The Research Seminars

Doctor of Professional Studies in Computing

Purpose

The primary purpose of the five Research Seminars is to prepare the students for their doctoral research. The seminar sequence begins with a gentle introduction to what research in computing and information technology is about, utilizing examples of different kinds of computing research and methodologies presented by faculty and /or invited researchers. The seminars progress by having students investigate various research areas of their own interest, ultimately culminating with a dissertation proposal draft by the end of the five-semester seminar sequence.

An important ancillary benefit is that as the students progress through the seminars, they are exposed to important emerging issues in computing and information technology.

Schedule

The seminar classes are taken during the first five semesters of doctoral study - fall, spring and summer of year one and fall and spring of year two. The first four seminars are one credit and the fifth seminar is two credits.

Curriculum and Structure

DCS891A Research Seminar 1 (1 credit)

This seminar introduces the student to what research in computing and information technology is about. Faculty and/or invited researchers will make presentations of either their own research someone else's research. Students will be given papers to read in advance of the presentation, and are expected to participate in discussions about the essence and context of the research area both in online discussion forums and in the weekend onsite meetings.

This seminar also introduces the student to the literature search process. Students will be required to find at least one full text article, one hard copy article (for which full text is not available), one internet source paper, and one dissertation abstract which relate to any of the research areas presented in the seminar. They will read these and publish on the web a short piece discussing the relevance of the work.

DCS891B Research Seminar 2 (1 credit)

Research Seminar 2 continues the process begun in the first seminar. Faculty or invited researchers will assign papers for the class to study together. Students and faculty will discuss the essence and context of the research. Students will search the literature for other related work and formulate a related research problem(s).

DCS891C Research Seminar 3 (1 credit)

In Research Seminars 1 and 2, students were given specific papers to read as a class. In Research Seminar 3 each student is to select one paper from the set of papers placed in the Pace Library Online Reserve for the course. The number of students per paper is limited to a maximum of three. The method of selection is first-come first-served. The following describe the deliverables for the course. They are to be available in written form on the web for all to see, and each paper will be presented to the class at the onsite weekend face-to-face sessions. Each student is responsible for publishing his or her own work on a web site. The work should:

Clearly and completely describe what the paper is about. This should include the essence of the research including a clear, succinct statement of the problem and its results, the technical background of the problem and the context in which the work was done and to which it applies, and the significance of the work
Describe the research methodology employed in the work.
Find (search for) one (or two) paper that is related to the work. Study this paper and document the relevance to the research problem in the original paper.
Suggest one to three related research problems giving their relevance to the original work and the significance to the field.

Students will present their work to the class at the onsite weekend meetings.

DCS891D Research Seminar 4 (1 credit)

This seminar extends the research process begun in Seminar 3. In this course a student must search the literature and select a paper(s) in an area of his or her own research interest. This begins the individual progression toward the dissertation. The main deliverable for this seminar is the first draft of the Dissertation Idea Paper as described in the Dissertation Guide for the D.P.S. in Computing. The student should consider the following research guidelines and research plan when preparing the Idea Paper:

Research Guidelines

problem formulation
analysis and evaluation of the state of the art
research methodology

underlying principles of the approach
utility of the approach
validation of the results

critical evaluation of one's own work
identification of the target audience
beneficiaries of the thesis
validation techniques (such as prototyping, field experiment, or argumentation)
definition of the innovative contribution of the thesis to the existing state of the art

Research Plan

clearly formulate the research question
identify the significant problems in the field of research
outline the current knowledge of the problem domain, as well as the state of the art of existing solutions
present clearly any preliminary ideas, the proposed approach and the results achieved to date
sketch the research methodology that is applied
state your contributions to the problem solution
state in what aspects the suggested solution is different, new or better as compared to existing approaches to the problem.

DCS891E Research Seminar 5 (2 credits)

In this final seminar in the sequence, students pursue in greater depth a research interest leading to the dissertation.
The deliverable for this seminar is the first draft of the Dissertation Proposal as described in the Dissertation Guide for the D.P.S. in Computing. This should include a major portion of the literature search.