IT Research and Publication: My Experience

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• IT Research and Publication My Experience
• Hsinchun Chen

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• My Background
• St. Ignatious Catholic High School, Taipei, 1977
• BS NCTU Management Science, 1981
• MBA SUNY Buffalo Finance, MS, MIS
• Ph.D. NYU Information System, Minor CS, 1989
• Dissertation An AI Approach to the Design Of
  Online Information Retrieval Systems
• Assistant/Associate/Full/Chair Professor,
  University of Arizona, MIS Department, 1989-
• Scientific Counselor, National Library of
  Medicine USA), National Library of China,
  Academia Sinica
• IEEE Fellow
  

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• My Background
• Founder/Director, Artificial Intelligent Lab,
  1990-
• Founder/Director, Hoffman E-Commerce Lab, 2000-
• Director, NSF COPLINK Center, 2002-
• Founder, Knowledge Computing Corporation, 2000-
• PIs NSF CISE DLI-1 DLI-2, NSDL, DG, DARPA, NIJ,
  NIH, CIA, DHS
• Received 80 grants, 20M in federal funding
• AI Lab with 40 researchers, Ph.D. students, and
  MS/BS students
• UA professor since 1989 UA MIS ranked top-five
  by US News and World Report for the past 17 years
• Chen ranked 8 in MIS research (CAIS 2005)
• COPLINK system revolutionalized public safety IT
  adopted by 150 police and intelligence agencies
  Google for Cops (NYT, Newsweek)

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• My Background
• Associate Editors for major journals JASIST,
  DSS, ACM TOIS, IEEE SMC, IEEE ITS
• IEEE ITSS and SMCS Technical Committee chair (in
  homeland security research)
• Conference/program Co-hairs ICADL 1998-2005,
  China DL 2002/2004, ACM/IEEE JCDL 2004, IEEE
  NSF/NIJ/CIA/DHS ISI 2003-2006
• Pioneer in Digital Library research fostering
  Asian digital library community building (ICADL
  steering committee chair) Chen ranked 1 in
  digital library research (IPM 2005)
• Pioneer in Biomedical Informatics research
  author of acclaimed Medical Informatics book,
  Springer 2005.
• Pioneer in Intelligence and Security Informatics
  research fostering ISI research and development
  (IEEE ISI chair and TC chair) author of
  acclaimed Intelligence and Security Informatics
  book, Springer 2005
• Industry Consulting HP, IBM, ATT, SGI,
  Microsoft, SAP

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Outline

• High School and Before
• College
• Pursuing an Advanced Degree Abroad
• MS Degree
• Ph.D. Degree
• Getting an Academic Job
• Junior Faculty
• Senior Faculty
• Getting Funding
• Professional Activities and AEs
• Making an Impact
• Making a Contribution

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High School and Before

• Establish reading habit
• Curiosity and asking questions
• Maintain interest in English and math
• Extracurricular activities and leadership
• Making friends
• Get into top colleges and good departments

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College

• Select the right major (of interest)
• Do well in math classes, especially statistics
• Interests and practices in English
• Leadership and extracurricular activities learn
  time management
• Presentation skills, debate, public speeches
• For IT career strong background in Java
  programming SQL DBMS skill (both hands-on)
• Exposure in soft subjects, e.g., sociology,
  psychology, marketing, economics, etc.
• Maintain 3.3 GPA and top-10 in class

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Pursuing an Advanced Degree

• Prepare TOFEL, GRE, and GMAT during junior year
  need to be top-20 for good schools prepare well
  and take multiple times
• Target at top schools based on ranking,
  reputation and fit
• Study each school and faculty
• Personal appeal (email and faculty reference) to
  faculty with funding
• Seeking own faculty contacts and recommendations
• UA MIS (top 5 for 17 consecutive years) welcome
  Taiwan applicants!

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MS Degree

• A good time to identify/confirm research interest
  and to improve grade (GPA 3.7, GMAT, GRE)
• MS often requires self funding
• UA MIS MS students typically receive TA funding
  at the second year (12,000/year)!
• Important IT courses Java programming SQL DBMS
  advanced research courses (to identify research
  interests)
• Establish professional relationships with
  selected faculty mentors (e.g., thesis, project)
• Identify target schools and programs for Ph.D.

