Choosing an adviser and a committee and Earning Your PhD

Choosing Your Advisor

Once you have been admitted to candidacy for the PhD you select a research advisor who will work with you in finding a research project that should culminate in your doctoral dissertation. Choose your research advisor carefully, since this choice will likely determine your area of mathematical expertise, and, at least theoretically, from this point on in your educational program you are at the mercy of your advisor. Ideally, the advisor will be someone who is in your area of interest, is well-known and currently active in research, has had considerable experience directing doctoral students, has time to take on a new student, and is one with whom you have rapport. The advisor should work with you in deciding which additional courses you will take, which research papers you will read, and when you have sufficiently matured to permit you to go into the world with the title Doctor of Philosophy. It is usually stated that your research must make a substantial contribution to the discipline. This is generally interpreted as being good enough so that some respectable research journal will publish it.

Earning Your PhD

The variables in a PhD program are so broad that no reasonable time schedule can be put on the program. In a sense, it should be considered as an apprenticeship program. You must first show that you are worth the time of a master (your dissertation advisor). You must then demonstrate that you have the skills of a journeyman by producing an original piece of mathematical research. This probably sounds impossible to you, but you'll find that when a master leads you to the boundary of mathematical knowledge, there are lots of good questions to ask. How fast you proceed through the various stages depends on your abilities and probably even more upon your discipline. The best that can be said is that it almost always takes at least two years beyond the Master's degree and that it commonly takes twice that long.

With a PhD you are a certified member of your profession. It is the usual minimal requirement for a university teaching position or a professional position in a research laboratory. Monetarily, the degree will provide you with a substantially increased starting salary if you take an industrial position, but give you little increased financial reward if you decide to take the more attractive university pPosition. Why, you ask, is the university position more attractive if does not pay nearly as much as the industrial position? In a university position you have the freedom to do almost exactly what you want to do and someone will pay you a reasonable salary for doing it. If what you do attracts attention in the world at large you will be promoted, rewarded, and envied. But most importantly, you will be in the position of showing young students why education in general is great and mathematical education is the best of all possible worlds.

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The Ph.D Experience Part1: Why a Ph.D?

Mihir Bellare Department of Computer Science & Engineering University of California at San Diego

This document records some reflections and information for my current or prospective students pursuing or wanting to pursue a Ph.D in computer science at UCSD. It tries to tell you something about the research ``way of life'' as I see it, your relationship with your advisor, and the expectations and goals of the program.

The views here are entirely personal. They do not reflect those of the university, the department, or other faculty. They are not only my views but are about research in my areas, meaning about theoretical work especially in cryptography.
Interspaced with the discussions are questions. I would appreciate your answering them. Remember there are no ``right'' or ``wrong'' answers to any of the questions. Just answer as honestly as possible, and then return the completed document to me.

Why a Ph.D?
There are many reasons people are trying to get a Ph.D. It is useful both for you and for me to know your reasons.
Why are you pursuing Ph.D in computer science? (Mark all that apply).
I enjoy research
I want to teach, and a Ph.D is required for that
A Ph.D will help me get a higher salary
I needed to leave my home country and this was the best route
My parents expect it
My sibling(s) did it
I really wasn't interested in anything after my Bachelor's, and grad school was the easiest route
Other (explain):
What are your goals after graduating with your Ph.D? (Mark all that apply).
Get a research-oriented academic position
Get a teaching-oriented academic position
Work in a research lab
Work for some hot Internet corporation
Consult
Start my own company
Other (explain):
What is involved?

Perhaps the most common vision of entering students on (theoretical) research is that they will have to solve some hard problem that nobody solved before. That will be their thesis.

Maybe, but in general research is about a lot more than problem solving. It is about conceptualizing, finding issues and directions, definitions, exposition and critical insight. Problem solving is always there, but the role it plays varies.
A common situation is to be developing a new model or notion. This will involve making definitions, and then developing algorithms and analyses. When you have new models, the technical aspects of some of the first solutions may be quite simple. You might then wonder why nobody else did it. The reason is they did not ask that question, or look at it in that way. Don't look down on simplicity; good research is often simple.

Your starting research project is not likely to be to solve some known hard problem, unless you want it that way! More likely it is something like the above, where one can make progress step by step.

Don't start by thinking about a thesis or a thesis topic. Your goal is to produce papers.

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What can I get from a Ph.D?

Mihir Bellare Department of Computer Science & Engineering University of California at San Diego

What can I get from a Ph.D?

The Ph.D experience is about much more than learning to do deep work in some technical area. Here are some of the more general things I expect you to get.
You should get a sense of confidence in the power of rational thought and the range of its applicability. Everything in life is a problem of some sort of the other. How often do we think about it that way, and approach methodically the job of solving it? After a Ph.D you should have the inclination and ability to research anything, whether it be mortgages, biology, cooking or Toyota engines, and the expectation that you will understand it.

You should get the confidence and inclination to question all that is around you and seek out new ways of doing it or seeing it. You should be more likely to ask why things are done a certain why, and how it could be made better.

A Ph. D should give you the confidence that you can jump into a new area, pick it up quickly, and have something interesting to say about it, even if other people have looked at this area for a long time. More than depth in any one area it should give you the courage to jump from area to area.

You might increase your appreciation for creativity, in other people and in all areas of life. You might view art differently, or think differently about music you hear, more appreciative of what it took to do this and how it departed from the previous works. You should learn to value creativity and seek it out.
It will install a sense of taste and a critical sense. It should make you unwilling to accept the common standards and norms, and to put them to the test of your own intellect and opinions. You should naturally find yourself questioning things. You should be willing to contradict conventional widsom. That doesn't mean being a rebel just for the sake of it; you are too mature for that. It just means being constructively critical.

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