PhD Basics 101 A Practical Introduction to Getting started in the PhD Program

1
PhD Basics 101 (A Practical Introduction to
Getting started in the PhD Program)

• Idris Hsi
• Nth year Phd Student,
• Founding Member of INCITE
• The Institute of Nebulous and Collaborative
  Intelligent Thought Evolution

2
Goals of this Talk

• Familiarize you with the less obvious logistics
  of PhD life.
• Steer you away from potential pitfalls of PhD
  life.
• Pass on a little hard-earned knowledge

3
Mental Preparations

• Smarts only gets you halfway there. Endurance is
  what ultimately matters.
• Progress is always measured in terms of Research
  Progress!!
• Keep one sensory organ on the Big Picture.

4
The Research Diary

• Keep track of your research progress.
• Can be electronic or paper
• Make Daily Logs
• Meetings with advisor, research group,
  colleagues, visitors
• Talks, Papers, Conference notes
• Personal thoughts about work.

5
My Dissertation Journal

• March 2, 2003
• An idea about bipartite graphs number of portals
  connected to concept is another measure of
  importance - reflects activation cost
  requirements on part of designer to concept.
• Yahoo Messenger is freaking insane!!! Maybe I
  need to pick a different application like
  Microsoft Word 2.0.
• April 14, 2003
• Wrote up Surveyor_Description for Melody
  describing Surveyors basic functionality and
  relationship to Architect.
• Basically getting back in gear after being
  annoyingly sick with a cold for the last 3 days.

6
The Electronic Bibliography

• Keep track of what youve read!
• Electronic bibliographies work with word
  processors to produce instant bibliographies!
• BibTex (UNIX), Endnote (PCs)
• File papers as you go.

7
Know Your Search Engines

• Besides Google.
• IEEE and ACM Digital Libraries
• CiteSeer
• Keep track of your search terms
• Revisit them periodically.

8
Develop Information Archiving System

• Sea of Information Problem
• Emails, To-Do Lists, Papers, Revisions of Papers,
  Classwork, Lecture Notes, Meeting Notes, Business
  Cards
• Organize your information for easy retrieval.
  Sooner the better.
• Backup important data frequently! (Burn to CD)

9
Develop a Home Page

• Your Home Page should have the following (not
  hidden)
• Your name and a good picture.
• Description of your research interests
• Links to Publications, Research Affiliations, CV
• Anything else should be organized as secondary
  information

10
Maintain Updated CV

• CV is an Academic Resume. Contains
• Publications Record
• Research Experience
• Service Record Community and Professional
  Activities
• Teaching Experience
• Membership in Professional Societies
• Etc.

11
Membership in Professional Societies

• Association of Computing Machinery
• IEEE Computer Society
• Special Interest Groups (SIGCHI, SIGSOFT, etc)
• Check with your advisor.

12
Other Practical Things

• Design and Practice your elevator speech (1
  minute shot at fame and fortune)
• Get Business Cards from the College before going
  to conferences
• Find out who the senior students are both in and
  outside your area!
• Find and maintain a stress release mechanism
  (hobby, social outlet, exercise).

13
Get Involved

• Be a Student Volunteer at Conferences
• Serve on College Committees (GSC)
• PhD Admissions, PhD Recruiting, Faculty Hiring,
  Grad Liaison, Curriculum Review
• Give Talks about your research when you can.
• Give back to the community

14
Who are the people in your neighborhood?

• Who are the famous researchers in your area?
  What are they famous for?
• What are the major research topics right now?
• Where are the major centers for your work in the
  world?
• What are the major conferences?
• What are the politics associated with these
  things?

15
Develop your Research Skills

• Identifying an important problem
• Identifying an unknown problem
• Recognizing good validation
• Technical Writing / Communication Skills
• Research Objectivity
• Develop a Problem Solving Toolkit

16
That Problem Solving Toolkit Thing

• Metacognitive skills reflect on your approach
  to problems
• Multiple approaches to same problem.
• Analogies, Metaphors, Visualization
• Occasionally read outside your area in science,
  engineering, newspapers, and even literature.

17
Be Passionate (Optional)

• Remember why youre here!
• Find a topic that you will be excited about when
  the going gets tough.
• Learn to discuss research with anyone and
  everyone.