Mentoring Philosophy

My goal as an advisor is not only to help students complete successful research projects, but also to help them develop into independent researchers, engineers, and professionals.

Research training should gradually move a student from receiving direction to taking ownership. Early in a student’s training, I may provide substantial guidance in defining problems, selecting methods, interpreting results, and organizing research activities. As the student progresses, I expect increasing independence in identifying research questions, proposing solutions, evaluating alternatives, making technical decisions, and determining the direction of the work.

Every student enters the group with different experiences, strengths, goals, and career plans. My mentoring approach will therefore not be identical for every student. However, there are several qualities that I hope all members of the SIAS Lab develop: intellectual curiosity, rigorous technical thinking, independence, persistence, ethical judgment, clear communication, professionalism, and the ability to work effectively with others.

I also recognize that I cannot provide every type of mentorship a student may need. I encourage students to build broader professional networks and to seek guidance from committee members, collaborators, faculty colleagues, internship mentors, and others who can contribute to their development.

What You Can Expect From Me

Research Guidance

I will help you identify meaningful research problems and develop the technical skills necessary to address them. I will challenge your assumptions, ask questions about your reasoning, and encourage you to understand not only whether a method works, but also why it works, when it may fail, and how it compares with alternatives.

My goal is not to provide every answer. As you progress, I will increasingly expect you to investigate questions independently and come to our discussions with possible solutions rather than only problems.

Regular Meetings and Availability

We will normally meet individually at least once every week. During periods of rapid research progress, manuscript preparation, proposal deadlines, experiments, or other important milestones, we may meet more frequently.

I will also try to remain accessible between scheduled meetings when questions arise. My schedule can occasionally become busy because of teaching, proposal deadlines, travel, conferences, and other research responsibilities, so discussions that require substantial time should generally be scheduled in advance.

If something is genuinely urgent, please let me know rather than waiting until our next scheduled meeting.

Constructive and Direct Feedback

I will provide feedback on your research, writing, presentations, and professional development. At times, this feedback may be detailed or critical. The purpose is to improve the quality of the work and help you develop as an independent researcher.

I will also tell you clearly if I believe your progress is insufficient or if an aspect of your work needs significant improvement. I prefer to address problems early, while they can still be corrected easily.

Similarly, I welcome constructive feedback from you. If you need more guidance, less guidance, more frequent meetings, or a different approach to mentoring, please tell me.

Advocacy and Career Development

I will advocate for your professional development and help you pursue opportunities that support your career goals. Depending on your interests and progress, this may include conferences, fellowships, awards, internships, collaborations, teaching opportunities, professional service, and introductions to researchers in my professional network.

When appropriate, I will nominate students for awards and provide recommendation letters for fellowships, internships, postdoctoral positions, academic positions, and industry opportunities.

My responsibility as your mentor does not necessarily end when you graduate. I hope to continue supporting your professional development as you move into the next stages of your career.

Conferences and Professional Exposure

I will encourage you to present your research at high-quality conferences and professional meetings when you have mature work to present and when funding permits.

Conference participation should be treated as a professional activity. Students representing the lab should attend relevant technical sessions, interact with researchers, learn about developments in the field, and use the opportunity to build their professional network.

Graduate Program Guidance

You are ultimately responsible for understanding your degree requirements, deadlines, forms, examinations, and university policies. However, I will help you plan your program of study, select committee members, prepare for major milestones, and navigate academic decisions when needed.

What I Expect From You

Take Ownership of Your Research

Your research is ultimately your responsibility.

I expect you to gradually develop ownership of your project rather than waiting for me to determine every next step. This means thinking critically about the problem, identifying what you do not understand, reading the relevant literature, proposing approaches, analyzing results, recognizing limitations, and deciding what should happen next.

A strong research meeting should increasingly sound like: “Here is what I found, here is what I think it means, here are the alternatives I considered, and here is what I propose we do next.” rather than simply: “What should I do next?”

Becoming capable of making these decisions independently is one of the most important outcomes of Ph.D. training.

Make Consistent Progress

Research progress is rarely perfectly linear.

Some approaches will fail, simulations may produce unexpected results, experiments may need to be redesigned, and papers may be rejected. These are normal parts of research.

I do not expect every idea to succeed. I do expect persistence, thoughtful analysis of unsuccessful approaches, and consistent effort toward solving the problem.

If progress has stopped because of a technical issue, lack of resources, uncertainty about direction, or another obstacle, communicate that early. Problems are much easier to solve when they are identified quickly.

