Janie Irwin CSE, Penn State with credits to Kathy Yelick, EECS, UC Berkeley
Even for the most successful students Even for the men
Its the next two (or three) years of your life It will define the area for your job search You may be working in the same area (or a derivative) for years after
Things to Consider
Do you have a preassigned research advisor or do you have to find one? What kind of job are you interested in?
Top 20, teaching, govt lab, industry Programming, design, data analysis, proofs Key insights vs. long/detailed verification/simulation Technology, puzzles, applications, interdisciplinary
Does your advisor know anything about the topic? What is your advisors style?
Do you (i.e., your advisor) have funding for you to work in the area?
You wake up one day with a new insight/idea New approach to solve an important open problem Warnings:
This rarely happens Even if it does, you may not be able to find an advisor who agrees
Your advisor has a list of topics Suggests one (or more!) that you can work on Can save you a lot of time/anxiety Warnings:
Dont work on something you find boring, fruitless, badly-motivated, Several students may be working on the same/related problem
You work on some projects and think very hard about what youve done looking for insights
Warnings:
You work on a number of small topics that turn into a series of conference papers
E.g., you figure out how to apply a technique (e.g., ILP) to a number of key problems in an area
You figure out somehow how to tie it all together, create a chapter from each paper, and put a big staple through it Warnings:
You read some papers from other subfields in computer science/engineering or a related field (e.g., biology) And look for places to apply insight from another (sub)field to your own
E.g., databases to compilers You can spend a career reading papers! You may not find any useful connections
Warnings:
The project/paper combines your research project with the course project
Warnings:
This can distract from your research if you cant find a related project/paper
Read a PhD thesis or two (or three) Read your advisors grant proposal(s) Take a project class with a new perspective Serve as an apprentice to a senior PhD student in your group
Keep working on something Attend a really good conference in an area of interest Do a industry/government lab internship
May move you outside your advisors area of expertise You dont know the related work You are starting from scratch Recognize when your project isnt working
Thank You