications, or for messages that are really appropriate to send to all graduate students. Do not use this email list to send out amusing stories, etc.

Advising

Upon entering our program students should choose an Academic Advisor. You should meet with this person for advice on taking courses and departmental procedures. If there is a particular faculty member you would like to work with, you may request an appointment with them for advising. The Advisor Selection Form can be found on the Forms page.

You need determine a research advisor to oversee your Thesis, Project, or Dissertation research.

Advice for Post-Undergraduates

Students who have not met most of our Admission Requirements and plan to enter to the graduate program should take the minimal required courses, in consultation with a CS academic advisor, and then apply when they have met all (or perhaps all but one) of the requirements.

One way to meet these requirements is to apply to Kent State as a Post-undergraduate Student, take those courses (and possibly their prerequisite courses as well), and then apply for admission to the Master's program during the semester when the last courses are being taken.

Students must have successfully completed course work equivalent to: Discrete Structures for CS (CS 23022), Calculus I (MATH 12002), Calculus II (MATH 12003), and Linear Algebra (MATH 21001).

In computer science, students are required to have successfully completed coursework equivalent to: CS I: Programming and Problem Solving (CS 23021), CS II: Data Structures and Abstraction (CS 23022), Computer Architecture (CS 35101), Operating Systems (CS 33211), and Algorith Design \& Analysis (CS 46101).

Practical Training

As a general rule, international students on F-1 visas cannot automatically work off campus. However, an international student can apply for Practical Training (PT) through the International Student and Scholar Services office, and work off campus part- time or full-time under that program. To pursue PT, a student, in consultation with his or her advisor, must develop a training program that fits his or her academic program and follows the practical training policy given below.

In addition, the current CS Practical Training Chairman has developed some revised Practical Training Guidelines that further clarify some of these issues and that request some additional information from that listed below.

CS Practical Training Chairman

The CS Practical Training Chairman is currently Prof. H. Peyravi, peyravi@cs.kent.edu.

Practical Training Policy

In general, there are two types of Practical Training (PT): Optional Practical Training (OPT) and Curricular Practical Training (CPT). In both cases, students should note that PT employment is a privilege and not a right; meaning, neither the advisor's recommendation nor the authorization are automatic. Furthermore, if the request is for Curricular Practical Training (CPT), the advisor and the department must be assured that the work is an integral part of the academic program and not simply an "excuse" to work.

Optional Practical Training (OPT)

Optional Practical Training (OPT) may be authorized in the field of study either before or after completion of studies and is limited to a total of 12 months full-time employment. When authorized before completion of studies, a student is limited to employment not exceeding 20 hours per week during the semester; employment during breaks and vacation periods may by full-time. In both cases, OPT must be recommended by the student's advisor, by the CS Practical Training Chairman, and by the International Student and Scholar Services office; approval is granted by the immigration service center in Nebraska (this takes between 60 and 120 days).

For a student who wants to sign up for OPT, the procedure is as follows:

The student should discuss PT with his or her advisor, and if the advisor approves, fill out and sign the department's Optional Practical Training form. The student and advisor should also fill out the Optional Practical Training Recommendation form from the International Student and Scholar Services office. The dates and information on these forms should be consistent.
These forms must then be submitted to the CS Practical Training Chairman, who is currently the only person authorized to sign the Recommendation form, and who then transmits the paperwork to the International Student and Scholar Services office.
If the request is for OPT before completing studies and if the applicant has previously undertaken Curricular Practical Training, the department will not normally authorize OPT unless the student has scheduled a thesis or dissertation defense and the advisor certifies that the required work has been completed.

Curricular Practical Training (CPT)

CPT is intended for internships in the student's field of study before graduation and may be full-time or part-time. Although there is technically no limit for part-time CPT, subsequent authorizations beyond one semester must show how continued practical training adds, and not duplicates, skills needed for the academic program. Please note that full-time employment for less than 12 months in the aggregate still allows the student to apply for OPT (one year full-time employment) after completion of studies; full-time employment in CPT that meets or exceeds the 12 month-total invalidates the possibility for OPT after completion of studies.

