Brief History of Time

Ph.D. (UMass)

è CS @ Texas A&M

è ECE @ UIUC

è CS @ Georgetown

Fault-tolerantcomputing

è Wireless networks/systems

è Distributed computing theory

Nitin VaidyaGeorgetown University

How to Succeed in Academia Without Really Trying

6/20/2019NSF CSR workshop

Caveat: Use advice at your own risk

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First Things First

How to Succeed in Academia Without Really Trying

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First Things First

g Know why you are in academia

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First Things First

g Know why you are in academia

iTeaching

iIndependence

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First Things First

g Know why you are in academia

iTeaching … don’t like teaching? Leave academia

iIndependence … don’t let others define success for you

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First Things First

g How do you define success?

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First Things First

g How do you define success?

iFame?

iFortune?

iInnovation?

iImpact?

iHappiness?9

First Things First

g How do you define success?

iFame?

iFortune?

iInnovation?

iImpact?

iHappiness?10

How to Succeed in Academia Without Really Trying

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Outline

g It’s all about expectations

g Work is easy when you are having fun

g Anybody can be busy, not being busy takes work

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It’s All About Expectations

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Secret to happiness is tolower your expectations to the pointwhere they're already met

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So the secret to good self-esteem is tolower your expectations to the pointwhere they're already met?

- Hobbes

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Expectations

g Set higher expectations

g Focus on quality, not quantity

CS community moving in the wrong direction... greater quantity in the name of better quality

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Expectations

g Papers

iNot enough to publish (lots of) papersiYou want people to read them too

iWhat sets apart better-known papers from others?

g Proposals

iGood ideas alone not enough

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Expectations

g Do unto others as you would have done unto you

… think from the perspective of the reader… don’t annoy them

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Proposals

g First 2-3 pages should suffice … rest is details

g Make key ideas easy to find … boxes, itemization

g Ample white spaces … less is sometimes more

g Picture worth thousand words

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Proposals

g Writing better doesn’t mean more work

g Read good papers / proposals

g Get colleagues’ feedback before submitting for review

g Follow funding agency guidelines

g Serve on NSF panel … learn from the dynamics

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Outline

g It’s all about expectations

g Work is easy when you are having fun

g Anybody can be busy, not being busy takes work

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Independence

g You are your own boss

… make the most of it

… but there is no one else to blame

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Independence

g Don’t fret tenure … it’s not the holy grail

g Work on what you like … not necessarily the hot topic

g Choose projects to match your strengths … not trendslarge/smallsystems/theoryresearch/education/broader impact

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Independence

Assistant à Associate à Full … Retire?

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Independence

Assistant à Associate à Full … Retire?à Chair à Dean …

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Independence

Assistant à Associate à Full … Retire?à Chair à Dean …

à Start-upsà Consultingà Textbooks

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Independence

Assistant à Associate à Full … Retire?à Chair à Dean …

à Start-upsà Consultingà Textbooks

Assistant à Associate à Full à Don’t “Retire”

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Independence

g Change can be good

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Independence

g Change can be good

iAcademia lets you work on things for which you haveno competence

iExploit this to get into new areas

iMake connections with folks well outside your comfort zone

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Picture from Wikipedia

DistributedControl

DistributedComputing

1980: Pease, Shostak, LamportByzantine consensus

1986: Dolev et al.Approximate

Byzantine consensus

Tsitsiklis 1984:Decentralized control

Hajnal 1958Weak ergodicity of non-homogeneous Markov chains

DistributedControl Jadbabaei 2003

Flocking problem

DistributedComputing

1983: Fischer, Lynch, PatersonAsynchronous

impossibility result

Independence

g Change can be good

iAcademia lets you work on things for which you haveno competence

iExploit this to get into new areas

iMake connections with folks well outside your comfort zone

iPerspective you bring from other areas beneficial

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Independence

g Change can be good

iChanging jobs invigorating

iNew environment, new collaborators, new perspectives

iTenure’s downside … inertia

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Independence

If you are not having fun doing what you do,why bother being in academia?

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Anybody Can be Busy, Not Being Busy Takes Work

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Easy to be Busy

g Bigger isn’t necessarily better

iToo many program committees, organizing activities,editorial boards

iToo many students

iToo many grants

iToo many meetings

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Easy to be Busy

g If you are too busy, you are doing something wrong

iLearn to say no

iMake time for things that require deeper thinking

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Easy to be Busy

g If you are too busy, you are doing something wrong

iLearn to say no

iMake time for things that require deeper thinking

iTake care of yourself… nothing else will matter if you don’t have health

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Conclusion

g It’s all about expectations

g Work is easy when you are having fun

g Anybody can be busy, not being busy takes work

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Thanks!

disc.georgetown.domains

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