UTA Workshop on Building a Successful Research Program and Mentoring Graduate Students Friday 15 October, 8:30am-3:45pm Nedderman Hall room 100 The University of Texas at Arlington map at http://www.uta.edu/maps/ Our students are the energy that fuels our excitement as faculty members Without PhD students it is difficult for faculty to successful research Without students we cannot be fully developed as teachers As faculty members, each of us effectively runs our own small business which includes generating business ideas, developing funding, and building successful teams There are demands on faculty members from all sides At this workshop, presenters will discuss philosophies and methods for building a successful career in academic research through mentoring of graduate students Presenters also share their tips and expertise about the tenure process, doing productive research and building a successful research program Topics will include: Mentoring Graduate Students • Techniques for making your students successful independent researchers • Kindling the flames of desire for discovery in our students • Recruiting and retaining top students for successful research programs • Motivating PhD students • Producing students who go on to become top performers in their own research programs Tenure and Promotion • Successfully negotiating the promotion and tenure process • Balancing teaching, research, and service during the first years as an assistant professor • Case studies illustrating how teaching, research, and service are "actually" evaluated at one US University Research and Publishing • Building a successful research team and publishing • Doing research that leads to journal publications and patents • Research Integrity • Defining the balance between theoretical research and experimental implementation • Developing research projects that are focused yet also remain free enough to encourage the development of original new ideas • Tips on preparing Career proposals for National Science Foundation and other agencies • The importance of networking and establishing collaborations • Forming our individual colleagues and students into a coherent and internationally recognized research program About the presenters The presenters have developed successful careers in academic research and trained numerous successful PhD students over many years They have all been successful at publishing, obtaining funding, and receiving international recognition for their research Their students go on to become successful and productive and win awards Schedule Friday 15 October, 8:30am-3:45pm Nedderman Hall room 100 The University of Texas at Arlington 8:30am 8:40 Welcoming remarks, Dr R.L Jackson, Graduate School, UTA Opening remarks, F.L Lewis, Automation & Robotics Research Inst and Dept of Electrical Engineering, UTA 9:00 10:45 Chaouki Abdallah, Chair, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of New Mexico Discussion Darren Dawson, Chair, Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept., & McQueen Quattlebaum Professor, Clemson University Discussion 11-12:30 Lunch 12:45 Jagannathan Sarangapani, Rutledge-Emerson Distinguished Professor, Dept of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology Rafael Fierro, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of New Mexico Discussion F.L Lewis, Moncrief-O’Donnell Endowed Chair, Automation & Robotics Research Inst and Dept of Electrical Engineering, UTA Wrap-up and Discussion 9:45 10:00 1:30 2:15 2:30 3:15 Hiring and Mentoring Faculty Members: A Department Chair's Perspective Chaouki T Abdallah Professor & Chair, Electrical & Computer Engineering Department The University of New Mexico Abstract: The most important aspect of chairing an academic department is to hire and promote productive faculty members In this talk, I will describe the dos and don'ts for a junior faculty member and chart an assistant professor path into tenure and eventual full professorship This will include a discussion on recruiting graduate students, building a research team, and publishing I will also discuss how teaching, research, and service are "actually" evaluated at one US university via a variety of case studies Download presentation Chaouki T Abdallah obtained his MS and Ph.D in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1982, and 1988 respectively He joined the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at the University of New Mexico where he is currently professor, and ECE department chair At UNM Professor Abdallah was the first recipient of ECE’s Lawton Ellis Award for combined excellence in teaching, research, and student/community involvement Professor Abdallah also received the school of engineering engineering senior research excellence award in 2004, and was the ECE Gardner Zemke Professor between 2002 and 2005 He served as director of ECE’s graduate program from 1999 through 2005 Dr Abdallah was a visiting professor at the Universita Degli Studi di Roma, Tor Vergata, Rome, in 2005 He has published seven books (three as co-editor and four as co-author) and more than 250 peer-reviewed papers Professor Abdallah conducts research and teaches courses in the general area of systems theory with focus on control, communications, and computing systems His research has been funded by NSF, AFOSR, NRL, national laboratories, and by various companies He has also been active in designing and implementing various international graduate programs with