CSCI 6969 Graduate Skills, Fall 2025
Overview
This seminar course supports the professional development of graduate students in the CSCI department by exposing them to diverse aspects of research through a series of presentations by faculty and staff. The skills and knowledge gained in this course will be useful in careers in both academia and industry.
Course Logistics
Instructor: Alex Gittens (gittea at rpi dot edu)
Seminars: selected Wednesdays 9-10am ET in Low/CII 4050
Grading: P/NC based on an attendance rate of more than 60%.
To show your attendance at each seminar, take and submit within 24 hours, using Submitty, a face picture of one of your classmates (not yourself) that was also attendance at that seminar. Of course, ensure that you have permission to take and share their photo! To be respectful of the presenter, take the picture before the presentation or after, before you leave the classroom.
Seminar Schedule
| Date | Topic |
|---|---|
| September 3 | Introduction to the course |
| September 10 | Academic Plagiarism, Ethics, Reproducibility & Related Topics -- Oshani Seneviratne |
| September 17 | — |
| September 24 | How to Give Presentations -- Elliot Anshelevich |
| October 1 | Reading Papers -- Alex Gittens |
| October 8 | Writing Papers -- Lei Yu |
| October 15 | Writing Proposals -- George Slota |
| October 22 | Introduction to Research -- Neha Keshan |
| October 29 | Academic Networking and Attending Conferences -- Chen Wang |
| November 5 | POS: Accuracy & Deadlines -- Tracy Hoffman |
| November 12 | The Graduate Student Experience -- Dean Colleen Smith |
| November 19 | Applying for Fellowships -- Elizabeth Madigan |
| November 26 | Thanksgiving break |
| December 3 | Graduate Student Roundtable discussion (option of attending ML + Theory seminar 12/3 11-noon, see your email) |
| December 10 | No seminar |
Additional Resources
Past course websites
RPI's Center for Global Communication+Design (Comm+D): a free consultation resource for the entire RPI community, from students to staff, to assist you with effective communication.