Mentoring Plan

How would you describe your advising style? Does your approach vary over the course of a student's progress within their degree? 

• I tried to adjust the style according to students and their maturity. But, I will try to make sure to talk to students at least every 2-3 weeks using 1-1 meetings. 

What is the best way/technology for students to contact you? Are there time frames in which students should expect to hear from you? 

• Students can send instant messages or email to me anytime. 

How often do you plan to meet with students one-on-one (be as specific as possible, it's okay to describe multiple styles that may vary with student needs)? Is an agenda required? How long are meetings? 

• Every 2-3 weeks. Each meeting is around 1 hour. To reserve 1-1 meetings, follow the steps explained on the Contact Us page. 

Do you have a regular lab seminar? What does student participation look like in this group meeting? 

• No. Nonetheless, I encourage students to join seminars of my co-laboratory (i.e. Nguyen's lab) if the student's topic coincides with their themes. 

• At ReaLearn, I will regularly organize various special meetings and ask students to participate. Examples can be found from the Seminars page. 

Could you elaborate more on the previous answer? Are there any main activities arranged in this laboratory? 

• (1) Reading groups to enhance student's research thinking (Frequency: on demand)

  • All members participate. Non-members can also join.

• (2) Mini-lectures to provide fundamentals for research (Frequency: on demand)

  • Usually, I am the speaker. All members participate. Non-members can also join. 

• (3) Brown bag (Frequency: at least twice a year or on request)

  • All members participate. Non-members can also join. 

  • Normally, organize as a 1-day informal meeting and with food. Participants can also bring their own food. 

  • All participants are speakers. They are expected to update their research progress or share any knowledge related their research. 

• (4) Cafe time (Frequency: every month)

  • All members are encouraged to participate. Non-members can also join. 

  • All participants get their own drinks and snacks, and have a SHORT conversation together.
    Each person should share his / her recent experience in his / her own style, or follow the below template: 

    • What did I do recently?  

    • What am I doing? 

    • What will I do next? 

• (5) One-to-one meeting or group meeting (Frequency: at least once a month)

  • The appointed student shares any information to me; for example, successes, issues, or progress updates with intensive discussion.

  • Lab members can also attend as observers (to create more interactions among all the members). As an observer, he / she can:

    • Ask / comment to the appointed student

    • Skip to attend the meeting if you are not interested in or busy, or 

    • Just observe and learn from your friends.

Describe your students' primary area(s) of responsibility and expectations (e.g., reading peer-reviewed literature, in-lab working hours, etc.). 

• Read papers. Think about problems and solve them. Write papers. Brainstorm interesting research questions 

How do you decide authorship and/or authorship order? 

• Based on authors' contribution.  

How do you provide students with feedback regarding overall progress, research activities, etc.? 

• We talk regularly. 

How far in advance of a deadline should a student expect to provide written work for feedback, such as publication drafts? 

• As soon as possible and as often as possible.  

How do you solicit feedback from your students? 

• I usually explicitly ask for feedbacks.

Which meetings do your students generally attend or you strongly encourage your students to attend? 

• Any AI-related conferences such as (from April onward each year roughly):

  •  [CORE A*] AAAI (Due: Aug), ICLR (Due: Sep), AAMAS (Due: Oct), IJCAI (Due: Jan), SIGIR (Due: Jan), KDD (Due: Feb), KR (Due: Mar)

  •  [CORE A] ECML PKDD (Due: Apr), ECAI (Due: May), ISWC (Due: May), CIKM (Due: June), ICONIP (Due: July), ESWC (Due: Dec), IJCAR (Due: Jan), IJCNN (Due: Feb)

  •  [CORE B] ICCBR (Due: Apr), DICTA (Due: June), PRICAI (Due: June), PRIMA (Due: June), ICTAI (Due: July), ICAART (Due: Oct), ACIIDS (Due: Mar)

  •  [CORE C] TENCON (Due: May), ICPRAM (Due: Oct), IEA/AIE (Due: Jan),  

  • [Dedicated workshops/conferences] COMMA (Due: Apr), NMR (Due: June), DL (Due: June), IJCKG (Due: July)

• This link provides a list of good conference and journal submission venues:

  • https://neuro-symbolic-ai.github.io/resources/2023/02/22/nlp-ai-conferences.html

Discuss expectations regarding vacations and time away from campus and how best to plan for them. What is the time-frame for notification regarding anticipated absences? 

• 3-4 weeks. I expect the students to inform me before. 

Are there specific standard times that students in your group generally take vacation? 

• No. Students can request if they need some kinds of group activities or lab excursions. 

• Nonetheless, we will have a cerebration party when lab members successfully pass the final defense. 

What do you do to facilitate students taking time off (e.g., do you proactively encourage people to take vacation after major deadlines)? 

• I will proactively encourage people to take a break after a major deadline.