Latin American and European countries He was a cofounder in 1990 of the ISTEC consortium, which currently includes more than 150 universities in the US, Spain, and Latin America He served as the general chair of the 2008 CDC, which was held in Cancun, Mexico Professor Abdallah is a senior member of IEEE and a recipient of the IEEE Millennium medal Professor Abdallah is fluent in English, French, and Arabic For more information, please see his full biography at: http://www.ece.unm.edu/faculty/chaouki/COMPLETE2.pdf Some Principles for Mentoring (Advising) Graduate Students (Learned the Hard Way) Darren Dawson, ECE Chair & McQueen Quattlebaum Professor Holcombe Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Clemson University Abstract In this presentation, we will discuss some principles for mentoring (advising) graduate students that I have learned the hard way over the past twenty years Specifically, we will discuss issues such as i) motivating students, ii) skills development, iii) setting expectations, iv) setting timelines, v) giving feedback, vi) rewarding students, vii) what to when things don’t go well, viii) placement, and ix) career mentoring We will also look at some specific techniques that I have developed in my attempts to mentor graduate students more effectively Download presentation Darren Dawson received a B.S degree in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1984 He then worked for Westinghouse as a control engineer from 1985 to 1987 In 1987, he returned to the Georgia Institute of Technology where he received the Ph.D degree in Electrical Engineering in March 1990 In July 1990, he joined the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Clemson University where he has the held the endowed position of McQueen Quattlebaum Professor since 2001 From 2005 to 2007, he also served as the ECE Department Graduate Coordinator As of August 2007, he has held the position of ECE Department Chair Since June 2004, he has served on the Methode Board of Directors in which he currently serves on the Technical Committee and the Compensation Committee Dr Dawson received the National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award and the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award He has authored and/or co-authored one graduate textbook, seven research monographs, four book chapters, over 185 journal papers, and over 300 conference papers His research group has presented over 300 talks at national/international conferences, universities and workshops Professor Dawson has directed 34 completed Ph.D dissertations and 53 completed master's theses Strategies for Successful Research Program Via Graduate Student Mentoring S Jagannathan Rutledge-Emerson Distinguished Professor Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Missouri University of Science and Technology 1870 Miner Circle, Rolla MO 65409 Abstract In this presentation, we will discuss some strategies of running a successful research program via graduate student mentoring Specifically, we will discuss: i) identifying mentors and writing winning proposals from federal agencies and companies, ii) recruiting and retaining students for quality research programs, iii) assigning projects and timelines for degree and project completion, v) placement and mentoring beyond graduation, and finally vi) balancing teaching, research and service Download presentation Professor Jagannathan Sarangapani or Jagannathan received a B.S degree in Electrical Engineering from the Anna University, Chennai, India in 1986 He then worked for Engineers India Limited as a consultant from 1986 to 1987 In 1987, he attended the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada where he received the M.S degree in 1989 Subsequently, he worked as an instructor at University of Manitoba, Canada until 1991 He started his Ph.D degree in Electrical Engineering in January 1992 at the University of Texas at Arlington and completed it in August 1994 During 1994 through 1998 he was at Caterpillar, Inc., Peoria as a Staff Consultant In January 1999 he returned to academics as an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio and since August 2001, he is at the Missouri University of Science and Technology in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (formerly University of Missouri-Rolla where currently he is a Rutledge-Emerson Distinguished Professor and Site Director for the NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center Dr Jagannathan received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award and has authored and/or co-authored three books, seven book chapters, over 80 peer reviewed journal papers, 160 refereed conference papers and holds 18 patents His research group has presented over 250 talks at national/international conferences, universities and workshops Professor Jagannathan has directed 15 completed Ph.D dissertations and 26 completed master's theses and is currently advising 10 doctoral students and three masters students Navigating the Tenure Track System: An Associate Professor’s Perspective Rafael Fierro Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001 rfierro@ece.unm.edu Abstract The new responsibilities and challenges that a new faculty member has to face can be overwhelming Suddenly, a new faculty member has new courses to teach, an empty lab to fill with both students and equipment, and requests of one’s time from all directions How to be better prepared to navigate the