TSYS School of Computer Science @ Columbus State University
Course Syllabus: CPSC 6985- Research and Thesis (Computer Security)
Spring 2010
Instructor Information:
Mohamed Radhouane Chouchane
Office: Center for Commerce and Technology, Room 430
Phone: (706) 568-5376
Email:
Homepage:
Office Hours: TWR 12:30 pm - 4:00 pm
(via email and by appointment)
Course Title: CPSC 6985- Research and Thesis
(This is an online offering of CPSC 6985, CougarNET email, as well as CougarVIEW Chat will be the primary communication media.)
Official Course Description:
Application of a student's coursework to a significant and current problem in computer science. This involves a research project to be designed in consultation with a member of the graduate faculty of the Computer Science Department who agrees to direct the research and become the thesis advisor. Additional requirements include: A) The creation of a thesis committee of at least three members of the graduate faculty of the Computer Science Department. B) A proposal approved by the Chairperson of the Computer Science Department in consultation with the student's thesis committee. C) Successful defense of the thesis to the thesis committee. May be taken twice for credit. (S/U grading).
Prerequisites: Approval by the instructor.
Required Textbook: None
Supplementary Materials:
- Journal articles and conference papers
- Software found on campus and on the Internet
Course Objectives:
1)Students will learn how to identify any known or unknown problems in any area of computer security.
2)Students will be able to design and implement new solution(s) to the identified problems.
3)Students will be able to use existing formal methods to evaluate their solutions.
4)Students will be able to document the project that they intend to undertake in the form of a formal research proposal.
5)Students will able to describe the relevance of an open problem that they have identified, any existing solutions for the problem, as well as how their solution(s) improve upon the existing ones.
6)Students will be able to document their work in the form of a formal thesis document.
7)Students will be able to orally argue the relevance and soundness of their work before a committee of information assurance professors.
Major Topics:
1)Intrusion detection
2)Behavioral Analysis of Malicious Attackers
3)Machine Learning
4)Malware Detection
Instructional Methods and Techniques:
1)Regular weekly, virtual meetings with the instructor to discuss the research problem that the student is currently attempting to solve and the possible ways of going about finding a solution for it
2)Weekly reports (sent by the student to the instructor for feedback) summarizing the research directions that the student is currently taking to learn more about a research problem, including the student's findings on what others have done to try to solve the problem
3)A number of research papers will be assigned by the instructor to focus the student's attention on a particular set of problems that need to be addressed for the student to get closer to solving their main thesis problem
4)A set of written guidelines on how to write scientific theses and research papers
Assignments for Course:
- Readings from popular computing periodicals
- Online research and reporting of findings
- Writing several weekly reports that accurately describe and give credit to other researchers' work
- Writing a thesis proposal
- Writing a thesis document
- Finding, implementing and evaluating a new solution to an existing, relevant problem in computer security, and showing in what way(s) the solution is better that existing ones
- Orally presenting the work before a committee of information assurance faculty
Assessment Criteria:
(1) Proposal:A two-page research proposal must be submitted by the student to the department's chairperson and the student's thesis committee.
The proposal must identify
- the problem a solution to which the student intends to find,
- the resources (such as software or computing literature) that the student has on hand or needs to complete the work,
- a synopsis of the known shortcomings of the existing solutions to the problem,
- how the student intends to solve the problem to address one or more of these shortcomings, as well as,
- how long the student expects it would take her/him to evaluate their solution, produce a thesis document, and orally present their work before the thesis committee.
The proposal must be approved by the student's thesis committee and the department's chairperson.
(2) Thesis document:The thesis document must be written to meet the highest standards of scientific writing. It must clearly
- describe and argue for the relevance of the problem that the student has solved,
- give a comprehensive analysis of the previous attempts at solving the problem and how the student's solution addresses the shortcomings of these previous attempts,
- give a complete description and evaluation the student's proposed solution, and
- give a complete description of any possible directions for further work that can be taken to improve upon the student's proposed solution.
The thesis document must be approved by the student's thesis committee.
(3) Oral exam:The student's oral presentation of her/his work (often known as a thesis “defense”) will take place in a formal setting, perhaps with the student using a set of slides to support her/his presentation, before the student's graduate committee.
The oral exam will take place no later than two days before the day on which final grades are due, and must be scheduled early in advance with me and with the student's thesis committee.
For the student to pass their oral exam, all of the student's thesis committee members must approve the student's work.
