Faculty Mentor Panel Notes
Panel
Richard:
Accessibility
100 undergrads, many went to grad school
Lucy, best senior thesis, went to work with Shiri
24 students got Mary Gates fellowships
CRA DREU
Zach
Research: Help people write tricky programs
e.g. Floating point
e.g. rewriting
e.g. Fabrication, CAD
10 years at UW
12-13 undergrads who went to PhDs
12-13 went to industry
Undergrads, smaller but critical
Undergrads have a grad student mentor/buddy
Good way to figure out what you want to do, but pick a goal soon then help you set up
Sara
At UW for 2 years, professor for 8 years
ML, genomic bio-technology: Understanding bio datasets
e.g. sequence human genome: a very long string, how do we make sense of this string to make predictions about disease/outcomes
Challenging b/c of overfitting, not so much data, so many confounding factors like socio economic status
Non-linear path, first generation college student, wanted to help people so decided to be a doctor, did pre-med but realized it is a lot of memorization and not much creativity; took computer science by chance and loved it, stated undergrad thinking biology is in the past, but going in grad school timing aligned well with being able to make measurements.
8 years, undergrads interested in research
One UBC undergrad ended up going to UW and graduated last year
Current student Goldwater finalist
Students paired with grad students
Give students critical responsibilities
Question: Difference between senior thesis and publication.
Question: What do you look for in undergrads?
Sara:
CompBio: Difficult to get into, two languages, need to get familiar with biology for CSE students
Usually taking students from the class, students talking to Sara during the class
Zach:
No real recipe; it’s useful to have taken a class
Persistence is important. PErson needs to keep showing up.
Feynman video: Confusion. Spike in the beginning. You’ll be confused in the beginn ing, only way through it is through it. Ask dumb questions.
It’s about the people. How do you feel when you go to a meeting? You should feel good. Not rather do something else. Find the right vibe.
Richard
Doesn’t currently have a lab
Students would come b/c they’re interested in accessibility, social good interest, closer to impact.
Undergrads worked on individual projects, occasionally working with a grad student (50/50)
Some leave after a quarter, some stay two years
Now very selective, students have to be very motivated
Advice: talk with other undergrad researchers
Advice: join graduate seminar, 590s
Go and be confused, it’s normal to be confused
Sara:
+1, also picking projects based on people
It takes time to understand and get good at the proces
Zach:
Mantra: If you see someone being really good at something, they’ve spent a lot of time being bad at it.
Mantra: Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Show up and try to keep up, you’ll have holes.
It’s okay to take the time to build building blocks, but it is worth it.
Grind early on: but it will pay off.
Question: Balancing life and making a good impression.
Zach:
You cant do great work if you’re not healthy.
Transparency is helpful.
People should care about you, you don’t want a relationship
Things go sideways when people think they can pull it off, but they keep missing deadlines.
Better to under promise
Tough conversation but useful for the larger team
Richard
Solo projects, if they don’t progress, they loose
It’s up to the student
Question: Failure modes
Zach:
Undergrads tend to have a healthy routine b/c of structure
Failure due to procrastination, spiral of overwhelm
It’s okay, you are not your research
Supportive accountability:
Keep a journal
HAve a peer mentor who knows when you don’t make progress
Break the cycle: just getting started pulls you into the work
Sara:
Existential crises: Big delay between work and reward. (h/t rejections). In the meantime you don’t feel that your work is meaningful.
Talk yourself out of it: Think about other processes that take time, like losing weight, you need to consistently keep exercising. Keep showing up.
Richard:
Make sure you’re enjoying what you’re doing, might need to change project to find the right fit
Answer you don’t know, can be frustrating.