For prospective students:  If you are interested in working with me as a graduate student, please write to me explaining why you think this is a good idea. Merely asserting that you are fascinated by scientometrics, network analysis, or machine learning will not make a good case. Pro forma communications that are machine generated and contain superficial references to my work do not make a good case either. Please be reminded that admission is a pre-requisite to work with me so study the well defined admissions process of the  Siebel School of Computing and Data Science at UIUC.

While considering graduate school or your path through it, a number of important points that I completely endorse are made on this page (Meryl Mims lab at VT). Below, is my summarised interpretation of the Mims Lab page- with a little editorializing thrown in for free.

• Choose your advisor carefully- beyond area of science and reputation, think long and hard about intellectual and temperamental compatibility.

• Critically examine your own ambition, interests, and drive- emerging from graduate school with a PhD is a non-trivial experience.

• Science is a social enterprise- be respectful to your colleagues; this includes timely, informative, and professional communications. I require a commitment to collaboration. You are expected to contribute to the collective good of the group as you pursue your own goals. 

• Try to be organized- working off a carefully thought out plan is better than succumbing to bursts of spontaneous thought (or "momentary lapses of reason").

• Intellectual honesty, meticulous documentation, and reproducibility are expected and are stridently reinforced. 

• The value of reading the scientific literature carefully and and critically interpreting it cannot be underestimated. It is not enough to paraphrase the title and abstract of an article.

• Try and publish valuable observations and ideas- it matters much more than accumulating citations from publications. 

In addition, consider that there is a contractual aspect to the adviser:advisee relationship that is often unappreciated. Specifically, that two responsible parties have entered into an interaction for mutual benefit; an interaction that is governed by a set of expectations that have been mutually agreed to. Of course, institutional rules, regulations, and best practices, apply and and are ad minimum. However, a contract stops serving its purpose when one or the other party fails to meet these agreed upon expectations. If failures in contractual obligations cannot be resolved, the contract will be terminated.