Persuing Grad School and Computer Science Research Career
From Anita Borg Institute Wiki
Pursuing Graduate School and the Computer Science Research Career
Presenters: Lori Pollock, University of Delarware
Kathleen Fisher, AT & T Research
Jocelyn Simmonds, University of Toronto
Katarzyna Wilamowska, University of Washington
Goal: We want to discuss the opportunities and challenges of pursuing computing sciences or computer engineering graduate education. From applying to schools, being a graduate student, and then applying for your first job.
Lori Pollock - Why was grad school the right choice for me? I didn't even know what graduate school when I was in high school. While I was in college my advisor said "I think you should go onto graduate school" when I was in my liberal arts school. And I was in their first graduating cs class of 3 people and all three of us went on to grad school. I discovered two things I really liked about getting my phD: Enjoy research - constant learning and problem solving Enjoy teaching and mentoring young students
Kathleen Fisher- Why go into grad school? I accidentally came into computing science just because I wanted to learn how to use my computer and then in my second computing science class my professor came up to me and asked what I was going to do and then began telling me about all these cool computing science ideas and convinced me to switch from physics. I accidentally sort of decided on grad school as well and through these happy accidents I'm happy here today. Why grad school worked out for me was I love working with passionate smart people and I love the inedpendence and being paid to learn.
Jocelyn Simmonds Why Grad School? I enjoy teaching activities, and the jobs I'd had were repetitive and got boring. Why is it the right choice? You are constantly learning new things, meeting people. After going to Belgium to do her masters she went to work and found it boring and depressing and her professor from her previous degree encouraged her to look into PhD. And now she's happy because you can decide what you want to work on and who you want to work with, you get to go to conferences and meet intelligent people.
Katarzyna Wilamowska: Did a lot of stuff in bachelor: premed, english.. etc etc etc. And then took an internship and then job at Intel for a while. After the two year deadline her and her father had arrived at, Katarzyna decided that while she liked working at Intel, she wanted to see if there was more and so she took her masters. Why she thinks it was the right choice for her: she met people who she will be friends with for the rest of her life. These people were really really smart: they were the top in their field but they also read and go to plays and do sports and so many things. It's exhilerating to be surrounded by smart people. Most importantly grad school helped Katarzyna learn who she was and what she wanted from life and her career. She's currently doing her PhD and she wants to go to Med School to try and help bridge the gap between Medical doctors and Computing scientists.
QUESTIONS && ANSWERS:
Question: If a student is attending a university not not well known as an undergraduate school for research, how do you make yourself stand out?
The essay is important but also your letters of recomendation. Katarzyna had been working at intel for 2 years when she went to grad school and her professors still remembered who she was and wrote her letters and that fact really impressed her interviewers.
A lot of people are impressed by people whov'e done any kind of research, or if you know anything about research. If you can do any sort of summer research programs or side projects that is a great experience and will make you look great on your application. The CRA-W distributed mentor porgram is a great way to get paired iwth a mentor at a school even if you don't have anyone at your own school. If you ahve some idea about research and grad school, that will help you out.
Question: Some of you have had one foot in industry and another in grad school and I was wondering what It's like a different culture. Work is 9-5 and it's a very structure hierchy. Graduate school can be the other extreme: too free, so you should be careful to make yourself a schedule and be self-motivated. You really do get the choice of when to work, and sometimes that means working on the weekend but you really do get to work on what you want to, as opposed to in industry where something is assigned to you. In particular, being in industry with just a bachelor you are more on the lower run and so you have limited choices on what you'l do. One of the biggest things to think about is that you will be paid to go to graduate school most likely. It's easier to go to graduate school when you don't have a family or other complications and responsibilities. It can take away from your focus and the success rate of going when you're younger is much higher. Certainly you can go to graduate school when you're older however if you have the opportunity when you're younger, it can be easier. If you can do an internship, do it. It will definitely help you make your decision when you can see what the work world is like. On the other hand there are many different types of industry jobs, Research jobs on one hand can be just as rewarding as being in school because you can do much more interesting things. Make sure you don't forget industry or grad school due to one bad experience.
Question:What is the best way to go about approaching professors at institutions if youre looking to go to grad school and you're looking for people to work under and collaborate? ie deciding on a school to go and discovering funding.
If you're asking people at a university you're not already at, ask professors at your own university if they know anyone at another university or if they know people at the university you're interested in. If you have no contacts that way, you can call a university and go and visit and see what they have to offer. Don't send long emails to professors, try and ask them if it would be alright to email them questions before you do so or ask if they wouldn't mind talking to you on the phone. Work your network connections to get an introduction. Also most grad students have more time than professors, they may be a good source of information about grad school at a university and the habits of a professor. Also look at how a school matches you with an advisory and see how easy it is to switch advisors (so you dont' wind up in a bad relationship).
Question: I'm a PhD student right now, but I don't want to go into academia. I want a career. How hard do you think it is to get a research position? How much freedom do you have in your research?
The freedom in research labs definitely varies from lab to lab. At&T is particularly good at having researchers define their own agenda, however if you don't know how to do that it can be particularly challenging and not what you want. AT&T expects you to make contributions to the company but it is up to you to define what those are. There are many institutions who support research positions, you just have to be creative about describing what you want to do and what contributions your PhD will make at their company. Having a PhD definitely shows you are strong in a lot of different ways so many people will respect that and want to see what you an do.
