Category Archives: Tips and tricks

Academic Job Market: One Experience

Posted on August 20, 2018 by admin

This post is intended as a “sample point”, and a bit of informal guidance, for people who are on the academic job market, or will be going on it soon. Throughout the different phases of the job market, I’ve relied … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Achievement, Career, Research, Skills, Tips and tricks | 2 Comments

Why I Volunteer On The Grace Hopper Conference Scholarship Committee

Posted on June 3, 2016 by admin

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 →

Posted in Academia, Career, Communication skills, Conferences, Exciting! News and updates, Ph.D., Tips and tricks, Uncategorized, Women in technology | Comments Off on Why I Volunteer On The Grace Hopper Conference Scholarship Committee

RIP Andy Grove

Posted on March 23, 2016 by admin

I was saddened by the death of Andy Grove, the former Intel CEO who drove the growth of Silicon Valley. Andy Grove’s “High Output Management” has been my go-to book on running teams and improving business processes. I have seen few books … Continue reading →

Posted in ASICs, Career, Good reads, In the news, Management, Technology, Tips and tricks | Comments Off on RIP Andy Grove

Improvisation Theater Training for Creativity and Communication Skills

Posted on February 24, 2016 by admin

An activity that enhances both creativity and communication skills — wouldn’t that be a fun activity to try? Uri Alon, a scientist at Weizmann Institute of Science, promotes creativity of improvisation theater training as similar to creativity of truly innovative … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication skills, Creativity, Humor, Public speaking, Tips and tricks | Comments Off on Improvisation Theater Training for Creativity and Communication Skills

PM Candidates: Ask Questions, Please

Posted on February 10, 2015 by admin

All job candidates, for all jobs everywhere, should know to ask questions of their interviewers when prompted. The answer to “Do you have any questions for me?” ought to be never be “no“, for any position. But especially for PM … Continue reading →

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Do not Call People “Resources”

Posted on November 10, 2014 by admin

Managers: if you call your people “resources”, they get to call you “overhead”. Calling people “resources” must be one of the worst habits of the different kinds of managers. Yeah, that is the terminology used in the Project Management Professional … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Communication skills, Management, Skills, Tips and tricks | Comments Off on Do not Call People “Resources”

Escape from Alcatraz 2014

Posted on June 8, 2014 by admin

What a great race! Even better experience the second time around (my first one was in 2012); truly an experience of a lifetime. This race is on many people’s bucket lists for many reasons. The course is tough – swimming … Continue reading →

Posted in Achievement, Tips and tricks, Triathlon | Comments Off on Escape from Alcatraz 2014

Lessons Learned from Running Streaks

Posted on April 5, 2014 by admin

Running streaks – which I define as running at least 1 mile per day for a large number of consecutive days – are surely an interesting thing to be doing. My longest one so far has been 100+ days: I ran every single day … Continue reading →

Posted in Achievement, Running, Sports, Tips and tricks, Training | Comments Off on Lessons Learned from Running Streaks

Post-Ph.D. Job Market: Timelines

Posted on January 4, 2014 by admin

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 →

Posted in Academia, Career, Data science, Graduate school, Industry, Ph.D., Tips and tricks | Comments Off on Post-Ph.D. Job Market: Timelines

Running while Traveling: Finding Good Running Routes

Posted on October 14, 2013 by admin

Our recent cross-country road trip allowed me to add 4 (!) new states to my favorite running collection. The new items in the collection are Tennessee (Memphis), New Mexico (Santa Fe), Arizona (Page), and Nevada (Las Vegas – the glorious … Continue reading →

Posted in Road trip, Running, Sports, Tips and tricks, Travel | Comments Off on Running while Traveling: Finding Good Running Routes