First Steps in ProFFSecond Meeting w/ ProFF Students

B.Y. Choueiry (Chair), Hong Jiang, and Witty Srisa-anComputer Science & Engineering

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

1October 7th, 2010 ProFF: Second Meeting w/ Students

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Outline

• Welcome• New forms– Travel grant– Memorandum of understanding

• Monitoring your own progress• Teaching questionnaire• CSE ProFF– Status Update– Summer session: Professional Development

• Addendum: useful slides from first meetingOctober 7th, 2010 ProFF: Second Meeting w/ Students

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Two New Forms

• Memorandum of Understanding– Formal admission to ProFF– Commitment of you & your advisor

• Travel Form– Top conferences mainly– Add to your resume after you’ve received funding

October 7th, 2010

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Monitoring Your Own Progress

• Revise your resume every 3—4 months – Add to your calendar– Revise the document– Show to your adviser & discuss progress w/ him/her– Identify weaknesses, solicit adviser for help

• Papers• Awards• Professional service: review, initiatives @ major conferences• Teaching & mentoring other students (add to your resume)

– Hints: use list of suggested actictivities (ref. 1st meeting)• Add ProFF& travel grant to your resume

October 7th, 2010

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Teaching Questionnaire• What counts to be hired

– Publications – Awards– Visibility (impact, talks, involvement in conference organization, reviews)– Teaching

• Teaching– Mentoring other students– Formal teaching: instructor on record for a class

• We are not really sure what is beneficial for you– Basic courses (easy to prepare, hard to handle) versus advanced (hard to prepare, easy to

handle)– Summer (short, intensive) versus academic year (full experience, distractive)

• Please – List all your preferences but think about workload and distraction– Give as many comments as you can, so that we may be inspired..

• Questions?

October 7th, 2010

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Status Update

• Currently, 8 students in ProFF

October 7th, 2010

Name External Member SupCom Internship Grant Writing WS

Brady Dick Taylor

Shant Dechter Freuder 4C Yes

Du Microsoft/Sun?

Anwar Yes

Shivashis Kamal Microsoft Su 2010? Yes

Kathryn Microsoft Su 2010

Ragunath Immerman Rutgers Su 2010

Haitao Yes

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UNL’s PFF

• 1 Summer Session• 1 mentoring experience during Fall/Spring

October 7th, 2010

Student External mentor? Activities?

Anwar Hesham Ali (UNO) - Met a few times, job applications, attended group research meeting.

Shivashis Hesham Ali (UNO) - Met twice, attended a class, administrative insights, presentation (class + group)

Ragu Edward Reinke (Math, Concordia)

- Met once, teaching/research statement, admin load for faculty,

Haitao Victor Winter (CS, UNO)

- Met once, moch job interview

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Today’s Main Discussion

• Your feedback about UNL’s PFF– What you liked– What you did not like– What was missing…

• Goal: Organize a special summer session

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UNL’s PFF: Your Feedback

• Was UNL’s PFF session useful to you? Was it time well spent or do you regret being involved?

• Considering the topics that were discussed during the Summer 2010 PFF Session, list all questions that you had but were not fully answered. List as many of those questions as you can remember.

• Can you think of any topics that were notdiscussed during the Summer 2010 PFF Session and that you would like us to discuss during CSE summer workshop?

• List what was good, what was bad, what was not useful, what was not sufficient, what was missing, what was well covered and needs not be discussed again, etc.

October 7th, 2010

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Useful Slides from Our First Meeting

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(Tentative) Goals of ProFF

• Seek & succeed in a faculty position in a top research institution– Give you the tools to land your dream job– Give you the skills to become• A top researcher in your community• A top teacher in your classes• A top mentor for your students• A top colleague in your department• A top citizen in your institution

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Your Opinions: Course or Seminar?

One 5-week summer session, 2 meetings per week, 2 hours per meeting

4 1 4 1 4 4 3 2 5 3.11

A multi-day (3—5 days) workshop during the summer 4 1 4 1 4 5 4 1 5 3.22

A two-day workshop during the summer 4 2 5 2 5 4 5 5 5 4.11

A two-day workshop during Fall/Spring break 5 5 4 2 2 3 3 5 5 3.78

A three credit hours course for one semester 3 1 3 5 3 3 1 1 3 2.56

A one credit hour course for one semester 4 4 3 4 1 2 4 3 3 3.11

A 0-credit hour, one semester-long seminar series with talks/panels once per week

5 5 4 4 1 1 3 1 5 3.22

A 0-credit hour, one semester-long seminar series with talks/panels once per month 5 5 4 4 3 1 4 4 4 3.78

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Your Opinion: Receiving Support

In addition to your advisor(s) and Supervising Committee, rate your preference for having a faculty mentor outside UNL

5 5 3 5 3 4 5 5 5 4.44

Would you be willing to spend a summer as an intern at another institution/research lab.?

