FAQs for incoming graduate students to the
department of Computer Science,
Rice University
This is mainly a collection of the emails that were exchanged between
the incoming graduate students and some of the students who were
already studying in the department. Just for fun the sender and
receiver of the mails have been kept anonymous !! There are also some
links to other sources of information. You will clearly see that the
largest number of mails were exchanged regarding the housing at Rice.
I have tried to put in some other stuff as well but in case you have
anything specific to ask then you can write emails to
phdfresh@rice.edu
Some important links
Archive of last years mails
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It's great to hear from you again. I appreciate the time you took for
your response -- tons of good stuff. It sounds like you're happy
there. The GradHouse sounds like a good place for me but I was hoping
that an advantage would be getting to know other grad students who
weren't in the CS department. The chances of that happening sound
small. I'll be thinking about it and hope, perhaps, to hear some more
stories.
I'm including the responses I've received in case a FAQ gets
started. Several of us who were down there in February have been
keeping in touch and I know that some of them would like additional
information as well.
Darren sent your email requesting information abt the Grad House to us. I am a
second-year grad student and haven't lived at the Grad House but I have lots of
friends there, so I know something abt it.
The biggest problem is with the management who are very rude and rigid about
rules. People have been fined for bringing bicycles inside and are reprimanded
for making excessive noise, even though no other resident has complained, just
because the asst manager couldn't hear his TV. They have excessive late fees
for utility charges and rents and very short due periods. The rents are also
rather high, for what are rather small rooms. Also, I think they have more
expensive lease breakage fees than most apartment complexes.
If you have a car and are willing to stay abt 2-3 miles away from campus, there
are lots of cheaper places that are just as comfortable. The disadvantages are
that you won't have the free Ethernet connection and some of the minimal
furnishing the Grad House supplies. You also get a free cable _connection_ (not
cable TV itself). Plus there's the pool lounge and the TV room (with an awesome
flat screen) downstairs.
I got lucky and found a 2/1 for $375 close to the Village, but I would rather
be further away and not have to deal with the management at the Grad House,
once I leave this place.
I haven't lived in the Grad Apartments but did paid some
attention to it. Here is my 2 cents worth of opinions.
Good:
- Location: It's closer to Duncan Hall than the
parking lot.
- Rent: It's much cheaper than neighboring
apartment complexes.
- Net access:
Bad:
- Rent: If you are willing to drive 5 miles
or so, you can find cheaper apartments.
- Lease term: As of a year ago, you had to sign a
lease for at least 9 months. While in
the old Grad House, you can sign a
4-month lease, then live month-to-month
without surcharge. I believe a lot of
the bad comments are from people who were
used to the terms of the old Grad House.
I think that if the rent is within your budget, you should take
the Grad Apartments.
Okay, this question keeps showing up in my mailbox, so I got in touch
with the people at the Grad House, and finally found this:
http://gradapts.rice.edu
It's not what I would call a great web site, but it has the floor plans,
the prices, as well as the application form in PDF format.
So, in short, there's 5 different types of apartments: small efficiency,
"big" efficiency, 1 bedroom / 1 bathroom (but I think there are very few
of these three types of apartments, so it's unlikely you'll get one - I
tried last year to get an efficiency one, when the Grad House hadn't even
opened yet, and they were already gone...), 2 bedroom / 2 bathroom, and
4 bedroom / 2 bathroom.
The prices on the web site are coherent with the paper stuff I got from
the Grad House an hour ago (the prices increased by $20-25 when compared
to last year...). There's a $250 deposit.
You pay for electricity and phone in addition to the rent.
Short description:
- - bathroom: tiled floor, bathtub, toilet
- - bedroom: carpeted, bed (full-size mattress, boxspring & frame, as they
say...), student desk (something like 3 feet * 2 feet, with a drawer
and two shelfs), one chair, nightstand, chest of drawers, bookshelf, plus
big walk-in closet (except for efficiency units).
- - living room: tiled floor, one chair/bedroom in the apartment (I think).
- - kitchen: kitchen and living room are actually the same room, with a
counter separating the two (see floorplan on the web site...). Stove / oven,
fridge, microwave, dishwasher, sink, plenty of shelfs...
All the bedrooms have a direct internet connection with Rice.
There are smoke detectors in every single room, so if you smoke, well, tough,
you'll have to go outside and smoke by the lovely-fountain-that-never-
works... There is no swimming pool (for liability reasons, apparently,
in case you try to commit suicide after Matthias gives you your first F).
