tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post7378282067473730985..comments2024-03-10T05:26:42.148-04:00Comments on My Biased Coin: Justifying Growth : We Need Better PR...Michael Mitzenmacherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06738274256402616703noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-70113846526008681032010-02-02T08:19:58.625-05:002010-02-02T08:19:58.625-05:00As I said, Jeff, I indeed always wonder why it'...As I said, Jeff, I indeed always wonder why it's so few...Michael Mitzenmacherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02161161032642563814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-80415471063932498322010-02-02T08:14:37.575-05:002010-02-02T08:14:37.575-05:00Jeffe -- there are a lot more that need to take al...Jeffe -- there are a lot more that <i>need</i> to take algorithms but don't realize it. In many ways, it would serve them better than additional programming courses. But people outside CS generally want their students to have specific skills (e.g., matlab or C++ or high-performance Fortran or Cuda or ...) instead of lasting knowledge. <br /><br />I'd love to hear how other places manage to get the word out about the utility of foundational CS courses.Greg Morrisetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14071364309433455218noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-58674994896714546042010-01-31T23:17:24.065-05:002010-01-31T23:17:24.065-05:00How can there be ONLY 80 people at Harvard who are...How can there be ONLY 80 people at Harvard who are interested in taking Algorithms?JeffEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17633745186684887140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-69844970915151061412010-01-31T21:07:39.189-05:002010-01-31T21:07:39.189-05:00An important point that Michael did not mention is...An important point that Michael did not mention is that at Harvard SEAS we don't have "departments"; the different "areas" (CS, EE, applied physics, bioengineering, etc.) are all part of the same "mega-department" (which we now call a "School"). What this means is that new faculty hiring is necessarily a school-wide activity, and there is a real desire to avoid having one area dominate the others in terms of size, resources, and overall influence. <br /><br />At the planning retreat that Michael mentioned, one of the professors in applied math made a very compelling case for the need to grow the number of AM faculty (there are technically only 4 faculty at Harvard who consider themselves applied mathematicians, but it is one of the most popular majors in SEAS). This was done through a brilliant visualization projecting number of students vs. faculty size for different departments, making it quantitatively clear that AM's student-faculty ratio was way off the charts. <br /><br />Michael - we should get Salil and Hanspeter to put together a brilliant graph showing our numbers :-)Matt Welshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04255792550910131960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-55905036064123039642010-01-31T18:20:56.012-05:002010-01-31T18:20:56.012-05:00Interesting. If I were a prospective new dean, I&...Interesting. If I were a prospective new dean, I'd like to see numbers on class size and teaching by department. I'd also be curious whether other departments feel the same need CS apparently does to tailor their material to a diverse audience of students. Perhaps if the numbers were widely distributed they would trigger some healthy competition.Dave Backushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11472846910681816429noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8890204.post-60403847449052660772010-01-31T12:44:18.446-05:002010-01-31T12:44:18.446-05:00I also study at an Ivy League University.
Most bi...I also study at an Ivy League University. <br />Most big classes in CS means like around 70+ students in the class, and normal means around 35-40.<br />For most other SEAS departments like material science etc.. normal means 15 and big means 30.<br />Also, my friends in most other non CS, engineering departments are shocked when I tell them we have lots of courses besides programming where we have more than 70+ people in the class (for ex. machine learning, formal languages, algorithms and type systems, distributed systems etc.)VAnoreply@blogger.com