Hi, new students! I am very excited to welcome you to Penn CIS. I hope this first year-specific FAQ helps you start to get settled into the department. As always, feel free to email CISDA with any other questions!

Table of Contents

Who are some important people I need to know?

  • Zack Ives is our department chair. He leads the department as a whole.
  • Mayur is our graduate group chair. He leads the CIS PhD program.
  • Steve Zdancewic is our associate chair. Among other duties, he leads the Office Committee, which assigns desks to PhD students.
  • Boon Thau Loo is the Associate Dean for Graduate Programs in SEAS (and a CIS professor). He oversees masters and PhD programs for all of Penn Engineering.
  • Cheryl Hickey is an administrative and event coordinator. She manages many parts of the department, including the CIS Colloquium (official department talk series), Levine/Moore/Towne space issues, and card access.
  • Britton Carnevali is the CIS academic coordinator. She handles CIS-specific course issues, like registering for independent study credits or approving course waivers.
  • Lily Hoot is the program manager for the Warren Center (located in 3401 Walnut). She takes care of the B and C wings of the 4th floors of 3401 Walnut, like stocking office and kitchen supplies, distributing office keys, and enabling card access.

Will I get a desk?

The Office Committee (which @Harry Goldstein @Stephen Mell and I are on) is working very hard to assign desks to everyone who wants one! It’s a big challenge because we have limited space and lots of demands we are trying to fulfill. We will provide more information as soon as possible (we’re working on a web page too). Feel free to ask your labmates, PM us, or email offices@seas.upenn.edu.

What’s TGIF?

If you have access to email already, you may have seen some emails about TGIF! That’s our department happy hour, organized by our wonderful TGIF committee (which is led by Jessica Shi and Joe Cutler). Come by for free drinks and food!

What classes should I take in the fall?

Update 18 Oct 2023: The department is modifying the PhD requirements, so this section is outdated.

In general, I would recommend 1 WPE-I, 1 elective/seminar, and 1 independent study. WPE-Is are basically qualifiers/“core” courses. You’ll need to take 4 out of a list of 8, with some possible exceptions that I don’t want to overwhelm this post with. You’ll need to take 4 additional courses—these can be any graduate-level course in the entire university! If you have a masters, you should be able to waive 2 of these additional courses. Depending on your previous experience, you may or may not be ready to dive into research. I certainly wasn’t! I did minimal research in my first year and half. Ask your advisor about their expectations and recommendations.

What’s an independent study?

An independent study is basically just a research credit on your transcript. Britton can help you register for independent study sections for the professor you are working with. Independent studies are great opportunities to see what it’s like working with different professors before officially declaring an advisor in your second year. I suggest starting with an independent study with your current unofficial advisor and trying another with a different professor in a similar area in the spring. Independent studies are student-driven, so you should reach out to professors rather than waiting for someone to reach out to you (this is our department’s version of a lab rotation).

Where should I live?

Penn is located between 30th and 40th (ish?) streets along Walnut street, west of the Schulkyll (“skoo-kull”) River. Major CIS buildings are clustered around 33rd and 34th streets. Housing tends to be cheaper as you go further west (street numbers get bigger as you go west, so 40th is wester than 34th). As you go east of campus and cross the Schulkyll River, you’ll hit a neighborhood called Center City. Center City and east Philadelphia tends to be more upscale (and expensive). If you keep going east all the way to “0th” Street, you’ll hit the Penn’s Landing neighborhood and the Delaware River. Philly is easily walkable and has pretty good buses! You can expect to spend about $1200 +/- 200 a month on rent if you want to live alone (current students, feel free to add your thoughts). Some neighborhoods you might want to start with for your housing search: West Philly, Rittenhouse Square, Fitler Square, Graduate Hospital.

Money?

Our stipend right now is $35k/year, with monthly payments of about $2.8k. The stipend is increasing to $38k/year in the fall, so monthly payments will be slightly higher! First year stipends are split across 13 months instead of 12, so you’ll receive your first paycheck in August to help with relocation. Health insurance (including dental, a routine eye exam, and an allowance for glasses/contact lenses) is paid for by the department/university. Housing isn’t too bad—I think most people spend between $1000 and $1400 a month on rent. SEPTA (public transit) fare is $2.50 per ride ($2 with a SEPTA Key Card).

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

A woodchuck would chuck all the wood it could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood.