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MACS Orientation, Fall 2017

Welcome to Dal CS!

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Professor and Associate Dean (Academic)Faculty of Computer Science

Dr. Christian Blouin

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Instructor and Director, MACSFaculty of Computer Science

Dr. Raghav Sampangi

Welcome to Dal CS!• Reminder:

• Orientation (part 1): Program informationNow (11:30am – 1:00pm)Pizza lunch follows

• Orientation (part 2): Social gathering5:30pm (in the CS Auditorium, room 127 – here)Refreshments will follow

MACS Program Overview• 3 streams• Sequence of required courses• Stream-specific required courses• Electives• Industrial Internship/Entrepreneurial Internship/Project• Administrative requirement

Streams

Industrial Internship

Gain hands-on experience in a

real-world IT environment

4-8 month internships

Entrepreneurial Internship

Gain the technical and business

experience in a new venture

creation

Perfect for anyone looking to start

their own for-profit business or social

enterprise

Project

Student undertakes a

project under a faculty supervisor

Project report is submitted in

writing and must be presented in a

seminar forum

Courses• Required Courses

• CSCI 5100: Communication Skills• CSCI 5708: Mobile Computing• CSCI 5408: Data Management, Warehousing & Analytics

• Sequence 1: 5708 à 5408 à 5100

• Sequence 2:5100 à 5708 à 5408

Courses• Stream-specific required courses

• Industrial Internship stream• Co-op Seminar (CSCI 8890)• Industrial Internship (CSCI 9100) in the final term

• Entrepreneurial Internship stream• Starting Lean (BUSI 5902)• New Venture Creation (BUSI 6002)• Entrepreneurial Internship (CSCI 9200) in the final term

• Project stream• Research Project in Computer Science (CSCI 7001) in the

final term

Courses• Electives

• Course registration is first-come-first-served• Elective examples:

• CSCI 6307: Usable Privacy and Security• CSCI 6515: Machine Learning for Big Data• CSCI 6704: Advanced Topics in Computer Networks• Etc.

IndustrialInternship• Gain hands-on experience and use their skills,

education, and knowledge in a real-world IT environment:

• Paid position; Salary ranges from $17-25 per hour• Significant portion of the internship must be IT-

related work• Internships may be 4-8 months in length

• Typical activities may include: software development, systems design, software testing, network management, data science, network engineering, and web and mobile computing

EntrepreneurialInternship• Perfect for anyone looking to start their own for-profit

business or social enterprise.• Whether you have an idea already, or want to work

through an idea during your time at Dal, this program will equip you with the tools to make it happen.

• Work on the practical, hands-on learnings around what it takes to actually start a scalable company or enterprise.

• Nurture and develop your ideas at ShiftKey Labs.• Venture out of the classroom and into real-world

customer discovery…

Project• Intended for students who have a CS undergraduate

degree.• Work as part of the course with a faculty supervisor on

a project with specific goals.• Goal is to gain technical experience in the context of

an established research program.• Submit a project report and present your work.

Academic Integrity• Be a responsible learner:

• Complete all the work required of you, by yourself• Acknowledge sources of information• Understand what constitutes plagiarism and

cheating• “I didn’t know…” à doesn’t work!• Understand Dalhousie’s academic integrity policy:

https://www.dal.ca/academicintegrity

• Note: there will be an academic integrity and plagiarism workshop during Fall 2017.

Culture of Respect• Disrespectful behaviour in our classrooms, on our

campus and in our community is unacceptable.• Dalhousie is committed to foster a culture of respect,

inclusiveness and diversity.• If you…

• Witness inappropriate behaviour,• Are not sure what is acceptable,• Heard inappropriate comments but are not sure what to do, or,• Need someone to talk to…

• Contact our confidential points of contact, listed at:https://cs.dal.ca/corecs

Advising• 5 minute advising on Sept. 6 and Sept. 7

• Sept. 6: 9:00am – 10:00am (Room 228)• Sept. 7: 9:00am – 11:00am (Room 228)

• Academic and administrative advising appointments later in the term

• Through appointments• Set up your appointment by emailing

graduate@cs.dal.ca• Detailed instructions will be provided in due time

New course (Elective)• Course on Search and Optimization

• Offered in the fall term• Watch for email updates and/or academic calendar

• Course instructor: Dr. Dirk Arnold• Wednesdays/Fridays• ~ 40 spots• Registration is first-come-first-served

