C. E. Brodley Building a Research Career Carla E. Brodley Department of Computer Science Tufts University April 2005

C. E. Brodley Some History Started graduate school, UMASS………..…Fall 1988 Main research area: supervised machine learning Ph.D. awarded………………………………..Aug 1994 Started as assistant professor, Purdue……Nov 1994 Main research area: applied data mining Tenure awarded…………………………..Spring 2000 No main area….exploring security, sensor nets, digital libraries… Started as a full professor, Tufts U…………Fall 2004

C. E. Brodley How did/do I spend my time? (Averaged across the academic year)

C. E. Brodley General Principles Publish in one core area –Impact –Letter writers –Journal boards Look for collaborations, but… Find huge chunks of time to focus Keep up to date Think: how can this lead to a paper…

C. E. Brodley Laying the Foundations in Graduate School Read as many papers as you can -- you will never have this much time again Try to collaborate with other graduate students that you meet Learn to write well and quickly Ask to be involved in writing a proposal, but… Ask to teach a course –So you learn how to NOT need 30 hours/week

C. E. Brodley How do I decide what to work on? Choose a core area Work on important problems Understand the minimum required to demonstrate your solution Think: Will this lead to a paper? Will I attract funding, graduate students? Are there people to write me letters? Is there a place to publish in this area? Who would care? Do I care?

C. E. Brodley Beginning as an Asst Prof Stop working with your advisor (as soon as the papers from your thesis are published.) Look for interdisciplinary collaborations where you can publish in your “core” area, but… Use teaching to your research advantage Ask for feedback on grant proposals from other faculty Start working with students as soon as possible –spend your startup money on students not summer salary…

C. E. Brodley Teaching as a Research Tool Teach in your immediate research area If possible teach a research course, in which students: –Read/present papers –Define research topics with your help –Write and present their finished papers And you: –Select papers you want to read as well as seminal papers –Read and give excellent feedback on their project reports… this can lead to a collaboration with the student and/or their advisor…

C. E. Brodley Middle Asst Prof Years Keep –Writing papers –Grant proposals –Networking at conferences Stop programming…it’s a luxury for after tenure Step back and see how you are viewed… Think: how can this activity lead to a paper Focus on students who are productive

C. E. Brodley End of Asst Prof Years Finish off all those papers! Get a student out the door Go give talks Think about what you would like to think about now that the quest for tenure is completed….