Advice from an old gradAdvice from an old grad or or

Everything I know about research Everything I know about research I learned from the PhD* web-comicsI learned from the PhD* web-comics

*Piled higher & Deeper, by Jorge Cham (www.phdcomics.com)

Research Forum Dec. 18th, 2007 Presented by Jonathan Devor (G6)

Lesson #1: (in no particular order) Learn from your elders…

at your own risk…and this includes professors too (see lesson #8 on advisors)

Lesson #2What do I need to know

• Should I learn Latex? yes!

• Should I learn C++, IDL, Mathematica….Depends on what you need, and what is easiest for you.The higher the language the easier it is to do some stuff, but all the rest

become much harder/impossible

E.g. C++ can do everything, but you have to learn it. Mathematica can only do math stuff, but it does that easily. (Recommendation: Derive is like Mathematica, but easier to learn)

• Should I learn Fortran? only if you absolutely have to.

Lesson #3Things are not always exactly

the way they’re supposed to be

…but there is a method to the madness

…but you need to figure it out for yourself

Lesson #4 Writing papers

How to Write a Scientific Paperby E. Robert Schulman

Abstract We (meaning I) present observations on the scientific publishing process which (meaning that) are important and timely in that unless I have more published papers soon, I will never get another job. These observations are consistent with the theory that it is difficult to do good science, write good scientific papers, and have enough publications to get future jobs.

link- Annals of Improbable Research, Vol. 2, No. 5, pg. 8.

Lesson #5

Free Food

How to get some-

• (at Harvard) Wait- it will come to you

• Become a non-res tutor

• Go to talks

But watch out…

This will happen to you… (if you’re like me)

Lesson #6 WORK

• Entropy: It happens to all of us

Be organized

• Data directories• Reduction directories• Documentation• Source code• Database links• Website links…

If you manage this, tell me how.

Bugs- they’re part of life

“Research: compressing reams of data into 1-2 numbers, sometimes less.”

Grad student evolution

Lesson #7 Procrastination

Lesson #8 Advisors

The job description of an advisor:The job description of an advisor:

• NOT to tell you what you should do

• To advise you (if you’re lucky…)

• This is YOUR time to think for yourself (for good and bad)

Advisors: how to pick em’

• ????• Personality• Don’t overlook SAO / postdocs• Personality

Choosing the right advisor will probably be the most important decision you’ll need to make in grad school

(no pressure…)

Knowing your advisor

But they will always be happy to provide “constructive” criticism

This will happen to you…

How much is too much?

Lesson #9 Teaching

Lesson #10 Motivation

And at shorter timescales…

Have fun with it

But watch out…

You may find your self incomprehensible to 99% of the world’s populationEvidence: see previous page…

Lesson #11 Research exam / thesis

…or not!

“…every thesis ever written”

Lesson #12 There’s life after work

• Classes/lectures in other topics• Museums/shows/book-readings• Hobbies• Grad/undergrad* interest groups/clubs

(visit the group booths at registration day)

*Note: Undergraduate groups are generally happy to include grads as well.

…and yea, that too

Taken from XKCD web-comics (http://xkcd.com)

“Even the identity matrix doesn’t work normally”

Lesson #13 Getting a job

It’s all about networking…

My greatest accomplishments

• HSP

• Wall-o-credit-cards

• Robots -- got me my job(?)

Third time’s a charm…

Lesson #14Don’t put things* off…

*that is, things that you NEED to do

Thank you!

Now go to work…