Tentative Schedule (Subject to change as we progress through the course)
Date / Work DueW01:01/12/10 / Weekly Report/ Thesis Draft/ Virtual Meeting with Instructor
W02:01/19/10 / Weekly Report/ Thesis Draft/ Implementation/Virtual Meeting with Instructor
W03:01/26/10 / Weekly Report/ Thesis Draft/ Implementation/Virtual Meeting with Instructor
W04:02/02/10 / Weekly Report/ Thesis Draft/ Implementation/Virtual Meeting with Instructor/Selection of Thesis Committee
W05:02/09/10 / Weekly Report/ Thesis Draft/ Implementation/Virtual Meeting with Instructor/Preliminary Results
W06:02/16/10 / Weekly Report/ Thesis Draft/ Implementation/Virtual Meeting with Instructor/Preliminary Results
W07:02/23/10 / Weekly Report/ Thesis “Pre-Submission to Committee” Draft/Virtual Meeting with Instructor
W08:03/02/10 / Weekly Report/ Thesis “Pre-Submission to Committee” Draft/Virtual Meeting with Instructor/Restructuring of Draft
W09:03/09/10 / Spring Break. No classes.
W10:03/16/10 / Weekly Report/ Virtual Meeting with Instructor/Submit Thesis Draft to Committee
W11:03/23/10 / Weekly Report/ Virtual Meeting with Instructor/More Experiments
W12:03/30/10 / Weekly Report/ Virtual Meeting with Instructor/More Experiments/ Implement Committee's input on submitted draft.
W13:04/06/10 / Weekly Report/ Virtual Meeting with Instructor/ Oral Exam Prep/Implement Committee's input on submitted draft/Revamp Thesis
W14:04/13/10 / Weekly Report/ Virtual Meeting with Instructor/Revamp Thesis/ Oral Exam Prep/Schedule Date for Oral Exam if Committee OK with draft.
W15:04/20/10 / Weekly Report/ Virtual Meeting with Instructor/ Oral Exam Prep
W16:04/27/10 / Weekly Report/ Physical Meeting with Instructor/ Oral Exam Prep/ Oral exam administered no later than 2 days before the last day of Spring classes.
General Policies:
Students are responsible for (1) working independently on their thesis project, and (2) seeking the instructor's guidance on (i) how to organize their research effort, (ii) where to look in order to find out what others have done to solve any of the problems that the student is trying to solve, as well as (iii) how to structure their thesis document and oral exam to meet the standards of our field and the expectations of the thesis committee.
Research is an unending process. No guarantees can be assumed that any problem can be solved or that a solution to a given problem can be constructed and evaluated in less than any given amount of time. Taking this course twice does not always lead to getting thesis credit. The student is advised that they may have to take CPSC 6985 more than twice to complete their work to the satisfaction of the thesis committee.
Should any concerns about the course’s format and requirements be addressed, students should immediately consult with the instructor by email or during office hours.
Our School's thesis template must be used to typeset the final draft of the student's thesis. The guidelines on formatting and submitting final thesis drafts may be requested from the School's graduate committee.
Our School's rules for thesis submission and defense are available at
Before final submission to the dean's office, all copies of the student's final thesis must first be approved by the instructor.
Academic dishonestyAcademic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, activities such as cheating and plagiarism. It is a basis for disciplinary action.
Collaboration is permitted with other computing/information assurance researchers, as long as their contributions do not exceed general ideas on what properties a solution to any of the student's problems should have. Contributions must be clearly cited and acknowledged within the thesis document and during the oral exam. Experimental results should in no circumstances be generated using data whose sources and/or nature are questionable. The student should very carefully make sure that any software products he/she used or implemented to carry out a certain task perform exactly as advertised by the package's description.
Written reports, including the thesis document and the final presentation, may not contain sections that have been imported verbatim from an outside source, be it online (such as a web page) or offline (such as a book or an article), unless the quotation is kept short and its relevance to the overall document is deemed absolutely necessary to conveying the student's message. For the research proposal, thesis document, and oral presentation, the penalty for the occurrence of this type of academic dishonesty may be a failing grade for this course.
If you have any questions about this, please see me immediately.
( Dishonesty/Academic Misconduct)
CSU ADA Statement
If you have a documented disability as described by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (P.L. 933-112 Section 504) and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and would like to request academic and/or physical accommodations please contact Joy Norman at the Office of Disability Services in the Center for Academic Support and Student Retention, Tucker Hall (706) 568-2330, as soon as possible. Course requirements will not be waived but reasonable accommodations may be provided as appropriate.