The Grad House has a loan closet: you pay something like $20 (as far as
I remember, I never used it...), and you choose whatever you want among
what's available (tables, chairs, lamps, pots, etc... tons of second hand
stuff for cheap). First come first served...
There is a laundry room on each floor (three washing machines + three dryers,
$0.75 each), a computer room on each floor (three computers + one printer,
free access), a common area near the entrance with kitchen, couches, one
ping-ping table, one pool table, a TV room, an ice machine, etc... There
are two bike rooms, and plenty of parking space (this is Texas, after
all...). There are access codes on every door and a police officer at
the entrance, at night.
The Grad House is close to campus (5-8mn walk, so you can get up
at late and still be in time for your first class), there is a shuttle
between the Grad House and the campus every half-hour (but I never use
it, since it's faster to walk, the shuttle is mainly for students who
work on the other side of campus and don't like biking during the
summer). There is another shuttle every Saturday morning, every half
hour between 10:00am and 1:00pm, that goes back and forth between the
Grad House and a big commercial center (Fiesta, etc...), so you can
actually survive in Houston without a car. The Rice Village is close
to the Grad House anyway, in case you forgot to buy something...
Okay, the good and bad, now:
good:
- It's very close to the department, and hence very convenient for
an overworked first year PhD student. There are plenty of other grad
students around you, so you get to know quite a lot of people in other
departments. It's brand new (opened last year). It's targeted at students
(hence the shuttle, the direct internet connection, etc...)
bad:
- It's dead. Really dead. People know each other and you have quite
a lot of small parties among friends, but there are almost no big
free-for-all Grad-House-wide parties. I can remember only two of these this
year, and the turnout was so dismal that we didn't even manage to empty
the two kegs of beer (but we tried hard...). Most of the students this
year were first year Master and first year PhD students, so people were
quite busy and you won't see many drunk students crawling in the hallways
(I know, this is very sad, but, as I said, nothing prevents you from having
a party in your apartment with some friends, and that's what most people
do. Besides, Valhalla is close by, the GSA organizes much better free-
for-all parties, and the Village or Westheimer are not far away...).
The situation might improve as we all become second-year students (yes !),
but you've been warned: the Grad House is a very very quiet place.
- It's expensive: well, at least that's what some people say. It's true
that I saw a week ago an ad for a $375/month garage apartment very close
to campus, while you'll probably have to pay $400 or $450 to share a
kitchen / living room with one or three other persons. On the other hand,
after having talked with two students who actually looked for other
apartments (I didn't, I'm too lazy to move...), their conclusion was:
you can find cheaper and close to campus, but it will not be very decent,
you can find decent and cheaper, but it will not be that close (but if
you have a car, you might not care...), you might find something decent,
close by and cheaper, but then call yourself lucky or be prepared to spend
quite some time searching (there are quite a lot of students searching,
after all...) Neither student moved... There's also a fair number of
American students at the Grad House, so it looks like the price is
actually acceptable even by American standards (not just by my standards
of naive foreigner...)
My opinion (insert usual disclaimers here): it's very convenient, and if
you don't like it, well, you can always move out.
> No, no, re-read the "good" part: "There are plenty of other grad
> students around you, so you get to know quite a lot of people in other
> departments." Or am I misunderstanding what you are saying ?
I was picking up more on the first line of the bad: "it's dead", which
seemed to suggest that, even though there are plenty of students
around, they aren't into socializing all that much.
> Thanks. If other people are looking for information, either forward
> my blurb to them,
> Well, yes, I heard a story about a guy who was told not to bring his
> bycicle through the main entrance/lobby or otherwise he would be fined $30.
> But I have my bycicle in my room, I'm not the only one, and I never had
> any problem, I just use one of the back entrances (which are closer to
> campus anyway...). I never heard about anybody being actually fined.
> There were also some people who got warnings from the police, because
> they were locking their bikes to the stairs inside the complex, but I
> think this was more for security reasons than anything else... All people
> have their bikes in their room, or in one of the two bike rooms at the
> back of the apartments...
This sounds much more reasonable than the previous poster was making
it out to be.
> Regarding price: see my previous email. Yes, the price seems high
> if you only consider the size of the room. If you consider the whole
> thing and how convenient it is, well, I think it's ok... But you
> don't have to agree :-)
I'm beginning to agree. It sounds like a nice "package". I think that
for a first-year student it wouldn't be so bad.
