Archive

Below, we have provided a sample course syllabus that roughly mirrors a twice-a-week offering of the course over a 14-15-week term.  This course schedule roughly follows the plan that we followed in the initial years of the course offering.  We also encourage you to explore our previous course offerings of this course at Georgia Tech.

Lecture Topics Notes Resources
My Research Career
1 What Are We Going to Talk About? [pdf] [ppt] Course overview:  Mini-Assignment 1:
Thought Questions
2 Why Do I Want a Ph.D.? [ppt]
3 Working Backward: What Job Do I Want? [ppt]
4 How Do I Get a Fellowship? Review of application materials for major fellowships.Note that this lecture is timed to come before major deadlines. List of major fellowships
5 Ethics: What’s Fair Game and What’s Not?
Great Ideas
4 On Great Ideas #1:  How Do I Decide Whether an Idea is Great? [ppt] Assignment 1:
Recognizing Good Ideas
6 Case Study #1: What’s an Example of a Scientific Revolution? [ppt] Baran Interview
7 On Great Ideas #2: How do Scientific Revolutions Work? [ppt] Kuhn
8 Case Study #2: What are the Characteristics of Great Researchers? [ppt] Hamming
9 Generating Ideas #1: What are Some Research Patterns? [ppt] Polya
10 Generating Ideas #2: How Can I Be More Creative? [ppt] Adams
11 Generating Ideas #3: How Can I Leverage Cross-Disciplinary Thinking? [ppt] Assignment 2:
Creating an Idea		 Johansson Burke
Some Current Problems
15 Grand Challenges #1:  What Are Some Current Open Problems? Networking, Security, Systems, Theory
Databases, Software Engineering, Architecture
Graphics, HCI, Robotics,
Cognitive Science, LST Vision and Perception		 Project Interim Report Due
16 Grand Challenges #2:  What Are Some Current Open Problems?
14 Mock PC  Assignment 3:
Critiquing Ideas
Spreading Ideas
12 Communicating Ideas #1: How Do I Write Compelling Papers and Proposals? [ppt] Zobel Strunk
13 Communicating Ideas #2: How Do I Give Compelling Talks? [ppt] Mini-Assignment 2a:
Project Interim Report		 Asher
19 Communicating Ideas #3: How Do I Teach and TA Effectively?
24 How Do I Promote My Research?  Mini-Assignment 3:
Personal Web Page
Mini-Assignment 4:
Elevator Pitch
24 How Do I Commercialize my Research?
Grad School Survival
17 How Do I Maximize My Productivity?  time managementprocrastination Mini-Assignment 2:
Time LogGriessman
18 Student Panel:  Fun Outside the Lab  Pseudo-Assignment:
Costume Contest
21 Student Panel: Survival
22 What Are Some Tips on Programming and Doing Math?
23 What Are Some Tips on Analyzing Data and Human Studies?
20 What Are Some Tips on Interacting with People and Advisors Project Writeup Due
26 Mini-Conference Assignment 4: Talk Reviews
27 Mini-Conference Pseudo-Assignment: Social