This document has not been updated since 1999. Some of the information is still relevant, some is not.
There are many other useful sources of information for new faculty, including
The faculty information page: This includes a summary of the information in this document as well as other general information that might be useful for SCS faculty.The SCS administrative services page: This describes many of the services available within SCS.
How to compute like a grad student: A nice guide to the SCS computing facilities. It was written for graduate students, but is equally helpful for new faculty.
The SCS Home Pages: There are actually two home pages. One is designed for outside users (people visiting our pages from outside of SCS), and the other for inside users. You should visit both.
SCS Acronyms: A list of acronyms frequently heard around SCS (AFHAS).
Disclaimer: The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the Computer Science Department, the Robotics Institute, the School of Computer Science, or Carnegie Mellon University. Please send me any corrections or suggestions for additional information to include or questions to answer.
Facilities home page: The official guide to SCS computing facilities.Here is a list of some documents that are worth getting in hardcopy.Faculty Research Guides (CSD orRI): This is given to the incoming PhD students, and is a good summary of what your fellow faculty are doing. These are also available in hardcopy from Sharon Burks (CS) or Marce Zaragoza (RI).
University faculty policies: This includes most university policies relevant to faculty and research. It is available in hardcopy as the Faculty Handbook from Warner Hall.
CMU student handbook: This is given to all undergraduates, in hardcopy. It contains the official CMU policy on cheating, etc., and might be important if you are teaching undergraduates.
Harry Bovik's Mail: This is a database of information on local topics, such as how to find a good doctor or good car mechanic. It has been collected over the years by people in SCS.
Carnegie Mellon Factbook: A collection of facts about the university, ranging from admissions statistics to financial statements.
The guides to various graduate programs, including CS and Robotics are available online, but I prefer the hardcopy versions, which are somewhat different (see below).
Phone books: The University phone book (called The Carnegie Mellon Faculty/Staff Directory) is available from Karen Olack (CS) or Sandy Rocco (RI). This has lots of useful information in the back, including an organizational chart. An online version is also available, but is difficult to use (use your andrew ID and password).
Regular Bell phone books are available from Jim Skees. Phone numbers for people in SCS can be found through the people index, or you can get hardcopy phone lists from Jim Skees or Nancy Serviou.Blotter Schedule: You can get a big sheet containing the official university schedule from the supply room which you can use as a desk blotter or poster.
Guide to Living in Pittsburgh: This invaluable guide is written and maintained by the CS PhD students. Get it from Sharon Burks.
Pittsburgh Figured Out: This commercial publication is highly recommended for navigating the streets. Buy it from a bookstore.
Graduate Studies in Computer Science (for CS) or Graduate Studies in Robotics: These are produced every 2 years, and contain pictures of all the faculty, so they are very useful to help remembering who is who (most of the faculty in Robotics are also in CS, so if you are in CS, you probably only need the CS book). These are available online (see above), but I prefer the hardcopy versions, which are currently more complete. The CS book contains an overview of the department and descriptions of all the SCS degree programs (PhD in CS, PhD in Algorithms, Combinatorics and Optimization (ACO), PhD in Pure and Applied Logic (PAL), PhD in Robotics, and Masters of Software Engineering), and the application material for prospective CS PhDs. The Robotics book describes the Robotics PhD program, the Robotics faculty, and the various labs in the Robotics Institute. Most of this information is available on the web from the appropriate home pages, but it is nice to have it collected together in a hardcopy version. An initial version of the Graduate Studies in COmputer Science is now available on the Web.
Computer: Howard Wactlar will make sure you get an appropriate computer in your office. See computers below.
Computer Accounts: the facilities administrative page describes how to get an AFS directory and an account on the general purpose machines.
Macintosh or PC Software: These are much cheaper at the CMU Computer store than externally. See software below.
Modems, phone lines: If you want to work from home, the department will probably pay for your modem and extra phone line or MCN connection. Talk to Jim Skees.
cs.cmu.edu if it cannot find one.
finger that you are probably used to
from your previous places. You don't have to know the person's
machine; just do finger myers@cs.cmu.edu. Be sure to set
up a .plan file in your home directory so other people can find out
about you. Note: the .plan file should be on the machine on which
you receive your mail. You can also have .plan files elsewhere.
csd command operates on a separate database, and
quickly lists people's office, phone, and home address and home phone.
