Computing is social

Computing is social. Really?!? That's not true. Computing, computer science, compsci, CS is a bunch of socially awkward unattractive white and Asian males sitting by themselves staring at a computer screen all day, everyday coding. And coding...that's hard and I think I would get bored with it after awhile. I don't want to make THAT my career choice!

So, I read your mind a bit (but not really...keep reading).

When you hear this stereotype, you believe it because you immediately visualize the lone male coder. It's an urban myth. Similar to your parents forewarning you about strangers tampering with your Halloween candy. These myths are sculpted to be memorable and believable "sticky" ideas (see “Made to Stick” by the Heath brothers - http://heathbrothers.com/books/made-to-stick/).

While Computer scientists are not strictly White or Asian males, the reported diversity in computing numbers and ensuing conversation for the past year is long overdue since these numbers are abysmal. But remember, women exist and succeed in computing. Underrepresented groups exist and thrive in computing. For example, check out http://quincykbrown.com/african-american-women-computer-science-phds/. The annual Grace Hopper Conference (in October 2015) and Tapia Conference (in February 2016) celebrate women and underrepresented groups in computing respectively. Each year, both conferences break attendance records. In addition, Many diversity initiatives are starting. I expect several of these programs will sustain IF AND ONLY IF the primary goal is to cultivate computationally-minded problem solvers who happen to be African American, Hispanic, Native American and/or Pacific Islander. Let me emphasize this point: The focus on an individual's aptitude in this discipline is crucial. You can not force an individual to be successful in any discipline if s/he doesn't have the aptitude, skill set and passion for it. The aptitude is an individual's natural inclinations toward the discipline and skill set can be taught while passion retains and indicates the individual's propensity for continual learning. That passion is encouraged, and eventually discovered, with exposure to different specializations of computing. Computing specializations grow and expand every few years, but here are the main categories (alphabetically): Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence, Bioinfomatics, Computer Architecture, Computer Forensics, Cybersecurity, Databases, Data Science, Gaming Technology, Human Computer Interaction, Information Security, Information Technology, Management & Information Systems, Operating Systems, Robotics, Software Engineering, Theoretical Computing, Wireless Networking.

The urban myth that CS is only for White males and Asian males is by no means debunked, but there are hopeful, change agent diversity in computing initiatives on the horizon. The attractiveness and socially awkward descriptions associated with computer scientists are subjective qualities. They are in the eyes of the beholder -- not all actors are attractive to everyone. So my commentary on those descriptions stops right here.

Let's say the "socially awkward ..." narrative doesn't cause you to run away from computing. The last piece of the CS urban myth tends to be the clincher: "alone coding all day everyday". Coding is only a part of the computing craft. Coding gets a bad reputation because it takes patience and practice to learn and effectively apply. There is no shortcut to learning to code. Coding is a computer scientist's equipment (like words to a blogger or a 9-iron to a golfer). Computing encompasses so much more, it has become social:

S -- systematic. Computing pieces together interdependent components intended to solve a problem and/or resolve an issue computationally. The GPS in your car or smartphone interfaces with the satellite towers to gather location information, roadway maps to determine plausible routes and real-time traffic reports to identify the faster route to the desired destination.

O -- omnipresent. Computation is at the core of many humanities, fine arts, management and STEM disciplines. If you pursue computing, you can surely find your niche. We benefit from the advances in computer science everyday such as reading email, dvr'ing our favorite shows and online banking.

C -- creative. We carry these small computers in our pockets. How many apps do you have on your smartphone? How many of those apps essentially perform the same function? Each app has more functionality you like than features you don’t like. I have 4 Holy Bibles apps, 3 Home Search apps, 2 Music playing apps and 1 of everything else apps on mine. A different design of an existing feature or a new feature becomes the base for a new system and possibly new crop of consumers.

I -- interactive. These systems are designed and built by coders with the expectation of bringing value to us, the consumers. Coders must discuss amongst themselves the set of viable approaches to address concerns raised by potential consumers. These discussions lasts for months with each iteration revealing new potential issues while addressing existing challenges. Discussions end when the system’s features outweigh the system’s issues. For example, certain spelling errors are very common so now electronic and computing devices auto-correct those spelling errors by default, but not all spelling errors are resolved.

