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1.
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Maybe let the temporary advisors be more involved. Have mandatory meetings at least once a semester (which we do anyways, but temporary advisors are often hard to track down).
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2.
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Have professors do seminars where they present their research. Each professor gets 1 hour, then the first years fill out a form specifying their preference in advisors.
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3.
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- Update the webaite. The website is not easy to query for information and has dated information.
- A rotation system might help.
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4.
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A systematic rotation through the groups, with passed around appointment sheets for further meetings
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5.
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research mini-project rotations as described earlier in the survey
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6.
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Don't know.
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7.
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Faculty members could hold "info-session" style group meetings in the fall semester to present the research that is going on in their groups to interested students.
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8.
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Hard to say. I'm inclined to go to another school where advisors are more available.
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9.
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rotations might be good, but might also prevent building up a relationship with an advisor efficiently in the first year.
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10.
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By rotations as described earlier in detail
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11.
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rotations sound good.
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12.
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Being able to work on concrete, small projects would be an excellent way to improve the process. In some areas it can be difficult to get involved without having your own project, and designing your own project your first year is difficult without having sufficient background and knowing enough about the open directions of research (e.g. AI).
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13.
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If the professor could let the graduate students know how many students they want to have.
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14.
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Rotations is a good idea.
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15.
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Remind people to be aggresive.
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16.
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I think that the students are not always "educated" in good ways to go about finding an advisor and starting research; and that this problem is similar to the (misguided) focus of some 1st years on coursework rather than on research and building a good student-advisor repore. Perhaps there could be a 1 semester 1 unit course on research methods for all starting 1st years? This could cover the ethos of grad student research, the place for coursework, the importance of the advisor-student relationship, builiding an annotated bibliography, time management, etc. E.g. similar to the compulsory teaching course.
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17.
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I think there should be a more institutionalized exposition of each research group's activities, involving the professors and the current students, in the beginning of the semester, by which first year students could get contextualized.
Maybe two days with no classes at all, dedicated to this activity, with at least two hours of exposition per group, something more in depth.
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18.
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Most advisors say "I have too many students + no money" until you've done a project that interests them.
Also, it's difficult to tell what each research group is up to without talking with grad students / professors in that group. If research groups publicly announced "internal" practice presentations in a centralized location, that would help.
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19.
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Implementing the rotation system could help make the process less intimidating for some students. Second, knowing how other students approached the process would be extremely helpful. Also, sometimes the lists of "current" students (and group meeting times) on a prof's webpage is out of date - this makes finding students to talk to a bit difficult.
It would be nice if first-year students had a informal forum to help each other through the process (e.g. share the fruits or difficulties of their search). Sadly, it seems that the competition inherent in the process makes this difficult to implement.
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20.
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Assign prof to incoming and require meetings.
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21.
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Need to get somebody just to collect fundings from somewhere, so that at least some of the students can be supported in each group.
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22.
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May be all first year grad students should be given a 20 minute time slot with 5 professors of their choice. Student could choose the 5 professors on his/her list and just like annual review, the professors could be required to sit and discuss the mutual interests with the first-year grad student. Only down side to this is that this will tax the professors significantly - especially those professors who might be in heavy demand.
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23.
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do not admit students if professors in an area are not willing to take new students.
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24.
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I think the rotation program is an excellent concept. In my first year I did not know the precise details (or even simple facts) about fields other than my field of research. During my stay here, I took variety of classes and found out that if I had known more about a particular area, I probably would have considered working more in that area. In the first year, taking classes and working towards prelims was the main goal and the area I picked was the area I was most familiar with. It may be different if students can be put in a rotation program and get to familiarize with more areas of research in their early part of grad school.
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25.
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The rotation idea is interesting, give a more formal and structured opportunity for students to speak with professors about advising specifically or give more instruction on how to approach for advising.
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26.
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MAybe the rotation idea
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27.
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I think the rotations idea is a good one. In general, adding more structure to the advisor-finding process, and placing some responsibility on the faculty rather than entirely on the students, would be good.
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28.
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Assure each student of funding, and further the professors too.
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29.
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More advice/support to graduate students on what to look for in a good match. There are web pages online for this, but some may not know where to look... perhaps should link from EEGSA website and advertise this heavily?
Also, an EEGSA "how to find an advisor" informal peer advising session may be useful. I don't find the grad community as cohesive as the undergrad community here (not as many people at the EECS grad social hour who are seeking to meet other people they don't know in the department), so its harder to get peer advice.
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30.
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A rotation will help to identify more efficiently faculty in one's field of interest with potential fundings
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31.
