Components: There
are three, more or less independent, parts to this year's Senior
Seminar.
- Colloquium: The
Pomona College Computer Science Department hosts approximately
bi-weekly colloquia on Thursdays at 4:15 pm. Attendance is required for
majors during both semesters of the senior year. Other majors and
minors are strongly encouraged to attend. If for some reason you must
miss a colloquium, contact the instructor (in advance!) and arrange to
attend an alternate talk. The Pomona College colloquium
schedule will be updated throughout the semester
-
Presentations: We will be reading and discussing a
collection of research papers. In teams of two, you will be responsible
for making a presentation and leading the discussion for 1-2 papers. Normal presentation should be approximately 1 hour with 15 minutes for discussion. Short presentations (when we have two scheduled for a class) should be approximately 25 minutes with 10 minutes for discussion.
- Readings:
When you are not presenting, you are
expected to read the papers carefully and to post comments on
the course
wiki before noon on the day before the presentation.
This gives the presenters an idea of what the class is most interested in discussing.
-
Preparation for the
Senior Project: The majority of your Senior Project
is carried out during the spring semester. This fall, you will choose a
topic and advisor, and do the background research for your project.
Some of the class meetings will be devoted to discussion of ideas for
the projects. See the document
A Guide Through the Senior Exercise for more details about the undertaking.
While a full rough schedule is provided in Appendix A of the Guide,
there are several important dates in the fall semester that we
highlight the course schedule.
Grades:
Your grade will be based on the
quality of your participation in the readings, presentations, and
discussions of research papers, and your work in preparing for
the Senior Project. See
the grading criteria for more details.
While it is not calculated into your grade for this course, it is
REQUIRED (as a Computer Science major) that you attend all the colloquia
(or agreed-upon substitutes).