A -- algorithmic. The approach and corresponding methods to solve an problem or resolve an issue requires sufficient planning and comprehensive design. Poor planning and design is a recipe  for an unstable useless system that will not engage consumers.

L -- lexicon. A coding computer scientist has to select an appropriate computer programming language to represent and execute the planned design. A programming language is constructed to optimize a particular set of designs. C# (C-Sharp) is intended for use in developing software components suitable for deployment in distributed environments. Python is a general-purpose high-level programming language emphasizing code readability for clear, concise small and large-scale programs. Javascript is a programming language of HTML and the Web while PHP is a server-side HTML embedded scripting language.

Perhaps I have not convinced you that computing is social. But, maybe the next time you check your email, google something or drive somewhere, you will take a moment to think about the computer scientists who contributed in making that action a little easier for you. And they were not all socially awkward unattractive white and Asian males sitting by themselves staring at a computer screen all day, everyday coding.

#BlackComputing

Fall 2014 marked the beginning of my tenure at Spelman College, a four-year liberal arts HBCU women's college. One of the courses I taught was Data Structures, commonly known as Computer Science II (CS2). While I reviewed the more finalized version of the CS2 syllabus with this group of brainy and excited aspiring computer scientists, several students informed me that they would be missing classes in order to attend Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference (btw, a great conference for any woman in computing). Of course, I asked the class if they had heard of Dr. Grace Murray Hopper, the conference's namesake. Unfortunately, they had not. I told them. The impromptu factoid resonated with my class.

So each week thereafter, I introduced them to a computer scientist who is Black. I named it the #BlackComputing series. I selected a mix of men and women, those in academia, industry and government, and a couple of Spelman alumna for extra emphasis. In the spirit of celebrating February as Black History Month, let us not forget to acknowledge current Black accomplishments. Here are the scientists in my #BlackComputing series (and a couple more), in random order.

• Kyla McMullen, Assistant Professor of Computer and Information Science and Engineering at University of Florida. 
• Bryant York, Professor of Computer Science at Portland State University.
• Andrea Lawrence, Associate Professor of Computer Science at Spelman College. 
• Ayanna Howard, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech. 
• Tyrone W. A. Grandison, CEO of Proficiency Labs International.
• Tony Baylis, Director of Office of Strategic Diversity Programs, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. 
• Mave Houston, Founder & Head of USERLabs and User Research Strategy at Capital One.
• Kwesi Steele, Chief Technology Officer at JoMedia Inc.
• Roy Byrd, Research Staff Member Emeritus at IBM Research.
• Raquel Hill, Associate Professor of Computer Science at Indiana University-Bloomington
• James Mickens, Researcher at Microsoft.
• A. Nicki Washington, Associate Professor of Systems and Computer Science at Howard University and Owner of 'A' Game Educational Services.
• Juan Gilbert, Andrew Banks Family Preeminence Endowed Chair and he is the Associate Chair of Research in the Computer & Information Science & Engineering Department at University of Florida. 
• Leshell Hatley, Founder and Executive Director at Uplift, Inc. and Graduate Research Assistant at George Mason University. 

New School Learning Curve

The first days as an Assistant Professor is filled with adrenaline-laced excitement. The anxiousness and eagerness to get to work has you bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. New faculty orientation consumes the first days while you are mentally creating prioritizing your checklist: obtaining your institution login information, your new email address, signing up for your parking pass, meeting with your Department Chair and checking out your new office. Your faculty identification card, office layout, computer setup and business card ordering will happen in a few days. The focus is settling into this career path — making that context switch from your previous status as a graduate student, postdoc or other technical professional to an academic.

The first days as an Associate Professor at a new institution is a seemingly echo of your first days as an Assistant Professor. The adrenaline excitement is replaced with  an excited calm. Prior academic work experience makes that aforementioned checklist unnecessary. The systems integration of your credentials and generation of your new affiliation occurs at the pace of the institution. Your inaugural year teaching, research and service expectations are far more reasonable. The academic life can be summed up by solving the Tower of Hanoi puzzle.

