Week 5 Activity: Grad School Information Session
This week we have our Grad School Information Session, an in-person colloquium event hosted by Prof. Lucas Bang, on Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023 in Galileo. The talk begins at 4:15 PM, but a reception with refreshments will be held outside at 4:00 PM.
- If you're in Section 1, we expect you to attend the event when it occurs (synchronously), unless you choose the alternative option (see below).
- If you're in Section 2, we will try to have a recorded video from the event available afterwards.
Abstract
Graduate school is an amazing opportunity to continue learning and expanding your knowledge, diving deeply into questions that interest you. It is also a great way to prepare for a career in academia or research-focused positions in industry. This info session will explore the range of possible experiences in grad school (it can vary a lot!), and give you some insight into what pursuing a graduate degree might do for your career. We'll also cover some practical aspects of applying.
This event is relevant for anyone who can imagine grad school could be in their future some day, even people whose current plan is to head to industry after graduation. So come join us and learn more about what grad school has to offer!
When and How to Attend
- Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023, optional reception begins at 4:00 PM, talk runs from 4:15–5:30 PM
- Galileo, Harvey Mudd College
Additional Resources
- For those applying this fall season, please fill out this “Intent to Apply” form by October 2.
- You might also like to make a copy of our CS Application Tracker for your own use.
- Check out our updated CS Grad School Webpage for more helpful information.
Recording for Section 2
(You must be logged in to view this video.)
This video is provided for students in Section 2 of CS 195 (and students in Section 1 who had to miss the talk due to extenuating circumstances). This is a private video, so please do not share it with others.
Alternative Option #1
Some students are away at the Grace Hopper Conference this week. If you are one of these students, you may attend an academic talk at the conference in place of the CS department grad-school info session.
Be sure to complete the assessment and describe the talk you attended.
Alternative Option #2
If you are convinced you would get nothing useful out of attending the CS department grad-school info session, you may instead watch the following talk by Dr. Jay Parlar at the 2019 Strange Loop conference.
Finding Bugs Without Running or Even Looking at Code
Abstract
What if you could find complex bugs in systems without ever having looked at any of the code, without running the code, without cloning the code, or even knowing what language the code is written in or where its git repo lives? What if you could validate the correctness of an architectural proposal before writing code?
While this might sound impossible, it's in fact quite doable, and happening every day!
Tools called "model checkers" can be used to model and analyze the architecture/design of a system. Model checkers can simulate every possible sequence of operations your system might ever encounter, and check if desired properties always hold. And if a property doesn't hold, the model checker will show you an exact sequences of operations that violates it.
Benefit can be had both in the early design stages of a project, or if you're a newcomer trying to get up-to-speed on an existing system. Examples of both will be shown.
This talk will describe the model checker Alloy. I'll show how we used it to invalidate a large amount of work by one group (before multiple teams started to try integrating with that work). I'll also show how we employed it to find a highly subtle security flaw in another group's project, without ever looking at a single line of code from either group. In both cases, we did this simply by talking to teams about the architecture of their systems, and translating those designs into formal specifications.
About Jay Parlar
Jay Parlar has been a software developer for ~20 years, and holds a PhD in Software Engineering. His major focus the past ~3 years has been on the application of formal methods to real industry problems. This has resulted in interesting successes with Alloy, TLA+, and in writing a custom model checker in Z3. Dr. Parler currently works for Okta and was previously the Program Manager for NECSIS. He holds a black belt in Karate, and enjoys both running and fountain pens, but perhaps not at the same time.
Video
The video is available on YouTube here.
Required Assessment
To receive credit for attending this week's colloquium, complete the assessment:
Please do so at your soonest convenience, within 24 hours of seeing the talk.
(When logged in, completion status appears here.)