04832271: Research Methods in Computer Science

This course is an introductory course in teaching general research methodologies in computer systems which involve networking, mobility and sensing, as a case study, to help prepare students to invent the future state-of-art in the eld of computer science. The goals of this course are two-fold:

First, one of the key challenges in conducting scholarly academic research or being a technology innovator is learning how to work successfully on open-ended problems. With open-ended problems, not only is the answer not known already, but also the path to finding the answer is often unclear. In addition, formulating the right set of questions to guide the work may be just as important as finding ways to answer those questions. This course will not only guide your through knowing and judging the current cutting-edge research of particular areas, but also get your hands dirty working on real open-ended problems.

Second, for a number of reasons, computer scientists who are successful in advancing the state-of-the-art in our eld must have strong communication skills (in addition to strong technical skills). For example, gaining the resources to conduct a high-impact project often involves persuading others to either support or join the effort.

In addition, disseminating the results of a successful project (so that it really does have impact on our eld) typically involves both writing and speaking. Hence technical communication skills will also be important focus of this course.

• Instructor: Chenren Xu, Jun Huang
• Lecture time: Fri 6:40 pm – 8:30 pm
• Location: Room 410, Science Building No. 5 （理五410）

This course assumes you 1) know how to turn a high level system design idea into working code; 2) are familiar with basic concepts of computer networks; 3) have interests in data analytics techniques such as signal processing, machine learning etc.

For programming experience, you need to have knowledge in C/C++ programming for the project.

Instructors

Name	Email	Office
Chenren Xu	chenren AT pku DOT edu DOT cn	Science Building No.5 515S
Jun Huang	jun.huang AT pku DOT edu DOT cn	Science Building No.5 515S

Teaching Assistants

Name	Email	Office
Shuang Jiang	js_eecs AT pku DOT edu DOT cn	Science Building No.5 517

Collaboration

You must complete individual assignments by yourself. And you must collaborate with your partner in the team-based projects.

It is acceptable and encouraged to help fellow students with generic problems(e.g. where to find documentation, use of tools...).

Everyone of you need to provide proper credit when reusing material.

Academic Integrity

The Peking University Policy on Integrity applies. We will strictly follow university policy on reporting cases of cheating.