Category Archives: Ph.D.

Lesser-known Differences between Academia and Industry

The Chronicle recently published an interesting opinion piece that mentions several aspects of working in academia that may not be as evident as commonly discussed ones. Having worked in industry and academia, I appreciated the commentary. There are indeed relatively … Continue reading

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Why I Volunteer On The Grace Hopper Conference Scholarship Committee

I am finding it exceptionally rewarding to be serving on the Grace Hopper Conference Scholarship Committee, that is, reviewing Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference travel grant applications. I’ve served on this committee in 2015 and 2016, and … Continue reading

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I Wish I Could Dance: Science Magazine Dance Your PhD Contest

Science Magazine announced its 9th annual Dance Your PhD Contest — a competition for best explaining your PhD research in an interpretive dance.

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What Is Harder: An Ironman Or A PhD?

I recently ran across a curious question on Quora: what is harder, completing a PhD or completing a marathon (a 26.2 mile run)? Having done both [ PhD, races ] , hands-down, the answer is the PhD – there is … Continue reading

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The Onion At Its Best: ‘Seek Funding’ Step Added To Scientific Method

The Onion spots a much-needed addition: ‘Seek Funding’ Step Added To Scientific Method. Quoting from the article: “After making an observation and forming a hypothesis as usual, the new third step of the scientific method will now require researchers to … Continue reading

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DARPA Project Experience and DARPA Project Leaders

Recent Wired Magazine profile of  Dr. Regina Dugan, formerly the director of Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and currently an executive at Google (Wired Magazine article available here) led me to a Harvard Business Review article by Dr. Dugan … Continue reading

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Post-Ph.D. Job Market: Timelines

I recently gave a talk at a WimNet group meeting regarding my post-Ph.D. job market experiences and lessons learned. A version of the slides that is not Columbia-specific and applicable to many EECS students is available below: Slides from the … Continue reading

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Visualizations: my CV and my Research Statement as Word Clouds

As far back as I remember, I was a fan of clear, catchy, and entertaining visual data representations. Like those that often appear in the National Geographic or the Economist – the engaging ways of presenting scientific facts and data. … Continue reading

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Beautiful Pervasive World: Wearable Devices

Having seen nothing but my dissertation in the last 6 months, I have been tremendously enjoying an opportunity to scale back on writing and to catch up with the state of the world of innovative pervasive and mobile technology. Oh, … Continue reading

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Convocation and Commencement

Our Columbia graduation ceremonies took a substantial part of this week and were amazing. I love graduating from Columbia. Growing up in the direst poverty and deprivation in the 1990s Russia, I could not dare to dream of getting to … Continue reading

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