Undergraduate Newsletter for October, 2001
                ------------------------------------------

Dear CS Student: 

I hope this letter finds you enjoying the last week of your summer 
and ready to resume your studies back here at Boston University. 
 
I’d like to take this opportunity to fill you in on news for the 
coming year, including new or changed courses and some new faces 
you will be seeing around the department in the fall. After 
stepping down as chairman a year ago, and enjoying a restful 
and productive sabbatical, I am ready to join the department 
administration again in the role of Undergraduate Director. 
My new office is MCS 283, my phone is 353-8926, and my email 
is snyder@cs.bu.edu.  Please think of me as a resource for any 
problems or concerns you have regarding your studies in our 
department. As usual, in the spring semester our faculty spent 
considerable time interviewing new faculty candidates.  We are 
happy to report that we have hired two new faculty who will 
start in fall 2001:

Leo Reyzin is a researcher in cryptography and computer security 
who is joining us after graduate studies at MIT.  Leo's office 
will be in MCS 287, and will join Gene Itkis in teaching our 
cryptography and security classes. 

Hongwei Xi is an experienced teacher and researcher from the 
University of Cincinnati who will be moving to Boston University 
in the fall.  Hongwei does research in  software systems and 
programming languages, and will be teaching CS 520 (Programming 
Languages) in the fall; you might also catch him in CS 320 
starting in spring of 2002. 

In addition, we have a new CS 101 instructor, Monica Stoica, 
who just completed her graduate studies at the University of 
Arkansas.  Monica will be a full-time instructor teaching two 
sections of CS 101 each semester, and developing new 100-level 
course offerings for non-majors.   

Finally, our Staff Coordinator, Corrie Butler, will be moving into 
a new administrative position as Grants Administrator, and we will 
be hiring a new person to replace her, so you will be seeing a new 
face at her desk when you stop in the CS department in the fall. 
   
There are a couple of late changes to the fall course schedule 
that you should note: 

CS 591 G1 (Topics in CS) is the first offering of a course in 
Data Mining and Indexing, which will become a regular part of 
the fall schedule and taught by George Kollios; you’ll need 
to have taken CS 560 to take this course.  The time is MWF 1-2. 

CS 591 B1 is cancelled. 

Discussion sections have been added to CS 332 and CS 350; if 
you are in one of these classes, please add a discussion section 
to your schedule:
CS 332:   A2: F 11-12     A3: M 2-3
CS 350:   A2: F 2-3         A3: F 3-4            A4: M 11-12 
  
Finally, I’d like to call your attention to job opportunities 
for undergraduates in the department: 

Graders for CS classes, from CS 101 to the 400 level are needed. 
Duties include grading homework in consultation with the instructor 
and Teaching Fellow, and maintaining the course database of grades.   

Terminal Assistants in the CS lab.  Duties include staffing the 
help desk and (depending on your level of experience) helping 
maintain the department computing cluster. 

Web Manager for CS.  The department web page will be undergoing a
redesign soon, and we need a conscientious student with experience 
in web design and web-site maintenance to manage our web site. 
 
Part-time Java programmer.  I will have a position (5 hours a week) 
for a student programmer to develop educational software for CS classes.  
You must know Java and have taken CS 210 to help in this project.  
 
Watch your email the first week of classes for details about these 
positions.  

Please enjoy your last fleeting days of summer, and I wish you success 
in the coming year at BU!

Cheers, 

   Wayne Snyder 
   CS Undergraduate Director
   MCS 283
   OHs: T 12:30 - 2, Th 3:30 - 5
   snyder@cs.bu.edu
   353-8926