CS Careers © Dr. Ayman Abdel-Hamid, CS5014, Fall 2006

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CS5014

Research Methods in CS

Dr. Ayman Abdel-Hamid

Computer Science Department

Virginia Tech

CS Careers

CS Careers © Dr. Ayman Abdel-Hamid, CS5014, Fall 2006

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OutlineCS Careers

•What does a Researcher do?

•Post Docs

•Getting a Faculty Position

•Tenure

Some of the material is based on Dr. Cliff Shaffer’s Notes for CS5014. Department of Computer Science, Virginia Tech

CS Careers © Dr. Ayman Abdel-Hamid, CS5014, Fall 2006

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What Does a Researcher Do? 1/2

•Products:

Publish papers (conferences, journals, “invited" papers in conferences or journals, workshops, seminars, books)

Submit proposals (and other requests for support)

Write reviews (public vs. private)

Write evaluations (letters of recommendation, employee evaluation)

CS Careers © Dr. Ayman Abdel-Hamid, CS5014, Fall 2006

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What Does a Researcher Do? 2/2

•Activities:

Study the literature (learn), keep up with things

Analyze: Statistics, hypotheses (experimental design)

Serve on editorial boards, review panels, etc (service)

Hunt for jobs

Hunt for money (proposals)

Collaborate: Peers, superiors, employees

Teach

Mentor

CS Careers © Dr. Ayman Abdel-Hamid, CS5014, Fall 2006

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Post Docs•Biology

Oversupply of researchers

Lack of alternatives

Competition for hard money positions

Requirement for post doc experience to be competitive

“Underclass" of “permanent temporary“ positions

•Computer Science

Periods of undersupply of faculty

Industry absorbs most with CS degree, at all levels

Less culture of post docs

Can be a worthwhile training experience

CS Careers © Dr. Ayman Abdel-Hamid, CS5014, Fall 2006

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Getting a Faculty Position

•Supply and Demand plays a big role.

Historically, there has been a deficit of qualified applicants for faculty

There are temporary periods of relative oversupply

•Research vs. Teaching positions

•A key feature of the job is diversity

Warning: If you are not good at frequent context switches, then don't do this!

CS Careers © Dr. Ayman Abdel-Hamid, CS5014, Fall 2006

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Tenure

•An explicit, proactive point in time at which a decision is made to keep a faculty member in place or re him/her

•Usually done after about six years

•Rule of thumb: Is the replacement likely to be better or worse?

•Very different from Industry or Government Firing only for cause

•Once tenured, in theory its a permanent position Still plenty of controls on performance

•Original motivation was “academic freedom."