Why get a Ph.D?

You like the title of “Dr. Professor.” You never want to leave the University. You want to teach. You want a research career.

Types of Jobs

Industry of the 1st kind – don’t need a Ph.D.

Industry of the 2nd kind – need a Ph.D.

Research and Government Labs

University Teaching schools

University Research schools

Research vs Teaching Universities

University Teaching Schools 6 classes a year Maybe a little research Mainly an undergraduate focus, some MS

University Research Schools 2 or 3 classes a year Half of your work is research Undergraduate, MS, Ph.D.

How to be competitive with a Ph.D from CSU? If you want to go to a Research Lab/Industry,

focus on what they do. If you want to go to a Teaching School:

Teach Publish some

If you want to go to a Research School: Publish, publish, publish Teach some Go to conferences Meet the key people in the field

Investing in a Ph.D.

If you invest the time to get a Ph.D., you should have a good chance getting what you want from it.

But there are no guarantees in life.

Timing and area is a factor:

E.g., Ten years ago, a networks Ph.D. was gold. Today, many (most?) CS Ph.D.s are networks related, and there is stiff competition.

Area, Area, Area?

What area should I go into? Excellence is more important than area Think 4 or 5 years into the future Personalities matter

How competitive is it?

Hiring at CSU:

Applications for 1 position in 1992: over 500 Applications for 1 position in 2006: over 400

We usually get our first choice!

What is a competitive VITA ?

2 or 3 or 4 or more journal publications 8 to 20 conference publications Some conferences or journals are highly ranked Ideally, some teaching experience Good letters, ideally, from more than one school. Perhaps time as a Post-doc

What is in a competitive VITA?

Name Degree, year, school Ph.D. topic Publications Teaching Grants or grant experience Prior work experience

How do we evaluate candidates?

We bring 3 or 4 people to campus Is the interview talk good? Do they get along well with others? Can they collaborate with others? Do they have 1 skill, or many skills? What can they teach?

These make a poor impression:

Mixing submitted with published papers Listing student travel as “awards” Publishing in junk conferences Poor writing No focus in your publications Not sometimes being the first author

How do we select people to interview?

By area of need By quality of publications Teaching experience Research and teaching statements (can they

write?) Do they understand what it means to be a

University professor, and are they ready to work hard and be successful?

How do we select people to interview?

We cut the applications from 400 to 15, then do phone interviews Typical questions:

Why CSU? (Did they do their homework?) What is your best and worst teaching experience? How do you define success and what resources do you

need to be successful? What is you most important accomplishment? What are your 5 year career goals?

Some things not to do

Be too arrogant Be too naive Be too nonchalant Bluff

And then there was 1…

Start-up packages: 100K Summer salary Travel GRA support Equipment

Teaching load and buyout

Your first year at a University

1. Teaching Teaching matters Excellent researchers excellent teachers New classes to teach

Best to get grad classes in your area to support research

Best to get the same class more than once

Your first year at a Research University

2. Research Keep publishing Find research funding

Get copies of successful proposals Get on an NSF panel Build collaboration if possible

Offer reading groups Invest in the best students Stay focused

Why Funding Matters

Funding support students Funding supports travel Funding supports infrastructure Funding supports start-up Funding supports the university Summer Support = Competitive Salaries

Your first year at a Research University Stay Informed Get a mentor Talk to others

Tenure

Six year tenure clock at most schools Requires external evaluation letters (4+4) Excellence in 1 area, good in 2 areas

Teaching, Research, Service

Midterm Tenure Review (Mini-tenure)

Typically in the third year Advise more than criticism Allows time to make corrections

Promotion

Hiring Tenure: 6 years Promotion to Associate with Tenure Associate to Full: at least 6 more years and

evidence of excellence in 2 areas. Continue to publish in good journals and conference, graduate Ph.D. students, be funded, have an impact (with external letters to prove it).

Questions?

For me or other faculty