Download UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER Department of Computer Science

UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER
Department of Computer Science
Program of Study
Research Facilities
Financial Aid
Cost of Study
Cost of Living
Student Group
The Community
The University
Applying
Correspondence
and Information
The Department of Computer Science at the University of Rochester offers an intense research-oriented
program leading to the degrees of Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy. Courses cover a wide range of
interests, with particular research emphasis currently being placed on the areas of artificial intelligence and
machine perception, programming languages and operating systems for distributed computing, and
computational complexity. A number of joint faculty appointments and programs with other departments
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(including the Departments of Mathematics, Radiology, Electrical Engineering, Psychology, and Anatomy
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from an extensive program of seminar presentations and the participation of visiting professors.
The doctoral program is designed to be completed within four years. Students must pass a comprehensive
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The department is entering its sixth year of operation and has a young, energetic faculty, with a low
student-faculty ratio (currently about 2:1). Students can receive a great deal of individual attention in the
shaping of their graduate programs and have an active role in the design of laboratory facilities and software.
The main hardware facility consists of four prototype ALTO minicomputers designed for interactive
computation. These computers along with terminals throughout the department form a network with a
central gateway computer, which maintains a large file system, a high-resolution printer/plotter, and
intelligent connections to the campus machines (a PDP KL10 and an IBM 3032) and to the ARPANET.
Each ALTO has its own 640 x 800 pixel raster display screen, automatically refreshed from core by the
processor, and thus capable of simultaneous display of simulated grayscale images, graphs, text, etc. Each has
64K words of core, a 2.5-megaword disk, and a 3-megabaud link with the other minicomputers and the
gateway computer.
The vision laboratory has its own computer on the 3-megabaud network. This computer controls a
high-resolution color raster display device with interactive capabilities, a flexible high-quality image input
device, and a mass storage device for image data.
A major addition to the department's network is its new DEC VAX-11/780 computer with 1.25-megabyte
main storage, running the Bell Laboratories' UNIX operating system.
Most students in the Department of Computer Science are either supported as research or teaching assistants
or are recipients of University fellowships. The 1979-80 stipend is $4000 for nine months, plus 24 hours of
tuition. Research assistants are expected to participate in one or more of the department's research projects.
Students holding teaching assistantships or University fellowships are expected to assist professors with their
teaching duties. Several students accept summer research support from the department (earning approximately
$2000), and others find summer employment in industry.
Full-time graduate tuition for the 1979-80 academic year is $3792 for 24 credit hours (a full-time load).
University-owned housing facilities include 960 apartments in four different areas, ranging in price from $163
per month for an unfurnished studio to $362 per month for a furnished apartment with two bedrooms and
two baths. Many graduate students live off campus. The Housing Office maintains a listing of available
accommodations near the University. A comprehensive board plan is available for $1047 a year, and several
dining areas offer meals on a cash basis. All students must pay a Health Service fee of $236 each year.
The current student population at the University of Rochester is about 8,300, including more than 3,300
graduate students. There are 27 full-time graduate students in the Department of Computer Science, all of
whom are supported by assistantships, fellowships, or tuition grants.
Located on the south shore of Lake Ontario, a short drive from the Finger Lakes region, Rochester is a
cultural center of upstate New York, with a metropolitan area population of 750,000. Opportunities for
cultural activities are offered year round by the Strasenburgh Planetarium, the University's Memorial Art
Gallery, the Rochester Museum and Science Center, and the Eastman Theatre, where concerts are given by
the Rochester Philharmonic and by students and faculty of the University's Eastman School of Music.
Rochester and the surrounding area have many lovely parks, and in the winter there are many ski areas within
an hour's drive. Known as the photographic and optical capital of the world, Rochester is the home of
Eastman Kodak, the Xerox Corporation, Bausch and Lomb, and many other highly technical industries.
The University of Rochester is an independent university comprising eight distinct schools and colleges: the
College of Arts and Science, the College of Education, the College of Engineering and Applied Science, the
University College of Liberal and Applied Studies, the Graduate School of Management, the School of
Medicine and Dentistry, the Eastman School of Music, and the School of Nursing. The River Campus, where
the Department of Computer Science is located, is situated on the east bank of the Genesee River, about 2
miles south of downtown Rochester.
Applicants are urged to write directly to the department for preliminary applications and additional
information. For maximum consideration, official applications for the fall term, including transcripts,
recommendations, and a $20 application fee, should be received prior to February 1. The Graduate Record
Examination should be taken no later than the preceding December.
Admissions Committee
Computer Science Department
605 Math Science Building
University of Rochester
Rochester, New York 14627
Telephone: (716) 275-5671
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THE FACULTY AND THEIR RESEARCH
James F. Alien, Assistant Professor of Computer Science; Ph.D., University of Toronto, 1979. Natural language processing;
artificial
intelligence; planning; representation of beliefs, goals, and action.
Harry G. Baker Jr., Assistant Professor of Computer Science; Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1978.
Programming
languages, machine and network architecture, natural language.
Dana H. Ballard, Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Radiology; Ph.D., University of California, Irvine, 1974.
Computer
vision, medical image diagnosis, geometric representation of objects, planning.
Christopher M. Brown, Assistant Professor of Computer Science; Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1972. Artificial
intelligence,
computer vision, graphics, production automation, geometric modeling. (On leave to Department of Electrical Engineering
)
Jerome A. Feldman, Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering and Head of the Department; Ph.D.,
Carnegie-Mellon
University, 1964. Artificial intelligence, programming languages, distributed computing, biologically plausible
distributed
information-processing models.
Gershon Kedem, Assistant Professor of Computer Science; Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, 1978. Numerical analysis,
mathematical
software.
James R. Low, Associate Professor of Computer Science; Ph.D., Stanford University, 1974. Data structures, programmin
g languages,
optimizing compilers.
Gary L. Peterson, Assistant Professor of Computer Science; Ph.D., University of Washington, 1979. Theoretical computer
science,
complexity of algorithms.
Joel I. Seiferas, Associate Professor of Computer Science; Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1974.
Automata-based
complexity, algorithms, combinatorics.
Kenneth R. Sloan Jr., Research Associate and Instructor in Computer Science; Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania,
1977. Artificial
intelligence, computer vision, interactive computer graphics, distributed systems.
Affiliated Faculty
David A. Goldstein, Associate Professor of Radiation Biology and Biophysics; M.D., Harvard Medical School,
1960. Medical
applications, real-time systems.
George Metakides, Assistant Professor of Mathematics; Ph.D., Cornell University, 1971. Logic, recursion theory. (On leave,
1979-80)
Paul J. Schweitzer, Professor of Business Administration; Sc.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1965. Data communica
tions,
computer performance analyses, configuration of teleprocessing systems.
Herbert B. Voelcker, Professor of Electrical Engineering; Ph.D., Imperial College of Science and Technology, University
of London,
1961. Computer-aided design, computer graphics, production automation.
©1979 Peterson's Guides / Princeton, New Jersey 08540