CSCE 221H: Data Structures and Algorithms

Spring 2017


CS Culture Assignments

Due Dates
  • Thursday March 9: Last day to turn in 1st Research Seminar Report
  • Tuesday May 2: Last day to turn in 2nd Research Seminar Report
  • Variable: Due date of Biography Reports depends on presentation date (see below)
Description

There is a lot more to Computer Science than you will be exposed to through your normal coursework. The purpose of the CS culture assignments is to give you an opportunity to learn about some of the various research areas (by attendence at research seminars) and some of the computer scientists that have made significant contributions to the field (by researching and writing and presenting short biographys).

During the semester, each student will:

Research Seminar Reports. To receive credit for a research seminar report, you must attend the seminar and turn in a 1-2 page, single-spaced report produced using some text processor (not handwritten). Your report should include (i) a paragraph or so about the speaker (who they are, where they work, etc), (ii) a short summary of the seminar, and (iii) a brief discussion of what you thought about the seminar - is the work interesting, do you think the results are important, what questions did you have, etc. (I want to know what you thought.)

Reports should be submitted within one week of the seminar date; however, please note (above) that one must be submitted prior to spring break and the other by the last day of the semester. Culture assignments should be submitted in hardcopy. They can either be submitted in class or placed in the instructor's mailbox on the 3rd floor of HRBB. Remember, your culture report must include a completed coverpage - reports submitted without the coverpage will not receive credit.

Acceptable seminars are listed below. If you are interested in receiving credit for a seminar that is not listed, check with the instructor in advance. Acceptable seminars include:

Famous Computer Scientist Biography Presentations. We will begin each regular class period by learning about a famous computer scientist that will be presented by students in the class. We will have sign-ups during the first week of class, and thereafter on most class days we'll have have one presentation.

Each presentation should be around 5 minutes. Students should prepare a 4-5 slide (powerpoint) presentation that will be posted after their presentation. The presentation should include (i) information about the person (who they are, where they work/worked, etc), (ii) a short summary of the contribution their work has made to computer science, and (iii) a brief discussion of what you think about their work - is the work interesting, do you think the results are important, what questions do you have, etc.

The student should send (email) the slides for their presentation to the instructor at least two days before their presentation date so that they can receive comments for improving them prior to the presentation. They must provide the final version of their slides at most two days after their presentation so they can be posted on the class website.

Automatically acceptable computer scientists are Turing Award Winners. The Turing Award is the most prestigious technical award in computer science. It is given to individuals who have made contributions of lasting and major technical importance to the computer field. If you are interested in researching another computer scientist, check with the instructor in advance.

Spring 2017
CSCE 221H Famous Computer Scientist Presentation Schedule
Date Presenter Famous Computer Scientist
1/24Blake NelsonLinus Torvalds
1/26Jacob GriffinAlan Turing
1/31Alyssa SchaefferJim Gray
2/2Daniel GertheDonald Knuth
2/7Nathan BrockwayMaurice Wilkes
2/9Brian McNaughtonMichael Stonebraker
2/14Dillon KnoxIvan Sutherland
2/16Justin LovelaceLeslie Valiant
2/21Pengbo MaFred Brooks
2/23Nicholas TinerEdgar Codd
2/28Amanda BsaibesOle-Johan Dahl
3/2Matthew WeihingDouglas Engelbart
3/7Jacob MinkAmir Pnueli
3/9Midterm
3/21Dominick FabianLeslie Lamport
3/23Zheng JinAndrew C. Yao
3/28Reid ChristopherRichard Hamming
3/30Josiah CoadJohn Cocke
4/4Ryan LeitnerAlan Kay
4/6Ruaki ZhaoCharles Thacker
4/11Alexander DavisKenneth Iverson
4/13Austin MillerJohn Hopcroft
4/18Ryan GarmesonGrace Hopper
4/20Kelsey HarveyTony Hoare
4/25David RatliffWhitfield Diffie
4/27Jay KhatriJohn McCarthy