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Student expectations
- Show up to the lab everyday! A lot of learning and Ph.D. experience is about interactions with your labmates. Nothing beats face-to-face interactions with other students and your advisor. Of course, it is ok to work from home occasionally but do NOT make it the norm.
- We make heavy use of Slack for communication. Get on it and use it effectively to discuss with Prof. Gupta or with other students. This is much better medium than emails. You can setup quick Zoom meetings if needed within Slack itself.
- You must attend group meetings every week. We use it as an opportunity to discuss group-wise issues and have someone present on something interesting. In NanoCAD lab, we value breadth as much as depth. So listening and learning about things which is not directly in your current research area is a big positive.
- If you want/need to take vacation/break, it is ok. Just let Prof. Gupta and other students (especially ones you are collaborating with) know well in advance (~1 month, unless there is an emergency). Try to avoid taking breaks around conference deadlines. Also try to remain in touch over slack and email so that if someone depends on you for some short responses, you can unblock them.
- Remember that a Ph.D. is not a right but a privilege. It is hard work and a curious attitude with desire and ability to learn quickly on your own. You will get stuck, often without anyone else in the lab who can help you out. Working through roadblocks is part of the Ph.D. learning process. “I dont know” is rarely a good answer. “I am trying to figure it out” is almost always the right answer.
- Prof. Gupta wants to be very approachable. You can ping him in Slack almost any time. Set up a quick zoom syncup as needed. He also comes to the lab several times as week for hours at a stretch. You should be able to reach him and discuss as needed. But if you prefer regular one-on-one meetings, please let him know.
- We are a design automation research group. So your own experimentation need to leverage automation as much as possible. Shell scripts, python automation, automatically generating plots, etc are all techniques you need to learn. Remember your time is far more valuable than computer time. It is never ok to stare at the screen waiting for something to complete. It should be scripted, run launched and possibly send you a note when it is done.
- We have started using Github as the main code repository for the group and for version management. Learn how to use it effectively.
- Latex on Overleaf is our preferred collaborative editing software. Learn how to use Latex if you dont. Its a pretty straightforward markup language but very effective for technical papers.
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