Finding an advisor
A recent chat with a graduate student:
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4:32 PM Student: Can I ask you a research question?me: sureStudent: or more practically, how did you realize you wanted to research what you do research?To put it into context4:33 PM me: I went to talk with professors and grab the best thing I foundand the advisor that I thought i would get along with the bestin the end it came down more to my scientific background fitting with the research than my statistical interestStudent: makes sense4:34 PM I am trying to come up with an idea for an NSF application where you need to propose some sort of idea of what you want to study4:35 PM me: I would still go and talk with professors....I bet the NSF proposals from graduate students that get funding have a heavy influence from an advisorStudent: yah4:36 PM what is your recommendation for broaching this stuff with other professors?4:37 PM because I definitely have areas of interest outside of statistics but the biggest challenge is figuring out a way to merge them with statistics in a meaningful way4:38 PM me: email them and ask to meet for 30 mins to discuss their research, let them know you are looking for an advisor, and plan on submitting an NSF proposalbefore each meeting try to do some background reading on what their research entails4:39 PM i.e. read their website, read abstracts for recent papers (knowing you probably won't understand much), but it will help you come up with questions to ask that will make clear you have tried to come prepared4:40 PM Student: yahthanks for the advice4:41 PM me: np
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