Towers of Hanoi Description
The puzzle traditionally has 3 pegs: starting peg, spare peg and destination peg. The starting peg has a user-specified number of disks with the disks stacked from smallest to largest (largest disk at the base of the peg). The object of the puzzle is to systematically move all the disks from the starting peg to the destination peg, but a larger disk can not be placed on top of a smaller disk. The key to solving this puzzle is understanding that the functionality of the pegs alters as you are moving the disks, e.g., when moving a disk, the starting peg operates as the spare peg, the spare peg operates as the destination peg and destination peg operates as the starting peg.

But here's the rub for any new faculty hire:

1. You don't know the number of disks
2. You don't know the number of pegs
3. You don't know which is the starting peg, spare peg and destination peg.

Initially, you can safely assume there are 3 pegs and 9 disks. For the purposes of this example, the disks are stacked service activities at the top, then teaching and lastly research activities at the bottom.

Disk 1: Institution Collegiality
Disk 2: External Collegiality
Disk 3: Course Preparation
Disk 4: Course Modification and Development
Disk 5: Research Team Building
Disk 6: Publications
Disk 7: Conference Attendance
Disk 8: External Grant Writing
Disk 9: Funded Award Management

Disk 1 &2: Institution and external collegiality — The variety and plethora of academic service-related activities has the potential to consume your days (and nights). Be purposeful of which departmental, college-wide and technical program committees you are a member.

Disk 3: Course Preparation — A class lecture is like Showtime at the Apollo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Showtime_at_the_Apollo). Depending on your temperament and talent, you select how you will engage students in the course material via a series of slide decks, problem-based learning techniques, flipped classroom or another method altogether. Each class, you are on stage and the students tell you by their (lack of) questions, body language, (lack of) enthusiasm, etc if your teaching approach has resonated. If you instruct a course that tends to interest students, kudos -- course prep becomes a bit easier. Otherwise, I suggest you invest quality time to determine how to relate the material to your student body. Any course can be exciting when the proper care is given to the learning experience. A teacher's excitement about the materials helps fuel a student's deeper curiosity about the course content.

Disk 4: Course Modification and Development — Course material can become stale and outdated. The fundamental course topics can be presented in new ways, new assessment mechanisms can be devised, your prior experience with the course could render you to change the order of course topics. Course evolution through revision or developing a new course is a necessary activity of any faculty member. By evolving your course, you increase your likelihood of students’ remaining engaged in your courses year after year.

Disk 5: Research Team Building — The talent and aptitude to mentor students in research activity is the hallmark of a great research advisor.  Honestly, experience is the best teacher. You have to learn the balance of motivation and criticism, students' temperament and abilities, work effort and work product. I suggest The Craft of Research by Wayne C. Booth and Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath as good starting points.

Disk 6: Publications — The frequency and quality of your conference papers, journal articles, book chapters and books are common academic metric in assessing a faculty member's national and international influence. The summer months are a great opportunity to complete scholarly work due to the lack of a required teaching responsibility. The co-authorship with fellow colleagues and students is strongly encouraged, in some academic environments, a necessity.

Disk 7: Conference Attendance — Conference registration, attendance and paper presentation are required for publication. The conference talks help keep you current in your field's advances. While the time and cost of conferences can be expensive (see previous post), it is a cornerstone of your branding activities. The reputation for contributing good work to the field and presenting it well will only help in bringing opportunities knocking.

Disk 8: External Grant Writing — When responding to a grant proposal solicitation, the act of actually writing the project objectives, anticipated outcomes, evaluation and assessment plan is a time-intensive, idea-articulation scholarly exercise. The proposal operations can be an added stressor that consists of working with your institution's office of sponsored programs for internal grant submission approval. The coordination of the proposal document, supplemental materials, and colleague collaborations. Grant writing and proposal submission has a high work-effort yielding a low conversion to a funded award, but if awarded, external awards are highly valued in the academic realm.

Disk 9: Funded Award Management — Do your work and do it well.

