Computational Complexity and other fun stuff in math and computer science from Lance Fortnow and Bill Gasarch
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Graduate Student Guide
I have received some questions recently asking me advice for topics on
which I have previously posted. So here are links to postings to help your
graduate school career from cradle to grave.
My research adviser is exactly what one shouldn't have. It is two years since I joined grad school for a Phd. But now the relationship is nosediving. He likes to belittle his students all the time. His only advice is to read papers, both in my area (which is algorithms) and in other areas (to find applications), but never mentioned where should I look into. Ah..a good adviser is so needed while in grad school.
I think you should have a serious chat with your advisor to find out the "game plan". Its always better to talk about it as explicitly as possible. During my second year in grad school, I read a lot of papers - some suggested by my advisor and some random ones that I found interesting. In hindsight, this reading is invaluable for success after one's Ph.D. At THAT time some of the papers I was being made to read did not seem that relevant to me, but helped me a lot later on.
You need to know more about what is going on, and not just the papers related to your Ph.D. thesis.
What is the role of a research adviser?
ReplyDeleteHis role is to scare you all the time with his mostly weird, uninteresting, and uninvited advice :D.
ReplyDeleteMy research adviser is exactly what one shouldn't have. It is two years since I joined grad school for a Phd. But now the relationship is nosediving. He likes to belittle his students all the time. His only advice is to read papers, both in my area (which is algorithms) and in other areas (to find applications), but never mentioned where should I look into. Ah..a good adviser is so needed while in grad school.
ReplyDeleteI think you should have a serious chat with your advisor to find out the "game plan". Its always better to talk about it as explicitly as possible. During my second year in grad school, I read a lot of papers - some suggested by my advisor and some random ones that I found interesting. In hindsight, this reading is invaluable for success after one's Ph.D. At THAT time some of the papers I was being made to read did not seem that relevant to me, but helped me a lot later on.
ReplyDeleteYou need to know more about what is going on, and not just the papers related to your Ph.D. thesis.
Interesting.
ReplyDeleteIn the 'Blog Links' menu, the link for this post is wrong.
Thanks. Fixed.
ReplyDelete