Curricular Practical Training (CPT) must be recommended by the student's advisor, by the CS Practical Training Chairman, and must be approved by the International Student and Scholar Services office.

A student on CPT is generally approved for part-time employment during an academic semester (full-time employment only in rare cases), with the allowance to work full-time during breaks (including summer break). However, CS students on CPT during the academic year must remain full-time students during that period.

When applying for CPT, please note that CPT must be an integral part of the student's curriculum. On the CPT form, available from the International Student and Scholar Services office, there are three possible reasons for requesting CPT. The third choice does not apply in the CS program, as we do not have those official programs. The second choice is only appropriate if the advisor feels that it is necessary for the student to work for that employer in order to complete the thesis (e.g., the employer has certain research facilities needed by the student).

The first choice, and the one most appropriate in the CS program, says "the employment is designed and structured to enhance the student's educational program, endorsed by this department, directly related to the student's field of study, and monitored to ensure academic relevance." This means that the student's advisor must agree and support the application, perhaps as a practical application of theory learned in the classroom. Furthermore, the employment must be monitored to ensure academic relevance, usually by the student signing up for a research course in connection with the employment, and reporting on that research to the advisor. (One consequence of this reporting is that the department will generally not grant CPT for a period longer than one semester.) Finally, the student must generally remain a full-time student during this period, at least during the academic year.

Therefore the advisor might choose to recommend a student for a part-time job in Hudson during the spring semester while the student remains a full-time student at KSU, but the advisor would almost certainly not recommend a full-time job at Hudson during that same period (nor would such a request be granted by the department or the International Student and Scholar Services office). Furthermore, the student must remain a full-time student at KSU during that spring semester, and must sign up for a research course chosen in consultation with their advisor, for which the student will receive a grade.

For a student who wants to sign up for CPT, the procedure is as follows:

The student should discuss PT with his or her advisor, and if the advisor approves, fill out and sign the department's Curricular Practical Training form, and the student and advisor should also fill out the Curricular Practical Training Recommendation form from the International Student and Scholar Services office. The dates and information on these forms should be consistent.
These forms must then be submitted to the CS Practical Training Chairman, who is currently the only person authorized to sign the Recommendation form, and who then transmits the paperwork to the International Student and Scholar Services office.

In summary, the "standard" CPT approved by the CS Program:

	must have the support of the student's advisor
	must have *academic relevance, and must be formally monitored* in conjunction with some academic course
	is for part-time employment during the academic year (with the student remaining a full-time student), or full-time employment during the summer
	is approved for only one semester at a time

Also, students receiving PT of any kind are not eligible to receive either a Teaching Assistantship or a Part-Time Instructorship during the time the PT is granted.

Practical Training forms are available here

Academic Dishonesty

CS Policy on Academic Dishonesty Involving Programming

( PDF version: DishonestyPolicy.pdf)

This document is addressed to all students enrolled in either undergraduate or graduate computer science classes. Every student enrolled in a computer science course is expected to be aware of and adhere to the University's policies on academic honesty as described in "Digest of Rules and Regulations". That document can be found in the campus telephone directory. The guidelines given in this document are the official Departmental policy on academic dishonesty and plagiarism in programming projects and exercises. They represent an extension and clarification of the University's policy on academic honesty as it pertains to the special situations arising in computer programming projects and exercises.

One of the following policies will be adopted regarding how much cooperation and joint work is permitted in each of these classes:

Students are to work on their programming assignments without consulting with anyone that is not explicitly approved by the instructor (such as a grader or tutor).
Students are allowed to discuss the meaning of programs or problems together but are expected to work totally independent of anyone that is not explicitly approved by the instructor when working on the solutions to a program or problem and when doing their coding.
Students are allowed to discuss the programs or problems or to work on the solution together but are expected to work totally independent of anyone that is not explicitly approved by the instructor when doing their coding.
A clearly identified group of students may work together in developing solutions to a program or problem and are to turn in their work as joint work with all their names included, indicating co-authorship.
The instructor distributes a written policy (possibly as a part of their syllabus) that specifies how much cooperation and joint work is permitted on their programming assignments.