With great power come great responsibility. ~Voltaire

A funded grant gives the awardees a newfound elevated social currency (aka power) amongst his/her colleagues.  The spotlight turns in your direction to revel in your successes and witness any mishaps. Don't let the award excitement overshadow the necessary work in properly accomplishing the project outcomes.

Graduate Life Realities

Welcome to graduate school. The pursuit of a graduate degree is an intellectual professional and personal growth experience requiring assertiveness, tenacity, patience and innovation. The job description is simple: to deepen your major discipline knowledge and strive to become a subject-matter expert (SME) in one of the sub-disciplines. The goal is also simple: graduate, e.g., successfully complete a series of specialized courses in your chosen area of interest in your major discipline, conduct affiliated research in this specialized area and showcase these research findings in a written document (and possibly orally as well). The path to the goal is, by no means, a straight road -- it is dictated by factors within and outside of your control such as your personality, your prior knowledge and expertise in your field, your research advisor, your research topic, and your graduate institution's degree program.

Graduate student status comes with it a few realities some graduate students don't realize until it's late in their graduate degree program.

1. You are no longer a college student. Many graduate students act like college students who don't want to grow up. You are a grown up now, sorry. You and only you are responsible and accountable for successful completion of your graduate studies. Your research advisor can assist in guiding your research. The degree program's graduate coordinator can assist in navigating some of your graduate school's policies and operating procedures. Your graduate school and graduate degree program's websites are intended to outline major milestones. The quicker you switch that bit in your brain the more enjoyable this growth experience may be. What's your reasons and objectives in attending graduate school?
2. Graduate school is not an extension of your undergraduate studies. Yes, this tip is a re-statement of the first tip, but it needs to be emphasized. College is about making you a well-rounded college-educated citizen in about 8 semesters. Graduate studies is about your SME training. This training can be as long or as short as allowable by your institution's degree program. For MS, it's 3-4 semesters, for PhD, it's 4-6 years (typically). You have this time to complete appropriate coursework, conduct novel research, summer intern and/or co-op within your research interest areas and secure full-time employment. The number of semesters/years is irrelevant since completing your graduate studies happens when (and only when) the predetermined milestones are accomplished successfully. 
3. You are not the only smart person in the room. The minimum cumulative GPA for most graduate degree program admissions is 3.0. In a small number of special cases, an applicant can be admitted with a lower GPA (2.8 - 3.0) under a probationary period, usually contingent upon the receiving a ‘B’ or better in the first semester in the graduate program. In many cases, the incoming graduate student GPA from their undergraduate studies is at least 3.2. So, great and good grades in graduate school is the expected norm. The graduate coursework is the easy part since you are most familiar with it.
4. Take a research methods course ASAP. Research methods focuses on the how and why the empirical study and/or experimental evaluation should be done. The how and why are an open-ended process with no single right answer. This open-endedness can be very uncomfortable to many students, who may strive on structure. To some extend, you must throw structure out the window. You will discover that research requires several verification and validation approaches. Your research setup and implementation assumptions must be clearly defined. What are you trying to prove through these experiments and does your experimental design support your research hypothesis?
5. Once is never enough. Many graduate students think that performing a task once, e.g., reading related literature, conduct an experiment, etc., is sufficient. Nope. For each scholarly article in a related literature review, you can expect to read/skim/review the paper at least three times to comprehend the contents and determine if or how it is related to your own research. Experiment testing requires a certain number of iterations based on common best practices in your sub-discipline to ensure statistical significance of your results.
6. The learning curve is wide and deep. You have learned so much in a short amount of time. This immersive experience has exposed and broadened your understanding within your discipline. Your tendency will be to include all of your research activity into your final graduate research manuscript. You want to show how much work you have done to prove evidence of your worthiness to receive the graduate degree. However, every course topic, paper you read, experiment you design and implement or any other work product is not relevant to your MS Thesis and/or PhD Dissertation. Your final graduate research manuscript is not a record of your learning experience, it's a comprehensive synthesis of the research. 

For more details tips on conducting yourself with your research advisor, see the Setting Expectations post. 

