The Fifth Year Masters Program

An Interview with Peter Steenkiste

Q: First, if you wouldn't mind, please tell me a little about yourself. Was there a pivotal moment in your life when you knew you wanted to be a scientist and do research? Did you have a mentor?

As an undergraduate I was intrigued by computers. I wanted to better understand how they worked and what they could do for us. Unfortunately, the program in Computer Science at my university was not very strong, and that is probably the primary reason why I decided to start graduate studies. I only became involved in research in graduate school - it would have been great to have had the opportunities available here at CMU as an undergraduate! Thomas Gross and HT Kung helped me get started here are CMU. They provided a lot of support and I learned a lot from working with them.

Q: SCS has other Master's programs, as well as a number of PhD programs. What made you decide to create the Fifth Year Masters program?

Other Master's programs in SCS are either fairly specialized or interdisciplinary in nature, so there was no traditional CS Master's program. Another even more important reason for starting the 5th year Master's program is that the high quality of our undergraduate program created the opportunity to have a very high quality Master's program with little overhead.

Q: What do you do in your role as faculty program contact?

Most of my time is spent advertising the program and providing information to students and faculty. We hold information sessions and I also get a lot of questions through e-mail and I meet with interested students. Another important function is to coordinate the admissions process, which takes place in the fall.

Q: Was anyone else involved in the creation of the program? How so?

Dana Scott and I worked together on getting the program started. It was very useful to have two people with different backgrounds work together on shaping the program. Dana's role has now been taken over by Karl Crary, but Dana continues to be a very enthusiastic advocate for program.

Q: What made you decide to limit the program to one year?

One year is the right length for several reasons. First, there is enough time to both take courses and to also do a reasonable sized research project. While a longer program, such as 16 months, would provide even more opportunities, it would require a longer time commitment from the students, which would be less attractive. It would also cause problems for students who want to continue for a PhD at CMU or elsewhere, since those programs typically start in the Fall. Most full-time master's programs are one year in length for these same reasons.

Q: Was it difficult to get CMU's world-class faculty to agree to advise young, relatively inexperienced Master's students?

To the contrary: many faculty members jumped at the opportunity to work for a year with some of our top undergraduates. Computer Science has one of the best undergraduate programs in the country and lot of the students are involved in research projects, so the students entering the 5th year MS program are top notch. Since the program has a research focus, having significant research experience is an important admission criterion. As a result, the students entering the program can become productive in research very quickly.

Q: What is the academic environment like at Carnegie Mellon for a Master's student?

I believe it is a great environment. To the largest degree possible, we treat 5th year MS students as 1st year PhD students. The PhD program provides a very supportive environment for graduate students. Students have a lot of interactions with faculty and the School of Computer Science offers a very broad range of research activities that students can draw on when doing their research. The goal is to maintain that same culture for the 5th year MS students.

Q: Do you think it's difficult for students to explore the research track as undergraduates? at CMU?

On one hand I think it is quite difficult: our undergraduate program is very demanding and our undergraduates have a very busy schedule. Participating in research really requires some effort on the part of the student. On the other hard, many faculty members routinely involve undergraduates in their research, so there are many opportunities. I do not think it is that hard for a student a project that matches their interests.

One of the goals of the 5th year MS program is in fact to make undergraduate students more aware of the research opportunities and to entice them to become involved in research. For undergraduates who want to start graduate studies, research experience is essential. The top MS and PhD programs really look for students with research experience - it is not enough to have good grades. For students going to industry, becoming involved in research is a really unique experience that they are not likely to encounter in industry.

Q: What are the characteristics that make a Master's student successful?

You need the same characteristics as our PhD students. We look for bright students who are creative, have a solid Computer Science background, and have a natural curiosity. Some of the skills you need depend on your research area. In the systems area, for example, you need good system building skills, while in other areas, mathematics and formal methods are more important.

Q: What are the most important skills students will gain by completing the program?

The program has a research focus, so students will gain more experience doing research. We like to think of students working with their advisor as an apprenticeship. Students will learn the techniques that are used in their area, they will be able to work more independently, and will be able to tackle larger and more open-ended problems. Through the courses they will of course have a broader background in computer science and more depth of understanding in their area of research.

Q: What are your thoughts as you look back on the program over the last year?

I think there were two highlights. First, it was great to see the first class go through the program. For example, one of the entering students is in my research area, and it was fun to see him get deeply involved in research, exactly the way we envisioned it.

A second highlight was the admissions process for this year's class. The quality of the applications was very high and it was a lot of fun to read about all the exciting research that our undergraduate students are involved in. The fact that our best undergraduates are applying also shows that there is room for a 5th year Master's program.

Q: How many students will enter the program this year?

We have 6 students entering this fall. Their research interests range from robotics and graphics to formal methods.

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Last updated Aug 21, 2003.