This course is intended to be a two semester "practicum'' in conducting research in AI. In the first semester, we will be discussing current papers as well as research methodology. The idea is to practice many of the skills necessary to doing research in AI: reading research papers critically, writing reviews of papers, identifying opportunities for followup research, and writing research proposals. The second semester focuses on how to conduct a research project: evaluation/experimentation and presenting results. The papers will cover a variety of topics related to research areas within the AI group in the department. We will start with a few papers in the instructors' areas (e.g., evolutionary computation, search, planning, agents) and those of other AI group faculty. The complete set of papers will be determined in large part by the interests of the class.

Instructors: Adele Howe Office: 446 CS Building Office Hours: TBD Email: howe@cs.colostate.edu Darrell Whitley Office Hours: TBD Email: whitley@cs.colostate.edu Lecture Time and Place: 10:00-11:00, MW, CSB Room 425

CS540, CS545 or permission of the instructor.

None, copies of recent research papers.

The primary requirement is a project proposal. Intermediate milestones will be given to encourage steady progress toward the project proposal. Early in the semester, each student will need to arrange a topic area with the instructors. By mid-semester, each student will hand in and present a mini-research exam on their topic. By the end of the semester, each student will produce a proposal for a project to be completed during the Spring semester while enrolled in CS641. The proposal will be presented both as a written paper and as a poster.

The poster will be presented during a special class session that will be run like a poster session at a conference. We will try to coordinate the time with at least one other graduate level course so that students will have a wider audience and an opportunity to see projects from other classes. As in a conference, refreshments will be served.

Guidelines on the paper and poster will be discussed as the due dates approach. Where appropriate, class time will be devoted to discussing research skills needed for the milestones. Note: Presentation skills (e.g., paper writing, orally presenting papers and designing posters) are critical to success as a scientist. If you have not taken a workshop from the writing center, then you are strongly encouraged to do so or at least take a draft of your proposal in for advice. This website lists the workshops for the fall. Your grade will depend in part on how well you have explained your ideas.

The mini-research exam will roughly follow the guidelines of the department's Ph.D. requirement but will be no more than 1/3 the size.

Students will hand in summaries/critiques of every third paper. During the first week of class, we will divide the class into three groups for the critiques. One critique (date/paper yet to be determined) will be graded more rigorously than the others and will be traded with others in the class for them to grade.

Responsibility for leading paper discussions will be divided between the participants. The first set of slots will be assigned on the first day of class.

Here are the formally graded elements of the course and associated weighting:

Activity	Weight
Project Proposal and Pre-Proposal	35%
Written summaries of papers (~7)	20%
Mini-research exam	15%
Leading discussions	15%
Participation in class	10%
Exchanged Critique	5%

Semester grades are determined by the weighted sum of points earned in each of these areas and follows the typical 90 and above is A, 80-90 is B, 70-80 is C, 60-70 is D and below 60 is F.

We encourage you to talk with other students about the papers and research ideas, but make sure you do your own work. Please read the student information sheet regarding incompletes, cheating, and class attendance.

Each deliverable (critique, pre-proposal, mini-research exam, etc.) must be submitted at the beginning of class on the given deadline for that assignment. Late critiques will not be accepted. Also, there will be no late period for submission of the project proposal (paper and poster). Late pre-proposal, mini-research exam, and critique of another's paper will incur 5% penalty per calendar day.

Pre-proposal	Monday, September 17th
Critique of exchanged critique	Monday, October 1st
Mini-research Exam	Monday, October 15th
Proposal Posters	Monday, December 3rd
Proposal paper	Wednesday, December 12th

All students are expected to conduct themselves professionally. We (the instructors and GTAs) assume you are familiar with the policies in the student information sheet for the department. Additionally, you are computing professionals, albeit perhaps just starting. You should be familiar with the code of conduct for the primary professional society, ACM. You can read the ACM Code of Conduct HERE.

We work to maintain an environment supportive of learning in the classroom and laboratory. Towards that end, we require that you be courteous to and respectful of your fellow participants (i.e., classmates, instructors, GTAs and any tutors). In particular:

• Please turn off the ring on your cell phone. If you are expecting an emergency call, sit near the door and slide out discretely to take it.
• In class use of electronic devices in general, and laptops specifically, is permitted as a courtesy so that you may better participate and learn. If at any time the instructor judges that an electronic device is becoming a distraction the student may be asked to to turn it off and put it away.