Undergraduate FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do I contact the Computer Science Department?
- How do I fulfil the science laboratory requirement?
- I am a new freshman, should I register for CS105 or CS115?
- I received AP credit in high school, can I skip CS115 and take CS284 instead?
- What mailing lists should I be on?
- How do I get an account on CS machines, and why would I want to?
- Why don't I get an account on CS machines as soon as I enter Stevens?
- What undergraduate majors does Stevens Computer Science offer?
- What is a Study Plan?
- Does Stevens take part in the ACM Programming Contest?
- How can I find out more about research?
- Who's in charge?
How do I contact the Computer Science Department?
- Telephone:
- (201) 216-5328 (Sherry Dorso)
- (201) 216-5578 (Dawn Garcia)
- FAX:
- 201-216-8249
- Postal address:
- Dept of Computer Science, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ 07030.
- Ask a question about:
- Undergraduate advising *
- Masters or graduate certificate programs *
- Ph.D. program *
- Administrative questions *
- Questions for the Dept Chair *
* Remove the spaces around "@" when sending email.
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How do I fulfil the science laboratory requirement?
For satisfying the undergraduate science laboratory requirement, you have several options. See the study plan for your major. It is not possible to register for PEP 221 in Term I because it requires both freshman science courses PEP 111 and 112 as prerequisites. However the Physics Dept is allowing PEP 112 as a co-requisite for PEP 222, so you can take that as your science lab in Term II. Another option is to take the biology lab (CH 282) in Term II, while taking physics (PEP 111) in Term I and biology (CH 281) in Term II. Finally you may also take CH 117 in Term I, along with CH 115.
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I am a new freshman, should I register for CS105 or CS115?
You should not take CS115 unless you have adequate preparation. This preparation typically takes the form of at least a year of programming in high school. If you do not have this background and choose to take CS115 anyway, you may find it to be a challenging experience. By the time you realize you are inadequately prepared for the course, it may be too late to switch to CS105. If you have any question about your level of preparation, take CS105. The CS115 instructor should also run a placement examination at the start of the term. If s/he determines based on this exam that you are inadequately prepared, you are strongly advised to switch to CS105.
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I received AP credit in high school, can I skip CS115 and take CS284 instead?
You are advised not to skip CS115, and beginning with Fall 2007 this will no longer be possible. Although AP tests cover more than the material covered in CS115, it only tests knowledge and does not test skills. Psychological research shows that skills can only be developed through prolonged practice. The CS core programming "spine" (CS105 -> CS115 -> CS284 -> CS385 -> CS392) is designed to develop programming skills that you will use in subsequent courses and in your career. It is very unlikely that high school has prepared you adequately to jump into the middle of this sequence.
If you have received AP credit, you may be able to take CS181/182, the Honors introductory computer science sequence that is an alternative to CS115/284/385. Enrollment in the Honors program is by invitation only. You should speak to Larry Russ, Dean of Undergraduate Academics, if you have not been enrolled in CS181 but feel you should have been.
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What mailing lists should I be on?
All undergraduates should be on these mailing lists:
- cs-undergrads for announcements specific to CS, CyS and IS undergraduates.
- cs-announce for general announcements from the CS Department (many people outside CS subscribe to this mailing list).
- cs-seminars is for the announcement of research seminars.
In addition, acm-team is provided for students who are involved in or want to be involved in the ACM Programming Contest.
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How do I get an account on CS machines, and why would I want to?
First of all, the "why": The department provides a laboratory of Unix machines for assignment work, and certain courses require that you use Unix, in particular, the systems courses (CS 392 Systems Programming, CS 492 Operating Systems, CS 521 TCP/IP Networks, CS 549 Distributed Systems, etc). Other courses may require you to submit your assignments via submission scripts on the Unix machines. You should at least know enough Unix to be able to protect your files (so others don't copy your assignments), and to make sure your mail is forwarded to wherever you read it. Of course you should really know much more beyond this.
In general, any modern IT professional should at a minimum be familiar with Unix as well as Windows (and ideally should also be conversant in other operating systems such as Mac OS/X, which actually has a Unix kernel). If you have not done so already, you should consider installing a Unix OS such as Linux alongside Windows on your own computer, making it "dual-bootable" (you can choose at start-up whether you want to run Unix or Windows), or buy a Mac OS/X box.
The procedures for getting an account are explained in the FAQ for the Computer Science lab.