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Involve first years with senior graduate students in joint projects.
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32.
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Having a research fair would be interesting where groups looking for new graduate students could present your research. An online thing where advisors with money could post projects or advisors without money could present ideas for students coming in with money. The money issue makes things substantially more complicated and being up front on this really helps.
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33.
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Professors should encourage new graduate students to participate in their research group meetings and conduct personal interviews to streamline research interests.
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34.
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It might be helpful if there were a more formalized process for introducing students and faculty in the context of advisor-student pairings. Maybe even some sort of "advisor fair" where all the faculty with student openings would show up and the new grad students could chat with them for a bit.
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35.
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Not overadmitting by such a wide margin.
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36.
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Peer mentorship
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37.
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More availability of profs. Ask more grad students advice!
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38.
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more faculty
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39.
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pair the newly admitted grads with the right professors from the begining.
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40.
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Advising students on picking an advisor.
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41.
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Older grad student could have helped in giving confidential advice.
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42.
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See points [9] and [11].
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43.
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I think it would help if the 1st year students were introduced to the faculty who are potentially looking for advisors, perhaps by them giving one talk each talk about their recent/current research near the beginning of the first semster.
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44.
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My temporary advisor has absolutely nothing to do with my interests; more careful matchmaking in the temporary advisor assignments would probably have been helpful in securing a temporary advisor who could be more useful in helping me with/advising me on finding a research advisor.
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45.
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Have advisors initiate contact with students
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46.
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I like the idea of the rotation system. An official mentoring program between younger and older graduate students would be a potential improvement also.
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47.
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The temporary advisor should be required to help the student establish initial contact with the advisor of interest.
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48.
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I like the idea of rotations in one's first year. The current set up with project classes is similar, but there is no structure if a professor you might want to work with is not teaching a graduate class.
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49.
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either admit fewer students or hire more faculty.
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50.
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grad student/prof parties? but you have to make the professors come somehow...
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51.
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have more faculty lunches with new students where faculty also "shop"
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52.
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the first year is very hard and utterly frustrating. faculty are busy & it is difficult to get real research advice. i felt like i squandered a lot of time just figuring out the system. nobody introduced me to anybody & i had no way of meeting professors outside of classes. it was hard enough to set up a computer account, let alone navigate all the bureaucracy.
need:
*better orientation
*more faculty office hours
*more interaction with other students: i.e. a mandatory seminar class or something.
*a better way to meet senior grad students & learn about their research: i.e. a seminar class about student research.
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53.
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Not sure.
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54.
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Perhaps a little more information for incoming students at to when the various research groups meet. Maybe a schedule of the various research meetings for a given area (systems, theory, graphics, etc)
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55.
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new students who take initiative to talk with current students do well. Others who don't seem confused. better information on the process, which seems like dating (flirting, playing games, and eventually sort of asking someone out)
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56.
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Maybe labs should have more of an open house once a semester that specifically invites new students in to hear about research. Students would get a chance to share blurbs about their research with the new students at this time as well.
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57.
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An orientation session on finding an advisor for first years given by senior graduate students (those that have passed Quals) should improve this process greatly.
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58.
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add more advisors
organize assembly for grad students and advisors looking for students
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59.
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The prelims helped a lot. Rotations would also help a lot. Maybe some professor presentations at the beginning for the students to get to know the professors.
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60.
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FWIW a nudge would have made me choose more quickly. OTOH, I had an advisor by the middle of my second semester.
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61.
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More guidance - a more formal system. Right now, it's mass chaos. If there were a formal system governing who/what/when/how, things may be easier.
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62.
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Have some sort of defined process and engourage advisors to make more contact the summer before.
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63.
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Advising on advisor search could be done better. Temporary advisors could explain in more detail how to look for an advisor and what kind of freedom in choosing an advisor I have. Advises on approaching faculty members would also be helpful. I am a new guy here, I don't know how things are run and they are very different from where I've been before. Few general advices are not enough, I need details, examples and guidance.
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64.
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could spend a week or 2 with a group at a time, guaranteed meeting time with interested professors, the students in the research group (obviously can't actually get much done). semester long rotations wouldn't help much, since we only have two, it'll just be more stressful...
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65.
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No idea. Flyers from the grad office about how to go looking for an advisor is an option. Mostly my room-mate told and inspired me to find an advisor.
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66.
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I like the idea of a rotation so that students can see what daily life is like when doing projects in MEMs or Wireless or Optics or Circuits...
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67.