Type csd -e to add a new entry or modify an old one.
finger bam@cmu.edu. To create a name for yourself,
telnet cmu.edu after your CS account is set up.
Audio-visual: There are overhead projectors in almost all conference rooms and classrooms. You can get transparencies from your secretary. There are also overhead projectors and slide projectors available to be borrowed in the CS Main Office. If you are teaching a class, there is a locked cabinet in most classrooms which also contains an overhead and slide projector, and your secretary can get you a key. (See also the section on video.) Instructional Technology can bring in equipment to project a computer screen (ask your secretary to arrange this).
Black Friday: These are meetings once per term (usually in December and May) to discuss the PhD students. You should be in town for these meetings if you have PhD students.
Bulletin Boards (electronic): See News.
Computers: Every faculty member will get an appropriate workstation or personal computer. Howard Wactlar is in charge of this. There is a monthly service charge charged per machine and user (see below) which covers our facilities costs. My experience is that if you ask Howard for a machine, somehow it magically appears within a few months. The same goes for computers for your students. If you want a special machine or other computing equipment, and have the money to pay for it, you can order it through the SCS procurement office. For Macintoshes and PCs, the Computer Store has good prices, and you can charge them to a CMU account by getting a form from Karen Olack (CS) or Debbie Zalewski (RI).
Conference Rooms: The department controls a number of conference rooms, including Wean 8220, 7220, 4603, 4601, 1302, 4623, 4625, etc. Your office key will open the door to most of these. These can be scheduled at the beginning of each term for weekly meetings and classes, or anytime for specific meetings. Ask your secretary. You can also reserve conference rooms in the University Center.
Copiers: There are high-speed and low-speed copiers all around. Ask your secretary for your secret code number. Copies by default will be charged to your FRAS account (see below). If you plan to make a significant number of copies for a class, make sure you get a separate class code. Many copiers can work with overheads. There is a color copier in Wean 3107, but you will need a separarate number for this copier. Your secretary might have a number, or you can ask Colleen Everett about getting one. Your office key will open the door to most copier rooms. Ask Jim Skees for keys to any room you don't have access to.
Copy centers: SCS has a copy center located in Wean 4603 (x8-3729), that can be used for any large copy jobs. Depending on their load, they can typically complete a job in an hour or two, although they prefer more lead time. There is also a University Printing center (x8-2970) that can be used for more professional printing, such as high-definition copies, or bulk color copies.
Crashed Computers and Printers: Call the operator who is on duty 24 hours at extension 8-2607.
Documentation: There is a centralized document room for Unix programs. Ask Colleen Everett in Wean 5216 for a list of what is available. Most of this information is also available online off of the facilities home page.
External and other: There is a central database
of answers to questions about doctors, contractors, repairmen,
landlords and many other topics called bovik. For things
that don't change very frequently (restaurants, neighborhoods,
schools, etc.), consult the Guide to Living in Pittsburgh. If this
doesn't answer your question, it is acceptable to post questions to
the cmu.cs.general bboard.
FAX: There are a number of FAX machines around. Ask your secretary. The main FAX is in the CS main office, 4212 Wean Hall. The number for that FAX is (412) 268-5576.
Food: Many faculty eat at the Faculty Dining Room in the University Center. You should pay your dues and become a member of the Faculty Dining Room (you will get a bill in the mail). Wean Hall offers a limited variety of food on the 5th floor and vending machines on the 2nd. The University Center has a larger variety of food outlets, and the schedules are available off of their home page. There are also various other food vendors around campus - ask people what's good. To order food for a meeting, consult your secretary about CMU or external catering.
General:Sharon Burks is the Associate Department Head of CS and knows most of the answers and who to ask for the others. For Robotics, ask Sandy Rocco who is their Associate Director.
Hiring Staff: Since we have a very small student-faculty ratio, many projects hire staff programmers to help get the work done. Howard Wactlar can help you decide whether it is appropriate to hire staff members, and Allen Stoltzfus (CS) or Sandy Rocco (RI) can help you see if your budget will cover it.
