Undergraduate Programs in the OSU Computer Science and Engineering Department

For Faculty Advisors

This page contains information that should be of use to new faculty members who may not yet be completely familiar with all the details of the undergraduate programs in the department. A copy of the slides used in the recent advising workshop for new faculty is available here (.ppt). If you have suggestions on other information that you think should be included here, please email Neelam.

Programs: We have three undergraduate major programs in the department, BS CSE, BS CIS, and BA CIS. For details on each program, see the respective pages.
Here is a brief summary of the curriculum for each program:
BS CSE: These students are required to take a specified set of CSE "core" courses, a specified set of math, statistics, engineering, and science courses, a set of GEC courses, and a set of courses corresponding to a "Tech elective" option. Students have to choose one of four options: Software Systems, Information Systems, Hardware/Software Systems, or Individualized Option. Each option consists of a set of required courses and a certain minimum number of hours of elective courses. But even among the "required courses", there is some variation allowed; for example, one of the requirements of the Software Systems option is one hardware-oriented course, this being one of CSE 676, 677, or 775. And, in the case of the hardware-software option, CSE 778, the VLSI Design course, is recommended as the capstone course.
BS CIS: These students are required to take a specified set of CSE "core" courses, a specified set of math, statistics, and science courses, a set of GEC courses, and a set of courses corresponding to a "Tech elective" option. Students have to choose one of four options: Software Systems, Information Systems, Scientific Computing, or Advanced Studies. The Advanced Studies option is intended for students planning to go to graduate school. (There is also an Individualized Option, but few students choose that one.) In each option, there is a set of "required courses", and a certain minimum number of hours of elective courses.
The Individualized Option for both BS CSE and BS CIS is relatively new. (BS CIS used to have an option called the "individualized option" but the current version differs from that one in many respects.) The intent of this option is to allow students to tailor their choice of technical electives to suit their particular interests and career plans. But, as described in the curriculum pages for BS CSE and BS CIS, this is required to be done in close consultation with the faculty advisor. If one of your advisees is interested in pursuing this option, please read through the description of the option in the curricular pages. You may also want to consult with the Advising Office before approving a set of courses that one of your advisees has designed as his or her technical option.
BA CIS: These students are required to take a specified set of CSE "core" classes, a specified set of math and statistics courses, a set of GEC courses (including some science classes), a set of classes in an "approved related field", and 20 additional hours of CSE courses at the 600-level or above.
For full details on the curricula, please see the "curriculum" link in the respective program pages. Note also that each of the techical elective options for both the CSE and the CIS program has a "lead advisor" who should be able to answer questions about the option (or point you to someone else who can); suggestions for changes in the contents of specific options should be coordinated by the lead advisor for consideration and possible action by the Undergraduate Studies Committee.
Faculty advisors: Each tenure-track faculty member, after his or her first year in the department, is typically assigned as academic advisor to between 15 and 20 students in either the BS CSE program, or the BS CIS program. Some non-tenure-track faculty with special interest in the undergraduate programs also advise upto 5 students each in either BS CSE or the BS CIS program.
[Since we have relatively few students in the BA CIS program, all of them are assigned to one faculty member (currently, Tim Long). In rare cases, students from more than one program may be be assigned to particular faculty members.]
Advisees are generally assigned to advisors on the basis of the advisor's area of teaching and/or research interests, and the advisees' interests, as indicated by their choice of technical elective option. Thus students whose tech elective option is Information Systems will typically be assigned to faculty with an interest in database systems. But this is not always possible because of mismatches between the number of students pursuing a particular tech elective and the number of faculty with interests in the related area. Moreover, students' interests and hence the tech elective they are pursuing, may change; in such cases, the student is generally assigned a new advisor (unless the student is very close to graduation, in which case a new advisor may or may not be assigned).
In any case, the information in the respective program pages should be sufficient to allow any faculty member to advise students pursuing any of the options. If you have any specific advising questions, please email Peg Steele (peg@cse) or Neelam (neelam@cse).
Advising students: Most students follow the curriculum specified in the respective program pages and do not, for the most part, routinely consult with their faculty advisors. Occasionally, however, an advisee may contact his or her advisor for advice on which particular elective course to take, or in what order to take particular courses, etc. Occasionally the advisee may have questions about grad school, possible projects for undergrad research, etc.
For the course-related questions, if the questions have to do with courses that you (the advisor) are not involved in, it might be appropriate to refer the student to someone who has recently taught the course, or possibly the course coordinator. For research-related questions, you should probably spend a few minutes probing the student to see what his or her abilities, interests, and background are. Some students are indeed research-ready, and it may be appropriate to recommend some advanced courses, including some of our 788's; also please point them to the undergraduate research link if they are not aware of it. In any case, please take a couple of minutes to talk to the advisee when he or she comes to see you. Sometimes the students just need to see that faculty are actually interested in them. But in other cases the student may have difficult problems, academic or personal; in such cases, it is best to refer them to the Advising Office.
Graduation applications: The one time that each student must meet the advisor is when applying for graduation. (Graduation requirements are detailed in the respective program pages.)
If your advisee is in the BS CSE program, you have to sign the "certification of technical electives" (see graduation procedures page). The student should complete all the information asked for in the form (both sides) and have it checked by the Advising Office before approaching you for your signature. The reason for this is that there are some problems that show up repeatedly in graduation applications and the Advising Office people are trained to find those quickly. The advisor from the Advising Office will look over the application, and if application is in order, will initial the application. If a student comes to you without having the form properly initialed, please send him/her to the Advising Office. Once the form has been checked by an advisor from the Advising Office, you should check that the set of courses that the student has listed meet the requirements for the particular technical elective option that the student is pursuing and, assuming it does, sign the form and return it to the student. The student will then have to take it back to the Advising Office, which will then forward it to the Engineering College.
If your advisee is in the CIS program, you have to sign the "Major Program Form" (for BS CIS or BA CIS). The student should complete all the information asked for in the form, including the grades; for courses the student is currently taking or will be taking in a future quarter, the student enter something like "(Wi '06)" in the grade column for that course. Once the student has completed the form, he or she should have it checked by the Advising Office before approaching you for your signature. The reason for this is that there are some problems that show up repeatedly in these forms and the people in the Advising Office are trained to find them quickly. The advisor from the Advising Office will look over the form, and if it is in order, will initial it. If a student comes to you without having the form properly initialed, please send him/her to the Advising Office. Once the form has been checked by an advisor from the Advising Office, you should check that the set of courses that the student has listed meet the requirements for the particular technical elective option that the student is pursuing and, assuming it does, sign the form (and complete the other information it asks form) and return it to the student. One particular point you should check is that the grade in each course that appears under "Part B" of the form (i.e., all the courses, including the electives, that appear under the heading of "Major Program") is C- or better. This is a requirement of the College of Arts and Science (the College of Engineering does not have such a requirement, so this requirement does not apply to BS CSE majors). If a student has one more courses with a grade of less than C-, send him or her to the Advising Office to discuss the possible options (essentially the options are: repeat the course, or find a suitable substitute course). Also if there are any corrections or erasures on the form, make sure you initial them (so the college office will know that you were aware of them and approved of them). The student should then take the completed form (and the other forms that he or she should have received from the college office) to a counselor in the Arts and Science College office.
Other: Sometimes, all a student needs is to talk to a faculty member for a few minutes. Whether it is pointing out the possibilities of going to graduate school, or recommending particular elective courses that the student might find interesting given his or her background, or suggesting employment or co-op opportunities that the student might have overlooked, all take very little time, but can make a big difference to the student.

