Computer Science Research UVM

1
Computer Science Research _at_ UVM

• Research profile what is it all about?
• Where we are
• What do we want to be as a department?

2
Research Profile What Is It All About?

• Publications
• Quality should always come first, but we need
  both quality and productivity!
• Publish, or perish
• Funding No funding, no future
• To support graduate students as well as faculty
  research
• Recognition
• Awards society awards, best paper awards
• Invited/keynote conference talks
• Professional service involvement, such as journal
  editorship and conference committee - not just
  service, also standing in your field
• Impact citation of your research by others
• Use of your software products (not just for money)

3
Publications

• Do good research and publish it in time!
• Refereed workshops are fine, as well as various
  conferences and journals
• Top conferences in your research field
• Top journals and high-impact journals
• They are NOT the same!
• Conference publication at first, then journal
  version with more details and revisions
• A good combination of all of the above!

4
Funding

• Be aggressive and persistent
• Joint grants are better than nothing
• Your own budget in joint grants is important
• Networking with Program Directors is useful and
  important!
• Try related programs as well as the core
  program in your field at NSF.

5
How Are Graduate Programs Ranked at CRA?

• In addition to quality and effectiveness,
• Percentage Faculty with Research Support
• Faculty who Published
• Ratio of Publications to Faculty
• Gini Coefficients for Citations
• Total Students
• PhDs Produced
• Median Years to PhD

6
Where We Are

• We (a vast majority) have been publishing in very
  high impact journals, top journals, and top
  conferences in our research fields
• We have been attracting NSF, NIH, DOD and DOE
  grants
• Each tenured faculty member would be expected to
  be a nationally recognized researcher in his/her
  own research field
• Our PhD program is new and medium-sized.

7
Data Mining Research _at_ UVM

• The best journals in data mining
• TKDE 2 papers in 2005 (more in the past)
• DMKD 1 to be published in 2006
• The top conferences in data mining
• KDD - The premier conference 3 papers
• ICDM The worlds premier research conference
  6 papers
• 7 invited/keynote talks at international
  conferences
• Grants from the NSF and DOD
• Professional activities
• Editor-in-Chief, TKDE Editorial Board member,
  DMKD
• Founder and Steering Committee Chair, ICDM ICDM
  01 Conference Chair ICDM 03 Program Chair
• Program Committee member for KDD-95,96,02,04,and
  05.

8
Research Pitfalls

• There are many research guides and researchers
  bibles, here are 5 pitfalls from them
• Solving the world Too ambitious
• Manna from Heaven Waiting w/out hard work
• Misunderstood genius You are a genius the
  others are all looneys charlatans.
• Ambition paralysis Never get started w/out high
  standards.
• R vs D Development is necessary, but D is not
  research.
• Research is not just what you know, is more what
  you do.

9
What Do We Want To Be (1)?

• Departmental/institutional pitfalls
• The larger the better?
• Not always the case.
• Do we want to compare with MIT and U Mass within
  5 years in student numbers?
• No.

10
What Do We Want To Be (2)?

• Focused areas of excellence with national and
  international recognition
• Social relevance
• Industrial applications as well as basic research
• UVMs vision on environment and health
• Interdisciplinary research
• A sustainable PhD program with faculty funding
  support

11
How to Build Up Our Strengths?

• Focused areas (like data mining)
• Quality publications every year
• Significant funding for postdoctoral fellows
  graduate students every year
• Involvement in major journals and top conferences
  in the area
• Interdisciplinary research with high-impact
  publications and collaborative grants.

12
My Vision for the Department Research

• Build up our strengths in a small number (3) of
  focused, nationally recognized areas
• A Computer Science Department with truly
  interdisciplinary research.