Students working in my lab |
Students looking for RA/TA positions, assistantships or financial aid |
| If you are an MS student, especially in the College of Engineering (Data Science, Electrical Engineering, etc), please do not send requests for TA or RA positions. It is disrespectful to be bothered with these long messages exaggerating your knowledge, with a CV attached: they clog our mailboxes. RA/TA positions are reserved for accepted PhD students in Computer Science. Our CS budget is limited and students from other departments are not well qualified. We have asked the College of Engineering to tell students not to send RA/TA messages. |
PhD students |
|
If you sent me a long message, I thank you for your interest in joining my group.
Please do not send CVs and other attachments. Those messages are automatically deleted.
Please avoid sending me a long message with your CV or long explanations about your skills and job experience: I do not read it, all professors get too many messages from prospective students; we know you send the same message to multiple professors and universities. Unfortunately, we cannot evaluate your qualifications and accept you directly; you must be evaluated by a committee, sorry. Moreover, we do not have time to meet with you online or by phone and this would be unfair to other students who are applying, following the university rules. Instead, please apply to our PhD program or MS program: mention my name and "AI systems and data science systems programming" in the UH application and your statement letter (where you explain why you want to pursue a PhD or MS with my group). Your application will be given full consideration by a committee of 3 professors (not me) that will carefully evaluate your grades, reference letters and research goals. Notice the GRE is no longer required for PhD students. If you are approved by the committee, professors who you named will see your approved application. Most admitted PhD students at UH receive financial support (i.e. a TA/RA assistantship position). Therefore, do not worry about paying tuition and living expenses. Instead choose a professor/area which can challenge your intellectual skills; there are plenty of job opportunities. But there is flexibility to help you achieve your goals: you can change PhD advisor during your first year, or even the 2nd year, in case my research (or some other professor research area) is not a good fit for you (for instance, too much math, complex C++ programming, weak OS knowledge OR some other area looks more exciting). Therefore, think well about your research area, visit professors web pages, compare publications, look at previous students and apply with the professor whose research looks more interesting and with better job prospect. I do not have any postdoc, undergraduate TA, or visiting scientist positions. ACCEPTED: If you have already been conditionally accepted to our PhD program by our grad committee and you are looking for a PhD advisor please send me a short message explaining specific topics you like (look at my recent papers, identify how you could help, explain theory aspects). Even better, explain research ideas in your statement letter when you apply (OK to resubmit it if you change your mind!). |
MS students from CS or other colleges |
| Please do not send requests for TA or RA positions. Do not send CVs and other attachments. Those messages are automatically deleted and reported to UH as soliciting email. Unfortunately, MS students cannot receive financial support (university policy, unless they transition and are admitted to the PhD program). It is important to understand that professors cannot override admission requirements, regardless of research area or academic credentials (please do not insist, no exceptions). I can consider MS students who want to write an MS thesis, but it is encouraged they first take 6339 or 6340 to gain sufficient theory and programming background. |
Letters and references |
|
*I feel honored to be contacted by previous students to be listed as a reference
or get reference letters to apply for jobs or to some other CS program.
Unfortunately, I get too many requests and letters take too much time to write.
Therefore, unless you have worked
with me for one semester on a research project (research paper, thesis, honors project)
or I know you well (exceptional class participation, graduate course),
please do not ask.
*If you took a course with me, you got A- or A and you need a ``certification'' letter stating meet knowledge objectives contact the CS department and ask them to cc me for approval. *If you worked on a research project with me and you need a letter keep in mind I can only write a short letter (1-2 short paragraphs) emphasizing your knowledge (programming and theory) and character (diligent, team player, punctual, and so on). |
Jobs of past PhD and MS students in my group |
The job prospect for students who have worked in my group is excellent,
because such student has achieved strong programming skills,
strong computer systems knowledge and understands the mathematical theory behind analytics.
My past students end up working on big data or data science software development.
PhD students
MS students
|