Policy A is the policy that will be used unless the instructor specifies in writing (e.g., in their syllabus) that one of the other policies will be followed.Students are to clarify with their instructors any questions they may have about how much cooperation and joint work is permitted on programming assignments.Independent of the value of the particular programming assignment in question or of a student's performance on other course requirements, violation of this plagiarism and cheating policy is likely to result in failure in the course.In addition, instructors are expected to report all cases of cheating or plagiarism to the student conduct officer.Further action may also be imposed under the code of student conduct. This action may include probation, suspension, or disciplinary dismissal from the University.

Further details concerning the University's cheating and plagiarism rules can be found in the "Digest of Rules and Regulations" in the University's Telephone Directory. Some information also may be found in the Graduate or Undergraduate Catalogs.

In cases involving cheating or plagiarism, a person who knowingly assists another person in cheating or plagiarism is considered as guilty as the person receiving help. Using solutions or code from a problem assigned in a previous semester without the explicit permission of the instructor is also considered to be cheating or plagiarism.It is each student's responsibility to place protection on their files containing assignments, avoid leaving their computer account open in the labs when they are not present, protect current and old printouts of their code, and take other reasonable precautions to ensure these files are not accessible to another student.A student who becomes aware of cheating is strongly encouraged to report this matter. It is important that the students and instructors work together to achieve an academic environment that is fair to all students.

Miscellaneous Issues

Scholastic Concerns

Advising

Each graduate student's schedule of classes for each semester should be approved by the student's Academic Advisor. This can be done by scheduling a short advising session in the preceding term.

Satisfactory Progress

Part of the advising procedure will include monitoring the student's academic progress, the quality of work, and progress toward meeting deadlines for taking required examinations. Graduate students are expected to maintain a 3.0 average in all work attempted at Kent State University. Failure to do so makes the student liable to dismissal. A graduate student who receives more than seven hours of "C" or lower grades, or more than four hours of grades lower than "C", is subject to dismissal. When the Department has determined that the number of "IP"s or Incompletes on a student's record indicates poor progress toward completion of a degree, it may recommend dismissal of the student to the Division of Research and Graduate Studies. It may also recommend dismissal in those cases where the student has failed to meet deadlines with respect to taking the Qualifying Examination or the Candidacy Examination.

Graduate Student Grievance Procedures

A student who has a grievance concerning a graduate course must first contact the professor in charge of the course in order to try and resolve the dispute.
If the student is dissatisfied after Step 1, the student then contacts the CS Graduate Coordinator.
If the CS Graduate Coordinator is unable to reach a solution satisfactory to the student, the student will then contact the Chairperson of the Department.
If, after Step 3, the student's grievance still exists, the student will contact the Division of Research and Graduate Studies.
A graduate student who has a grievance concerning policy of the Department should start the grievance procedure at Step 2.

Schedule of Core Course Sequences

Since the enrollment in 60000/70000-level courses is small, these sequences are offered on an alternate year basis according to the Graduate Course Rotation Schedule.

Departmental Facilities

Every graduate appointee will be assigned a mailbox and office space by the department; typically an office is shared with several other graduate students. Instructional- related copying privileges are available to each graduate appointee; copying of personal materials will be done at the student's cost.

Committees and Colloquia

One graduate student is elected each year by his or her peers to serve on the Graduate Student Council. Also, the departmental Curriculum Committee and the Graduate Studies Committee will ask a graduate student to serve on their committee.

The Department of Computer Science sponsors a series of colloquia during the academic year. These talks, covering many areas of computer science, have several purposes: to acquaint the audience with the frontiers of research in a particular topic; to give an exposition of some problem, study, or topic of wide interest; or to give an historical perspective and/or survey of some problem, study, or topic of wide interest.

Graduate students benefit from the colloquium series by being exposed to computer scientists, from outside the University, who may be actively involved in problems or topics in which they are interested or have worked. In addition, graduate students will, in some colloquia, be exposed to topics of computer science that are not emphasized within the Department. Thus, the colloquium series helps to reinforce and broaden the student's graduate education and experience. For these reasons, graduate student attendance at department colloquia is strongly urged.