> I agree. Again, if you just look at the size of the rooms, it might seem
> to be expensive. When you look at the whole picture, it gets better. That
> doesn't mean you cannot find better, but it's not as bad as some people
> seem to say.
I'll have look at the room sizes again and compare to what I'm
currently living in. I don't have a good feel for spatial dimensions.
> I agree. I think the whole point is: how far from the campus are
> you willing to be, and how long are you willing to search. You can
> find good deals, but something close to campus, cheap, and decent
> will be hard to come by. And when you add furnitures, internet access,
> etc... you might end up with pretty much the same price...
The price doesn't seem all that unreasonable. I imagine that I could
find something less expensive but I would rather wait until I've been
around for a while before making the attempt.
> I know I sound a lot like a sales rep (and no, I don't gain anything
> if you come to the Grad House), but as I said, it all depends on how
> hard you are willing to search, and whether you plan to buy a car
> as soon as you arrive or not. I'm not saying the Grad House is the
> best thing in the world, it could be better (could be cheaper, could
> be more life...), but it is actually very convenient, and I think
> the service/price ratio is ok.
I appreciate your candidness. You're certainly the most in favor. I
had thought the GradHouse to be a very nice place until I mentioned it
to Matthias and he replied that I would probably be better off
elsewhere. I'm thinking that he might have been taking my age (30)
into account thinking that I probably wouldn't like living around so
many younger, and perhaps less mature, people, but my frame of mind is
definitely younger than that because I've been teaching high school
students all these years.
I shall start on the CS PhD program at Rice in the
fall. I read your comments about the graduate appartments and took the
liberty of emailing you. I have a question which I was hoping you could
help answer: How fast is the effective net connection we get in the
appartments -- I know it will probably be a 10mbps connection but we have
ethernet ports here in my undergraduate school but the conneciton is
very slow (mainly because of congestion)
Get the graduate house application form from one of the web sites others have indicated,
and mail it with your deposit. I don't think it's an emergency yet,
but the sooner the better.
I sent some detailed information about the Grad House to two or three
of you, some time ago. I can re-send the thing to this list if there is
interest about third-party opinions.
Also, on a more or less related note, I don't know if you have received
copies of the GSA Yellow Pages, but if you didn't, you can find an online
version at http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~gsa/ It contains quite a lot of
information about off-campus housing (if some of you don't like the idea
of staying at the Grad House), as well as about life in Houston in general...
A question for other international students, have you recieved your I-20 yet
or are you still waiting for it? (They told me they will send something to
me in mid-late May.) Thanks in advance for any info.
Amit,
I recommend that you apply sooner because usually there is a big
number of graduate students coming in for all of the departments.
You might consider arriving here a little early and applying to
the grad apartments once you arrive.
>
>Will it be too late if we reach there and then apply for the housing.
>This is because it is a real pain to make dolalr checks from here(Gurgaon,
>India). I guess that housing should not be a problem in the graduate house
>even if we decide to do that after goinf there.
Well, housing was not a problem at the Grad House this year: the Grad
House had just opended when we arrived, there were empty rooms during
the whole school year, and people could come and go quite easily. But this
might not be the case next year: I think most of the people who are
currently living at the Grad House will stay there, and a lot of the
incoming students might want to live there too, so it might actually fill
up, in which case you would end up having to find an apartment as soon as
you arrive, which might not be that easy...
I discussed a couple of weeks ago with one the managers at the Grad House.
It's pretty difficult to obtain reliable information from them (especially
since they had just started at the time to renew leases for the students
already living at the Grad House, and had not yet started dealing with the
new applications), but the guy told me that he expected that they would
run out of rooms sometimes in June. This is what he *said*, and I have no
idea what worth what he said is, but I would advise you to apply as soon
as possible...
I'll try to check with the guy again this afternoon, to see how many
rooms they have left currently, and how far they are with the application
process...
I've met some of you at the PhD
info weekend, and I look forward to meeting the rest of you in Fall. I am
also staying at the graduate departments. I sent my deposit in a couple
of weeks ago, but I haven't received a lease yet. I think they must be
pretty busy right now. See everyone soon!