Being a TA• Yes you can, if your technical background is good• Check with course instructor if you are eligible• No guaranteed positions

Transferring from MACS to MCS• Minimum grade requirement to be eligible to apply:

• A- in at least four (4) courses in the 6000-level, i.e. having course code in the form CSCI 6xxx

• Excluding CSCI 6901 Directed Studies & CSCI 5100

• Two letters of recommendation from CS faculty.• Submit formal application to CS Graduate Office with

the following:• A letter of request for transferring from MACS to MCS signed

by both the student and the supervisor;• A copy of the transcript; and,• the two recommendation letters.

Money Matters & Scholarship• Research students have priority for scholarship funds• Any remaining funds may be allocated for

non-research students• Limited• Not always available

• On the bright side...• You can go on internships or pursue projects or

business ventures, which could help support your studies

Emails• Always check your Dal Email• Download the Outlook app on your phone and

configure email/calendar by setting up the Exchange account

• Use Dal Office 365 email and calendar for all official purposes

Dal Alert & Dal SAFE• Sign up for Dal Alert (https://dalalert.dal.ca/)

• Sends alerts in case of campus closures (e.g. due to weather)

• Sends other alerts as well

• Download Dal SAFE app• Dalhousie-specific contact information in one place• Also includes other emergency contact information and

directions

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Graduate AdministratorFaculty of Computer Science

Ms. Menen Teferra

MACS Program Length• Is MACS a one-year or a two-year program?

• One-year program, unless you are required to take more than 3 undergraduate courses.

• Graduate courses have course codes in the form CSCI 5xxx or CSCI 6xxx

• Undergraduate courses have course codes in the form CSCI 1xxx, CSCI 2xxx, CSCI 3xxx, CSCI 4xxx

Tuition Fees• Length of program fees:

• Students in the one-year MACS program...• Are required to pay program fees for 3 terms.• And are required to pay continuing fees (approx. 1/3rd of

program fees) beyond the 3rd term.

• Students in the two-year MACS program...• Are required to pay program fees for 6 terms.• And are required to pay continuing fees (approx. 1/3rd of

program fees) beyond the 6th term.

• International differential fees• Applied for a maximum of 6 terms

Tuition Fees• Details can be found under Money Matters

(https://moneymatters.dal.ca)

Registration• Students need to maintain registration in all three

terms of an academic year• Students must register for REGN 9999 and CSCI

courses• REGN 9999 can be found on the time table under

"Registration Course – Graduate"• REGN 9999 details can be found under the “For

Current Students” section of the Faculty of Graduate Studies website: https://www.dal.ca/faculty/gradstudies/currentstudents/registration.html

Registration• You can register for at least 3 courses, but no more

than 4 courses during any one term• You cannot register for courses that are not related to

your program requirements• I.e. you can only register for CSCI courses, unless

otherwise approved

• Course audits• Students can audit a maximum of 2 courses,

only if it is approved by the graduate administrator and the course instructor

Registration• University responsibility...

• To make required courses available for students to take during a given academic terms

• Student responsibility...• To monitor the academic time table to determine

course availability• And to register for courses as and when they

become available

• Elective courses are first-come-first-serve

Registration• Undergraduate course requirements

• Students are required to refer to the letter of offer to check if they have any undergraduate course requirements

• Students are required to complete any required undergraduate courses within the first two terms

• If students are required to take more than 3 undergraduate courses, they can complete the courses within the first academic year

Course Grades• Graduate students are required to score at least a B-

in all courses that they take• A grade below B- is considered as a failure in that

course• If a graduate student fails in two or more courses,

they will be academically dismissed from the program

Waivers for Undergraduate Courses• If a student, who has been assigned an

undergraduate required course, feels that they have studied the same course or a variant thereof during their undergraduate studies…

• The student can request for a waiver for the course requirement, by submitting a request to the CS Graduate Office

• It is likely that the student will be given an assignment activity or an exam by the instructor teaching the course at Dal CS, to evaluate the student’s claims

Forms• Program form

Forms• Program update form

Student ID / DalCard• Registered students can acquire DalCard from the

DalCard Office (office location: Howe Hall, 6230 Coburg Rd.)