turbulent tenure-track system and climb the academic ladder? I will present some lessons and strategies learned in the process of becoming an associate professor in engineering More specifically, I will discuss topics such as: Is a post-doc the way to go? How to balance teaching, research, and service during the first years as an assistant professor? Do I really want to experiments? How important are networking and establishing collaborations? When should I submit my NSF Career proposal? Should I move to another institution before/after getting tenure? Download presentation Rafael Fierro received a M.Sc degree in control engineering from the University of Bradford, England and a Ph.D degree in electrical engineering from the University of Texas-Arlington He is currently an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of New Mexico Prior to joining UNM in August 2007, he held a postdoctoral appointment with the GRASP Lab at the University of Pennsylvania and a faculty position with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Oklahoma State University His research interests include hybrid and embedded systems, optimization-based cooperative control, and heterogeneous multivehicle coordination He directs the Multi-Agent, Robotics, Hybrid and Embedded Systems (MARHES) Laboratory Dr Fierro was the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, a 2004 National Science Foundation CAREER Award, and the 2007 ISA Transactions Best Paper Award He is serving as Associate Editor for the IEEE Control Systems Magazine, IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering, and Journal of Intelligent and Robotics Systems On Mentoring PhD Students and Doing Research F L Lewis, Fellow IEEE, Fellow IFAC, Fellow U.K Inst MC Head, Advanced Controls & Sensors Group Automation & Robotics Research Institute The University of Texas at Arlington, USA Abstract Our students are the energy that fuels our excitement as faculty members Without PhD students it is very difficult for faculty to successful research Without students we cannot be fully developed as teachers Techniques are given that show how to make your students successful independent researchers How can we kindle the flames of desire for discovery in our students? What motivates students and how can we use it to make them persistent and tenacious researchers who can pursue problems to the finish? How can we stimulate students to search the literature inquisitively and fully develop a research idea? How can we inspire our students to generate the energy and ultimate perfection needed to produce journal papers? How can research ideas be turned into the fully expressed thoughts that result in successful winning funding proposals? How can we fit the pieces of the puzzle provided by our individual colleagues and students into a coherent and internationally recognized research program? F.L Lewis, Fellow IEEE, Fellow IFAC, Fellow U.K Institute of Measurement & Control, PE Texas, U.K Chartered Engineer, is MoncriefO’Donnell Chair and Distinguished Scholar Professor at University of Texas at Arlington’s ‘Automation & Robotics Research Institute.’ He has advised 37 PhD students, most of whom have won local or national awards for their dissertation work, including NSF Career awardees and one Dept of Homeland Security Early Career Award His students typically publish 3-5 journal papers during the course of their PhD Dr Lewis obtained the Bachelor's Degree in Physics/EE and the MSEE at Rice University, the MS in Aeronautical Engineering from Univ W Florida, and the Ph.D at Ga Tech He works in feedback control, intelligent systems, distributed control systems, and sensor networks He is author of U.S patents, 222 journal papers, 337 conference papers, 14 books, 44 chapters, and 11 journal special issues He received the Fulbright Research Award, NSF Research Initiation Grant, ASEE Terman Award, Int Neural Network Soc Gabor Award 2009, U.K Inst Measurement & Control Honeywell Field Engineering Medal 2009 Received Outstanding Service Award from Dallas IEEE Section, selected as Engineer of the year by Ft Worth IEEE Section Listed in Ft Worth Business Press Top 200 Leaders in Manufacturing Received the 2010 IEEE Region Outstanding Engineering Educator Award and the 2010 UTA Graduate Dean’s Excellence in Doctoral Mentoring Award He served on the NAE Committee on Space Station in 1995 Member of NY Academy of Sciences He is an elected Guest Consulting Professor at South China University of Technology and Shanghai Jiao Tong University Founding Member of the Board of Governors of the Mediterranean Control Association Helped win the IEEE Control Systems Society Best Chapter Award (as Founding Chairman of DFW Chapter), the National Sigma Xi Award for Outstanding Chapter (as President of UTA Chapter), and the US SBA Tibbets Award in 1996 (as Director of ARRI’s SBIR Program) ... Discussion F.L Lewis, Moncrief-O’Donnell Endowed Chair, Automation & Robotics Research Inst and Dept of Electrical Engineering, UTA Wrap-up and Discussion 9:45 10:00 1:30 2:15 2:30 3:15 Hiring and Mentoring. .. quality research programs, iii) assigning projects and timelines for degree and project completion, v) placement and mentoring beyond graduation, and finally vi) balancing teaching, research and. .. journal papers, and over 300 conference papers His research group has presented over 300 talks at national/international conferences, universities and workshops Professor Dawson has directed