Thanks for your interest in working with me as a graduate student. Please take a look at the general qualifications I’m looking for in a student, as well as some tips for getting in touch with me about joining my group.
Qualifications
First of all, I am looking for students who are self-motivated and persistent in their research. My job as an advisor is to mentor and guide you in the right direction, but ultimately it will be your responsibility to take ownership of research projects and push them along to completion. I can help you in crafting and deciding what that research project may look like, but ultimately it is your project. Beyond this, there are three general qualifications I’m looking for in my students.
- Mathematical maturity. Proving theorems and designing correct and efficient algorithms are both important aspects of doing research with me. You should be comfortable with the idea of writing and reading proofs and learning challenging new mathematical concepts. You should at least be familiar with linear algebra and algorithms. Previous experience with graph algorithms, network analysis, discrete mathematics, and mathematical optimization are a big plus. Beyond this, any course where you had to wrestle with advanced mathematical concepts and proofs is a plus.
- Coding proficiency. You should have experience coding in at least a couple different languages. It’s not terribly important what those languages are, but ideally you’ll have some experience coding in a lower-level language where you can make things fast and efficient (e.g., C or C++), as well experience writing code more quickly in a scripting language (e.g., Python or Matlab). (If you come work with me, I’ll be encouraging you to learn how to code in Julia, which has the benefit of both worlds, but knowing Julia is definitely not a prerequisite for reaching out with me or working with me.)
- Writing skills. Part of being a good researcher is knowing how to communicate your research well. You should of course be proficient in the English language. Beyond this, you should be a good writer, or at least be very interested in learning how to be a better writer!
Getting in touch about research
If you are interested in doing research with me and you meet the above qualifications, feel free reach out to me via email. It helps if you can mention specific reasons why you are interested in working with me. I know you are probably also reaching out to many other professors, and this is perfectly normal and acceptable. However, it will help your case if you can show me that you have thought carefully about my research area and how you might fit into it. Take some time to look at my website and my publications to get a sense for the specific types of problems I work on. If you have any ideas on potential research projects (e.g. ways to extend some of my past work, combine it with other ideas, or apply it to new directions), you should mention them.
Finally, if you are already a student at Texas A&M and you are interested in working with me, I’d strongly recommend you take a class with me (whatever I happen to be teaching at the moment), and try to do as well as you can in it.