1. Starting and Growing Your Own Research Program Cecilia Aragon Associate Professor Dept. of Human Centered Design & Engineering University of Washington Seattle, WA

2. Outline My background Defining a research agenda Advice for the newly independent researcher Proposal writing Starting a research program Questions

3. My background Cecilia Aragon, University of Washington Education – B.S. mathematics, Caltech – M.S. and Ph.D. computer science, University of California Berkeley (1987 and 2004) Jobs – Bell Labs, DEC, Sun, other; NASA Ames (1987-2004) – Interlude: Airshow pilot – Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (2004-present) – University of Washington (2011‐present) Research – Human computer interaction – Visualization, visual analytics, scientific collaboration Personal – Married with a 16‐year-old daughter and 11‐year-old son

4. Defining a research agenda 1.What is the theme of your research? 2.What are your short, medium and long‐range research goals? How do these relate to your career goals? 3.What steps do you need to take to achieve these goals?

5. Defining a research theme Come up with 1‐2 sentences describing your research theme. How? – Pick three of your papers, tell a coherent story about how they are related. – Pick three of your students/reports, tell a coherent story about how their research fits under your research theme – Look for ideas / connections with current funding initiatives Use research theme as a filter for prioritizing what collaborations you decide to pursue, what grants you go for, networking opportunities to pursue, etc.

6. What are your research goals? Short‐term (6 mos) Medium‐term (2 – 5 years) Long‐term (5 – 10 years)

7. Advice for the newly independent researcher Networking Collaboration Funding

8. “Organic” networking Go to research workshops that appeal to you; better, propose one yourself Go to seminars you find interesting Prepare posters on your work Mentor other women (or men) Hang out with your friends Talk to students Volunteer in your community (“old soccer moms network”, children’s schools)

9. Collaboration http://sciencewatch.com/nov-dec2007/sw_nov-dec2007_page1.htm

10. Collaboration: Dos and Don’ts Do: – Be a responsible collaborator – Develop the ability to multi‐task Don’t: – Be a programmer for someone else’s project – Take it personally when a collaboration doesn’t work out – Pretenure: take care how much you collaborate with your advisor, how you handle interdisciplinary collaborations,etc.

11. Funding Federal agency funding National laboratory funding Private industry funding Private foundation funding Internal lab directed R&D Funds Internal university/college research funds

12. Funding Criteria Why are you the right person to do this work? In the case of multi‐investigator projects, do you have the right team? Do you have the appropriate facilities to conduct the research? Why is this program or agency the appropriate one to fund your work?

13. Proposal Writing DOs Watch for opportunities Identify the relevant program and talk to the appropriate manager(s) Read the program announcement carefully (all the way through) Understand the rules and evaluation criteria Present your ideas clearly and succinctly

14. Proposal Writing DOs Provide adequate explanation & highlight the significance – reviewers are technical peers Make it clear you know the literature Ask an experienced investigator to critique your proposal Keep within agency guidelines for proposal format Read abstracts of awards; read proposals and reviews of successful proposals Volunteer to be a reviewer

15. Proposal Writing DON’Ts Don’t submit an identical proposal to several programs Don’t miss proposal deadlines Don’t request unrealistic items in the budget Don’t exceed program budgetary guidelines Don’t wait until the last minute if you need institutional sign‐off (human subjects protocols) Don’t give up if your proposal is declined

16. Starting a research program Good relationships with support staff Marketing – You MUST advertise your work – Have a good web presence – Email colleagues about papers, software, datasets, etc. – Through networking – Make it easy for people to find and cite your work Collaborations – Within department, within university, locally, with companies, nationally and internationally

17. Standing on the shoulders of giants (acknowledgments) Many slides borrowed from Andrea Danyluk, Lise Getoor, Ashley Stroupe Carla Ellis and Tina Eliassi‐Rad Debbie Crawford Jan Cuny Mary Jean Harrold Susan Landau Caroline Wardle