Letter to the Postdoc

Originally posted on August 29, 2008 by PHD Comics

Postdoc status is a viable option for many newly-minted PhDs; however, you should be more aware of the job description, the employer's expectations, your responsibilities and what you plan to accomplish as a postdoc. 

The Job Description
It can be summed up in one word: TEMPORARY.

The Postdoctoral Associate/Researcher is wedged between the full-time graduate student classification and the full-time permanent employee classification. You are no longer a graduate student. Your conference travel scholarship eligibility is now nil. When you say you are a postdoc, the question wheel triad always includes: "when does your postdoc end?", "what do you want to do next?" and "where are you focusing your permanent employment search?" Ugh, in most cases, you don't know, but the questions still come. Also, you are not in a permanent employee in the faculty, industry or government ranks. You notice that your influence and impact factor within your postdoc position's organization is low at best. Plus, your direct supervisor is a permanent employee, who tends to be referred to as your postdoc mentor and serves as a pseudo-research advisor. On the bright side, a postdoc provides you 1-2 years time to close the graduate student life book and start the next book -- whatever your career ambition.

Job details

1. Perform specific contributions on aspects of your postdoc advisor’s research agenda
2. Submit and publish technical research papers
3. Learn grantsmanship
4. Attend professional development workshops and activities
5. [optional] Assist in managing the research projects of your postdoc mentor’s graduate students
6. [optional] Serving as the instructor or co-instructor

Goals and outcomes
In understanding this job description, you probably realize that it’s advantageous to be strategic in your postdoc appointment. You need to figure out your next professional step and obtain full-time permanent employment. I followed the academic life so I can only speak to it. The suggestions I provide  is geared toward successful tenure-track position attainment. Regardless, the postdoc life can serve as a preview of what may be in your future.

Build your technical and support network by connecting with postdoctoral-centric organizations, such as the National Postdoctoral Association or discipline-specific postdoctoral events. For example, there is the Academic Career Workshop for URMs in computing. I was mostly unaware of organizations and resources as a postdoc. I wish I paid more attention. Don’t be like me.

Research
Be productive. Shoot for quantity AND quality.

If you are fortunate to gain grant writing experience as a senior  graduate student, soak it all up. If not, a postdoc is a great opportunity to get started. Step 1 - request an NSF/NIH/DoD/etc ID and create your NSF/NIH/DoD/etc Biography.

Teaching 
If you are seeking an academic teaching position, do, Otherwise don't do.

Service
Don’t do it! DON’T DO IT!

Job Hunting
Computing Research Association - Job Announcements.
Chronicles of Higher Education - Job Search.

Your faculty position application includes cover letter, CV, research agenda, teaching statements, professional references and scholarly publication samples. When submitting your faculty position applications, you may want to provide your professional references draft letters of recommendation. As you write, you should strongly consider how the role of gender influences your word choices, phrases and statements. You can read J. Madera, M. Hebl and R. Martin's research entitled “Gender and Letters of Recommendation for Academia: Agentic and Communal Differences”.  Communal terms center on helping others (kindness, nurturance) while agentic terms center on influencing others (assertiveness, initiating tasks). Their studies resulted in two major conclusions “women were described as more communal and less agentic than men (Study 1) and (b) that communal characteristics have a negative relationship with hiring decisions in academia that are based on letters of recommendation (Study 2)” using a psychology department’s tenure-track faculty search.

Let's assume your application is well-received by at least one faculty search committee. You make it to the on-campus interview. Please consider interviewing your potential bosses (Department Heach/Chair, Dean, Provost, etc) and colleagues (fellow departmental junior and senior faculty) as they are interviewing you. Here are some starter questions and comments:

