Grad Visit Days 2025 — Schedule & Logistics
Grad Visit Days 2025 is a three-day event for newly admitted Master of Science (MSc) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) programs to learn about our research programs at the Department of Computer Science and see first-hand what graduate life is like at University of Toronto. It is an opportunity for students to meet our faculty and graduate students, and to learn more about the University and the resources available.
Hotel accommodation will be provided (Single room; maximum room occupancy of two guests per room) and as well as reimbursements for reasonable travel expenses; more details can be found on the Expenses & Reimbursement page.
Schedule
Monday, March 17
3 – 5:30 p.m.
Check-in at Chelsea Hotel
33 Gerrard Street West, Toronto, ON M5G 1Z4
5:30 – 6:30 p.m.
Welcome Reception at Chelsea Hotel
Monarch's Pub, located in the Lobby
6:30 – 9:45 p.m.
Welcome Dinner at Chelsea Hotel
The Churchill Ballroom, 2nd floor
Tuesday, March 18
8 a.m.
Escorted walk from Chelsea Hotel to Bahen Centre for Information Technology
8:30 – 9 a.m.
Breakfast and Registration
BA 3200, Bahen Centre for Information Technology, 40 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 2E4
9 – 10:15 a.m.
Welcome from the Chair; Associate Chair, Graduate Operations; Representative of the CSGS and the GVD Planning Committee
Administrative Presentation: So, you have received your offer, now what?
Presenter: Alison Grossman, Associate Director, Graduate Academic Services
Keynote Presentation: Professor Sheila McIlraith, “How (formal) language can help AI agents learn, plan, and remember”
10:15 – 11 a.m.
U of T Entrepreneurship
Find out more about the University of Toronto Entrepreneurship supports and provides mentorship, expertise, resources, and strategic connections to give entrepreneurs at all stages of their journey the tools they need to effectively start, build and scale their businesses.
Presenters: Jennifer Fraser, Director of Innovation and Talar Nersesian, Marketing and Communication Officer, from U of T Entrepreneurship.
11 – 11:15 a.m.
Morning Break
11:15 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Graduate Student Panel Session
Get the perspectives that matter on your specific questions. Join us for discussions moderated by current students about the student experience at U of T.
Panel Speakers:
Ziyang Jin, PhD-T (Theoretical Computer Science)
Caitlin Harrigan, PhD-T (Computational Biology)
Blerim Abdullai, MSc (AI)
Harry Ye, PhD-Direct Entry (Human-Computer Interaction (HCI))
Moderator: Professor Alex Mariakakis
12 – 1:45 p.m.
GVD Luncheon at the Faculty Club
2nd floor, 41 Willcocks St, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3
1:45 – 2 p.m.
Travel from the Faculty Club to Bahen Centre for Information Technology
2 – 2:30 p.m.
Option 1:
U of T Housing Session
U of T’s Housing Services will be there to provide information on on-campus residence options and advice for your housing search off-campus.
Presenter: Leo Tullo, Housing Peer Advisor, U of T Housing
Option 2:
Faculty-Student One-On-Ones
2:30 – 3 p.m.
Afternoon Break
3 – 4 p.m.
Option 1:
Faculty Research Presentations:
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Abstract:
Many state-of-the-art systems are based on large language models (LLMs). The enormity of LLMs incurs enormous computational costs, which puts the development of these systems primarily in the hands of resource-rich corporations. My lab aims to change this state of affairs by decentralizing, democratizing, and de-risking large-scale AI: decentralizing so that communities of volunteers can pool their resources and collaboratively build large-scale models; democratizing to dramatically lower the overall development costs; and de-risking to identify and mitigating problematic downstream effects of this technology. In my talk, I'll give a brief overview of my lab's work on each of these themes.
Bio:
Colin Raffel is an associate professor at the University of Toronto, an Associate Research Director at the Vector Institute, and a Faculty Researcher at Hugging Face.
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Abstract:
The amount of data in our world is growing exponentially. This puts database engines at a crossroads. On the one hand, we would like more write-optimized engines that lend themselves to efficient data ingestion. On the other hand, write-optimized designs relax the structure of the data and are, therefore, slower to query. My lab is tackling this problem by rethinking storage engines and co-designing them with probabilistic data structures that can speed up queries by giving hints of where to go. This short talk will provide a brief overview of my lab's research.
Bio:
Niv Dayan is an assistant professor at the University of Toronto.
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Abstract:
The rapid evolution of high-level programming languages has enabled the development of complex software systems, but many of these language designs lack rigorous theoretical foundations. This can lead to subtle bugs in language implementations and performance penalties. In this talk, I will give an overview of my lab's work on how programming language theory can be leveraged to enhance practical programming.
Bio:
Ningning Xie is an assistant professor at the University of Toronto
Option 2:
Faculty-Student One-On-Ones
4 p.m.
Instructions for Group-Led Sessions and Friday Session Reminders
4:15 – 5:30 p.m.
Option 1:
Group-Led Sessions
More details to come.
Option 2:
Vector Tour (meet at BA 3200)
Led by Johannah Thumb, Manager, Student Engagement and Simran Nova Siddique, Program Coordinator
Option 3:
Faculty-Student One-on-Ones
Option 4:
Student Guided Campus Tour (meet at BA 3200)
5:30 – 6:30 p.m.
Prep and Travel Time for Evening Group-Led Activities
6:30 p.m. onwards
Evening Group-Led Activities:
Systems (PLSE) — Snakes and Lattes (Annex Location), 600 Bloor Street West
Systems (SySLab) — Prenup Pub, 191 College Street
Theory — Snakes and Lattes (College Street), 489 College Street
DGP/Robotics — Dinner at Prof. Kyros Kutulakos (Contact Grad Office team)
ML/AI — Sin & Redemption, Schnitzel House, 136 McCaul Street
Comp Linguistics — Sin & Redemption, Schnitzel House, 136 McCaul Street
Wednesday, March 19
9 –10:15 a.m.
Option 1:
Student Breakfast Mix-and-Mingle
BA 3200, Bahen Centre for Information Technology, 40 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 2E4
Option 2:
DCS Women Welcome Breakfast
Room TBC, Bahen Centre for Information Technology, 40 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 2E4
10:15 – 11:00 a.m.
Option 1:
Vector Tour (meet at BA 3200)
Tour led by Johannah Thumb, Manager, Student Engagement and Simran Nova Siddique, Program Coordinator
Option 2:
Student Guided Campus Tour (meet at BA 3200)
11 a.m.
Check-out from Chelsea Hotel