PlanningYourResearchCareer

JuliaHirschberg,ColumbiaUniversityH.V.Jagadish,UniversityofMichigan

PlanningYourResearchCareer

TAKE2

Data Management, Data Science

H. V. JagadishProfessor, U. Michigan

Ph.D.Stanford;AT&T/BellLabsfor14years;UIUC;UMsince99.NowBernardAGallerProfessorofEEandComputerScience,andDistinguishedScientistatMichiganInstituteforDataScience

ResearchCareerHighlights1.BuiltandmanagedadepartmentinAT&TResearch.2.Advisedabout20Ph.D./Postdocs(sofar)inacademia.3.Ledcreationofthesub-fieldofdatabaseusability.4.MOOC(onDataScienceEthics)onEdX andCoursera.5.ACMFellow,AAASFellow,SIGMODContributionsAward.

Whatisyourmostimportantresource?(View1)

Whatisyourmostimportantresource?(View1)

• YourGraduateStudents!– Hireimmediately– Loweryourexpectationsforyearone– Donotwasteyourtime–Modelsofmeetings:weekly/dropby/group– Payforthemtoattendconferences–MakesuretheycancommunicateinEnglishwell(findcourses)

Whatisyourmostimportantresource?(View2)

Whatisyourmostimportantresource?(View2)

• YourTime!– LearntosayNo!(tolotsofthings)– Strugglingstudentswilltakemoreofyourtime.– Evengoodstudentsneedtimegettingstarted.Hiredeliberatelyandcarefully!

– Considerhiringpostdocsandworkingwithseniorstudents(co-advising)

AGoodRuleofThumb

• Whenaskedifyouwouldbewillingtosignonforsomethingwheretheworkwillbedue“insixmonths”…

• Askyourself:“WouldIbewillingtodothisbynextweek?”

• Becauseeventuallyitwillbedueinaweek!

Howdowespendourtime?(averagedacrosstheacademicyear)

AlternativeView:PrimaryLanguageoverCareer

Someoneelse’sPowerpoint

Powerpoint

LaTeX

C++GradStudent

AssociateProfessor

FullProfessor

Credit(blame)toDonaldKossmann,ETHZurich/Microsoft

AssistantProfessor

Collaboration:Why&How

● Successfulcollaborationisamultiplier– Enablesyoutoachievemorethanyoucanonyourown,isfun,andbringsnewfriendsandcolleagues

● Unsuccessfulcollaborationcanbeanegativemultiplier– Wastestime,boresyou,isstressful,createshardfeelings– Avoidupfrontifpossible…butifnot,leavegently

Collaboration:Do’s&Don’ts

● Do– collaboratewithsuccessfulpeople(checkthemout)– beagoodcollaboratoryourself(timely,qualitywork,goodcolleague)

– recruitgoodstudents(reviewapplications,projectcourses(Ugrad,MS),teachgradreadingclass,summerREUs,siblingseven)

● Don’t– collaboratewithfreeloaders(dolearntosayno)– beafreeloaderyourself

FundingDo’s• Visitfundingagencysitesregularly

– Talktoappropriateprogrammanager(s)– Volunteertoserveonreviewpanels

especiallyfortypesofproposalsyouplantosubmit– Expandyourfundingsources(e.g.,industry)

• Seekadvice/examplesfromcolleagues– Asksuccessfulcolleaguestoreview yourproposalandLISTEN to

theirfeedback

• Understandtheprogramyouaresubmittingto– Readtheprogramannouncementcarefully– Readfundedsummaries/proposalsofprojectsfromthat

program

FundingDo’s• Fundyourresearchthroughavarietyofsources• Ifatfirstyoudon’tsucceed,try,tryagain– Readreviewscarefully– Don’ttakeitpersonally– Talktoprogrammanager– Bepersistent

• WriteafewGOODproposals– Immatureideas/plansrarelygetfunded– Borrowsampleproposalsfromsuccessfulcolleagues

OtherAcademicCareerAdvice1● Understandwhatittakestogettenureatyour

institution,but…don’tjuststopatmin– Papers– Teaching– Grant$– Servicein/outofdepartment/university

● Don’tbeafraidtothinkandworkbroadly,butbesuretoestablishyourselfinacore“home”community– Impact– Letterwriters– TPCandjournalboardinvitations

● Stop(orslowdown)workingwithyouradvisor(afterthesispaperspublished)…butkeepintouch!

● Bewillingtoworkhard…anddon’tstopwhenyougettenure

OtherAcademicCareerAdvice2• Don’tobsessabouttenure– Focusongoodworkandtenurewillcomebut… keepgettingfeedbackandlistento(mostof)it

– Youruniversitywentthroughalotoftroubletohireyouandwantsyoutosucceed

• Makesureyouhavea“buddy”onthefacultyandseveralmentors(bothonandoffcampus;bothinandoutsideyourfield)– Yourmentorswillchangeoveryourcareer

• Takesabbaticalsandleavesastheyareoffered– Leavehome:gotootherschools,industry,government,abroad

– Thereisneveranidealtime,justdoit!

ANDhavesomefunalongtheway!

OtherAdvice

• Students arethecoinoftheacademicrealm

• Familyandfriendsarethecoinoftherealworldandhappiness

• POINT:Maketimeforyourself,yourfamily,yourfriends,….AND

Resources• DavePatterson’sNon-TechnicalTalks– http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~pattersn/talks/nontech.html

• JeannetteWing’sTipsontheInterviewProcess– http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~emigration/interview.pdf

• JeannetteWing’s“TwelveTipsforDepartmentHeadsfromanNSFPerspective”– http://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacm/54177-twelve-tips-for-department-heads-from-an-nsf-perspective/fulltext

• Adviceabouteverything:– http://web.engr.illinois.edu/~taoxie/advice.htm