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Force faculties to try out new grad students, some just don't care. Get senior grad students to help out too. New grads should also understand that taking courses is as important as doing research which will help them get advisors. Some I met are just crazy: they take 5 courses, can't work on their research, and expect to be funded.
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68.
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By making more information available to students, both on the website and by organizing faculty student mixers.
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69.
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I think it comes down to the faculty. Most complaints I have about the grad student/grad school experience can be attributed to the fact that mentoring grad students is very low on the list of priorities for the average faculty member. It seems that most faculty members are more concerned about running off-campus research labs, starting companies, consulting for industrial partners, etc.. Until limits are placed on outside limits, students (both grad and undergrad) will remain a very low priority for most faculty.
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70.
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I think one of the big flaws of this department is the lack of centralized, staff supported web site hosting. This cuts down the number of faculty and research projects which have useful websites. Not to mention the lack of a technical report/paper archive for the department. Overall, just organizing the research results and publicizing them through better websites would help. But professors and grad students need staff help to do this!
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71.
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Rotations would work pretty well I think, something where you can get a feel for the advisor and play around with some ideas while having some deadlines. It wouldn't counteract the problem of balancing work and classes, but maybe first years should cut back slightly on the course load.
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72.
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More definition as to what is a normal process as far as finding an advisor
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73.
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Emphasize importance of finding good fit to new students
Broadcast opportunities to all first years. Group lunches, office hours, etc. A project "fair" would be great, but possibly too hard to organize.
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74.
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Maybe have some sort of review when people graduate, that is anonymous, so students can speak freely about his/her advisor. Incoming students can then look at these reviews to get a better idea of the style of the advisor.
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75.
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Mandate professors put up to date abstracts in the research summary book so we know what their students are working on.
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76.
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Maybe some kind of event near the beginning of the year for first-years to meet advisors and students in different research groups.
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77.
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Have events with faculty and students forming the research of the department together. i.e. grant writing sessions or course design workshops. Make the students own up to their duties as future leaders and faculty own up to their role as mentors.
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78.
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If an advisor is not looking for students, he/she should make it clear to incoming and first year grad. students.
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79.
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I think a system based on small research experiences, with a more balanced number of students accepted into the program would be very beneficial. Furthermore, first year students should be given a chance to prove themselves in research, beyond classroom grades.
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80.
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maybe a class where every lecture a different prof looking for students talks about their research and in the 2nd part of the class one of their students talks about their interactions with their advisor.. some structured way of figuring out potential research.
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81.
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How to find an advisor was not really talked about. It would have been useful to have some general guidelines as to how and when to start searching for an advisor. Mentioning that it is common to work on a sort of "mini-project" would be useful here. Also, tips on contacting professors (via e-mail, office hours, after class) would be useful.
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82.
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Rotations are an idea, but I don't really think that would work well in the more theoretical groups.
Perhaps within a subtopic (say, Controls, signal processing, CAD, etc.), each student could do a first semester project with a prof in their area.
And the projects should be *faculty* determined topics, that they think about ahead of time, with small steps that would guide the students toward learning how to do resesarch.
After that seemster project, the students could then choose advisors from those in their area.
I think this would help students who come in with brilliant coursework achievement, but no real research skills, to learn.
And it would force the faculty to actually think about how to teach students to do research. I realize our faculty are veyr busy raising money, but not only should they occasionaly focus on the student population, it is in their best interests if students learn how to do research in a structure manner, instead of drowning as I hvaeseen many students do.
Also, I think this would alleviate the stress students feel in approaching professors, when the students feel they have no research skills. The first semester could then be a reserach-skill confidence building and learning event.
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83.
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I have no problems with regards to the process of finding an advisor in wireless communications area. I think the system benefits greatly from the informal way in which the process is carried out.
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84.
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Short rotations would let the students try out several advisors and see if their styles match.
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85.
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Nothing, if it's not broke, dont fix it
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86.
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Hard question. Students encouraged to take more initiative? It worked out well for me, and I don't think we want anything as formal as CMU's marraige process. At the same time, I have had friends bounce from place to place before finding a match.
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87.
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It would have been nice to know what professors are looking for students.
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88.
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making graduates from different groups more avaialbe and more honest about their advisors
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89.
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The rotation idea is nice. Additionally, it would probably make sense that advisors encourage first-year grads to team up as junior participants under already running projects, and suggest a set of introductory level tasks that can be taken as course projects. This would probably lead to better utilization of time of both parties.
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90.
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By having students work in groups with professors.
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91.
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More coordination. Profs trying a bit to reach out to all students.
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