What It Means to Be a PhD Researcher: Insights and Perspective

1. What it means to be a Ph.D. researcher? Shankar Balachandran RISE Lab Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Madras shankar@cse.iitm.ac.in IIT Madras 1st March 2012

2. Disclaimer • The views are mine • Not the department’s • Not the institute’s • You may disagree with me • Take things with a tub of salt • These opinions and views were developed over time. I am unable to attribute any of these to any one person or event but I am sure several people and external factors shaped these views.

3. What is research? • Dictionary Meaning: • diligent and systematic inquiry or investigation into a subject in order to discover or revise facts, theories, applications, etc • Key things • Diligent • Systematic • Discover or revise • Facts, theories, applications

4. What does every Ph.D. student aspire for when they join? • A theorem or law named after them • Hundreds of citations • Every one recognizes you by your name • Even better, just by your face • Will be the smartest one in the planet • Almost a celebrity status

5. Identify these famous researchers

6. Andrew Ng Charles Leiserson Andrew Tanenbaum David Patterson Raj Reddy Djikstra

7. What Can Happen • Your thesis definitely bears your name • Several other authors and co-authors • Stealing your limelight • Google yourself with the hope that you turn up in the first few links • Keep looking for “who is citing me” • Your advisor may be the only person that recognizes you

8. What happened in between • Many a slip between the cup and the lip • Picked the wrong school • Picked the wrong area • Picked the wrong problem • Picked the wrong guide • . • . • . • Frustration during both your Ph.D. days and later

9. Motivation Level of a Grad Student

10. Why Should One Do Ph.D.? • Can be one of several reasons that you may have • Want to understand things more deeply • Want to make an impact in the society • Want to become a professor • Want to make money • Each one has their own reason

11. What does your guide (and others, including yourself) expect from your Ph.D.? • Original contribution • Leads to the question: • Why should I innovate? • A more deeper and philosophical question • Can’t we just consume and not produce?

12. Relative Emphasis that We Tend to Place • Diligent • Systematic • Discover or Revise • Facts • Theories • Applications Font sizes are proportional to relative emphasis that a typical student places on different things

13. Ph.D. is a Personal Endeavor • Yes, • You have a guide • You have a lab and lab mates • There is a community which consumes and produces contents in your field of interest • But • You have a choice over • What you do, how you do it and when you do it • And also what you don’t do. • I see it as a great way to know your strengths as well as weaknesses

14. Research Can Be Frustrating • Not all of us are born bright • “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” • Albert Einstein • Being smart is only part of the Ph.D. • Remember the diligent and systematic part? • Superhuman efforts • Be smart • Manage time well • Ask the right questions • Read, write and speak well

15. My Personal View of Ph.D. research • Ph.D. student is similar to a child • Infant • Unable to move around on your own. • Too many new things – all equally fancy • Toddler • Beginning to walk on your own • Will fall a hundred times • Young child • Can walk steadily but can’t run • Post adolescence • Sprinter, marathoner ….

16. Where does your guide fit in? • Your research guide is like a parent • Infant • Carry around • Toddler • Hold hands to walk • Young child • If you fall, the parent lifts you up and dusts you • Post adolescence • Dude, you are on your own

17. Guide/Student Relationship • Both sides can be unreasonable • No parent can expect an infant to run • No adult should expect the parent to carry them • Unfortunately, this mismatch in the expectations becomes a sore point

18. Marathoner vs Sprinter • Marathoner • Chug along slowly but steadily • The horizon is distant • Sprinter • Quick burst of energy • Can’t sustain for a long time • Ideally • Ph.D. requires both sprinting and marathon training • Always focus on the horizon • But don’t lose sight of the potholes that you are driving into

19. My approach to guiding students • Infant • Learn from me • Child • Learn with me • Post-adolescence • Teach me

20. Research vs Ph.D. • Can’t you do research without a Ph.D.? • Yes • Can you get a Ph.D. without research? • No and aptly so • History of research • Long history, several discoveries and inventions in several fields • History of Ph.D. • Relatively short

21. How is research awarded? • Imagine what a researcher in the medieval time was looking for • Money? • Ph.D.? • Most likely to be a personal, academic and scientific endeavor • Somewhere along the line, we have productized research • Papers • Grants • Ph.D. degree

22. Research Culture in the West • Research thrives on a community • Producers without consumers and consumers without producers can be a problem • The west has adequate number of both • Not just production/consumption • Peer group to brainstorm and discuss • Get inspirations for problems • Validation • Build systems • Interact with the industry • Learn to ask the right questions and learn to get your answers reviewed and checked

