The document provides advice for succeeding in an REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) program from the perspective of Shubbhi Taneja, a graduate student who participated in an REU program. Some of the key advice includes: (1) manage your time well and set goals, (2) develop intellectual discipline through reading, thinking critically, and evaluating ideas, (3) be proactive and take initiative rather than waiting to be told what to do, (4) communicate effectively both verbally and in writing, and (5) choose a good research problem that is neither too hard nor too easy. The document emphasizes networking, developing an intellectual community, understanding faculty, and maintaining a work-life balance.

1. Shubbhi Taneja
Graduate student
Department of Computer Science and
Software Engineering
Auburn University
Some slides are modified from notes by Dr. Xiao Qin and Dr. Matthew Turk
How to Succeed in the AU REU
Program?

2. Caveat emptor
• These are my opinions, not departmental
policies
• Talk to others to get their views
• These comments are intended for those who
want to do research
– All REU students, MS students, and PhD students
doing thesis and projects

3. About me
My Journey
• Undergraduate Student at Maharishi Dayanand
University, (2012)
• A doctoral student at Auburn University(2013-2018)
– Thermal aware distributed systems (Focus of my research)

4. What I do at Auburn?
Instructor
for COMP
1000
Departmental
Senator in
GSC
Coordinator
and instructor
for CS4ALL
K-12 camps
Started &
chaired AOL
yoga club for 2
years at
Auburn
Work(ed) as web
developer for
COMP 5000
course (GTA),
Mechanical
engineering
department,
DOSA, etc.

5. Some memories from K-12 outreach
camps

6. • The REU program is an apprenticeship – not a job
– You’re here to accomplish something and to become something
– Choose future career path
• Undergraduate research assistant is not like being a
traditional undergraduate student
– What you learn in our REU program comes outside of classes
• No exams; no quizzes
– Requires a different set of skills
• Research skill; Communication skill; Presentation skill
– Results count (not time, not effort)
What is the REU program all about?

7. Why are you here?
• Possible reasons:
– I couldn’t find an internship.
– I don’t know what I want to do in this summer, so I
hope REU will help me figure it out.
– I want to make money.
– My parents thought it would be good to do.
– Making friends in Auburn
– …
Why are you here?

8. • Better reasons:
Why I hope you’re here
Gain knowledge and expertise
Work with accomplished
researchers
Earn stipend, scholarship, or
credit
Think through (and even solve!)
challenging problems
Prepare for graduate school
Learn life-long skills
Build professional relationships
Improve your communication
abilities
Contribute to a specific area of
knowledge
Apply and discover new ideas
and methodologies

9. • 10 pieces of advice guaranteed to make you a
successful undergraduate research assistant.
How to succeed in REU?

10. • I had the opportunity to be a mentor for
Nathaniel Lowmiller during summer 2015.
• “I wanted to do research as an undergrad
to gain real-world experience in the field
that my major will be. I also saw research
as an opportunity to refine what I had
learned in the classroom and as a way to
better prepare myself for the future.” – His
motivation to do research in his
undergraduate years
A success story
Nathaniel Lowmiller
C/Capt, AFROTC
IMT Bravo Flight Commander

11. 1. Manage Yourself
• Goals, priorities, and planning
– Set goals, and keep them updated
– Make a plan for each day, week, month, quarter
• “Failing to plan means planning to fail”
– Prioritize – do important things first
– Don’t waste time – kill your TV, xBox
• Keep track of how you spend your time
• Computer Science  Web Browsing Engineering
• “Is this activity helping me to achieve my REU goal?”
– Keep a notebook, write these things down

12. Example 1 –
Keep Track of Your Time

13. Better ways to keep track of your time: Apps
This is the
interface of a
time
management app
called My Study
Life for college
students

14. Example 2: How to reply emails?
• Google: “How to Read 100 Emails, Fast”
• Check email once a day
• Group emails
• Reply to all the short emails - first with
"yes" or "no" as an answer
• Write brief emails
• Long emails -> tasks -> must be prioritized

15. 2. Develop Intellectual Discipline
• Think!
– Always be on the outlook. Keep a list of potential
future research ideas.
• Read!
– How does your research fit into a bigger vision?
Trends?
• Act!
– Don’t feel like you have to know everything first
– Don’t worry about being wrong
• Evaluate!
– Solicit feedback – most ideas aren’t so good…

16. Example 3 –
Keep a logbook

17. 3. Be proactive
• Don’t wait to be told what to do
– Don’t be passive; in fact, be aggressive!
– Make things happen
• You will not be spoon-fed
– What you get out of the REU program is a non-linear
function of what effort you put into it.
• REU research program can be very unstructured
– Unlike undergraduate programs
– So it’s up to you (not your advisor)

18. Example 4 –
Discussion Minutes

19. Example 5 –
Use cloud services to share documents

20. 4. Learn to communicate well
• Speaking
– Communicate clearly
• Writing
– Organization and clarity
• Presenting
– Not just “talking,” but communicating
– Even a lecture is a two-way interaction
• These are skills that can be learned!
– Practice talks (videotaped), write short papers, ask
friends and colleagues to help you, …
Your intelligence and ideas
will be judged by your ability
to communicate in English

21. 5. Develop an intellectual community
• Among your peers at Auburn, create something
different and special
– Ask questions
– Discuss ideas
– Brainstorm
– Argue, challenge
– Collaborate

22. 6. Network, network, network
• Get to know the people in the department
(faculty and grad students), and other people in
your field
– Don’t wait – introduce yourself!
• Go to conferences and meet other REU
students and “famous” researchers
– Be aggressive!
• Talk with visitors: “pick their pockets”
– You never know who will someday offer you a job,
write a reference letter, review your paper, give you
invaluable feedback or insight….

23. 7. Choose a good research problem
• This is the hardest, and most
important, part of research!
• The Goldilocks problem:
– Not too hard, not too soft, not
too hot, not too cold, not too
big, not too small
• Think, read, act, evaluate
– And talk to everyone – not only
your advisor
• Passion or duty?

24. An Example- Thermal efficiency of Hadoop
clusters
A google engineer working on
monitoring an overheated node of a
cluster in their data center.
Image source:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-
2219188/Inside-Google-pictures-gives-look-8-vast-data-
centres.html

25. • The MapReduce programming model is growing in
popularity.
• Hadoop is used by Yahoo, Facebook, Amazon.
• My story: I was looking for an idea to improve the thermal
efficiency of Hadoop clusters.
An Example- Thermal efficiency of Hadoop
clusters (cont.)

26. How I came up with an idea?

27. 8. Understand the faculty

28. 9. Study successful people
• Senior grad students, faculty, pioneers, leaders
in your field, …
– Read biographies
– Who are your heroes, mentors?
• Seek advice
– But modify it to your particular situation
• Great source of interesting talks:
https://www.ted.com/talks

29. 10. Have a Life
• Amidst the chaos of the REU program, it is very important that you do
not lose sight of who you are and what makes you tick.
– Have a social life
– Don’t neglect your family and friends, your health, your sanity
– Develop and maintain your other interests.

30. Summary
• What is the REU program
• 10 pieces of advice
• Choose a good research problem
• Download my slides from:
https://www.slideshare.net/secret/vRCKJYOY6ZW8
CG
• Get in touch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shubbhi-
taneja-916b0b71
Summary

31. Questions?