These
figures show, in order, (1) a peer to peer system (Gnutella), (2) a sensor
network, (3) clouds (!), (4) the Internet ISP topology, and (5) a food web in a biological
ecosystem.
[Tuesdays
and Thursdays] @ [9.30
AM - 10.45 AM] @ [Siebel
Center 1131 1302
(changed!)]
Instructor: Dr. Indranil Gupta ("Indy"), indy at cs dawt uiuc dawt edu, 3112 SC.
Office hours: Tuesdays and Thursday from 10.45 am - 12.00 pm (class days only) in 3112 SC.
TA: Ramses Morales, rvmorale at cs dawt uiuc dawt edu, Office hours by appointment.
Class Newsgroup: class.cs525. Instructions on accessing newsgroups.
This is a course on distributed systems. It brings together research centered in theory, on peer-to-peer systems, on cloud computing, and on sensor networks. The course reviews classical work in these scattered areas of distributed computing research, and explores overlaps across them. The course has one semester-long project that is aimed at producing a conference/workshop-quality research paper. The paper must address an open research problem, prove bounds and/or propose new algorithms, and contain analytical and experimental evaluation. Previous course projects have had high success rates at conferences/workshops (see past CS525/CS598IG projects at the bottom of this page). Three to five "best projects'' at the end of the semester will be earmarked for expedited submission to a renowned conference, with the help of the instructor's involvement even after the semester is over.
Experimental Testbeds: You can request Indy for a PlanetLab slice, or Emulab project (there are limited number of slots available for each: about 5 projects on each testbed). It is also likely that students will get accounts on the local Cirrus cloud at University of Illinois to run Hadoop and Pig applications. There will be a very limited number of project accounts available on each of these systems. Therefore, (1) all requests will be granted on an as-needed basis, and (2) you will be given an account on only one of these testbeds, so please choose carefully depending on your project requirements!
Please Note: All CS525 project papers this semester have very strong publication potential. So, regardless of which list your paper appears in below, please be sure to chat with Indy about your next-steps in the projects.
Best: The best project papers this semester were (in no particular order) by the following two groups:
Highly Honorable Mention: Very close to the above best 2 were the following projects (in no particular order):
Congratulations to everyone on a job very well done!
5/11/2009: This course is now over. You should have received feedback on your final report via email from Indy (if you have not, please email Indy). You will hear about your course grade through the University. Have a good summer!
1/23: Please check the newsgroups class.cs525 for further updates.
1/23: Class Location changed to 1131 Siebel Center (from old 1302 SC, which we will not use anymore). Classes in 1131 Siebel Center will start from January 27 (next Tuesday)
1/21: See announcement about Experimental Testbeds above.
1/20: First lecture.
1/14: Course web page online. Happy New Year!
Policies on Ethics, Attribution and Cheating
Reviews: You may discuss papers with others in the class, but reviews should be written independently. In other words, if two reviews are found to have been copied from each other, both students will be punished. The best way to ensure that you are safe is by mentioning right at the top of your review that "This review was written after discussion with Mr. John Doe and Ms. Jane Joe".
Presentation: Your work (presentations and reviews) should be original and independent, although you are allowed to cooperate with your partner for your session. Reusing slides from someone else's presentation should be done only if it is absolutely necessary, but should be acknowledged right at the beginning of the presentation.
The standard university policies on original work, cheating and attribution apply to all work in the course. Violation of these may result in either lowering of course grade by one letter, or failing the course, or a different final decision left to the instructor.
Some Past CS525/CS598IG Projects that were Subsequently Published in Conferences/Journals (check http://dprg.cs.uiuc.edu for copies of papers)
Some Spring 2007 CS525 Project Papers that became conference papers (some under submission)
Some Spring 2006 CS598IG Project Papers that became conference papers (some under submission)
Some Fall 2004 CS 598IG Project Papers that became conference/journal papers
Some Fall 2003 CS 598IG Project Papers that became conference/journal papers
Spring 2008 CS525 Best Final Project Papers in class (in no particular order)
If you would like to see copies of any of these papers, please drop by my office.