Come Prepared to Meetings

Students should come to individual meetings prepared to discuss:

  • what has been accomplished since the previous meeting;
  • important results or observations;
  • problems or unexpected outcomes;
  • relevant literature or technical questions;
  • proposed next steps.

When appropriate, bring figures, equations, simulation results, experimental data, code outputs, or other material that allows us to have a technical discussion.

Do not wait until the meeting to begin thinking about what should happen next.

Communicate Regularly

Keep me informed about important progress, problems, deadlines, and changes in your plans.

I cannot help resolve a problem that I do not know exists.

Emails and messages from me or other members of the research group should generally be acknowledged within a reasonable amount of time. If a detailed response requires additional work, a short acknowledgment indicating when you expect to respond is sufficient.

For routine matters, email or our normal lab communication channels are appropriate. For genuinely urgent situations, use a communication method that is likely to receive timely attention.

Research Quality and Reproducibility

Good research should be reproducible.

Simulation code, experimental procedures, model parameters, datasets, processing scripts, figures, and numerical results should be organized so that another knowledgeable member of the group could reproduce the work without relying on undocumented information.

I expect you to:

  • maintain organized research records;
  • document important assumptions and parameter choices;
  • use meaningful file names and folder structures;
  • maintain appropriate version control for software when practical;
  • regularly back up research materials;
  • document experimental or simulation procedures;
  • retain the code and data necessary to reproduce figures and reported results.

Research data, code, models, and project materials should be maintained according to University, sponsor, collaborator, and laboratory requirements. When you graduate or leave the group, the lab must retain an organized and usable copy of materials associated with your research.

Literature and Technical Development

Research should be informed by the existing literature.

You should regularly read papers related to your research rather than performing a literature review only when writing a manuscript. Understanding the literature will help you recognize important problems, avoid repeating existing work, compare your results appropriately, and identify new research directions.

As your expertise grows, I expect you to become familiar not only with papers directly related to your current project but also with broader developments in your research area.

When you encounter a paper that is particularly relevant to other members of the group, share it.

Writing and Publications

Scientific writing is a major part of research training.

I expect students to contribute substantially to writing papers based on their research. Students who lead the intellectual development, execution, analysis, and initial writing of a project will normally be expected to take a leading role in the resulting publication.

Writing is an iterative process. A first draft is rarely a final draft. You should expect multiple rounds of revision of manuscripts, abstracts, presentations, proposals, and other technical documents.

Please provide drafts sufficiently in advance of deadlines. For important manuscripts, proposals, and presentations, I need enough time to read the material carefully and for you to respond to feedback. Materials provided immediately before a deadline may not receive a complete review.

Quality is more important to me than simply increasing the number of publications. At the same time, communicating completed research through peer-reviewed publications is an essential part of graduate research, and students should work toward publishing significant results in appropriate venues.

Authorship and Collaboration

Authorship should reflect meaningful intellectual and research contributions.

We should discuss expected authorship and author order early in collaborative projects whenever possible. These expectations may evolve as the project develops because actual contributions sometimes differ from what was originally anticipated.

Students should communicate openly about contributions from collaborators, other students, faculty members, and researchers outside the lab so that appropriate credit can be given.

Good collaboration requires communication, reliability, mutual respect, and recognition of the contributions of others.

Working With Other Lab Members

The success of the SIAS Lab depends on members supporting one another.

I expect students to treat labmates, collaborators, faculty, staff, and visitors professionally and respectfully.

Students should be willing to share technical knowledge and help other lab members when reasonable. Senior students are encouraged to mentor newer students and undergraduate researchers. Helping someone understand a method or solve a technical problem strengthens the entire group.

At the same time, collaboration does not mean doing another student’s work for them. The goal is to help others learn and progress.

Work Schedule and Flexibility

I do not evaluate research productivity primarily by the number of hours spent physically in the laboratory or office. Research requires sustained effort, consistent progress, intellectual engagement, and responsibility.

There will naturally be periods when additional effort is required, particularly before paper submissions, conferences, proposal deadlines, project reports, examinations, or major experiments. At other times, schedules may be more flexible.

I believe that maintaining a sustainable work routine and taking appropriate personal time are important for long-term creativity and productivity.

Planned absences should be communicated sufficiently in advance, particularly when they affect experiments, deadlines, meetings, teaching responsibilities, or collaborative projects.

Use of AI and Computational Tools

AI-assisted and computational tools can be useful for programming, literature exploration, writing, debugging, learning, and research productivity. I encourage thoughtful use of new tools when they genuinely improve the quality or efficiency of research.

