On my jogging route today

I have a luxury jogging route in Paris – across the Museum Louvre, through Jardin Tuileries, arrive at the Place Concorde. After glazing at the Arc de Triomphe and other things, like the Hotel Crillon at the Concorde and the Tour de Eiffel at the far left side, I run back. I love Paris, because it always tries something new, sometimes obscured. See what I saw today in the Jardin Tuileries (all shot with iPone):

Dinner in Sky: 50m above. The platform is hung by a crane.

New obscured sculptures around a fountain

The Museum Louvre from the Jardin Tuileries

Additional expectation to my new graduate students

Study well and live well is my expectation to you.

1. An international students should always remember to improve his/her English.
2. Living a sufficiently comfortable and healthy life. Because Montreal winter is harsh and many graduate courses are in the evenings, it is better to live in an apartment on the Metro line or near the downtown. You may want to spend a little more money to get a studio so that you are able to work from home and rest well. You will find housing price out of downtown is much cheaper.
3. I expect my students to publish papers within 1 – 1.5 years after you become my students. If you have publications before, you can do it in 0.5 years. If you do not have research experience, use the point below.
4. Evaluate your research especially if you are from a different culture. You need to read the references I listed in my Web site to learn how to start your research.
5. Reference to the post on August 27, please discuss with me what you are missing and your plan to learn it. And you also need to discuss with me your understanding of research and how you are going to make progresses.
6. Be self-motivated and be a self-starter. You will find you need a lot of independent thinking and thoughts. You need to be able to solve your problems by yourself.
7. Programming well. I do not see many good programmers indeed. Also, not everyone can do research as his/her career. Being a good programmer can locate you a job practically.

I expect you discuss your self-evaluation and your plan with me

My schedule for the fall

I do not teach this fall term. This is a good break to advance my research. I will be on and off the campus. You can reach me by emails. If you are my students, please make use of the time I am on campus. Make appointments with me to discuss your research is expected. For the new students, face to face meeting is very important until we are familiar enough to move our discussion online. For the old students, we can continue our discussion over Skype and email. I hope you understand my absence that to advance my own research is very important for my career. I am always available for discussion online.

• September: work in University of Paris 11 (Orsay)
• October: on campus, work with my graduate students, PPE exam, prepare course
• November: work in University of Paris 11 (Orsay)
• December: on campus, work with my graduate students, PPE exam, prepare courses

2009 New graduate students: Course Selection

(Revised on Sept. 7)

You need to take four 6000 and 7000 level courses. I found some courses of 5000 level is useful. However, you are not allowed to take credit from them. And there are conflicts in the schedule. So, finally I suggest the following courses:

Fall 2009:

COMP 6721 INTRO TO A.I. (4 credits) Fall
/2 Lec F M-W---- 11:45-13:00 SGW H- 459 HAARSLEV, VOLKER MATTHIAS
/2 Lab FJ --W---- 16:15-18:15 SGW HAARSLEV, VOLKER MATTHIAS

COMP 6231 DISTRIBUTED SYSTEM DESIGN (4 credits) Fall
/2 Lec DD ---J--- 17:45-20:15 SGW H- 521 JAYAKUMAR, RAJAGOPALAN
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Winter 2010:

COMP 6651 ALGORITHM DESIGN TECHNIQUES
/4 Lec NN ----F-- 17:45-20:15 SGW H- 619 JAUMARD, BRIGITTE


COMP 6521 ADV.DATABASE TECH. AND APPL. (4 credits) Winter
/4 Lec EE ---J--- 17:45-20:15 SGW FG- B080 EAVIS, TODD

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I found the following courses are interesting too:

(Time conflict with COMP 6231, add on Sept. 7)
COMP 6531 FOUNDATIONS/SEMANTIC WEB (4 credits) Fall
/2 Lec DD ---J--- 17:45-20:15 SGW H- 603-1, HAARSLEV, VOLKER MATTHIAS

(Comment: may hard and not directly linked to Web services, but it is a good training)
COMP 691E DISCRETE MATH OF PAUL ERDOS (4 credits) Fall
/2 Lec NN --W---- 17:45-20:15 SGW H- 537 CHVATAL, VACLAV

(Comment: directly useful to Web services research. If you are not familiar with formal models, you should audit this course)
COMP 5361 DISCRETE STR.+FORMAL LANG. (4 credits) Winter
/4 Lec DD M------ 17:45-20:15 SGW H- 627 FORD, DAVID
/4 Lab DI M------ 15:15-17:05 SGW FORD, DAVID