Hiring Undergraduates: One relatively cheap way to get work done is to hire undergraduates to do it. The undergraduates here are pretty smart, and can do good work. Allen Stoltzfus (CS) or Sandy Rocco (RI) will help you see if you can afford it, and Kathy McNiff (CS) or Debbie Zalewski (RI) will help you fill out the right forms. Mark Stehlik seems to personally know every CS undergrad and is a great source of evaluation of the applicants.
Mail and Overnight Mail: Your secretary will usually handle this for you. We have an exclusive agreement with the United Parcel Service (UPS) which gives us cheaper rates. If you need to send a courier package after hours, there is an UPS box in the Wean 5th floor entrance, and UPS picks up at the CMU Security office around 7pm. Your secretary has more information about this, check with her. If you object to using UPS, you can use another service, but you will have to call them to have them pick it up. You can charge overnight mail to any of your accounts, including your FRAS.
News about CMU and SCS: The bboard cmu.misc.news contains official CMU news and public relations announcements. The bboard cmu.cs.scs contains the official SCS announcements and everyone is expected to read it daily. You might also want to read cmu.cs.general. Here is a list of other newsgroups you might find useful.
Office supplies: There is a central supply of the basic office supplies like paper, pens, staplers, etc. in the main CS office for CS and Smith Hall for RI. For stuff they don't carry, the CMU bookstore is usually cheaper than Office Depot and other external places. For big items like bulletin boards, shelves, file cabinets, phones, etc., ask Jim Skees.
Page Charges: Some publications like ACM TOPLAS request that authors pay for the privilege of publishing. SCS generally does not pay these charges.
Parking: If you haven't signed up for a parking place in advance, you have to go to the Parking Office (in the parking garage near the stadium x8-2052) and sign up to be put on a waiting list. In the meantime, the parking office recommends you use the visitor parking for $4 per day or the meters around campus or in the parking garage. The metered spots in the garage are almost always available.
Policies: Some policies are available online off of the faculty information page. The SCS's official policies on travel reimbursement, consulting, etc. are not written down in a central place. Ask Sharon Burks or Sandy Rocco.
Printers: There are high-speed and low-speed printers all around. To find the closest printer ask your secretary or find it on the online list of printers. Many are two-sided to conserve paper. There are also a few color printers around including Rainbow, Crayon, and Palette. Many of the printers also accept overheads. Your office key will open the door to most printer rooms. If a printer jams, it is best to call the operator at x8-2607 unless you are sure you know how to fix it.
Reimbursements, Reserving Conference rooms, etc.: Your secretary is a good source for information. In particular, secretaries know about how to reserve conference rooms for meetings, get food for visitors, get expenses reimbursed for travel or visitors, arrange audio- visual equipment for presentations and classes, etc.
Slides, Posters, and Photos: If you need to make 35mm slides for a talk or a fancy poster for a conference, the school has a Graphics Deli that can help. Many faculty make their own slides using PowerPoint on their Macintoshes, and then just have the deli shoot the slides. Remember to have your material done early because they get busy before major conferences.
Software Help: For immediate help, ask the
Operator (x8-2607). For almost any question about how to use software
or problems with the software, sending mail to help@cs.cmu.edu will
get an answer within one or two days (but sometimes much longer).
These are also the people to help with moving and installing machines
and setting up network connections. Mail to gripe goes to the same
people. Questions can also be posted to an appropriate
bboard/newsgroup (e.g.,
cmu.cs.unix.forum,
cmu.cs.scribe,
cmu.cs.framemaker,
cmu.cs.mac.forum, etc.),
or for a faster response, to the appropriate zephyr instance
(help.<something>).
Software: Unix software is almost always available on line. Send mail to help@cs.cmu.edu to ask where it is. We have site licenses for a bunch of PC and Mac software, including most Microsoft products. Ask help@cs for how to access it for free. Other PC and Macintosh software is usually cheapest from the CMU Computer Store (x8-2636). To charge stuff from the computer store to a contract or CMU account, get a form from Karen Olack (CS) or Debbie Zalewski (RI).