However, these tools should support—not replace—your technical understanding and judgment.

You are responsible for verifying all technical material produced with the assistance of AI tools, including equations, derivations, code, references, interpretations, and written claims.

You should never present AI-generated material that you do not understand as your own technical work.

The use of AI and other computational tools must also comply with applicable University, sponsor, conference, and journal policies, particularly when unpublished, confidential, proprietary, or sensitive research information is involved.

Research Ethics and Professionalism

Research integrity is non-negotiable.

All research must be conducted honestly and in accordance with University, sponsor, publication, and professional standards.

Results should never be selected, altered, omitted, or presented in a misleading way to produce a preferred conclusion.

Unexpected or negative results are still results. If something does not support our hypothesis, we should understand why rather than attempt to make the data fit the hypothesis.

Students must complete required research, safety, compliance, and responsible-conduct training associated with their projects.

Professional behavior also includes meeting commitments, communicating respectfully, acknowledging mistakes, giving appropriate credit, and representing the laboratory and University appropriately.

Professional Development

A Ph.D. involves more than completing a dissertation.

I encourage students to develop skills in:

  • technical writing;
  • oral communication;
  • teaching and mentoring;
  • proposal and grant writing;
  • peer review;
  • leadership;
  • networking;
  • interdisciplinary collaboration;
  • professional service.

Students should take advantage of relevant opportunities offered by the University, professional societies, conferences, collaborators, and external organizations.

Internships can also provide valuable technical and professional experience when they are compatible with the student’s research progress, funding obligations, and degree timeline. Students interested in internships should discuss plans with me sufficiently early so that we can consider their impact on ongoing research and project responsibilities.

Research Funding and Sponsored Projects

Much of academic research is supported by external funding. Students working on sponsored projects should understand that these projects may include specific objectives, deliverables, milestones, and reporting requirements.

Your research may contribute to grant proposals, project reports, demonstrations, presentations, or other sponsor-related activities.

I may encourage senior graduate students to participate in proposal development. Learning how research ideas are translated into competitive proposals is valuable preparation for careers in academia, national laboratories, and research-oriented industry.

Progress Toward the Degree

Students should continuously make progress toward both research objectives and degree milestones.

We will periodically discuss your overall progress, including research accomplishments, publications, coursework, examinations, dissertation planning, and expected graduation timeline.

As graduation approaches, I expect increasing independence. A student nearing completion of a Ph.D. should be capable of identifying research questions, evaluating relevant literature, selecting appropriate methods, defending technical decisions, interpreting results critically, and communicating the work clearly without requiring detailed direction at every stage.

If I believe your progress is inconsistent with your expected graduation timeline, I will discuss this with you directly so that we can establish a plan to address the issue.

Career Planning

Your career goals may evolve during graduate school, and that is normal.

I encourage you to begin thinking about possible career paths well before graduation. Whether you are interested in academia, industry, national laboratories, entrepreneurship, or another path, we can discuss what experiences and accomplishments will make you competitive.

As appropriate, I will help you prepare application materials, practice presentations or interviews, identify opportunities, connect with colleagues, and evaluate options.

The career path you ultimately choose is yours. My responsibility is to help you develop the skills and opportunities necessary to make that choice from a strong position.

Addressing Problems Early

Research and graduate education inevitably involve periods of uncertainty and difficulty.

If you are struggling technically, academically, professionally, or with some aspect of our mentoring relationship, please raise the issue rather than allowing it to grow. If you feel that you need more direction, tell me. If you feel that I am providing too much direction and you need more independence, tell me. If expectations are unclear, ask. I will similarly communicate when I believe something needs to change.

Open communication is usually the easiest way to prevent small problems from becoming major ones.

After Graduation

I view mentoring as extending beyond the completion of a degree.

I hope to remain a professional resource for former SIAS Lab members and to continue supporting their careers through advice, recommendations, introductions, collaborations, and professional opportunities when appropriate. The accomplishments of former students strengthen the entire SIAS Lab community, and I hope that alumni will also remain connected with and support future generations of students.

Our Shared Goal

The advisor–student relationship works best when both sides communicate openly and take their responsibilities seriously.

My commitment is to provide guidance, opportunities, constructive feedback, advocacy, and an environment in which you can develop professionally.

Your responsibility is to take increasing ownership of your research and professional development, communicate openly, maintain high technical and ethical standards, and make consistent progress.

The ultimate goal is that, by the time you leave the SIAS Lab, you no longer need me to tell you how to conduct research—you have developed the judgment, confidence, and independence to determine that for yourself.