23. In India • At most 50 Ph.D.s graduate from CSE departments • Across all IITs + IISc + NITs + Other universities • Serious researchers • A small (but growing) number • In contrast • US has more than 10,000 Ph.Ds in computer science and engineering • Many are still active in research • Larger community to plug in to • A fresh student starting out in the US already has a better start

24. Why Does It Matter? • You are going to publish in conferences where they are trying to publish • Competitive and trained • Also have English as their mother tongue which can be an advantage • Makes it quite tilted in their favor

25. Peter Norvig’s Suggestion • Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years • Also applies to research • You start out late but sustained effort can get you there • Imagine yourself where you are going to be ten years down the line • Prepare yourself for that

26. Key Things in a Ph.D. student’s career • Courses • Qualifiers • Picking the right research problem and areas • Publishing • Giving talks and listening to talks • Thesis Writing

27. Courses and Qualifiers • Courses • Expand your breadth • Keep you on toes • Take sufficient math courses all throughout • You don’t know when they will come to bite your back • Qualifiers • Necessary evil • Various schools have various mechanisms • I see it primarily as a mechanism to enable early exit

28. Picking the Right Research Area + Problems • Early career decision • Has a profound impact • At that time, you can’t see the scope of the area as a Ph.D. problem • Also, you cannot possibly imagine post ph.d. relevance • In some sense, students trust guides blindly • If you are a new student • Read a lot and ask a lot of questions • No pride to protect at this stage • Don’t hesitate to question established thoughts • Leads to new discoveries

30. Publishing • Remember, publishing is the way of giving back to the community • One can question the relevance of • Counts • Venues • Gaming the system etc. • Bottom line • If you have something interesting to say, say it • You should say it – you owe it to the community • Say it well • Sometimes, it is also the means to marking your territory

31. Talks • Prepares you for something larger than your Ph.D. student life • You are expected to give talks throughout your career • The more you give talks, the better you get at • Organizing thoughts • Presentation • Keeping the audience interested

32. Thesis Writing • This is something that you call your own • You should be proud about it later • Requires a lot of effort • Cannot be just the concatenation of papers • Theses do not have page limits • Theses need not assume a lot of familiarity from the reader’s side • Illustrated examples are okay • This is the stage where your collective wisdom over the years must show

33. Shortage of Time • All this is expected to happen in 5 years • What about the 10-year plan? • Research does not stop with your Ph.D. • Your Ph.D. research should lay the foundation for your research career • Ph.D. is the path not the goal post • The scenery is as beautiful as the destination

34. Post Ph.D. • Academic vs Industrial Research

35. Industrial Research vs. Academic Research • Academic research can do with hot-potato approach • If it is too hot to handle, drop it • Industrial research always has limited funding • Industrial research can always get axed suddenly • Industrial research is typically more focused and the timelines are usually rigid

36. Some Useful Tips for Ph.D. students • Maintain a research scrap book • Could be a notebook or a blog • Note down all your thoughts, questions, methodologies etc. • Can come in quite handy to look at the evolution of your thought process • Also makes it easy when you write papers/thesis • Keep on the look out for interesting problems • You are going to be employed 5 years from the start of your Ph.D. • You should think about what is going to be relevant five years down the line and acquire sufficient skills

37. Tips (contd.) • In your third year or so • Start thinking about where you want to be • Academia • Start thinking about sending submissions to journals/top conferences • What kind of courses will you be asked to teach • What area of research you want to work after Ph.D. • How to write proposals / get grants • National vs International prominence • Industry • What kind of position are you going to like? • Research vs Development

38. Taking up Post Doctoral Positions • Very common in sciences, humanities and in engineering fields other than CSE and EE • Usually done to • Stand on your own feet • Move to a new area • Pick up other skills that you may need to sustain a research career

39. Importance of Networking • We all fit in to a community • Start networking with your community right from your Ph.D. days • With people from your research lab and the department • With researchers outside the institute • You could even think of doing independent research or work with people other than your guides • When you finish your program • You will have your own network • Your own set of research problems • You don’t have to be under the shadow of your guide • Attend conferences, give talks, attend talks by people from other places

40. Some Useful Resources • How to be a Good Graduate Student by Marie desJardins • A graduate school survival guide: So long, and thanks for the Ph.D. by Ronald Azuma • Douglas Comer’s essays on Ph.D. in Computer Science • http://www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/dec/ • Measuring research • http://www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/dec/essay.research.measure.html • You and your research by Richard Hamming

41. Thank You