Teaching: The university has a teaching center (x8-2896) which has lots of ways to help courses be more effective. Allan Fisher is in charge of the schedule of CS courses for undergraduates. For PhD courses, you can schedule them directly with Sharon Burks. New CS PhD courses have to be approved by the DRC which Jeannette Wing heads. For robotics, talk to Matt Mason. For advice about grading, cheating and other matters about undergraduates, talk first with Mark Stehlik. For graduates, talk with Jeannette or Matt. Sharon Burks (CS) or Marce Zaragoza (RI) will arrange for a classroom for graduate courses. For A/V equipment for courses, see Audio-visual above. Kathy Sutton can arrange with the bookstore to order your texts. If you want to set up special mailing lists or bboards for your course, e-mail to help@cs.
Technical Reports: SCS encourages you to make technical reports of your papers. It seems that the average faculty produces about 1 to 4 a year, and they can be of any length. Contact Catherine Copetas (CS) or Marce Zaragoza (RI) for details.
Video: To get a VHS video player in a talk or class, you can borrow the player on a cart from Catherine Copetas. There are VHS players permanently installed in the conference rooms Wean 4623 and Wean 4625. 4625 also has a 3/4' u-matic player. You can also borrow a machine from Instructional Technology (for a fee). Your secretary knows how. If you want to just watch a tape, you can ask your secretary when 4623 or 4625 is available. To make a video, the school has a video technician, Jim Kocher.
Working from Home: Jim Skees can arrange for an extra phone line or MCN connection to your home. Howard Wactlar can arrange for an extra computer which you can take home.
Writing: If you or one of your students need help writing papers or proposals, the school has a research documents group. This group is very helpful in putting together yearly grant reports, as well as organizing proposals in the correct format required by various funding agencies.
Raj Reddy: Dean of the school.
Jim Morris: Department head of the Computer Science Department (CSD).
Takeo Kanade: Director of the Robotics Institute (RI).
Daniel Siewiorek: Director of the HCI Institute (HCII).
Jaime Carbonell: Director of the Language Technologies Institute (LTI).
Tom Mitchell: Director of the Center for Automated Learning and Discovery (CALD).
All are quite approachable, and are quite willing to talk to you about anything. Raj's boss is Paul Christiano, the Provost, and his boss is Robert Mehrabian, the president (for now). A complete chart of the organization of the university is in the back of the Faculty/Staff Directory (phone book).
There are lots of other assistant and associate deans that are in charge of various things:
Sharon Burks: Associate Department Head, Computer Science. Handles most of the day-to-day running of the CS department.
Catherine Copetas: Assistant Dean, Industrial Relations/Alumni. Handles industrial relations and fund raising from industry. Also in charge of technical reports.
Allan Fisher: Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education. In charge of the undergrads.
Matt Mason: Chair of the Robotics PhD program.
Sandy Rocco: Robotics Associate Director. Handles the money, and many other things.
Mary Shaw: Associate Dean for Professional Programs. In charge of forming new professional Masters programs.
Jim Skees: Space and Maintenance Coordinator. Handles space, physical facilities and keys.
Mark Stehlik: Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Education.
Allen Stoltzfus: CSD Business Manager. Handles the money.
Howard Wactlar: Vice Provost for Research Computing. In charge of facilities, machines, staff hiring, etc.
Jeannette Wing: Associate Department Head for Graduate Education. In charge of the CS PhD program.
There are also several centers that involve SCS as well as other departments and/or other Universities. Here is a list of some of them.
Software Engineering Institute (SEI): is a research institute funded by the Department of Defense and housed in a building on Fifth Avenue. It is not technically part of SCS, although a number of SCS faculty also have appointments at the SEI.Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition (CNBC): A joint program between Carnegie Mellon (Biology, Computer Science, and Psychology) and the University of Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC): A center jointly managed by CMU, University of Pittsburgh and Westinghouse. It is housed at the Mellon Institute on Fifth Avenue.
Engineering Design Research Center (EDRC): A NSF funded center involving many departments at CMU.
The Information Networking Institute (INI): An institute involving SCS, GSIA (our business school), and CIT (our engineering school).
Admissions Committee: Decides which PhD students to admit. Lots of work for the members.
Doctoral Review Committee (DRC): An oversight committee for the CS PhD program. Jeannette Wing is in charge.
