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    Strategic Research Agenda

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    oriontherecluse
    This document provides advice for developing a research agenda. It suggests choosing a research problem that is important, holds personal interest, and has depth for investigation. It recommends setting aside uninterruptible research time, familiarizing yourself with previous work, and framing long-term questions while using short-term objectives. The document also stresses the importance of writing papers, giving talks, developing a personal style, and allowing students to suggest explorations.

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    Strategic Research Agenda

    Uploaded by

    oriontherecluse
    55 views8 pages
    This document provides advice for developing a research agenda. It suggests choosing a research problem that is important, holds personal interest, and has depth for investigation. It recommends setting aside uninterruptible research time, familiarizing yourself with previous work, and framing long-term questions while using short-term objectives. The document also stresses the importance of writing papers, giving talks, developing a personal style, and allowing students to suggest explorations.

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    Strategic Research Agenda

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    This document provides advice for developing a research agenda. It suggests choosing a research problem that is important, holds personal interest, and has depth for investigation. It recommends setting aside uninterruptible research time, familiarizing yourself with previous work, and framing long-term questions while using short-term objectives. The document also stresses the importance of writing papers, giving talks, developing a personal style, and allowing students to suggest explorations.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    55 views8 pages

    Strategic Research Agenda

    Uploaded by

    oriontherecluse
    This document provides advice for developing a research agenda. It suggests choosing a research problem that is important, holds personal interest, and has depth for investigation. It recommends setting aside uninterruptible research time, familiarizing yourself with previous work, and framing long-term questions while using short-term objectives. The document also stresses the importance of writing papers, giving talks, developing a personal style, and allowing students to suggest explorations.

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    1

    NSEFS 5/03 BG Ryder


    1
    Mapping out a Research
    Agenda
    Barbara G. Ryder
    Rutgers University
    ryder@cs.rutgers.edu
    http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/~ryder
    http://prolangs.rutgers.edu/
    NSEFS 5/03 BG Ryder
    2
    Why do research?
    To satisfy intellectual curiousity
    To better understand things
    To be at the forefront of an exciting,
    technical field
    To always be learning new things
    Because thats what professors do!
    2
    NSEFS 5/03 BG Ryder
    3
    Helpful Personal Qualities
    in Pursuing Research
    Creativity
    Curiousity
    Independence of thought
    Good communication skills
    Perseverance
    Self-discipline
    Interaction skills
    NSEFS 5/03 BG Ryder
    4
    Choosing a Research Problem
    Problem should be important
    Problem should hold your personal
    interest
    Problem should have depth, in terms
    of aspects possibly available for
    investigation
    Problem might come from questioning
    existing literature
    3
    NSEFS 5/03 BG Ryder
    5
    Choosing a Research Problem
    Problem may be amenable to some
    technique you already have devised
    Problem may lead you into new
    technology
    Problem may be in hot area
    Pros and cons
    NSEFS 5/03 BG Ryder
    6
    How to proceed?
    Set aside uninterruptible blocks of
    research thinking time in your weekly
    schedule
    Familiarize yourself with previous
    work from the literature
    Critically examine previous approaches,
    questioning generality, practicality,
    validation
    4
    NSEFS 5/03 BG Ryder
    7
    How to proceed?
    Frame long-term questions to be
    answered
    Use short-term objectives to
    subdivide research into manageable
    pieces
    Divide work into investigations that
    fit into a coherent whole
    Make progress one paper at a time
    NSEFS 5/03 BG Ryder
    8
    How to proceed?
    Know what it means to solve a problem
    or validate a technique
    Write papers and give talks about your
    work
    Intuition, intuition, intuition
    Exercise: do an in-the-elevator summary
    Develop a personal style
    One at a time vs juggling several projects
    5
    NSEFS 5/03 BG Ryder
    9
    How to proceed?
    Allow your graduate students to
    suggest explorations
    Re-examine your research
    achievements at regular intervals, to
    ensure progress towards answering
    long-term questions
    NSEFS 5/03 BG Ryder
    10
    SE Research
    What practical problems are you
    addressing?
    How will you validate your approach?
    How can you keep up with this broad
    area of CS&E?
    Attend conferences and network
    Pick favorite journals and other research
    groups and periodically visit their websites
    6
    NSEFS 5/03 BG Ryder
    11
    Specific Techniques
    Establish a reading group with your
    students
    Summarize attended conferences to others,
    to discuss key research issues encountered
    2-3 sentence summaries of each presentation
    Keep a research notebook where you can
    jot down ideas for later consideration
    Go back and look at your entries!
    NSEFS 5/03 BG Ryder
    12
    Specific Techniques
    Teach a graduate seminar in your
    area of interest
    Teaching is a learning experience
    Attend workshops, especially those
    with work-in-progress presentations
    Participate in grant evaluation panels
    and program committees
    7
    NSEFS 5/03 BG Ryder
    13
    Specific Techniques
    Leverage your efforts with graduate
    students
    Use senior faculty mentor(s)
    e.g., Obtain examples of funded
    proposals
    NSEFS 5/03 BG Ryder
    14
    Possible Pitfalls
    Switch of research areas during junior
    faculty years
    Requires large time investment up front
    Controversial/risky research areas
    Obtaining negative results
    Interdisciplinary work
    8
    NSEFS 5/03 BG Ryder
    15
    Collaboration
    Con: Need for junior faculty to
    establish a personal research identity
    Con: May be time-consuming
    Pro: Projects can be more complex
    and more realistic
    Pro: Allows groups to tap into personal
    strengths of participants
    NSEFS 5/03 BG Ryder
    16
    Biggest Challenge
    How to develop a coherent
    research agenda with limited time
    to do so, while juggling the
    responsibilities of a junior
    faculty?

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