Date post: | 23-Dec-2015 |
Category: |
Documents |
Upload: | reynard-gallagher |
View: | 226 times |
Download: | 1 times |
VTU PhD Workshop1
Ph.D. in Computer Science:
A Perspective
One Day Workshop: July 2, 2010
Computer Science and Automation
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
VTU PhD Workshop2
The Ph.D. Process: Part 1 Thesis Production“PhD in Computer Science: A
Perspective”
One Day Workshop: July 2, 2010
Y. NARAHARI Computer Science and Automation
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
THESIS
ADVISOR
INSTITUTION
RESEARCHCOMMUNITY
REAL WORLD
Part IInternal
s(YN)
Part IIExterna
ls(JH)
The PhD Process
VTU Ph.D. Workshop4
OUTLINE
What is Research? ; Basic Vs Applied Research
What is PhD? ; PhD in Computer Science
Examples of PhD Problems
Ingredients of a Good PhD Program
Writing a Ph.D. Thesis
VTU Ph.D. Workshop5
Inspiration: Richard Hamming
•Pioneering contributions in coding, information theory,Automatic Programming
•Talk entitled “You and Your Research” on March 7, 1986:Bell Communications Research Colloquium Series
•Question: Why do so few scientists make significant contributions and so many are forgotten in the long run?
ACM TURING AWARD 1968
VTU Ph.D. Workshop6
What is Research?
Carving statues out of stones in a creative way
Systematic investigation to establish facts or discover new facts
Scientific investigation intended to extend the limits of human knowledge
VTU Ph.D. Workshop7
Richard Hamming’s View
Luck favours a prepared mind
Knowing/asking right questions is the first stepin knowing the answers
If you believe too much, you will not notice the flawsIf you doubt too much, you won’t get started -
You need a lovely balance
Courage to continue working is important
VTU Ph.D. Workshop9
What is Ph.D.?
Rigorous investigation into an important, non-trivial problem, leading to a new methodology,
novel algorithms, or a significant tool
VTU Ph.D. Workshop10
Ph.D. in Computer Science
CS has a wide appeal cutting across disciplines;Offers wide scope for inter-disciplinary research
Exciting new areas: machine learning, computational biology, computational economics,
cyber-physical systems, etc.
There is equal scope for basic research,applied research, use-inspired basic research
VTU PhD Workshop11
PhD Problems: Example 1
Design of optimal auctions for heterogeneous objects
Motivating ProblemsSponsored Search Auctions,
Procurement Auctions, Spectrum Auctions
Intellectual ChallengeOptimal auction available only for single unit of
single object – difficult to generalize
VTU PhD Workshop13
EXTENSION OF MYERSON’S AUCTION
Myerson Auction1 Seller, Multiple Buyers,
Single Indivisible ItemRevenue Maximization subject to BIC and IIR
Extension 1: Sponsored Search Auctions1 seller, multiple buyers, multiple items (positions)
Extension 2: Multi-unit Procurement Auctions1 buyer, multiple sellers, multiple units, discounts
Extension 3: Optimal Combinatorial AuctionsSpectrum auctions
VTU Ph.D. Workshop14
BIC
AE
WBB
IR
SBB
dAGVA
DSIC
EPE
GROVES MYERSON
VDOPT
SSAOPT CBOPT
MECHANISM DESIGN SPACE
VTU Ph.D. Workshop15
Ph.D. Problems: Example 2 Social Network Analysis: A Game Theoretic Approach
Social Network Analysis is an important current problemwith numerous applications and desperately in need of
efficient algorithms
Idea: Use game theory to model social networksChallenge: Social networks could be huge in size
Problem 1: Influence Maximization in Social Networks
(Cooperative Game Theory – Shapley Value)
Problem 2: Discovering Communities in Social Networks(Non-cooperative game theory – Nash equilibrium)
Problem 3: Predicting Topologies of Social Networks(Uses both cooperative and non-cooperative game theories)
VTU Ph.D. Workshop16
Characteristics of a Good Ph.D. Problem
Should be an important, relevant, contemporary problem
Should address a significant research gap
Should be non-trivial, non-incremental, deep,intellectually challenging
Should be a feasible and tractable problem: should take polynomial time
VTU Ph.D. Workshop17
Ingredients of a Good PhD Program: Research Training Program
Strong Background is an essential ingredientof the PhD process
RTP involves picking up this background in arigorous way
6 to 8 courses would be ideal. Mathematical andanalytical courses are especially important
Good textbooks are ideal companions
VTU Ph.D. Workshop18
Ingredients of a Good PhD Program: Reviewing the State-of-the-Art
Involves reading relevantpapers very carefully
This leads to identifying research gaps andidentifying a good research problem
This will help identify important, currently active, currently relevant problems
Internet and the web play an important role in this
VTU Ph.D. Workshop19
Ingredients of a Good PhD Program: Awareness of the Current Art and
Positioning of Work Awareness of the Journals and Conferences
in the area
Awareness of leading research groups, research papers, researchers in the area
Awareness of research gaps and open problems
Clarity of how the proposed work can be positionedwith respect to the current art
VTU Ph.D. Workshop20
Ingredients of a Good PhD Program: Abstraction, Analytical Modeling
Mathematical abstractions lead toprecision and rigour in research
Top quality Ph.D. theses are invariably founded onsolid mathematical abstractions and concepts
VTU Ph.D. Workshop21
Ingredients of a Good PhD Program: Sound Experimentation
Design of experiments is very important
Each graph that is drawn must have a specificpurpose and plan
Insights from the experimental results must bebrought out very clearly
Simulation based studies must be accompanied byconfidence interval estimation, etc.
VTU Ph.D. Workshop22
Ph.D. ThesisChapter 1: Background, Motivating Problems,
Research Gap, Importance and Relevance,Contributions, and Thesis Outline
Chapter 2 typically should contain allpreliminaries
Chapters 3, 4, 5, etc. are the contributory chapters
Results, Conclusions, Summary, Future Work
Bibliography
VTU Ph.D. Workshop23
An Example of a Ph.D. Thesis: Social Network Analysis: A Game Theoretic Approach
Chapter 1: Social Network Analysis, Motivating Examples, High Level Review, Case for Game Theoretic Approach, Contributions, outline
Chapter 2: Social Networks, Social Network Analysis,Relevant Game Theory
Chapter 3: Influence Maximization in Social Networks
Chapter 4: Discovering Communities in Social Networks
Chapter 5: Predicting Topologies of Social Networks
Chapter 6: Summary and Future Work
Chapter 7: Bibliography
VTU Ph.D. Workshop24
Key Success Factors for a PhD Program
Work on important problems
Try to find connections between seemingly unrelated problems
Commitment, deep involvement, good planning
Work hard, continuously, and persevere
Don’t depend on luck; be creative
Breadth and depth are both important
VTU Ph.D. Workshop25
Challenges
Wading through and keeping track ofthe ocean of literature
Identifying a good problem; rising above mediocrity;going beyond a safety zone
Striking a balance: between depth and breadth;between basic and applied
Doing justice to the teaching requirements and family; time management
Planning, Passion, Perseverance, Patience, Perfection, are the key