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Ph.D. Degree

• Need excellent GPA (3.5), GMAT/GRE (top 5)
• Pursue advanced research interest
• Pursue top schools and programs
• Pursue research-active faculty as advisor and
  mentor
• Ph.D. student is often funded via TA or RA
  16,000/year, 4-5 years

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Ph.D. Degree

• First Year, Core Exam Core courses only
• Second Year, Written Exam Research project,
  publication, and presentation
• Third Year, Minor Exam Minor courses only
• Fourth Year, Oral-Preliminary Exam Major and
  minor faculty research proposal course Q/A
• Fifth Year, Final Oral Defense Major only
  Complete dissertation
• Need to conduct research persistently for 4-5
  years. Target 1-2 journal papers per year.
• Teach 1-2 courses in 3rd or 4th year.
• 1-2 conference presentation opportunities

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Getting an Academic Job

• Prepare an excellent application packet
• Good teaching record (4.2 out of 5)
• 2-3 journal papers already (published or
  forthcoming) 1-2 papers under review
• Target and study top schools and faculty
• MIS job conferences AIS (August), DSI
  (November), ICIS (December)
• Prepare, practice, and polish job talk
• Aim high but accept reality!
• Relax. Enjoy the process!

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Junior Faculty

• Publish, publish, publish!
• Work like crazy in the first 6 years!
• Focus on top journals, not conferences.
• Time management teaching (20), research (80)
• Seek collaboration and mentoring from selected
  productive senior faculty.
• Collaborate with junior colleagues and graduate
  students.
• Year 2 3-4 journal papers Year 4 6-8 journal
  papers Year 6 12-18 journal papers ? Good
  enough for tenure in top MIS programs!

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Senior Faculty

• Whats life after tenure? Sea urchin in ocean?
• Continue research momentum? Administration?
  Consulting? Start-up company?
• Need to be a recognized scholar or researcher in
  the world to be promoted to full professor.
• Need to be an exceptional scholar or researcher
  and make significant contribution to be bestowed
  chair professorship.
• Getting funding to establish lab/center
• Becoming leaders in professional activities and
  AEs

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Getting Funding

• Need to conduct advanced, cutting-edge, and
  high-impact research
• US funding acceptance rate 5-10
• Know the funding programs and program managers
  seek advice and consultation
• Become a reviewer
• Attend workshops and conferences to identify new,
  emerging research opportunities
• Explore research applications and partners
• Start with small funding with senior
  collaborators (100K)

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Getting Funding

• Establish research excellence in sub-areas best
  3-5 in the world
• Develop sustainable programs and partnerships
  with target agencies
• NSF peer review, CISE/IIS, program managers,
  science and engineering focus
• NIH/NLM study session, informatics, partnership
• DOD, DOJ, CIA, DHS security focus, partnership

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Getting Funding

• Establish lab and project teams, and supervise
  research staff and students
• Intellectual merit innovation and publication!
  (Science, Nature, PNAS)
• Broader impact user adoption and success story!
  (NYT, USA Today)

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Professional Activities

• Be a good reviewer for senior colleagues.
• Begin with journal special issues.
• AE opportunities Publish in the selected
  journals and know the key personnel (EIC and
  senior AE) Volunteer through proper introduction
  (senior faculty and close colleagues)
• Professional activities and services Volunteer
  through proper introduction (senior faculty and
  close colleagues)
• Many opportunities with IEEE, ACM, AIS
• Be a professional AE!

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Professional Activities

• Participate in selected professional meetings
  consistently.
• Volunteer with proper introduction.
• Begin with Program Committee.
• Volunteer in workshop, symposium, and
  sub-committee.
• Be professional and reliable.
• Plan and volunteer for major conferences PC
  chair, conference chair. Have a team!
• Plan and build a community be a pioneer and
  cultivate the field.

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Making an Impact

• Select new, high-impact research topics, e.g.,
  bioinformatics, medical informatics, security
  informatics, etc.
• Build partnership with domain experts and
  communities.
• Know the community problems and cure their pain
  what can I do for you?
• Be patient!
• 50 Research 50 Impact
• Build a team and execute algorithm, system,
  database, HCI, user study, organization study.

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Making a Contribution

• Making an impact on society!
• Educating and influencing young students!
• Serving the needs of under-privileged
  communities!
• Making a contribution to local communities, e.g.,
  Tucson, Hualien!
• Making a contribution to Taiwan!
• When do you retire? (No mandatory retirement age
  in US!)