If you have a CS computer account but read mail on pipeline (or anywhere else), please make sure to add a .forward file in your home directory, so that any mail sent to your CS account is forwarded to where you read your email. This .forward file should be world-readable (not writable) and should contain a single line with the email address where you usually check your email. If you check your email on your CS account, you should not have a .forward file (SMTP does not like mail loops).
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Why don't I get an account on CS machines as soon as I enter Stevens?
You must be physically present when your account is created, to enter your password. The system will not allow you enter a password that it does not consider secure enough.
Theoretically it should be possible to synchronize CS IT passwords with Stevens IT passwords so this physical presence is not necessary. Unfortunately the initial passwords assigned by Stevens IT are not considered sufficiently secure by CS IT.
In future years we hope to solve the problem by including "creation of a CS IT computer account" as part of freshman orientation
It is also possible have a CScomputer account created without being physically present, using cryptographic techniques (ssh keys). See the CS Lab FAQ for more information.
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What undergraduate majors does Stevens Computer Science offer?
The Computer Science Department offers four majors:
- Computer Science offers the flexibility for students to "drill down" to specific subject areas, such as graphics, computer games, software engineering, networks, financial computing, and enterprise computing.
- Cybersecurity focuses on the technical and managerial aspects of securing the nation's IT infrastructure. In addition to a strong Computer Science background, it provides in-depth studies in cryptography, privacy and building secure systems.
- Information Systems emphasizes the organizational issues of managing information, covering management skills as well as IT skills. Both information management and project management are strong themes of the program.
- Service Oriented Computing focuses on applications of IT, rather than the traditional hardware/software emphasis of the computer science and cybersecurity majors. Like IS, it includes a focus on requirements acquisition and human computer interaction. SOC has less of a business orientation than IS, and includes a specific application area as part of the major.
All programs share a strong technical "spine" and a two-semester senior project course that emphasizes client interaction and project management.
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What is a study plan?
You are required to fill out a Study Plan in your second semester at Stevens. Without a signed and filed Study Plan, you might accidentally take a course that doesn't satisfy a requirement you think it meets. Without a signed and filed Study Plan you may take a course that is not valid toward your degree and you may delay your graduation. You cannot file an application for candidacy without a Study Plan. You cannot register for courses on the web without a signed and filed Study Plan. For junior and seniors without a study plan, a Registration Hold will be placed on your account if you have not filed a study plan. If you did file it, but there is no record of it, it is your responsibility to see to it that the problem is fixed, perhaps by re-filing a Study Plan.
Consult the Undergraduate Advising web page and the Advising FAQ for more information about filling in the Study Plan.
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Does Stevens take part in the ACM Programming Contest?
Yes. Paul DeMarco in particular organized Stevens programming teams in 2002-4. They came joint third in 2002 and fourth in 2004 in the ACM Greater New York Regional Programming Contest, which was very well indeed. The Regional Contest is typically held in late October or early November. Preparation involves weekly meetings at least during the Fall term, and even better over the summer, perhaps virtual meetings, where people do example problems and discuss them. There is software that you can use to administer practice sessions. The department will pick up the tab and provide assistance for attending the Contest, e.g., a faculty member may rent a van and drive the team to the contest. Our system administrators will be happy to provide any assistance. Contact Steve Gabarro if you are interested and want to participate.
You can find out more details about the ACM Regional Programming Contest here. The top two teams in the Regional Contest go on to a National Contest. The winners of that contest go on to an International Contest.
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How can I find out more about research?
Stevens Computer Science is home to world-class research in Cybersecurity, Graphics/Vision/Visualization, Programming Languages, Software Engineering, Theoretical Computer Science, and Networks. There are concrete things you can do to get involved in this research:
- Attend the Computer Science research seminars, where researchers come to describe their latest results. Talks are generally on Mondays 2-3pm in Room 110 of the Babbio building. They are announced on cs-announce, and you can also see a list of the talks at the CS Seminar web page.
- Take a course with a faculty member whose research you are interested in, and talk to them.
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Who's in charge?
Hal Raveche is President of Stevens Institute of Technology.
George Korfiatis is Provost of Stevens Institute of Technology.
Michael Bruno is Dean of the School of Engineering and Science.
Daniel Duchamp is the Director of the Computer Science Department.
Susanne Wetzel is the Director of the Cybersecurity undergraduate major. Ruth Schwartz is the Director of the Information Systems undergraduate major. Dominic Duggan is the Director of the Service Oriented Computing undergraduate major.
Brian Moriarty and Brett Wynkoop are the System Administrators for CS IT.
Sherry Dorso and Dawn Garcia are the Administrative Assistants in the Computer Science Department.
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