I was wondering what my new mailing address will be. Do we get a mailbox
of some sort from Rice as a permanant mailing address, or do we use the
grad appts address? Would you happen to know when we are assigned this
address. (I would like to leave a forwarding address at my school)
>
> I was wondering what my new mailing address will be. Do we get a mailbox
> of some sort from Rice as a permanant mailing address, or do we use the
> grad appts address? Would you happen to know when we are assigned this
> address. (I would like to leave a forwarding address at my school)
>
Your new mailing address at the office will be:
Rice University, Dept. of Computer Science
MS-132
6100 S. Main Street,
Houston, TX 77005
Yes, if you have to leave a forwarding address to somebody, use the
department's address, not the address of the Grad House: when you'll
arrive at the Grad House, they'll give you a mailbox with a number
that you can then use to receive mail, but as long as you don't know
the exact number (which will be different from your apartment number)
don't give the Grad House address, because there are just too many
mailboxes (without names) for the mailman to know which one he should
use for your mail... So in the meanwhile, use the department's address...
I received the lease several days ago, but I am wondering what to do
next after I send back the signed lease. Also, I might come a bit
later than the stated Move In Date (Aug. 15th), I hope that won't be a
problem as long as I pay the rent on time. Thanks for sharing the
information.
By the way, I am gathering information of those coming to Rice from
China this summer. Please contact me at david.jutao@263.net, I will
send you a mailing list soon.
>I received the lease several days ago, but I am wondering what to do
>next after I send back the signed lease.
Well, the only thing left to do is to come here...
>Also, I might come a bit
>later than the stated Move In Date (Aug. 15th), I hope that won't be
>a problem as long as I pay the rent on time. Thanks for sharing the
>information.
Not a problem at all. Just let them know when you arrive, so they
can make sure everything is ready when you show up.
On a related note, business hours for the Grad House managers and
assistants is 9:00am-12:00pm 1:00pm-10:00pm Monday-Friday, and
something like 9:00am-12:00pm on Saturdays. So if you plan on arriving
outside these business hours, you'd better warn them in advance so
they can arrange for somebody to be there to give you yours keys. Last
year I arrived on a Sunday late in the evening, and after travelling 12
hours, it's not fun to have to wait another half-hour until someone
shows up to let you in... Assistants are reachable at the Grad House
24 hours/day, but if you don't warn them you'll arrive outside business
hours, you might end up in front of a locked door, with no way to
call the assistants inside to open the door... (In my case it's finally
one of the campus police officers who helped me...)
Since it is quite difficult and time consuming to make a dollar check
in India can I ask one of my friends presently studying in US to
register on my behalf. I can give the postal address to which the
lease will be mailed as my address in India , where all my other
documents are coming.
Please respond quickly because my friends will be moving out after
11th of may for their summer internship.
> I am planning to book my room by asking a friend of mine in the US to fill up
> the form for me and then send it to the grad apts. So it won't be having my
> sign. Will that be OK. My passport number will however be there. I can of course
> tell me friend to attach a handwritten letter explaining the situation.
I really do not know if they can accept this. Maybe you should ask them
directly at their e-mail address (gradapts@rice.edu).
I would say that as long as you pay, they couldn't care less... But Daniel
is right: contact them and ask them. Or if you are in a hurry, ask your
friend to call them directly...
When will my accommodation be reserved by the Grad Apartments, is it
after I received the lease contact or after I sent back the signed
lease? It takes a quite long time for me to send back the lease from
here by mail.
>
>When will my accommodation be reserved by the Grad Apartments, is it after
>I received the lease contact or after I sent back the signed lease? It
>takes a quite long time for me to send back the lease from here by mail.
I don't really know, but I would assume that they reserve a room for you
as soon as they send you the lease. There would be no point to send you
a lease if it turned out later that there was no room left for you...
> When will my accommodation be reserved by the Grad Apartments, is it
> after I received the lease contact or after I sent back the signed
> lease? It takes a quite long time for me to send back the lease from
> here by mail.
>
I think you room will be reserved AFTER they have received your
signed lease. I don't think they can reserve anything without an
explicit signature.
My case is different as I have my next door neighbours studying in the
US so they won't mind writing a check for me ( even if I do not pay
them back) What I am more interested is does the initial form require
my signature , can't someone else book a room for me. I can always ask
my friend to write a supporting letter explaining the situation.
