Answers to frequently-asked questions about CN 810
A number of you have asked questions re: CN 810, that I hope are addressed
in what follows. Please pass this information to anyone that has expressed
an interest in CN 810 to you -- and please ask any such individual to contact
me! ----
WHEN and WHERE does the course meet?
Lectures will be held on Thursdays in Room B03 of 677 Beacon Street,from
1:00 - 4:00pm, unless otherwise indicated in the weekly schedule. Discussion
meetings will be held at a time to be arranged.
WHO can attend?
Anyone is welcome to attend any of those sessions held at CNS. If you wish
to participate in a field trip and are not taking the course for credit,
you must notify me at least one week in advance. I will negotiate on your
behalf with the host of that particular field trip. If you come occasionally
as a guest, please remember one thing -- you will be attending meetings of
an advanced graduate course, whose students will have done required meetings
and held a 60-minute preparation section in advance of all guest lectures.
The course is not a colloquium series, so speakers will not be expected to
present general background material or to field elementary questions, whose
answers could be found in the readings.
How can I get a COURSE SYLLABUS?
The syllabus will be assembled in real time, over the entire semester, since
readings for each particular weeks will be specified at quasi-random times.
A schedule of speakers is currently available at the CN
810 home page
How can I get copies of COURSE READINGS?
Hardcopies of course readings will be made available for personal photocopying
in the CNS Library. Some guest speakers have Web sites with downloadable documents,
as noted in the syllabus.
Will there be a COURSE ARCHIVE?
Over the semester, I will build an electronic archive of the course, including
a full listing of speakers, titles, readings, student presenters corresponding
to each speaker, and any additional notes that may be contributed by those
speakers.
What are the other course REQUIREMENTS?
Grades will be based on all aspects of a student's contribution to the course,
including their Monday presentations, their participation in class discussions,
and their COURSE PROJECT. Students can choose ANY TOPIC in modeling or computational
vision. I will do a "reality check" on proposals for a project, to ensure
that they are feasible and worthwhile. In practice, you will have a great
deal of latitude in choice of topic. I expect that projects will be quite
heterogeneous. Some may include analytical work or formal derivations, others
may be largely simulation-driven, and still others may focus on review or
criticism of published models. If you find that your project topic overlaps
with what one of "your" speakers covers, so much the better. Your goal should
be to do work that will materially advance your career, contributing either
in a publication or a dissertation prospectus. If you would like some suggestions
on where to begin or have a some "ill-posed" ideas that you would like to
discuss, make arrangements to see me as soon as possible.
A final note on VOLUNTEERING:
For this course to work, everyone who participates has to "do their fair
share" and a few individuals will have to do more than that. I ask for volunteers
to take individual responsibility for such things as: Making sure audiovisuals
are set up for all speakers; helping to distribute course readings; helping
to "maintain" a database of documents (eg. course syllabus, course archive)
and other such tasks as inevitably come up in the semester. If you would
like to volunteer to take responsibility for any of these duties, please
email: ennio@cns.bu.edu
Link back to CN 730 Home
Page