• How do assistant professors in the departments acquire graduate students? Is there a partnership between the department and some schools? What are the recruiting efforts?
• How long has the Department Head/Chair been is his/her current position? What is the Department Head/Chair's vision for the department? Most likely, he/she will not be in that position when you are seeking promotion and tenure in 5-6 years.
• How are teaching assistantships distributed? Does the Department Head/Chair or Division/College/School Dean allocate them? How does this process operate? For instance, the Dean of the College allocates number of TA position to each department based on faculty contact hours and the Department Head assigns these TAs to the faculty who are instructing those courses. Note: contact hours are some combination of class size and number of times the faculty is in front of the students. If you teach smaller classes, you will not be awarded a TA position.
• Is there a maximum number of trips you can take in one semester? Are there location restrictions e.g. domestic only?
• Comment: Google the Department Head/Chair to find out if he/she was an internal or external hire? This may indicate the department culture of mostly internal/external department-level administration.
• Comment: Investigate the research collaborations within the department. Who are publishing papers together? What are their respective faculty ranks? It helps to know who are collegial and who are not to junior faculty. Ditto for external funding activities.
• Comment: Identify which undergraduate classes at that institution are required for any student (grad or undergrad) to assist you in your research objectives? Ask specific questions about course topics (if you can speak directly with the faculty member who teaches the course, that would be optimal).
• Comment: Make no assumptions about what students know. Students may remember the term but have not used/implemented that concept.

Healthy "Freak-Out"

Another Independence Day holiday has come and gone ushering in the season of unfilled summer tasks. Instructors made grand plans back in mid-May including but not limited to:

• complete some series of tasks on at least 1 research project
• submit conference papers and/or journal articles
• conference paper reviews
• grant proposal writing for new or continuing research projects
• post-award management of existing funded research projects
• course modification e.g., review your previous course instance and update course materials as appropriate
• course development e.g., design new course offering or receive (new to you) course materials

Sometimes, you make strides toward your summer tasks list. Other times, you can easily and frequently caught up in some other tasks. You are in the middle of what I call a healthy freak-out. The freak-out happens first. Those other tasks consume and eat up your days while leaving your nights to agonize over the untouched no-progress to-do items. Those other tasks are not high impact to your career plan and growth, but you still elect to complete them. or a WOC STEM faculty member, the freak-out experience is exaggerated. Why? Because you, my fellow doctor-sister, are the bridge. Poet Donna Kate Rushin says it best.

The Bridge Poem
by Donna Kate Rushin

I've had enough
I'm sick of seeing and touching
Both sides of things
Sick of being the damn bridge for everybody

Nobody
Can talk to anybody
Without me Right?

I explain my mother to my father my father to my little sister
My little sister to my brother my brother to the white feminists
The white feminists to the Black church folks the Black church folks
To the Ex-hippies the ex-hippies to the Black separatists the
Black separatists to the artists the artists to my friends' parents...

Then
I've got the explain myself
To everybody

I do more translating
Than the Gawdamn U.N.

Forget it
I'm sick of it

I'm sick of filling in your gaps

Sick of being your insurance against
The isolation of your self-imposed limitations
Sick of being the crazy at your holiday dinners
Sick of being the odd one at your Sunday Brunches
Sick of being the sole Black friend to 34 individual white people

Find another connection to the rest of the world
Find something else to make you legitimate
Find some other way to be political and hip

I will not be the bridge to your womanhood
Your manhood
Your human-ness

I'm sick of reminding you not to
Close off too tight for too long

I'm sick of mediating with your worst self
On behalf you your better selves

I am sick
Of having to remind you
To breathe
Before you suffocate
Your own fool self

Forget it
Stretch or drown
Evolve or die

The bridge I must be
Is the bridge to my own power
I must translate
My own fears
Mediate
My own weaknesses

I must be the bridge to nowhere
But my true self
And then
I will be useful

    -from This Bridge Called My Back
             edited by: Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua
            New York: Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, 1983.

You are frustrated by more than your unaccomplished professional milestones, but you know that you can not afford to be paralyzed by it.

You feel a burden to do and to be for others before yourself more times than not.

Stop that.

The healthy aspect of your freak-out happens second. You must sanitize that toxic frustration to green and clean fuel. Let your frustration make you better and stronger. You need to re-focus your energies by finding your balance. There is a time for work, a time for play and a time to do nothing. All parts should be roughly equal. Every day. You can revise your summer task list by answering the following questions:

• What are the high impact items to progress your career?  (e.g., journal article submissions)
• Which task items have impending deadlines? (e.g., grant proposal submissions and conference paper reviews)
• What can you reasonably accomplish in the remaining 6 weeks of the summer?

