Resources for Students at IIT and Chicago

Nik Sultana, Department of Computer Science, Illinois Institute of Technology

Why this page?

Moving to a new city and/or a new university is very exciting -- regardless of whether you're a student or faculty! I'm still rather new to Illinois Tech and to Chicago, and I'm really enjoying getting to know both better over time. As I get to know Chicago and IIT, I sometimes come across resources that might also be useful to students, particularly new students at IIT. So I started this page to gather such resources. Do contact me if you think of anything else that can be helpful to include here.

Resources

• Transport
• U-Pass provides students unlimited travel on public transport in Chicago.
• Information on how to reach the Mies campus.
• Find out more about the "L" and CTA
  The CTA provides its performance metrics and analysis of delays.
• CTA Bus Tracker.
• If you're driving during the winter, the Plow Tracker provides up-to-date information about road conditions in the city.
• Library
Find textbooks for your courses at the IIT library. See FAQs related to the library, including one related to course textbooks.
• IIT's Mies Campus
• See a map of the Mies campus and browse its buildings.
• Find out about food options on campus and the menu of the day.
• Safety
Sign up for IIT Alert to receive updates about security-related situations around the IIT campus.
• Happenings
IIT's Today website keeps you updated.
• Course registration timeline
See the Registrar's page on important information.
• Inter-uni resources
Check out IIT's Study Away program. There's a Course Exchange Agreement between IIT and Columbia College.
• Time zone
Chicago is in the Central Time Zone, which is at UTC-6 (and changing to UTC-5 during the summer months).
• PhD in Computer Science
The process follows the program requirements, including the qualifying exams. The timeline for qualifying exams depends on whether the candidate is entering the PhD program with an MS or not. The comprehensive exam is a key milestone, and involves a presentation and discussion of the thesis proposal. That is also the time when a thesis committee is formed. This exam must be at least one year before thesis defense, which is another key milestone. Between those two milestones, the thesis is completed and submitted.
• Chicago (aka "Windy City" -- check NWS forecast)
The city is a huge population center, as seen in this heat map by Pecners, and its economy benefits (and benefits from) students once they graduate through the availability of various types of jobs.
The city government maintains a lot of resources on its website.
Some other resources I find interesting:
• Chicago's Museum Campus is very close to the Mies Campus and well-worth many visits.
  Find out about Free Museum Days.
• Chicago Public Library is an absolute gem.
  • It provides a wealth of resources, including subscriptions to various online publications.
  • It maintains a list of Chicago facts, including how the design of the "municipal device" originated.
• The city's grid system is very intuitive. On the topic of design, the city's structured into community areas, and (informally) into neighbourhoods.
• Wintry weekends can be well-spent at the Chicago History Museum.
• On those same wintry weekends, you might want to use the pedestrian tunnels under Chicago.
• Chicago has several annual parades, such as its Thanksgiving Parade. You might have seen one of these parades featured in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
• On which point, a fun diversion involves finding the locations of the various movies filmed in Chicago.
• See also IIT's pages on life in Chicago, and other resources on things to do in Chicago: 3, 1, 2.
• The Powers of Ten video starts and ends in Chicago.
• Chicago has emergency sirens which it tests monthly. The city also runs drills for severe-weather preparedness.

Acknowledgement: Matthew Bauer and Sean Murphy provided links to information about the library's textbook service, and Kyle Hale explained the PhD process in Computer Science.

Snaps

• A J79 turbojet engine in the Rettaliata building, with coffee cup for scale.


• IIT's Research Showcase in Hermann Hall at the start of Fall 2022 had over 80 students from across the uni presenting their work.


• Fermilab's iconic Wilson Hall.


• Inside Fermilab's Wilson Hall, with a coffee cup for scale.


• Front of Wilson Hall, as seen from one of the meeting rooms that cross between the building's two wings.


• Not quite Chicago, but this is the site of the The Cuckoo's Egg story about an early cybersecurity incident.