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Research and Teaching in Computer Science

Research and Teaching in Computer Science. Pankaj Jalote Microsoft Chair Professor Dept of Computer Sc. And Engg. I.I.T. Delhi jalote@cse.iitd.ac.in. Research. What is Research?. Research. Answers some general question, whose answer is useful and unknown

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Research and Teaching in Computer Science

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  1. Research and Teaching in Computer Science Pankaj Jalote Microsoft Chair Professor Dept of Computer Sc. And Engg. I.I.T. Delhi jalote@cse.iitd.ac.in

  2. Research • What is Research?

  3. Research • Answers some general question, whose answer is useful and unknown • The question may not be known or articulated before the research/answer • Creates new knowledge which is interesting/useful

  4. Science and Engineering Research • Science research: Focuses on discovery of facts and laws of nature • Explains, predicts, defines limits,… • Engineering is a synthetic discipline; engineering research facilitates creation • Creation of new artifacts • Or improving existing artifacts • CS is engineering in that it is synthetic • Some aspects are in the science domain

  5. CS Research • Research (result) must have • A new idea (algo, data struct, process,…) • Which leads to some improvement • Newness is necessary but not sufficient! • A lot of CS research therefore is devoted to finding a better algorithm, methodology, architecture, tool, …

  6. Engineering vs. Engineering Research • A new software is written, which a lot of people use – is it research? • Is research only if the software embodies some new ideas, and the use of the idea leads to some improvement • A highly used new product could be good engineering or innovation but need not necessarily be research

  7. Evaluating Research • Two key components • The benefits or significance of the new idea • Magnitude and significance of the impact, i.e. how many and how deeply other researchers or users are impacted • Impact is time dependent • Can be estimated by measures like no of downloads, uses, readers,… • Significance is largely determined by the research community

  8. Necessity of Publication • Publication, even of research resulting in artifacts, is a way of establishing significance and newness • Is essential for research; hard to claim anything otherwise • Review and openness “guarantees” some quality • An indirect measure of significance is the place where the paper appears • Publication often necessary for impact (of course not sufficient)

  9. Why Research? • What is the role of research in academics? Why should research be done?

  10. Research and Society • Basic driving force for R from society perspective: improve the quality of life [by better products and services] • Need for research is tied to its exploitation • Scenario in India • Earlier industry did not need research, hence justification for R was limited • Many scientists got disillusioned with research • The scene is substantially different now • We can “justify” research relatively easily

  11. Research and Researcher • Why a researcher should do research? • Its his/her job ! • Self growth • Intellectual and personal satisfaction, ego boost, recognition,… • Connected with the global world through travel, conferences, …

  12. Research and Academic Institution • Why should an academic institute encourage research (particularly in India) • This is a harder question • If education is the goal, should research be supported? • If research is the main goal, is there a role of education?

  13. Research and Teaching in Engineering and CS • Q: How do you keep the curriculum and course contents up-to-date? • Q: How do you keep the faculty current and up-to-date? • Q: How do you keep faculty motivated and excited? • Q: How do you attract good faculty? • Answer to all these: Through research • That is why research is essential

  14. Teaching and Research • In engineering, hard to have a “teaching only” place • It will necessarily decline • Teaching also supports research • By communicating ideas and putting them in a framework • Interacting with students • Best research still gets done in universities

  15. Teaching and Research… • So in an academic institute both must co-exist • For some it could be teaching-research, i.e. lesser emphasis on research • For some it could be research-teaching, where teaching must be research-led

  16. In Defense of “Incremental Research” in academics • Lot of academic research is incremental • Incremental research has its purpose • Keeps research skills sharp • Hard for most to go straight to the big problems and great solutions; path to greatness lies throu incremental research • Risk: Remain forever in this mode!

  17. Research Management • Research will flourish only if individuals and groups flourish • Research is essentially an individual or small-group activity; not an industry • So, must support, recognize, incentivize,…, the individual • This is the only role of the system around the researcher (institute, govt, policies…)

  18. Summary • Research is different from engineering – is about creating new knowledge • A researcher needs different skills • Research and teaching are strongly related in engineering; teaching cannot be healthy without research

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