5 5 3 5 3 3 5 5 5 4.33

How important is it for you to receive professional editorial help when writing your papers?

5 4 4 5 1 5 4 5 5 4.22

How willing are you to proofread the papers of others students in the ProFF group?

4 5 4 4 4 5 4 4 3 4.11

Will you commit to attend a UNL grant writing workshop?

5 5 4 5 3 5 5 4 5 4.56

Will you commit to attend a one-day seminar on Ethics? 5 5 5 5 3 5 5 4 5 4.67

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Your Opinion: Experiencing the Job

How would you like the opportunity to teach a 100 level course?

5 5 4 4 5 5 4 4 5 4.56

How would you like the opportunity to TA a 200-400 level course?

5 3 4 4 1 5 2 4 3 3.44

How would you like the opportunity to help organizing a 900-level course in your area?

5 5 5 5 5 5 4 5 5 4.89

How would value the experience of participating in the organization of the CSE Colloquium?

4 5 5 4 2 5 3 4 5 4.11

How would you value learning about the CSE committees operations?

4 4 5 4 2 5 4 4 5 4.11

Would you agree to 'mentor' (provide advice on studies and non-studies issues to) incoming students to CSE?

4 5 5 4 3 5 5 4 4 4.33

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Common-Trunk Activities• Mandatory

1. Enroll in UNL’s Program for Future Faculty (PFF)2. Participate in CSE ProFF Two-Day Workshop3. Attend at least one grant-writing workshop offered by UNL.4. Present a paper at a topconference and/or a research seminar at a research institution5. Attend the day-long Research Ethics Workshop @ UNL’sKutak Center

• Strongly advised1. For advanced female students: Attend CRA-W mentoring workshop for junior faculty2. For advanced students: Attend CRA/NSF mentoring workshops for junior faculty3. Be trained in reviewing papers4. Participate in at least one grant writing activity

• For later1. Activities to improve communication skills, writing skills, presentation skills

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Menu-Based Activities: Mandatory1. Have an external, leading scientist on Supervising Committee.2. Be paired with a leading scientist from another institution to serve as

mentor. The mentor can be the same person as the external member on the Supervising Committee– Required & supported to travel to their mentors’ institution to give a seminar

about their research– Mentor to be invited for the CSE Colloquium Series

3. Students must attend all CSE Colloquia given by distinguished speakers (unless excused). – A special session with distinguished speakers to

• Talk to students in ProFF about “Research Experience @ My Institution,” “How to Apply for a Faculty Position @ My Institution”

• Must (rotate to) take the Distinguished Speaker out for a meal

4. Must review each other’s papers (and grants) in a rotation scheme to expand their knowledge and improve their writing skills

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Menu-Based Activities: Mandatory

5. Attend one top-ranking conference in North America and/or one top-ranking conference overseas provided they have submitted a ‘competitive’ paper to each of conferences (even if the paper was declined).

6. Foreign students (or US students who need it) should have the opportunity to work with a technical writer either in a group or on an individual basis.

7. Intra-ProFF networking: – Funds to meet for a meal or an extracurricular activity that does

not require much organization once or twice per– Two students from the program can take up the organization of

the activity every semester (with the help of a supervising faculty).

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Menu-Based Activities: Mandatory

8. One student can organize – CSE Colloquium Series along with the series’ faculty chair. The

student should do the bulk of the work while supervised by the chair. Each semester there could be two students involved in the task.

– Or, the Research Landscape Seminar. The goal of the seminar is to inform graduate student about the research activities of (a subset of) the faculty and the advanced courses they teach.

9. Classroom experience– Taught a 200/300-level class and/or laboratory/recitation in

their area– Graded a 400/800-level course

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Menu-Based Activities: Strongly Advised

1. Mentor another beginning PhD/master’s student or a top undergraduate student (becoming an advisor)

2. Attend at least one meeting of each one of the committees in the department, especially the Faculty Search committee

3. Spend a summer in a research lab or another institution, perhaps at external mentor’s institution

4. Becoming an advisor: A student at the end of the program could serve as a mentor to a student entering the program or another doctoral student not in the program

5. Teaching: Helped organizing a 990-level course.

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Menu-Based Activities: Advised

1. Draft 2 ‘national’ proposals by the end of the program and before graduation to strengthen their chances of being hired by a top-50 institution– At least one should be a research proposal (not

teaching)– After writing their proposals, a technical writer will

review and criticize it on an individual basis or as a group exercise (and as long as COI and confidentiality are not an issue)

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