Originally fount at http://bschoolbabe.com/post/87204327699/how-to-live-your-purpose-i-love-this-graphic)

The image above is one pictorial illustrating what it means to fulfill a purposeful life. Your passion helps you solidify your mission, then your selected profession and vocation goals become more clear. At the center is your ability to find this intersection of your passion, mission, profession and vocation. 

You can do it.

Now, go play -- start executing your revised summer task list in the morning.

Setting Expectations

As a faculty member, you have undergraduate and graduate students who contribute to progressing your research agenda. For those in departments with graduate degrees, you will spend a fair amount of time cultivating your graduate students. Incoming graduate students should realize the intent of graduate studies -- to train the students to be independent and critical thinkers and problem solvers. To increase the likelihood of receiving high quality work-product from your graduate students, you must set expectations of them and of you.

Research Advisor Expectations to Graduate Student Advisee

1. You should have successfully completed at least 1 data structures, 1 algorithms and 1 database management systems course (MySQL/Oracle) prior to becoming an advisee. You should have high programming languages proficiency in one of the following: C/C++, Java, Python.  
2. The advisee's funding through teaching or research assistantship is independent of the forward progress in both the coursework and MS Thesis/PhD Dissertation research responsibilities.
3. Your Plan of Study document should be completed within the first month of second semester of matriculation. It may change due to course offerings; however, you should have a plan of what skills you would like to enhance while in graduate school.
4. Be assertive by asking a lot of questions. This is crucial to make you a successful graduate of this program and, in turn, your career.
5. Weekly Meeting Scheduling: To be set-up by advisee (preferably the same day and time for the duration of the semester),  which will last 15-60 minutes.
6. Weekly Meeting Conduct: The weekly meetings are for the student and by the student. The advisee is expected to be in charge of the meeting. The advisee is expected to provide an agenda and email a copy to the advisor at least one hour prior to the meeting. The advisee has the responsibility to address all the task items outlined in the agenda. The advisor may add a task item that must be addressed in the next weekly meeting.
7. Be timely to all meetings. Unless otherwise discussed, all meetings will be in the advisor's office.
8. If a meeting must be cancelled, email the meeting invitees at least 12 hours prior to the scheduled beginning of the meeting. If it’s an emergency, please send a text message stating the following "emergency - no mtg" to my cell phone. Once the emergency is over, please provide greater detail either in person or via email, if necessary.
9. All written manuscripts submitted to the research advisor must be proofread, spellchecked and complete. Partial or incomplete documents should not be emailed or given to the research advisor unless requested. 
10. For Master's students, it is expected that you will graduate with at least 1 conference/workshop publication (submission acceptable, but paper acceptance preferred).
11. For PhD students, it is expected that you will graduate with at least 2 conference/workshop publications and 1 journal publication (journal submission acceptable, acceptance preferred).

Research Advisor Code of Conduct

1. Support advisee's career objectives. Many questions your coursework plans and research directions will be asked in order to ensure advisee's career objectives are understood and accomplished. 
2. Instruct advisee on improving technical writing skills. Technical writing is a learned skill. This skill can only be learned with many drafts provided to the advisor and in-person meetings. The advisor will teach these skills at the willingness of the advisee. Do not be discouraged if your returned manuscripts is filled with comments.
3. Be responsive to advisee correspondence. 
1.  For an email sent by the advisee, an email response will be given within 48 hours. This response may not answer all questions as answering can be lengthy.
2. For manuscript drafts provided by hard-copy or digitally, the advisee can expect written feedback on submitted text, graphs, papers or analysis within 5 business days.
4. In the case of an accepted publication, the advisor will attempt to fund the advisee's travel and registration to the conference. It would then be expected that the advisee would deliver the paper/poster presentation.
5. Be timely to meetings
6. If a meeting must be cancelled, the advisor will email the advisee at least 12 hours prior to the scheduled beginning of the meeting. If it's an emergency, the advisor will send a text message stating the following "emergency - no mtg" to your cell phone if it's provided.