WEEK 2

CSE 494 - Jan 15, 2026

• Communicating and tracking research progress: Research journals, weekly updates [SLIDES]

• Required (1 team member): Week 2 check-in

WEEK 3 

CSE 494 - Jan 24, 2026

• Having effective research meetings [SLIDES]

• Submit individual progress report for Week 3 here

WEEK 4

CSE 494 - Jan 29, 2026

• How to do a literature review [SLIDES]

• Submit individual progress report for Week 4 here

WEEK 5

CSE 494 - Feb 5, 2026

• Required (1 team member): Week 5 check-in

• Submit individual progress report for Week 5 here

Events

• MiT/LEAP Summer Research Programs Application Workshop (TBD)

WEEK 6

CSE 494 - Feb 12, 2026

• How to teach yourself something - follow up [SLIDES, 390R module]

• Submit individual progress report for Week 6 here

• Fill out the research/technical skills survey by next Monday (Feb 16)

Events

• Good luck with mid-terms! Don't forget to let your mentors know if your progress might be slow or you might miss a meeting this week.

WEEK 7

CSE 494 - Feb 19, 2026

• Required (all students): Graduate student mentor panel [notes TBA]

  • Moderator: TBD

  • Panelists:

    • Anna Spiro (Comp Bio)

    • Dean Light (NLP)

    • Lisa Elkin (HCI)

    • Zachary Englhardt (UbiComp)

• Submit individual progress report for Week 7 here

WEEK 9

CSE 494 - Mar 5, 2026

• Required (all students): Faculty mentor panel [notes TBA]

  • Moderator: TBD

  • Panelists:

    • Belén Saldías (HCI, NLP, Social Computing)

    • Arvind Krishnamurthy (Networks, Distributed Systems)

    • Jen Mankoff (Accessibility, HCI, Fabrication, Ubiquitous Computing)

    • Natasha Jaques (AI, ML)

• Submit individual progress report for Week 9 here

WEEK 10

CSE 494 - Mar 12, 2026

• How to make a research project plan [SLIDES]

• Submit individual progress report for Week 10 here

WEEK 11

CSE 494 -  Apr 2, 2026

• How to do evaluation in research [SLIDES]

• Required (1 team member): Week 11 check-in

WEEK 12

CSE 494 - Apr 9, 2026

• Skills workshops

  • Rooms: our regular lecture room!

• Submit individual progress report here

WEEK 13

CSE 494 - Apr 16, 2026

• Work-life balance, well-being as a researcher [SLIDES]

• Submit individual progress report here

WEEK 14

CSE 494 - Apr 23, 2026

• How to write a research abstract [SLIDES]

• Submit individual progress report here

WEEK 15

CSE 494 - Apr 30, 2026

• How to make a research poster [SLIDES]

• Submit individual progress report here

WEEK 16

CSE 494 - May 7, 2026

• How to give an elevator pitch [SLIDES]

• Required (1 team member): Week 16 check-in

• Submit individual progress report here

WEEK 17

CSE 494 - May 14, 2026

• Required (all students): Faculty panel

  • Panelists:

    • Kurtis Heimerl (ICTD, HCI, Networking)

    • Lucy Lu Wang (NLP, Health Informatics)

    • Jerry Li (Theory)

    • Lindah Kotut (HCI, Privacy & Security)

• Submit individual progress report here

WEEK 19

TODOs (dates subject to change depending on event scheduling)

• Submit individual progress report here

• Submit your research poster drafts on gradescope by May 22, Friday 11:59pm.

• Submit your final research posters on gradescope by May 27, Wednesday 11:59pm.

CSE 494 - May 28, 2026

• Elevator pitch workshop: Practice/refine elevator pitches for your poster presentations!