Supercomputer Education and Research Centre Indian Institute of Science Information Brochure for M. Tech Students

Transcription

1 Supercomputer Education and Research Centre Indian Institute of Science Information Brochure for M. Tech Students Dear Students!! A very warm welcome to SERC family!! 1 M. Tech Computational Science Program Welcome to SERC M.Tech Computational Science program! But wait!! What is computational science? Well, computational science is an inter-disciplinary area that brings together the domainspecific knowledge of science and engineering and the relevant topics of computer science and mathematics. To know more about what computational science is and what it is not, here is an interesting article: You may want to pin up these definitions opposite to where you wake up and keep referring to them time and again. Because, believe it or not, even some of us in the department need to go through the same exercise since we tend to forget! 2 Scope for Computational Science Computational Science has become an indispensable part of scientific research and technological development. Apart from the great job projects in the numerous high profile computer science and IT companies including HP, IBM, Yahoo, Oracle, Samsung etc. that you are familiar with, graduating with a degree in computational science also makes you one of those elite individuals sought by national and international laboratories dealing with various computational science problems from weather forecasting to the design of the aircraft wings for supersonic speed. We have already heard some of these institutions in the media!! Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) are a few of them and you will definitely hear more of them during the course of your study. Thus there are research scientist-level positions in various organizations that will definitely keep you enthused!! 3 Course Credits One of the changes you may notice while browsing through the courses is that each course carries numbers of the format x:y. These numbers represent the credits associated with the course. x represents the number of credits associated with class work and also represents the number of lecture hours per week. y represents the number of credits associated with the lab work relevant to the course. The nature of the class and the lab work and the number of hours of lab work are highly dependent on the nature of the course and is decided by the faculty offering the course. Also, there are 3-digit numbers associated with the courses. Courses that begin with the digit 2 are 200-level courses and deal with introductory and basic concepts while the 300-level courses that begin with the digit 3 deal with advanced and research-level concepts. 1

2 4 Advisor Scheme One of the concepts that may be new to you is the concept of a faculty advisor. Each student will be associated with a faculty advisor. As the name implies, the advisor advises students on various matters relating to the student s program and it is the student s responsibility to consult with their advisors regarding their various problems/concerns. One of the important things that a student consults with his advisor is regarding the choice of courses. Each student will have 2 kinds of advisors in his M. Tech program - let us refer to them as faculty advisor and a project advisor. A faculty advisor is a faculty member who provides guidance to a student till the student finds a project advisor. It is possible that in some cases the faculty advisor also becomes the project advisor. Faculty advisor guides the student mostly on his courses and other academic concerns while a project advisor guides the student mostly on his project (see below about project). For M. Tech students, the faculty advisors will be announced at the time of the first student s orientation meeting. The students are highly encouraged to look around in the department, get to know various faculty s research areas, choose an area that is of interest to them, consult with the corresponding faculty and settle on their project advisors. M. Tech students are advised to settle on their project areas and their project advisors within the first semester and no later than the second semester. Some faculty advertise their M. Tech projects either in their web pages or by means of department notices. 5 Courses offered, Choice of Courses and Course Registration The department has 2 types of courses - hard core and electives. Please refer to the Scheme of Instructions booklet for the credit requirements corresponding the different categories of courses and also for the various hard core and electives offered in SERC. Hard core means the course is compulsory. Please look out for departmental notices for the time table of the courses, the orientation meetings for the courses etc. Typically M. Tech students register for 4 or a maximum of 5 courses per semester. Also, M. Tech students finish the bulk of their courses in their first 2 semesters and devote the last 2 semesters for bulk of their project. It is strongly advised that M. Tech students complete their hard core requirements within the first 2 or maximum 3 semesters. Dropping of hard-core courses is not permitted unless under special circumstances such as medical reasons. In some cases, the students may not find enough courses to meet their course requirements. In matters relating to these, the students are required to consult with DCC (DCC??). For all matters relating to the choice and registration of courses, the students MUST regularly consult with their advisors and seek their approval. After the approval from their advisors, the students are required to update their registration information with Ms. Mallika at the office of SERC. The students are required to do this during registration for each and every semester. 6 Project Every M. Tech student is required to complete a project with innovative ideas and good project content. The purpose of the project is to culminate the M. Tech program with whatever the student learned by means of courses and other avenues in his department. Hence the M. Tech students are highly required to work on a project with fair amount of computational science content which is also their field of study. M. Tech students are required to submit abstracts of their project in the beginning of their 2nd semester. 2