Amit
> My case is different as I have my next door neighbours studying in
> the US so they won't mind writing a check for me ( even if I do not
> pay them back) What I am more interested is does the initial form
> require my signature , can't someone else book a room for me. I can
> always ask my friend to write a supporting letter explaining the
> situation.
>
the form is available for download from the web page of the Grad House:
gradapts.rice.edu/rice%20application.pdf
Even if it does require your signature, maybe the Grad House will accept
someone else's payment. I will call tomorrow and find out.
Does anyone know how fast the ethernet at the grad apts is? 100 base T? 10
base T?
Also, if anyone has gotten their lease yet, what's the averge delay between
sending and recieving a form? a week or two?
The public PCs at the Grad House have 100/10 ethernet cards, but I think
they are only using 10. I actually just tested, and downloaded a 28.2MB
file from the Rice undergrad network (owlnet) in about 28s, which gives
a 8.47Mb/s bandwidth... My guess is that the Grad House is using 10baseT
for the internal connections between the machines and a main switch, and
100baseT between the switch and the Rice network, or something like that...
But that's only a guess...
I'm one of those who have already received their lease. I really can't
remember though how long it was after I returned my application and
deposit. It was probably within a couple of weeks -- I don't remember
being anxious that it was late.
I was surprised that there were no instructions on when/how to return the
lease, so I emailed the GradHouse and they said to return it as soon as
possible but still didn't say how so I mailed it directly to the GradHouse,
Attention: Manager instead of the Rice Housing office.
I have returned the signed lease weeks ago, but do not know whether
the Grad House has received it. Does anyone have any idea whom I
should contact with?
>I have returned the signed lease weeks ago, but do not know whether the
>Grad House has received it. Does anyone have any idea whom I should
>contact with?
Try "gradapts@rice.edu" ... I don't know how fast they reply, though...
If some of you used this email address, maybe you can comment on how
efficient they are when using email...
Otherwise, you can try to call them: (713) 348-1000.
If you cannot get in touch with them, I can always ask them.
I have a friend now here in China who is also admitted to RICE this
summer, he will be in Dept. of Chemical Engineering. He asked me about
the fax number of the Grad House, so that he could send in his form on
time. But I really don't have any idea. Could you tell me about it?
Thanks a lot!
By request: the Grad House's fax number is: (713) 771-6552
I have booked into Graduate Apartments in a 2-bedroom apartment
along with Anirban Mandal (another incoming student from my class). Sent
the signed lease agreement. I am planning to arrive on 18th August with
Anirban. I have also received the I-20 and other stuff.
I would like to know about the immunization and other medical requirements
for students from India i.e. which shots/tests are necessary etc. Could
someone please guide me?
>
>I would like to know about the immunization and other medical requirements
>for students from India i.e. which shots/tests are necessary etc. Could
>someone please guide me?
Normally (well, at least that's what happened last year for me...) you
have received or should receive from Rice a medical form that you will have
to fill out. This form will tell you which shots are required, and you will
also have to see a physician to sign the form, etc...
>I was reading through the rules, and I noticed one strange one: We aren't
>allowed to put aluminum foil in the windows as decor or as insulation.
>Even if it DID posess me to do such a thing, why is this rule in effect? I
>cant think of a single reason why putting tin foil in a window would affect
>anything. Any ideas?
Aesthetic. At least I think that's the "official" reason. But everybody
at the Grad House knows that the real reason is because the Grad House
is just a secret agency of the federal government, and that they are trying
to control our brains using electromagnetic waves to force us to spy for
them once we all go back home in our respective countries. They try to
control even the American students, because they don't mind them spying
on their own country, and the government doesn't trust them anyway. So the
Grad House management doesn't want you to put tin foil on the windows
because that would stop the waves. But we are more clever than that (we
are Rice students, after all) and we figured them out and we are fighting
the conspiracy, so don't be surprised if you see students at the Grad House
sleeping under their bed with tin foil hats on... Or maybe I should stop
drinking coffee.
I haven't recieved any thing from your department/university after my
I-20. I have heard that I need a health form so I have downloaded the health
data form from your university's web site. I wonder why I havn't recieved
this form from mail. I haven't got the housing form by mail as well. (I
downloaded that form and sent it as well.) I would like to know:
- 1. Is there any other forms I need for enrollment that may or may not be
sent to me? Where to download them?
- 2. On the health form, it asks for my Rice ID number. Have I got a number or
it is I will get it only after enrollment?
- 3. Any reason I didn't got those forms by mail?
