Students
The stuff you actually need
Reference letters, incompletes, policies, and the answers to the questions students ask every term. If it's not here, ask on Piazza — and if enough people ask, it'll get added.
Request a reference letter
I'm genuinely happy to write letters for students I've taught or worked with — for grad school, jobs, scholarships, and visas. Letters are strongest when I can tell specific stories, so the request form asks for the details that make that possible: what we did together, what you're applying for, and what you'd like the letter to emphasize.
Lead time: please ask at least two weeks before the first deadline. More is better; letters written in a panic read like letters written in a panic.
Opens a Google Form. One form per application cycle is plenty — list all your programs in it.
Request an incomplete
An incomplete ("I" grade) is a plan for finishing a course when life genuinely got in the way — it's an agreement about exactly what work remains and when it's due, signed by both of us. It is not a penalty, and asking for one when you need it is the responsible move, not an admission of failure.
How it works: talk to me first (Piazza private note or office hours). If an incomplete is the right call, we'll agree on the remaining work and deadlines, and use the generator to produce the official BU form as a PDF — filled in, ready to sign.
Unresolved incompletes convert to the fallback grade (usually F) after your college's deadline or one year, whichever comes first — which is exactly why the form pins the plan down.
Runs entirely in your browser — nothing you type is sent anywhere.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I find assignment deadlines?
In Blackboard — always. This site deliberately never lists due-dates, because a stale date is worse than no date. If two sources disagree, Blackboard is correct.
How do I ask a question?
Post on Piazza rather than emailing the teaching team — public questions help the whole class, private notes reach the instructor directly, and urgent notices go there first. Anything that benefits from a real conversation belongs in office hours or the weekly Q&A session.
I missed a class / an assessment. Now what?
Breathe — there's a procedure. Post a private note to the instructor on Piazza, complete the work within 3 days of the original deadline, and be ready to walk through it at the next Q&A session. The full steps are on each course's makeup policy page.
How do regrades work?
Submit a regrade request in Gradescope within 7 days of score release, identifying the specific error. Scores may go up, down, or stay put; decisions are final.
What's a GAIE?
A GenAI Exploration — DS-100's weekly structured session with an AI learning partner, done before class as preparation. They're completion-graded practice; assessments are where you show the understanding is really yours.
Where do I get the datasets from class?
The data catalog on this site. Every dataset has a page with its format, license, provenance, and either a direct download or a clearly-badged external link.
My laptop can't run the course software. Am I stuck?
No — courses use browser-based environments (JupyterHub, GitHub Codespaces) precisely so nobody needs a powerful machine. If cost of any required tool is a hardship, contact the instructor; alternatives will be arranged, and no student is penalized for inability to pay.
Can I use ChatGPT / Claude / Copilot on my work?
It depends on the zone — see the AI policy below. Short version: encouraged for exploration and practice, allowed with care on projects, prohibited during individual verification. And whenever AI helped, you attribute it.
Course-specific how-tos (JupyterHub setup, makeup steps, the style guide) live with each course — find yours here.
Small glossary
Kernel
The Python process behind a notebook. If the notebook freezes or starts behaving strangely, restarting the kernel is often the first useful move.
Virtual environment
A self-contained Python install for one project, so package versions for one class or assignment do not collide with another.
CSV
A plain-text table format. Easy to open almost anywhere, but weaker than richer formats when you care about data types or scale.
Parquet
A columnar storage format that is much better for large analytical datasets than CSV. Smaller on disk, faster to scan, less pleasant to inspect by eye.
Autograder
The test harness that checks parts of your work automatically. Passing it matters, but it is not a substitute for reading the spec and checking the result yourself.
Rubric
The scoring guide behind an assignment or project. Read it before you submit: it tells you what quality actually means for that piece of work.
AI use & academic integrity
My courses don't pretend GenAI doesn't exist — several are built around using it well. The deal is simple: AI is a legitimate tool, the work is still yours, and you always say where a machine helped.
Green — encouraged
Concept exploration, structured AI-prep and GAIEs, debugging help, brainstorming.
Yellow — with care
Project execution, drafts, scaffolding code — the analysis and decisions must be yours, and you must be able to explain everything.
Red — prohibited
In-class assessments, oral verification interviews, anything marked "individual verification." Violations are academic misconduct.
Whenever AI meaningfully helped, you attribute it using the AI Attribution model (AI-A through AI-G, one line at the end of your submission — details and examples are in each course's style guide). Unattributed AI use is treated the same as uncited copying.
The umbrella policies: BU's Academic Conduct Code and the CDS GAIA Policy (Generative AI Assistance), which each course adapts. Each syllabus states the course-specific version — the syllabus wins if anything here reads differently.
Accessibility & accommodations
If you have a disability or believe you may have one, you are encouraged to register with Disability & Access Services (617-353-3658, access@bu.edu). Accommodation letters can be shared with me privately — in office hours or a private Piazza note, whichever you prefer — and accommodations are not retroactive, so sooner is better.
Letter or no letter: if something about how a course runs is getting in the way of your learning, tell me. Some of the best changes to my courses started as one student's accommodation.
For well-being support beyond the classroom — tutoring at the ERC, writing support, BU Student Wellbeing — links are posted in each course's Blackboard site.
Getting help, in order
- 1
Piazza
Fastest for quick questions; public posts help everyone. Urgent notices from the teaching team land here first.
- 2
Office hours & Q&A sessions
For anything that benefits from a real conversation — getting unstuck, project direction, "am I on the right track?" Times are on Blackboard.
- 3
Private note to the instructor
Personal circumstances, accommodations, incompletes — anything that isn't for the whole class. Private Piazza note beats email; it won't get buried.
Deadlines, schedules, and grades live in Blackboard — when in doubt, Blackboard is correct.