3 A committee will do a preliminary evaluation of the student s project based on the abstract, determine the suitability of the project to the spirit of the program and advise the student about the same. Please look out for notification from DCC (What is DCC, again??) in your 2nd semester regarding the details of project abstract submission. 7 Upgradation to the Ph.D programme It is possible for a motivated student (minimum CGPA of 5.5) to transfer into the Ph.D programme at the end of first/second/third terms. Such students should make a corresponding request to the Chairperson of the department through the Advisor before the first working day of the next term. The courses completed at that point can be considered towards the Research Training Programme (RTP) of Ph.D while additional courses may be necessary. Candidates desiring to continue after the submission of their Projects Reports should submit a request to the Chairperson of the department through the Advisor before the end of the May in the corresponding year. 8 DCC DCC stands for Department Curriculum Committee. It comprises a few faculty members and student representatives. It formulates and enforces policies regarding curricular matters and also advises students in case of problems. Students are encouraged to contact DCC for consulting regarding any academic concerns. DCC can be reached via (dcc@serc.iisc.ernet.in). 9 Milestones 1 st semester: 1. Register for up to 18 credits. Register for the hard core courses. 2. Get acclimatized with the campus and departmental facilities. Know the nearest movie theatre! 3. Be on the active lookout for advisors and project areas. Settle on an advisor. 2 nd semester: 1. Register for the maximum credits. Register for the hard core courses. 2. Accomplish the background work needed for your project in consultation with your advisor. 3. Send project abstract to the DCC and get the DCC s approval for your project. Summer: 1. Do bulk of your project. 3 rd semester: 1. Complete the rest of the courses, including the last hard core, if any. 2. Present your project progress and the planned developments in the department s mid-term evaluations and obtain the department s consent. 3

4 3. Do bulk of your project. 4 th semester: 1. Complete your project. 2. Present viva voce. 3. Leave with a smile and btw, a degree. 10 Important Notes 1. Be very familiar with the contents of the Student Information Book. It lays out clear-cut ground rules regarding various curricular activities. 2. Take care to look at the SERC web page at Please be warned that some of the pages need heavy construction. 3. Go to SERC students lab (Room 303) to obtain your accounts on the SERC machines. 4. SERC boasts of a number of computing and other facilities including supercomputers, workstations, large amounts of storage, high speed interconnects etc. Please refer to the website and the handbook regarding the latest and the greatest! 5. SERC also boasts of a departmental library with good collections of books, journals and magazines. Please take time to visit the collection. 6. Please attend your orientation program. Please look out for a department notice for the exact timings and venue for the meeting. We look forward to seeing you! 7. Classes commence in the first week of August. Registration forms are available with Ms. Mallika during office hrs of the first week (thereafter she is open for assistance at the SERC office 2:30 to 5 pm only). 8. Courses offered at SERC Web-link: Wish you a happy, eventful, frustrating and enriching M. Tech program in SERC!!! 4

5 General Guidelines to SERC Students The students of SERC are required to follow these guidelines (relating to academic and other matters). The rules and regulations for institute students given in the Student Information Handbook also applies to SERC students. 1. SERC students are required to sign the attendance register kept in SERC office (G#02) daily. 2. Application for leave of absence (form available in #103) is to be made in writing to the Chairman through the Faculty Adviser (in case of I Year M.Tech students), Project Guide (for II year M.Tech Students), or Research Supervisor (for Research students). 3. Each student is eligible to take leave of absence for 30 working days in an academic year. For additional leave of absence on medical and other grounds, please refer to the Student Information Handbook. 4. Scholarship bill must be signed by the Student and countersigned by the Faculty Adviser/Project Guide/Research Supervisor every month. The student is responsible for getting the signatures. Completed scholarship bill should be submitted to SERC student office on or before 8th of every month. Scholarship bills of those students who do not get the necessary signatures or who do not sign the attendance register regularly will not be processed in the current month. Students are advised to check every month whether the scholarship amounts have been credited to their bank accounts and any problem related to this must be reported to SERC student office (Ms. Mallika) immediately (within a month or so). 5. Research students must complete and submit the scholarship renewal forms every year in a timely manner in order to receive their scholarships in an uninterrupted manner. Course students must complete the scholarship renewals every semester as indicated in the Student Information Handbook. 6. Course registration must be completed every semester within the stipulated time specified in the Academic Calendar. Completed course registration cards should be given to the respective instructors and the Master card should be given to SERC student office (Ms. Mallika) within this stipulated time. Course registration forms and master cards must be duly signed by the Faculty Adviser/Project Guide/Research Supervisor. 7. Course withdrawal, if any, should be applied using the prescribed form, (available in SERC Student Office) duly signed by the Faculty Adviser/ Project Guide/Research Supervisor and the Course Instructor. The form should be submitted to the SERC student office within the time specified in the academic calendar. Dropping of hard-core courses is not permitted unless under special circumstances such as medical reasons. 8. Maintain at least 75% attendance in courses. 5