Question: what is the different between American and NonAmerican Grad schools? The Us and Canada are qutie similar, however in Europe it's much more project based. The way academia works in the US, the schools like to have the "chicks leave the nest", so you're encouraged to move around schools and not stay in one place. You don't stay where you went to school to work in the end. In Europe it's more, they grow students in house to keep them as professors in the end.
Question: in terms of funding, did you persue outside scholarships/fellowships?
One people had an NSF and a Hertz scholarship. If you have interviews for scholarship, try not to be so hung up on being right but rather be interested and engaging. Try and keep talking to these people for as long as you can and just keep the dialog going. One TA'd for a year and then received an NSF. Most grad schools in the state will guarantee at least 2-3 research funding. You can get support by the faculty/professors.. you don't have to have guaranteed funding outside. In fact most people don't have guaranteed funding. Most professors feel an obligation to help their students, not that the students should feel obligated to pay for themselves. Having extra funding can be nice as it has bonuses of being able to go to more conferences etc. There are many different sources of funding: TA'ing (teacher assistant) where the department pays for you to be there and you help teach a class. RA (research assistants) where professors pay for you to help them with their project. Scholarships and fellowships are usually external and can be applied for.
Question: Do you have advice for conferences? I just went to my first conference and it was a systems conference and it was very intimidation. What would you recommend ? how do you get the most out of conferences?
Deal with being uncomfortable and get invited to lunch with people you wat to meet. Look at proceedings in advance and look at the works you're interested in and think about questions that come to mind. What are the strengths and things in the work that are similar to you. Then go to their webpage, see what they look like and try and find them when they're sort of alone or not mobbed and try and engage them in conversation. It's easy to say and difficult to do but it gets easier and then people get to know you. The big names can be shy as well, the only difference is that they happen to already know everyone. People love talking about their research with people who are informed so use that as an opportunity to talk to these people. Participate in the conversations.
Also prepare an elevator talk, a 2 minute talk on your interests and what your'e doing and practice this with your colleagues so you can quickly and concisely describe to other people about what youre doing and get known. Also if your adviser is going, ask them to introduce you to people as well.
Question: I am working on several projects with different professors and I'm having trouble trying to decide which to follow in school. Did you have trouble deciding what you want to do.
Most people find out after taking classes who they get along with and what they really wind up being interested in.
Question: is it okay if you are interested in going into grad school in one area but you have a paper or research experience in other areas.
yes of course it's great. It shows your ability to learn new areas quickly and shows experience .it hasn't cemented you in to which you want to do. They're more impressed that you have discovered a research opportunity than at what you did. A lot of people shift their focus once they hit grad school.
Question: how do you find your question and answer for your thesis?
Research is a lot more fluid process. You start with questions and solutions and as you discover solutions or more questions you shift what your focus is. You have to keep asking yourself if this is important and if it's applicable. Your advisor is also a critical component in grad school. You're shifting from student/teacher to colleague and you should feel okay speaking up and talking about what your'e doing.
Question: Would you put more weight on deciding who to work with or what youer' working on? What sort of huge humps did you have to overcome in your tenure as a grad student?
Ideally you want both a good relationship and project however I think it's more important to have a good relationship because a PhD is more about the process than the results and so even if in the end you realize the topic isn't your hearts desire it's good if you've learned the process of approaching and solving these problems. If you're working with a professor you don't like it will be a hugely negative experience and you won't be able to establish a relationship where they can help and recommend you for future work. Every student questions whether or not they should quit at some point. It can be overwhelming at times.. particularly in your third year where you've finished your courses and you just have this big gaping open ended problem. Sometimes it's important to take a break and go for a walk and other times you have to sit and hit your head against the wall and face this deamon. The ability to sit there and conquer this problem is what you're there to learn, to take those steps towards solutions. It's the first time in your life where someone has given you something and hasn't said "here is the problem I want this solution and here is the technique you should use." If you get to that point where you're thinking of quitting you need to go talk to your prof. They'll be able to help you and they've been there. Also mentors or senior graduating students are also helpful. Everyone has this experience and anyone who disagrees is lying.
Question: how many people do you know get a PhD that don't go into academia, research position or software engineering. Some people become moms. Some people like Katarzyna go to medical school. Some do consulting. Management positions. A phD is often viewed as a certificate of "well you've learned to think for yourself and other people so you can help other people". Some people in these positions may consider doing a business degree but some people will hire you and train you for a bit and then make you a manager. Some companies can use you for more knowledge based activities like chip verification..
Question: Any suggestions about research collaborations? Don't collaborate people you don't like or cant' hang out with. Research collaboration is an intense relationship. you have to trust and be able to say things you think are stupid. If you don't like spending time with people or respect people, don't collaborate with them. People aren't as scary as you think they are, try and ask people about their work and see what you think is interesting. Also collaborations aren't permanent. Try it and if it doesn't work, it's not the end of the world, don't work with them again. Some people just don't work. Like the people who try and do things at the last minute and people who work way ahead of time.