I would greatly appreciate answers.
I have a question for current graduate students: Could you please tell me
what classes (or types of classes) one has to take as part of the Phd
program requirements. I looked on the Rice CS website but the page I found
seemed outdated -- it mentioned B exams
http://www.cs.rice.edu/CS/CSGSA/DeptInfo/handbook/enhanced/chapter2_5.html
Also, what do you think one should keep in mind while choosing classes?
> I have a question for current graduate students: Could you please tell me
> what classes (or types of classes) one has to take as part of the Phd
Requirements (Informal)
Finish the requirements asap, is abt the only thing I think you should keep in
mind. If you are a CS major, you might find that many courses are repeats of
stuff you have done in your undergrad, leaving you little choice as to doing
something new. Some courses are worth doing again (notably, I have heard,
COMP 311), but I found most others pretty boring if I had already done them
once. Mainly, you should remember that courses can be a big drain on your time,
and if you are looking for a quicker PhD, get done with your courses in a
minimum number of semesters.
- --- Proposal ------------------------------------------------------------------
Abandon the B exams in favor of a system based on coursework and
research in the first five semesters. The rest of our graduate
program's requirements (C exam, thesis proposal, and thesis defense)
would stay as they are currently.
- --- Overview ------------------------------------------------------------------
- The new system can be summarized by the following rules: To
maintain good standing in the Ph.D. program, a student must
complete...
- 1. at least four courses with a minumum GPA of B+ by the end of
the second semester;
- 2. a Comp 590 project by the end of the third semester;
- 3. at least eight courses satisfying the breadth requirements
described below with a minimum GPA of B+ by the end of the fifth
semester; and
- 4. a Master's thesis by the end of the fifth semester;
- A student who fails to meet these rules may still qualify for the
M.S. degree.
- A student who enters with a thesis-based Master's degree would be
exempt from rule #4. At the discretion of the graduate committee,
rule #3 may be relaxed for a student who enters with either a thesis-
or a course-based Master's degree. In this case, the precise
requirements would be determined as soon as the student has an advisor.
(A Rice undergraduate who enters the Ph.D. program may also request
this exemption.)
- --- Courses -------------------------------------------------------------------
- The set of elgible courses consists of a few 300-level courses but
mainly 400- and 500-level courses. They are divided into three
super-areas:
- Super-area 1:
- AI/Robotics
- Comp 440
- Comp 450
- Comp 540
Algorithms
Graphics
- Comp 360
- Comp 461
- Comp 561
- Super-area 2:
Automata
Languages
- Comp 311
- Comp 411
- Comp 511
Logic
- Super-area 3:
Architecture
- Comp 320
- Elec 425
- Elec 525
Compilers
- Comp 412
- Comp 512
- Comp 515
Systems
- Comp 421
- Comp 430
- Comp 520
- Comp 529
- As courses are created, changed, or retired, the graduate committee will
add/drop them from this list in consultation with the faculty.
- Students must complete at least two courses in each super-area. At
least two of these courses must come from different sub-areas. (So,
a student must cover at least six of the sub-areas.)
- The graduate committee will review the course schedule (including
adds/drops) by students until their fifth semester.
- --- Comp 590 Project ----------------------------------------------------------
The Comp 590 project must produce a written report. (The precise
nature of this report is up to the advisor.) A student's grade
on the Comp 590 project counts toward their GPA.
- --- Master's Thesis -----------------------------------------------------------
The master's thesis should be thought of as a (research) paper that
has been reformatted to meet the thesis style guidelines. It should
have been published or judged publishable by the thesis committee.
The extent to which the student is expected to add content to the
paper, e.g., additional discussion of related work, is up to the
thesis committee.
- --- Evaluation ----------------------------------------------------------------
- The graduate committee will check each student's compliance with the
rules at the end of his/her second, third, and fifth semesters.
Failure to meet the rules at the second, third, or fifth semester will
disqualify the student from continuing toward the Ph.D. The student
may still qualify for the M.S.
- In practice, the ultimate requirement for continuing in the program
after the fifth semester is for the student to have a faculty member
who will support him/her. In the simplest case, the master's thesis
advisor will continue to support the student. If, however, no faculty
member chooses to support the student after the fifth semester, he/she
will be dropped from the program.