FAQs:

This student stopped by and wanted me to sign his "graduation application" and said I was his advisor. I have never seen the student before. What is going on?:
See "Faculty advisors" and "Graduation applications" above.
What does "technical elective option" mean?
Please see "Programs" above as well as the technical elective options page.
This student keeps sending me email asking if he can take CSExxx in place of CSEyyy. What do I tell him?:
Depends on the particular courses and the particular technical elective option the student is following; see "Programs" above. Generally, if a course is listed as required, the student must take it. If the student claims to know all the material in the course, he or she should be asked to get "EM" credit for the course if the student does not want to take the course. There is a bit more flexibility with courses in the technical elective option but here too the goal should be to make sure that the intent of the option is met. If you are not sure of a particular substitution, please send mail to Neelam or Peg Steele.
In any case, there are some things about which there is no flexibility: the number of credit hours must match or exceed the specified number for the particular option; courses in the department that are at the 300-level or below cannot be used as technical elective courses; BS CSE majors are required to take a capstone design course which cannot be double counted as a technical elective (but if a student takes a second course that is also designated as a capstone design course, that can be counted as a technical elective course); BS CIS and BA CIS majors must have a C- or higher in all courses that are part of their major program.
One final point: If you do approve a substitution, please send mail to Peg so she can keep a record in the student's folder.
This students stopped by saying his friend got a scholarship for doing research and asking how he can get one. What do I tell him?:
Point him/her to the undergrad research page.
I don't think there is any need for a BS CSE major to take course ECExyz (or MSE205, or Chem125 or ...). Why can't I allow him to replace it with a more useful course such as CSEabc?
The requirements listed in each program have been designed after taking into account a variety of considerations such as college requirements, accreditation requirements, our own faculty's ideas on what the programs should contain, etc. Individual advisors should not allow these requirements to be arbitrarily modified for their advisees. Any proposals for changes in the program should be made to the Undergraduate Studies Committee.
My question is not answered here ...?
Please email Neelam.