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Starting and Growing Your Own Research Program

Starting and Growing Your Own Research Program. Fatma Mili Professor & Dpt. Head Computer Information Technology Purdue University West Lafayette, IN. Amanda Stent Principal Research Scientist Yahoo! Labs New York, NY. Background – Amanda Stent. Research Areas

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Starting and Growing Your Own Research Program

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  1. Starting and Growing Your Own Research Program FatmaMili Professor & Dpt. Head Computer Information Technology Purdue University West Lafayette, IN Amanda Stent Principal Research Scientist Yahoo! Labs New York, NY

  2. 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

  3. Background – FatmaMili • 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

  4. 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!

  5. 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!

  6. 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

  7. 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

  8. 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.

  9. 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.

  10. 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

  11. 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!

  12. Enjoy what you do • Feel and share the passion and play in research • Pay it forward • Please visithttp://alturl.com/z4gp9

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