Faculty Senate: Actually not in SCS, this is the university-wide faculty body. Teaching and research faculty (see below) are eligible to be members. Meeting schedules, agendas, minutes, and committee reports are posted on the bboard cmu.andrew.org.faculty-senate. Current representatives are, from CS: Robert Harper and Jacobo Carrasquel; and from Robotics: Navin Chandra and Katia Sycara.
CSD Hiring Committee: Advises Jim Morris on who to hire.
This committee typically consists of about 6 people, with representatives from each area. The current members can be found in the hiring-cs mailing list. The way it has worked in 1996 and 1997 is that each application is made into a folder, and each folder is assigned to a shepherd on the committee. That shepherd then passes the folder around to any faculty who can give feedback on the applicant. The shepherd is then in charge of summarizing the feedback at the committee meetings (which meet either once a week, or every other week). The committee then decides which applicants to interview, and selects a host for each interview. The host is typically not on the committee. A description of the duties of a host is available online. After the interview the host collects the feedback and sends it to the committee.Marriage Committee: Assigns new PhD students to faculty.
Policy Committee: A school-wide committee that meets monthly and advises Raj.
Promotions Committees: These are formed to evaluate faculty. Sharon maintains a schedule of most of the meetings.
Robotics Institute Review Committee: Reviews and advises the director on policies of the Robotics Institute.
Robotics Program Committee: Controls the Robotics PhD program.
SCS Council: In charge of new academic programs in the school, new curricula, academic policy.
Space Committee: Headed by Scott Fahlman, assigns offices.
Technology Transfer Committee: if you have an idea you want to patent, you are supposed to bring it to your business manager, who will forward it this committee. Hagen Schempf is the head of the committee. The committee will recommend to the University Technology Transfer Office whether to fund the patent or not.
FRAS accounts: If you are a full-time faculty in the CS department you should have a FRAS (Faculty Resource Allocation System) account. This is discretionary money given to you by the department on a yearly basis. This money is to be spent on items such as books, business cards, copying, telephone charges, and travel, for which you cannot charge to another contract (either because you don't have one, or because it would be inappropriate). There is an official document describing the current policy, but you might want to ask Jim Morris or Allen Stoltzfus for up-to-date information. Basic charges that your students make will also be charged to your FRAS account, unless otherwise specified. Here is what students have be told about it.
Procurement Cards: These are cards that are associated with accounts. They are basically credit cards (Master Card) and can be used as such. For example you can use them to order software from outside vendors or pay for pizza for a departmental lunch. You can get a procurement card for any of your accounts, and charges will be taken directly from that account. However, there are rules on what you can charge to these cards, and someone still needs to send in all the receipts to justify the expenses. Because the restrictions can be somewhat complicated, many of us let our secretaries handle our procurement cards. In some cases the faculty who share a secretary will share a card, and the secretary manages the distribution of charges to the appropriate accounts.
Computer charges: Our computer facilities are paid for by charging a monthly service rate on each Machine/OS you have attached to the CS network, as well as a charge per user. These fees cover all day-to-day maintenance, including installation, network connections, software maintenance (for facilities supported software), system administration, AFS directories, file backup, and user consulting. The fee depends on both your machine and operating system, and in general is cheaper for machines and OSs that are more prevalent in the department. A complete list of the fees and what they cover is given in the facilities Schedule of Rates and Services. These fees can be paid from any account, and by default are charged to the same account as your salary. The information on what facilities charges are being put on your accounts is available online. Although some people always complain, almost all of us agree that computing facilities are much better organized here than at other Universities we have spent time at.
E&GO (Education and General Operating account): This is the departmental general account that supports education, the administrative costs of the department, and miscellaneous other costs. This money comes from Warner Hall (the University administration) and ultimately comes from tuition and contract overheads. The amount we get as a school is negotiated by Raj. If you are a teaching faculty, part of your salary will be covered by E&GO. Most of our support staff are also covered by E&GO since government contracts typically don't allow us to charge support staff directly. Some of our students are covered by E&GO when there are no other sources available. Also when a student is a TA, part of their costs (salary and tuition) is covered by E&GO.
