I am not taking on new students at WPI. I will be moving to Brown University in summer 2017.

Read this page carefully before contacting me to ask for an RAship.

My RA policy: I do not consider students for RAships unless they have (1) taken a course from me or (2) done a project with me. In particular, this means that I do not fund incoming students. The only possible exception is for students with prior publication in my research area.

If you want to know what projects I'm working on, look at my research page. If you want to know how to prepare to apply for an RAship after you arrive at WPI, read on! (if you contact me about funding, I'll check that you've read this entire document.) This document details my expectations for students who want to pursue an RAship with me after arriving at WPI.

General Information on RAships

Read the general information page before reading the rest of this document.

Students wishing to prepare for RAships in my group should:

• Have taken a course or done a project with me prior to asking for an RAship. The project could be through a course or something you work on alongside your classes.
• Read some papers in the area you want to work in (I will gladly help you identify appropriate ones) then come discuss them with me. I'll ask you to explain what you learned as part of our discussion.

Generally speaking, I'm looking for evidence that you are actually interested in my research area and have basic preparation to do projects. Be creative in how you demonstrate this to me!

FAQ

• Do you have funding for additional students?
  Drop me mail for an up-to-date answer to this (but only after you've read this entire document).

• Can I do an RA with you and my thesis with another professor?
  I personally do not allow this, unless you are working on a joint project between the other professor and me (other professors may follow different policies). An RAship isn't just a job; you should be doing an RA because you want to do research in the area of your RAship (the salary acknowledges that you are doing that research well). If you see your RAship only as a job, you are unlikely to keep up enough interest in the project to make the progress you need to keep the RAship. You can't get absorbed in both a thesis project and an RA project and expect to do them both well.

• I'm not very good at reading papers. Can I still apply for an RAship?
  If you meet the other criteria, come talk to me. Reading papers is part of the job of an RA (at least in my group), but it's also a skill that you learn over time. You should make preliminary progress at reading papers early in your grad career, then improve on these skills during an RAship.

• I meet most, but not all, of your expectations. Can I still apply for an RAship?
  You are welcome to stop by or make an appointment to discuss RA opportunities or how to plan your schedule to prepare to apply for an RAship down the road. Please do respect my time and guidelines though: if you ask for special consideration and are far off my prerequisites, you're likely to hurt rather than help your case!

(If you contact me for info about RAships, say "logik rools" in your message to prove that you've read the whole document.)

Kathi Fisler
WPI Computer Science