Starting and Growing Your Own Research Program

Fatma MiliProfessor & Dpt. HeadComputer Information

TechnologyPurdue UniversityWest Lafayette, IN

Amanda StentPrincipal Research Scientist

Yahoo! LabsNew York, NY

CRA-W Computer Research Association Committee on the Status of Women in

Computing Research

Mission increase the participation and success of women in computing research

www.cra-w.org

What does CRA-W do?Individual & Group Research Mentoring

Graduate StudentsUndergraduates

Academic careers

Industry/government

Undergrads: Undergraduate Research ExperiencesUndergrads: Distinguished lecture role models Grad Cohort: group mentoring of grad studentsGrad Students: Discipline Specific Research workshops PhD Researchers: group mentoring of early & mid career @ CMW, CAPP, Hopper & Tapia

600+ students and PhD researchers a year

www.cra-w.org

Background – Amanda Stent• Research Areas

– Computational linguistics– Applications of NLP to assistive technology and online

privacy• Where I’ve worked

– Principal Research Scientist, Yahoo! Labs - current– Principal Member of Technical Staff, AT&T Labs –

Research (6 years)– Assistant, then Associate Professor, Stony Brook

University (7 years)• Where I studied

– PhD, CS, University of Rochester– BA, Math and Music, Houghton College

Background – Fatma Mili

• In Academia since 1984– Program Verification and Validation– Distributed Computing and nature-inspired

Computing– Statistical Validation of Non deterministic Systems– Optimization, Human Decision Making– System Modeling and Knowledge Representation

• PhD, Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France

Develop Your ReputationAcademia

• Identify a strong research problem with clear short-term, medium-term and long-term goals– Do not heavily overlap with advisors or other faculty– Establish your laboratory as quickly as possible– Identify strong students

• You can no longer do all the work yourself!• If you can, hire a post-doc, but do not replace students

– Identify and apply to appropriate funding sources– Publish in the publications that matter the most

Produce strong results that have an impact on the field!

Develop Your ReputationNational Lab or Industry

• Identify how you can contribute to the organization while building your career– Develop your overall research and engineering capabilities– Establish your expertise/carve out your niche– Identify good collaborators and champions– Produce deliverables on time, show impact ($$) and

relevance– Practice good, punchy short presentations/demos

• Maintain your external visibility– Publish … or perish– Host interns and visitors, collaborate with academia

Be ENTHUSIASTIC about what you are working on NOW!

Reputation = work + networking

• Network– Attend Important Conferences– Volunteer in conferences and professional associations– Network– Help others

• Self-promote– Cite your work– Give talks– Maintain your online presence

• Your organization’s website• Your own website• Google Scholar/Microsoft Academic/Research Gate• Social media

Build Collaborations

• Internal and external collaborators• People you enjoy working with• Compatible or complementary skill set• Junior researchers who are also starting

research careers and have compatible skills

• Senior researchers who think well of your work

• Be generous with co-authorship on papers

Build Collaborations

• Do– Communicate effectively and be responsible– Learn to multi-task– Have a contingency plan

• Don’t– Be a “student” for someone else– Take it personally if a collaboration does not

work– As a young post-PhD: Limit collaborations with

advisors, carefully handle interdisciplinary collaborations, etc.

Develop Proposals

• Look for new proposal opportunities– Early career proposal calls– As a collaborator/subcontractor– Internal funding grants– Travel grants– Private foundations or companies– Faculty Fellowships: AFOSR, NASA, etc.

• Learn the rules and constraints of your organization with respect to funding– Human subjects, animals, environmental etc.

Develop Proposals

• Learn how different organizations work and how they select proposals

• Ensure that your proposal is a good fit for the call and addresses all review criteria

• Serve on review panels• Talk to the program manager

Swim With the Sharks

• Take credit for your work• Avoid working with people who do not give you

credit for your work externally and internally• Present to senior researchers and managers

(prepare in advance)• Learn how to give an elevator speech about

your research• Meet the program managers who will have

influence on your funding

Do not be shy or understated, but don’t overstate either!

Enjoy what you do

• Feel and share the passion and play in research

• Pay it forward• Please visit http://alturl.com/z4gp9