FACILITIES FOR PhD STUDENTS (Need this only after arriving at
Rice)
- 1. GENERAL RICE COMPUTING FACILITIES
- http://www.rice.edu/Computer (Rice IT)
- 1. Owlnet: mainly for undergrads; but useful for (some times
necessary) for TA work and course work.
- 2. RUF (Rice Unix Facility): for grad research work.
- 3. Charon: needed for dialing in (PPP connection).
- 4. CS: departmental account.
- To apply for Owlnet, RUF, or Charon account, either login as
"apply" on any public Owlnet Unix machine, or visit
http://apply.rice.edu/. You will need your Rice ID.
- For CS account: fill out the form in welcome package.
- For any computing related problems, send an e-mail to
problem@rice.edu or visit http://problem.rice.edu/. This web-page
also has many useful FAQs.
- 2. DEPARTMENTAL PRINTING AND COMPUTING FACILITIES
- * Desktop machines:
- provided by the department in the first year and research groups
later
- servers to use with X-Stations -- public and owned by groups
(use only the public servers)
- * Printers (DH 3048)
- - laser b/w printer: perox (Xerox N42) aka pumma or pori
- - color paper printer: prissy (Apple LaserWriter)
- - color slide printers: prim (Tektronics Phaser 560) and
polaroid (old HP DeskJet)
- No charge for printing, but, be reasonable.
- Note: Owlnet also offers printing facilities on a number of printers
spread around campus, for a price.
- * Computer Lab (DH 3108)
- - public Windows NT machine with HP scanner (undergoing reconfiguration)
- - another laser printer (pala)
- - a few Sun workstations
- - department procuring a laptop for grad students for presentations
- * Facilities provided by Research Groups
- - desktop after the first year
- - laptops (Programming Languages and High Performance groups)
- - other research related hardware (e.g., Compaq alpha cluster, HP
multi-processor, etc)
- 3. E-MAILS, WEB-SURFING, NEWSGROUPS
- * Every user account has a unique campus-wide userid.
- * Each userid has a unique mail-box (can be changed).
- * No web-site filters, but, be prudent.
- * Newsgroups
- -- very important ("required") for course and TA work
- -- very useful in keeping up with happenings in the department and Rice
- -- e.g., rice.general, rice.comp.general, rice.market
- 4. DEPARTMENTAL NETWORK
- * Recently upgraded to 100Mbps Ethernet.
- * Each desk has two network ports.
- * Three subnets -- trusted, semi-trusted, and untrusted
(personal machines on semi-trusted).
- * DHCP server to obtain dynamic IP addresses (may have to register your
hardware address with problem@rice.edu).
- IMPORTANT NOTE: NEVER LEAVE YOUR LAPTOP (OR OTHER VALUABLES) UNATTENDED
IN YOUR OFFICE. Since Duncan Hall is publicly
accessible during day time, it is not always safe.
Always lock your door behind you even if you step out
for only a few minutes. There have been cases of
thefts in the past.
- * Samba for printing and remote mounting from semi-trusted machines.
- * Opening http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ in a browser will load
the file /net/www1//public_html/index.html. CS web server
logs are in /net/www1/servers/current/logs directory.
- * To forward your mails, create a .forward in
/var/spool/forward/ directory, _not_ your home.
- 5. OFF-CAMPUS COMPUTING
- To dial-in, you need a Charon password, as mentioned before. There is no
long distance toll-free number for students.
- To login from an external network (outside rice.edu domain), direct
unprotected rlogin or telnet is not allowed. You have two choices:
- a) Use ssh version 2. I find this more convenient.
- b) Set up s/key mechanism.
- Both of these involve non-trivial setup steps (see man pages).
- Just to check your e-mails from an off-campus network it is
convenient to use:
- a) TWIG (http://twig.owlnet.rice.edu/) -- available for owlnet,
RUF; but not CS yet.
- b) WING (http://wing.is.rice.edu) -- available for CS, owlnet, RUF.
- 6. NON-COMPUTING FACILITIES
- * The Fridge: Contact Rachel Vincent (DH 2033) Tue 12:00pm-1:00pm.
(snacks, cold-drinks, public-fridge, two microwaves)
- * CS Coffee club: $5 collected whenever the club runs out of money.
Rhonda sends an e-mail when this is due. If you
drink coffee more then occasionally, you should pay
the dues. (coffee machine in the mailbox room)
- * Stationery: Free in the mailbox room.
Last updated on Jun 12th,2001