• Your ID card• Your Bus Pass• Load currency and use it to pay at on-/off-campus

vendors• Access buildings after hours or during weekends

(set up pin and request access)

• https://www.dal.ca/campus_life/Dalcard.html

CSID / CS Account• Contact CS Help Desk to set up your CSID• CSID is required to access several computing

resources (including lab resources and software) at the Faculty of Computer Science

• CS Help Desk is located on Level-1 of the Goldberg Computer Science building

Emails• Always check your Dal Email• Forward all email to Dal email address, so that you

will be required and motivated to check it frequently

Advising• 5 minute advising on Sept. 6 and Sept. 7

• Sept. 6: 9:00am – 10:00am (Room 228)• Sept. 7: 9:00am – 11:00am (Room 228)

• Academic and administrative advising appointments later in the term

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Student Development CoordinatorSITE (Science, I.T., Engineering) Co-operative Education

Ms. Caroline Lodge

MACS Internship Info Session

What is the Internship program?• Minimum 13-week work term taken after completing

core components.

• On-the-job experience and training in a real-world environment

Fall 2017 - employers

• CanadaRevenueAgency• IBMCanada• Ciena Corporation• RBCFinancialGroup• Medavie BlueCross• JazzAviation• MDFinancialManagement• NewAE Technology

• Gogii LighthouseStudios• Ubisoft• Pythian• Cloudkettle• AVISOPartners• WarrierTech Inc.• NewPace• CityofEdmonton

Fall 2017 – job titles• ITAnalyst• SoftwareDeveloper• TechnicalSystemsAnalyst• Co-opSoftwareEngineer• DataAnalyst• ApplicationAnalyst• GameplayProgrammer• DataScientist• Co-opDataEngineer• SoftwareQAEngineer

EligibilityYou must:

• Have completed the requisite core courses of the program• Have indicated your intent to pursue the internship stream to your

Faculty using the appropriate form• Maintain eligibility by passing all courses• Attend all in-person sessions, and complete personal job plan

• International students must apply for a co-op work permit through IRCC, and send confirmation to SITE office

Co-op Office provides:• Workshops on professional development, job search skills and tools

• A job competition offering Canadian, paid, full-time, program-related opportunities, interview scheduling, and job offer coordination.

• One-on-one internship advising

• On-the-job follow up to ensure you are having a quality learning experience

• Completion of a performance appraisal by the internship supervisor to assist you with your professional development.

Year1 GraduationWinter Summer Fall

StudyTerm2APPLICATION/PREPARATION

StudyTerm3JOBCOMPETITION

WorkTermCO-OPINTERNSHIP

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

1. INFORMATIONSESSION• Co-opOrientationSession

(December)

2. APPLICATION• Submittedthrough

myCareer

3. ENROL• CSCI8890-02(DalOnline)

4. JobCompetition• Jobpostings/interviews

May–August5. Invitationfor1-1appts.6. WORKSHOPS• Resume&Coverletters• InterviewSkills• Networking• ProfessionalCommunication7. ConsultationFollowUp

8. WorkTerm-StartsSeptember

• Actualdatesofemploymentarenegotiatedwithemployer

9. WorkTermCheckIn

10. WorkSiteMonitoring• On-sitemeeting11. WorkTermReport• SeeWorkTermReport

Guidelines.13 EmployerPerformance

Appraisal

Internship Preparation CourseInternship PlanningResume and Cover LettersInterviewingCommunicating and Networking with employersHow to Succeed in your Internship

• Self-directed reading and assignments online• Weekly in-person workshops

Important Dates2017 - Fall• Sept. 12 – application opens in MyCareer• Nov. 3 - application closes (deadline) • Nov. 24 – group session to apply for CWP2018 - Winter• Mar. 1 – Internship Preparation Course begins2018 Summer• May 1 – Job competition opens

Questions?Contact Information:

Co-op Student Development

Caroline Lodge: clodge@dal.ca

SUB Room 438

902-494-1768

General contact: askcoop@dal.ca

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MACS RepresentativeCS Graduate Society (CSGS)

Mr. Choudhury Saadman Mahmid