CS 8803-VLM: Vision-Language Models & Multimodal Agents

Course format, attendance, and participation

This is a participation-driven, in-person research seminar; there is no routine remote option. Regular attendance, preparation, and engagement are part of the 15% participation grade. If you are ill, do not attend in person. Contact the teaching team as soon as possible, particularly if you will miss a presentation, project interview, or other scheduled responsibility. Institute-approved absences and verified emergencies will be handled consistent with Georgia Tech policy.

Communication policy

Students are responsible for information posted on this course page and Canvas, and for announcements sent through Ed Discussion or Georgia Tech email. Check Georgia Tech email and course announcements at least once each school day. Unless an announcement states otherwise, students will not be held responsible for time-sensitive changes until 24 hours after the message is sent. Use Ed for questions that may help the class; use private messages/email for individual matters.

Late and make-up work

Deadlines are firm unless an assignment explicitly states a late policy. Weekly paper reviews are due at 11:59 PM ET the day before class and late reviews are not accepted; the lowest three eligible review scores are dropped in part to absorb ordinary conflicts. For illness, family emergency, or another significant circumstance, notify the teaching team as early as possible and use the Dean of Students Request Assistance process when verification or coordinated faculty notification is needed. Do not send medical records or other sensitive documentation to the instructor or TAs. Approved accommodations, Institute Approved Absences, and verified emergency/illness requests will be honored under Georgia Tech policy.

Academic integrity, plagiarism, collaboration, and AI use

All work is governed by the Georgia Tech Academic Honor Code. Discussion and scientific collaboration are encouraged, but submitted work must follow the assignment-specific authorship rules and all borrowed text, figures, code, ideas, datasets, models, and other resources must be appropriately cited or attributed.

• Weekly paper reviews: the review must be your own reading and synthesis. Generative AI/LLM assistance may not be used to summarize, draft, rewrite, critique, or otherwise produce the review.
• Paired-paper presentations and discussion materials: presenters may discuss the papers with others and use cited source material, but submitted slides, synthesis, and discussion questions must be the presenters’ own work.
• Research project implementation: external codebases, pretrained models, tools, and AI coding assistants/agents may be used when permitted, but must be attributed. Material AI/agent use must be documented in the repository-root AGENT_USAGE.md, including what was used, for what purpose, what files/experiments were materially affected, and how the output was validated.
• Project ownership: the research question/contribution, experimental decisions, execution, interpretation, and understanding must be the team’s own. Students remain responsible for correctness, licensing, citations, and all submitted material. The code interview is used to verify authorship, contribution, and understanding.

Suspected academic-integrity violations may be referred to the Office of Student Integrity in accordance with Institute procedures.

Professional and online conduct

Discussion should be rigorous, collegial, and respectful. Read existing Ed threads before posting, avoid language that is needlessly hostile or likely to be misread, protect classmates’ privacy, and do not post or distribute another student’s personal information or work without permission. Course staff may moderate discussion posts that are off-topic, inappropriate, or inconsistent with a respectful academic environment.

Disability accommodations, illness, and emergencies

Students who require disability-related accommodations should work with the Office of Disability Services and provide the appropriate accommodation notice. Students affected by significant illness or personal emergencies may use the Dean of Students Request Assistance process. Please notify the instructor that you are working through the appropriate office, but do not send personal medical details or documentation directly to course staff.

Mental health and student support

Georgia Tech’s Center for Mental Health Care & Resources provides counseling, crisis support, assessment, referral, workshops, and related services for students. For urgent mental-health support, students may contact the Center at 404-894-2575; after hours, the same number provides an after-hours counselor option. In an immediate emergency, call 911 or Georgia Tech Police at 404-894-2500. The national 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available by calling or texting 988.

Student–faculty expectations

This course follows Georgia Tech’s Student–Faculty Expectations. Students should expect a respectful and engaged academic environment, regularly scheduled instruction, clear course requirements, and reasonable communication and feedback. The instructional staff expects students to attend regularly and on time, prepare for discussion, meet stated deadlines, communicate professionally, and contribute to a respectful academic environment.

Final assessment and final instructional days

There is no traditional final exam. The research project serves as the major culminating assessment. Project interviews, final presentations, and the final report occur near the end of the semester as listed in the schedule. Any change to final-assessment logistics will be announced through the normal course communication channels.

Subject to change

Because this is a seminar in a rapidly evolving research area, the reading list and detailed schedule may change to incorporate important new work. Changes to papers, deadlines, or course logistics will be communicated through the course page and Ed/Canvas announcements. The published course page and Canvas assignment pages are authoritative when a development draft or template differs.