Before sending me a message please check whether your inquiry is addressed by one of the frequently-asked questions below.

• Scheduling appointments
• Ph.D. admissions
• Research assistantships for MS students
• Research assistantships for non-CS students
• Visiting researchers
• Independent research projects (CS199 or CS395)
• Recommendation letters and references

All the information you need on applying for admission to CS graduate programs is available on the Web. All Ph.D. admits in CS are offered financial support. Admission into the Ph.D. program is extremely competitive, since we get many more qualified applicants than we can accept. Admission decisions are made entirely by a faculty committee. Individual faculty members may not accept students on their own. It is easier to get admitted to the MS program, but MS admits are not given financial support -- many students in our MS program pay their own way. See my policy on research assistantships for MS students below.

There are many faculty in the Electrical Engineering Department also working in computer-related areas. (In fact, several faculty like myself have appointments in both EE and CS.) Admission to EE is different from CS: if accepted, you enter the MS program initially. Once on campus, if you are interested in a Ph.D., you take a qualifying exam. Historically, the exam has a pass rate of approximately 50%. Some first-year EE graduate students are offered financial support, but competition is tough. (See my policy on Research assistantships for non-CS students below.) Once you pass the qualifying exam, enter the EE Ph.D. program, and find an advisor, support is usually offered. As in CS, admission decisions are made by a faculty committee, and individual faculty members may not accept students on their own. All the information you need on applying for admission to EE graduate programs is available on the Web.

• Unless it's a student I've worked with before or someone who I have invited to join one of my research projects, then the project should be proposed by the student. Before agreeing to supervise the project, I will need to receive a project proposal (2-4 pages). It should outline the overall idea, the technical challenges, what will be involved in the project, how much time it will take, and a rough time-line.
• Before a grade can be given at the end of the project, I will need to receive a final report (5-10 pages) and usually a software demonstration. Be warned -- very frequently students do not meet the deadline for the quarter with their report and demo, in which case they receive an incomplete for their project. (In order to meet the deadline for the quarter, the report should be submitted and the demo scheduled before final exams begin.)
• The student should plan to spend approximately 3-4 hours/week on the project for each credit hour enrolled. For example, if you take 3 credits of CS199 or CS395, then you should expect to work 10 hours/week, or 100 hours total for the quarter.
• The final grade will be based on a number of factors, including the initial project proposal, the apparent amount of effort put into the project, the final report and demo, and the overall technical quality.

• A copy of your transcript (unofficial is fine), your current cumulative GPA, and your current GPA just counting courses in your major
• Resume if you have one
• GRE scores (raw and percentile) for graduate school admission letters
• Copy of your "statement of purpose" for graduate school admission letters
• The forms I need to fill out if there are any
• At least a week's time after getting these materials and before the letter or reference is needed