CRA-W Promotion & Tenure Dilma Da Silva, Texas A&M University Kathryn S McKinley, Microsoft Research

The next hour of your life A bit about me 15 minutes on tenure A bit about Dilma 15 minutes on promotion in research labs 15 minutes partner exercise 10 Q&A

Kathryn McKinley Principal Researcher, Microsoft Endowed Professor, UT Austin Tenured at UMass ACM Fellow, IEEE Fellow 18 PhD students Testified to Congress Uncertain programming with estimates Immix Garbage Collection DaCapo Benchmarks Cross system boundaries Software for Heterogeneous Hardware Better systems Programmable, correct, fast, secure, energy efficient Energy +

The Academic “Ladder” Postdoc 1-2 years Assistant Professor ~6 years Associate Professor Professor Chaired Professor Department Head Associate Dean Dean... tenure

Tenure Criteria Research Teaching Service Quality and quantity is institution specific Read tenure CV of successful faculty Learn the influential faculty (chair, etc.) Ask them for feedback every year

Tenure Process Yearly department evaluations Mid-tenure review CV Research, teaching, & service statements Teaching evaluations External letters Tenure packet CV Research, teaching, & service statements Teaching evaluations External letters (typically 8-12)

Research

Move the needle Work on important problem(s) create or borrow a theme: self managing home, private web, accurate search, energy efficiency, programmable, etc. Enough funding & students to do it industry funding demonstrates near term important test out students before committing Collaborate when the solution requires technical skills you want write at least one paper before applying for joint funding Publish in top venues – quality over quantity Be “a goto person” in your theme – research leadership publish, PCs, organize a workshop, tutorial, attend, questions, give talks

Research Relationships Research is a social process Students build your own group culture training great students vs doing great work Collaborators multiply your research, learn new skills Community develop relationships and improve your community

Teaching

Teaching – hard work & rewarding Enjoy it – immediate feedback Teaching plan – what, when, how NEGOTIATION Match your expertise & needs to the department’s needs Before tenure Limit number of different courses, so you can teach well No one cares how many times you taught course X, just that you did it well when you did teach it Take available teaching release, e.g., maternity leave, new faculty, mini-sabbatical

Teaching – hard work & rewarding Execution for good student evaluations Prepared for every class: topic, learn, extra, how it fits in On time, end on time; course structure; stay on schedule Quizzes, structuring of assignments, tests, drop deadline Peer tutoring matching to help top & bottom of class Teaching gives back Technical material you want at your finger tips Attracting, evaluating, and training graduate students Inspire the next generation But in R1 institutions, teaching alone wont get you tenure

Service

Department & University What matters to you, important to department, strategic Build relationships with your colleagues, harder to fire you if they like you Understand department values Discipline Before tenure, only do research enhancing service Say YES to program committees of top venues, your area specific venue, NSF grant reviewing, research visioning activities Say NO to treasurer, local arrangements, poster chair, etc. Quality and reliability are more important than quantity

Dilma Da Silva, Texas A&M Operating Systems in large scale that transparently adapt to workload  cloud computing  mobile cloud computing  operating systems Ford Motor Company Design Professor and Department Head, 8/25/14 – present Principal Engineer & Manager, Qualcomm Research Silicon Valley 8/12 – 8/14 Research Staff Member & Manager, IBM TJ Watson Research Center, 1/07-7/12 Also PI on Exascale Ireland Group 2/10 – 7/12 Assistant Professor, University of Sao Paulo, 07/07 – 09/00

Industry (Research) Promotions Usually not as defined as a tenure track promotion path; often not as stressful Find out from early on What is available ? (tracks, ladders) What do you want at this stage ? What behavior and attitude got it around you? Who can help? Timelines? HR-speak of responsibilities & expectations Impact on salary, bonuses, opportunities

Tracks: Technical, Managerial, Hybrid Initial steps are usually the same for all Fundamentally involve ever-greater scope technically more challenging projects requiring the cooperation of more people, components, and organizations of greater importance to your organization All require visibility, interpersonal skills, and established record of success

Key growth areas Innovation: relevance Execution: deliver, ship, fix, solve, do! Strategic thinking: execution will take only so far Leadership: does not require authority Almost always pays off: being the GO-TO-PERSON for something relevant with broad appeal … better if not owned “T” profile (breadth with demonstrated depth) grow into the next role and then get the title This DOES NOT mean the title is given to you as recognition of how awesome you are, how much you work, etc

Keep in mind “out of the box” options are possible and often attractive Lateral moves can be fun Exploring other fields expands our knowledge and may create opportunities Promotion through new employer can work, but make sure you don’t focus on short term gains too much Take charge of your career But learn as much as possible from other people’s path Be careful with your “brand”: too much focus on being promoted may not help Make sure you take promotions that you want Manage fear. Manage competition Excel on articulating what you do for the organization Ask for more visibility. Ask for broader scope. Ask for more responsibility. Ask for money. Articulate what you give. Assess happiness.

Find a partner What’s the weakest part of your promotion case? What should you about it? Partner Exercise

Questions?

Next Steps

CRA-W wants to change the face of computing

What does CRA-W do? Individual & Group Research Mentoring Undergrads Undergraduate Research Experiences Undergrads Distinguished lecture role models Grad Cohort group mentoring of graduate students Grad Students Discipline Specific Research workshops PhD Researchers group mentoring early & mid CMW, CAPP, Grace Hopper & Tapia Graduate Students Undergraduates Academic careers Industry/government labs 600+ students & PhDs a year

Does it work? 25 Compares program participants to non-participants ✔ Yes!

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