Present: Steve Cole, David Ferry, Peng Li, Chengjie Wu, Sisu Xi, Dan Lazewatsky, Austin Abrams
Absent: David Lu, Justin Wilson

I. Old Business
A. BBQ: Good job everyone!
B. New student tour: low attendance; probably superfluous since students had been on campus for several days already.

II. Action Item Reports:

A. News (Steve): Dr. Buhler has sent 2 updates from faculty meetings.   Highlights will be distributed to department at large shortly.

B. First-year items (Austin): Will check with Dr. Pless about student mentors and list of profs accepting students into their labs.
C. DSS standards (David Lu, Justin, Dan): Will meet to discuss standards recommendation to administration.
D. Curriculum (Dan): Will generate list of recommended required courses.  Feedback from each GSA officer about what courses he’d recommend from his area of expertise to be included as satisfying breadth requirements is requested.
E. Colloquium (David Ferry): Will send out a form to department at large soliciting suggestions for a student-sponsored speaker.  Suggestions could be by specific name or subject area; e.g., “an expert in simulating robot-goat interactions in parallel and distributed environments using virtual machines.”

III. New Business
A. DSS scheduling
1. Props to Austin/Dan for the new website!
2. Status of 2011-2012 schedule: first DSS will be Sep. 23rd.  Final list of eligible students needs to be obtained ASAP from Madeline/Jayme.
3. Meta-talk by David Lu may happen on Sep. 16th.  This would provide the opportunity to do a dry run of all DSS logistics (pizza, auto-announcements, filming, etc.), and introduce students to our new standards for DSS talks.
4. Seminars may be scheduled during DSS slots for which there are no students scheduled; possible topics include (as discussed at the beginning of the summer): NSF structure/funding, how to succeed at an academic job search.  Open slots will most likely not appear until next semester, since priority must be given to the normal DSS presentations.

C. Trivia Night
1. Date: Oct. 21st (tentative, pending confirmation by CSE office)
2. Jobs
a) Questions: David Ferry, Peng
b) Food/drinks: Steve, Chengjie
c) Prizes: Sisu, Dan
d) Host: David Lu
e) Publicity: Austin

On that same day, we’ll keep the fun rolling at 4 pm with a root beer
float (or regular beer float, for the more daring) happy hour, which
will be another great chance to get to know the new cohort and kick off
the new academic year.

Attendees:

Justin Wilson
David Lu
Sisu Xi
Pen Li
Stephen Cole
Chengjie Wu

Old Business:

• Committee Heads for Doctoral Retreat Items
  • News – Stephen
  • 1st Year – Austin
  • DSS – David Lu, Dan, Justin
  • Colloquium – David F.
  • Courses – Dan

New Business:

• Fall BBQ
  • Date:  Friday, September 2
  • Teams
    • Shopping:  Pen, Chengjie, Stephen
    • Grilling:  David L., Sisu
    • Setup:  Justin, Stephen Tyree
    • Cleanup:  Dan, Austin, David F.
• Graduate Panel (1st year orientation)
  • David L. will revise sheets
• David L. proposed to have a 1st year deathmatch during the period formerly used by the department to welcome first year students.
• A practical campus tour will be given by David L. during this time.
• The order of events will be BBQ, Panel, Tour, Happy Hour
• Happy Hour will consist of root beer floats and stuff from the BBQ.

Please RSVP to this event by following the link below by NEXT FRIDAY,
June 3rd, if possible– the earlier the better for food-planning
purposes. Please also indicate in the ‘Comments’ section of the form if
you plan on bringing any equipment for games, or if you have any
suggestions for events at the picnic. Thanks and we look forward to
seeing you there!

RSVP form

Location:
We’ll be at the same picnic shelter as last year, which is Forest Park
Shelter #8 on Wells Dr. in the southwest corner of the park. Below is a
link to a Google map with the approximate location; the shelter is on
the south side of Wells.

Attendees:

David Lu
Austin Abrams
Stephen Cole
Dan Lazewatsky
Raphael Njuguna
Justin Wilson

Old Business:

• Secret Stallman was a success.  14 people participated but not everyone understood, i.e., revealed themselves in the end.

New Business:

• DSS (Dan)
  • Faculty reviews will be copied and tabulated for the annual grad student review.
  • Advisors have to email Dr. Buhler if a student cannot present.
  • There is money in the budget for a Best Talk Award.
    • A new scale will be devised for the faculty reviews.
    • The GSA will select a number of talks at the end of the semester.
    • The winner will be determined by polling the department.
  • There are 13 students for 13 slots this semester.
    • David brought up the idea of having faculty talks about their research and preparing graduates for interviews.
    • Other ideas:  Demos, hot topics, poster presentations.
  • Foods:
    • Variety
    • Wong’s Wok
    • Party subs
    • Salad instead of (or in addition to) chips
• Midweek “Happy Hour” (Dan and David)
  • Additional break and meeting time in the middle of the week.
  • Possibly Tuesday at 2:00.
  • Refreshments: tea and cookies.
  • Myrna says that she usually picks up refreshments at Schnucks for Colloquim (which is in Lopata 101 next semster).
• Other Activities
  • Trivia Night
  • DSS Webpage (Austin), March 16
  • Game Night after Happy Hour (David)
  • Jeopardy after Happy Hour (Steven)
  • Habitat for Humanity in the spring (David)
  • Bowling (Raphael)
  • Jolley Atrium furnishings (Justin)
  • DSS Camera (Haowei)