Minutes/20111122
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Minutes from the computer science PhD program council meeting November 22, 10-12
Present
- Pedro de Carvalho Gomes
- Mads Dam
- Erik Fransén
- Jeanette Hellgren-Kotaleski
- David House
- Patric Jensfelt
- Raveesh Meena
- Karl Palmskog
- Kristoffer Sjöö
1. Items from last meeting
Mads observed that the program is in good shape with regards to the number of students enrolled, when compared to other similar programs at KTH.
Mads noted that development of a calendar for program-related events is underway, and that new update of the program description will be forthcoming.
Patric commented again on the issue of the mandatory scientific method course, and was unsure whether the issue was solved with regards to students at CVAP who had taken the masters-level course previously. Mads undertook to bring up the issue with Stefan Arnborg and find a clear solution. It was noted that undergraduate students should have the option to take the PhD-level version of the scientific method course.
2. Agenda
Nothing was added to the agenda.
3. Program Workshop
Raveesh and Pedro presented the program of the program workshop which takes place 19-20 January 2011. One comment on the program that was mentioned several times was that the time alotted to discussions was too long, and that many agenda items were too open-ended.
It was noted that few people had registered, and more had to be done to market the event before the registration deadline December 8 imposed by the provider of accommodation. Pedro noted that postdocs are also urged to apply for the workshop, but that PhD students are prioritized if registrations exceed the number of places available (40).
Mads urged senior council members to make sure that at least one senior faculty member from each group is represented at the workshop.
It was reported that no speakers had yet been confirmed for the event, and workshop organizers were urged to do this as soon as possible. Senior members of the council were urged to come up with names of suitable speakers for the workshop and mail them to Raveesh and Pedro.
The issue of giving students credits for doing presentations at the workshop was raised. Patric noted that it may be important to have such credits for reasons attracting enough people.
4. Support for course development, status
Mads noted that no one had applied for course development beyond Jakob Nordström and Josephine Sullivan, for which support has been granted, and that there is still money left.
Erik observed that support payments should not be carried out until a course evaluation is handed in to the program council.
5. New program coordinator
Mads announced that he plans to step down as program coordinator in July 2012 at the latest. He suggested Dilian Gurov at TCS as a candidate for new coordinator.
Patric noted that a previous research evaluation gave negative comments on the fact that the director of the computer science masters programme is not a full professor, and that a non-professor as PhD program coordinator can result in negative comments also. Erik noted that evaluators should be able to understand that professors often do not have time for such commitments.
6. Other items, incl schedule for next meeting
Next meeting is planned to Tuesday 14 February 13:15.