Salary: Your salary is set by the department head. It is primarily based upon your rank and seniority.
A lot of information on government funding agencies and their calls for proposals is available on the Web. You can start here. The University also has a subscription to the Commerce Business Daily newsfeed, which announces most government agency call for proposals. The research documents group has created a searchable index to this information.
Once you have an idea for a research project, you should discuss it with Jim Morris (CS), Takeo Kanade (RI), and Raj Reddy. Annmarie Zanger (CS) or Barbara Osborn (RI) has the documents that describe the appropriate format for proposals to NSF, ARPA and other government agencies. You will be responsible for the technical part, but Maggie or Barbara will write the budget part. Be sure to check the budget carefully after it comes back from the business office. Catherine Copetas (CS) and Sandy Rocco (RI) can help with proposals to industry. If you need help with the writing of the proposal, contact the technical writing staff. Ultimately, Raj Reddy and either Jim Morris or Takeo Kanade have to approve all proposals that are sent out from the department.
Teaching faculty are responsible for both teaching and research, and are eligible for tenure. They typically teach 2 courses per year: one graduate and one undergraduate. They are called Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor.
Research faculty have no teaching requirements, are not eligible for tenure, but otherwise have the same rights and responsibilities as teaching faculty. In particular research faculty are supposed to supervise PhD students and be principal investigators on research proposals. In CS, these are called Research Computer Scientist, Senior Research Computer Scientist, and Principal Research Computer Scientist. In Robotics, they are called Research Scientist, Senior Research Scientist, and Principal Research Scientist. Both teaching and research faculty are evaluated by school-wide committees.
Systems faculty, who are called Systems Scientist, Senior Systems Scientist, and Principal Systems Scientist, are supposed to have PhDs, but usually work on other people's projects. They are generally not required to write papers, and they are evaluated mostly by their supervisor, who is the principal investigator of the contract they are working on. They are not allowed to supervise PhD students without a co-advisor who is a research or teaching faculty, but they can serve on thesis committees.
Lecturers teach and advise but have no research responsibilities. The lecturing faculty has five ranks: Instructor 1, Instructor 2, Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, and Principal Lecturer. They are not eligible for tenure.
Special faculty are usually visitors. This position typically lasts at most 2 years.
Research Associates are post-docs and are also meant as temporary positions, although there is no fixed time limit.
Here are the official school documents describing what is expected for various promotions:
Promotions happen at 4 levels, the department, the school, the university and the president. The department level is the most important, and it is very rare that a decision is overturned at some other level. The typical schedule for teaching and research faculty for all levels of promotion and reapointments is Sharon maintains the schedule of most of these meetings.Every faculty is appointed a "mentor" for each of their promotion cases (note that renewals are not considered promotion cases). Here is a document that describes the official tasks of the mentor. In addition to these official tasks, the mentor often gives advice to the faculty on how to put together a case.
Here is some advice from Randy Bryant (full Professor). One piece of useful advice I got early on was to avoid viewing the promotions business as a game to be played explicitly. Instead, you should do the best work you possibly can for the sake of advancing the state of the art in your field. Along the way, it's important to disseminate your results through publications, presentations, software distributions, etc. If you do good work, and the rest of the world finds out about it, then the promotions will occur along the way.
The students will evaluate your teaching at the end of each course with a standard Faculty Course Evaluation (FCE) form. There are also university and department awards for good teaching. With the university's new emphasis on quality undergraduate teaching, the department has promised to take quality of teaching more into account for evaluation of teaching faculty, but your primary evaluation will still be based on your research.
Your salary is set by the department head. It is primarily based upon your rank and how long you have been in it. Recently, the university has limited raises to about 3%.
Thanks to Steve Shafer for the information about Robotics, and to Jim Morris, Greg Abowd, Bernita Myers, Barbara Osborn, Sandy Rocco, Maggie Muller, Karen Olack, Allen Stoltzfus, Adam Beguelin, Jeannette Wing, Paul Heckbert, David Garlan, Randy Bryant, Andrew Moore, David Bourne, and Bonnie John for useful comments on earlier drafts.
There are many things we would like to add to this document when we have time. Here are some of them. If you have other ideas, please tell us.