Courses

By the time you get to the MSc level, you should have a solid knowledge of the basics of computer science already.   You probably want to do an MSc in order to focus on one area.    Here is one of the big advantages of our program:   Unlike at most other CS departments in Canada,  our MSc program has no breadth requirements.  This means you can concentrate your courses entirely on vision-related topics if you wish.   

 If you are interested in Vision/AI/Graphics,  there are several of the graduate courses in our department that you can choose from.

• COMP 557   Fundamental of Computer Graphics      (Mike Langer)
• COMP 558   Fundamentals of Computer Vision       (Kaleem Siddiqi)
• COMP 526   Probabilistic Reasoning in AI          (Doina Precup)
• COMP 599   Computer Animation                   (Paul Kry)
• COMP 646   Computational Perception              (Michael Langer)
• COMP 652   Machine Learning                      (Doina Precup)
• COMP 766   Shape Analysis in Computer Vision     (Kaleem Siddiqi)
• COMP 765   Mobile Robotics                       (Greg Dudek)
• COMP 765   Decision Making under uncertainty     (Joelle Pineau)
  

There are also vision-related courses offered in other departments at McGill.   You can take two of these (or any other 500+ level course at McGill)  for credit for towards your  M.Sc. degree.

• ECE 629     Visuo-Motor Systems                 (Jim Clark - Electrical and Computer Engineering)
• ECE 626     Statistical Methods inComputer Vision  (Jim Clark and Tal Arbel - Electrical and Computer Engineering)
• ECE 529    Image Processing  & Communication   (Martin Levine - Electrical and Computer Engineering)
• PSYCH 526  Advances in Visual Perception       (Kathy Mullen and Fred Kingdom - Psychology/Opthalmology)
• PSYCH 532  Cognitive Science                   (Tom Schultz - Psychology)

Large student body (CIM)

As a graduate student at McGill, working in the area of computer vision, you would be part of the  Center for Intelligent Machines (CIM).   CIM has many students and faculty who work on problems related to vision.   Currently there are over 25 graduate students working in the field of computer vision alone, and another 50-100 working in other related areas.      Few places in Canada or the U.S. have  such a mass of students in computer vision and intelligent systems working together in one Center.   Moreover,  CIM students have a range of backgrounds,  coming from CS,  EE, or Mech.Eng.   This  provides a rich diverse intellectual environment for research .   

Funding

• Government funding.   There are two opportunities for goverment funding: NSERC (Canada) and NATEQ (Quebec).    The application deadlines for these are in the Fall, the year before you begin grad studies.   Foreign students are not eligible for this funding
• School of Computer Science.   SOCS has a small number of fellowships that are given to  students who don't have NSERC or NATEQ.    You will be automatically considered if you apply.   
  
• Teaching Assistantships.   If you cannot get a fellowship,  then there is a possibility to fund some of the first 8 months of your M.Sc. with the help of TAships.  
• Research Assistantships.  Once your course work is done (after 8 months), and assuming you do well,   you will get funding from one of the professors here, namely your supervisor.  Every vision/AI/graphics prof has funding for students.   I have funded all my MSc students in the past, though the level varies from year to year depending on availability and number of students, etc.