Approaching me for research projects

Hello students!

Approaching faculty to find appropriate research projects is essential to your academic life. This post provides some valuable tips for making communication easy and efficient for both of us. I will update it occasionally by adding new projects, removing old ones, and modifying some details.

Please read carefully before approaching me.

• First, I work in (computing) education research, an emerging, interdisciplinary field, with applications of the core CS concepts (like programming language design, natural language processing, etc.) to human-computer interaction, learning theories, and behavioral studies. Make sure you really want to work in this field before approaching me. (Of course, if you are simply curious about this field and my interests, don’t hesitate to ask questions.)

• Prerequisites:

  • Foremost ones are being proactive, punctual, and having good communication skills¹.
  • Basic statistics is required (can be a co-requisite²); inferential statistics is desired.
  • For certain projects, mastery in basic CS concepts (software engineering, object-oriented programming, data structures and algorithms) is essential.
  • Having prior teaching or research experience is desired but not required.

How to contact me

• Read through the descriptions of my current projects.

• Email me your resume, the title of the project you want to work on, and a 300-500 word description of why you want to work on that project.

• Include any relevant information, like teaching or research experience.

• Mention (a) at least one book³ you have read in the past year, or (b) if you haven’t read a good book in the past year, your all-time favorite book, or (c) if you don’t have a favorite book, your favorite movie or TV show.

Prospective Ph.D. students

There are exciting research questions at the intersection of computing education and accessibility.

I look forward to working with part-time or full-time Ph.D. students to explore those questions.

Interested students should note some important points:

• Familiarize yourself with the BITS Pilani admission and completion criteria. Admissions happen through the BITS process; interest from a faculty does not guarantee admission.

• Please let me know if you are looking for a full-time Ph.D. position or part-time. Full-time students stay on/near the campus and attend classes/meetings regularly. Part-time students typically fulfill the requirements remotely while working in the industry or academia; part-time positions are not advertised every semester.

• The second bullet under ‘How to contact me’ above is even more critical for Ph.D. applicants. Besides explaining why this particular project, explain in detail why you want to do a Ph.D. in the first place (what are your career goals, how a Ph.D. in this area will help you achieve those, etc.).

Masters’ degree (HD) students

For the research practice course, I will expect the following deliverables from you (apart from the final evaluation by the institute):

• Reading and presenting (to a small group) 2-3 relevant research papers,

• Developing an artifact (a piece of software or a document) that reasonably advances the project.

For the thesis or any other course, we will discuss the expectations and deliverables on a case-by-case basis.

I will work with only a limited number of students, so make sure you approach me well in advance (at least two weeks before the relevant deadlines).

Undergraduate (FD) students

If you are interested in doing your project course(s) with me, please be advised that I would like to see your work before formally assigning you to a project. Keep this in mind and approach me early so you can work with me without affecting your coursework and graduation schedule. The expected deliverables are similar to the HD courses listed above.

I expect FD students to work with me for a semester or so, before enrolling for a formal project course.