Tips and notes by an early-stage researcher

These slides were used at the 2017 Advanced Research Methods course guest lecture, aimed at introducing artificial intelligence master's students to the field of academic research.

Transcript

1. Notes & Tips from an early-stage researcher Advanced Research Methods (lecture) Suhas Vijayakumar Oct 16, 2017 http://suhasvijayakumar.in
2. The promises
3. The promises • Behind the scenes - PhD Why do a PhD? How to get one? Oh! The chaos • What after PhD? • Why AI will change everything? • Finding passion!
4. Passion What’s that all about? Gillian Lynne
5. Gillian Lynne
6. Components Natural capacity. Terrence Tao You also love doing it. Ewa Laurance hated
7. natural capacity is not a good enough reason to do it. Removed info
8. Well, how do you know? Lose sense of time Gain energy rather than losing it You do it anyway, no matter the problems
9. Well, how do you know? Birth Realization Goal Birth Realization mm..may be Goal
10. Take risks
11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KmimDq4cSU
12. You take risks Bachelor’s Physics, Maths, Electronics
13. 3 clues to understanding your brain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl2LwnaUA-k
14. You take risks Bachelor’s Physics, Maths, Electronics Master’s Cognitive Neuroscience (research master’s)
15. Daniel Wolpert’s TED talk The real reason for brains https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s0CpRfyYp8
16. You take risks Bachelor’s Physics, Maths, Electronics Master’s Cognitive Neuroscience (research master’s) Ph.D
17. What does it mean anyway? The illustrated guide to a Ph.D Matt Might | http://matt.might.net
30. “Great… I want one
31. So, you want to do a Ph.D Get your own money 1st stream: funding from the government 2nd stream: grants from NWO and KNAW 3rd stream: other sources (universities, companies, charitable org...)
32. Get your own money In general, 1. Call for proposals (pre-proposal) 2. Submission 3. Review 4. Defend your proposal 5. Decision hellofalot of time | incredibly detailed | competitive https://www.nwo.nl/en/funding/our-funding-instruments/magw/ research-talent/research-talent.html
33. So, you want to do a Ph.D Get your own money 1st stream: funding from the government 2nd stream: grants from NWO and KNAW 3rd stream: other sources (universities, companies, organisations) Look for a funded position option x: talk to friends/seniors/fb groups option x: look-up university websites option x: talk to your master’s thesis supervisor (or bachelor’s, or internship’s...)
34. “I personally think that the most important thing during PhD is that you get a good chance to see what’s out there and you should find a position where you feel you have a good supervisor who’s willing to invest in you and where you can learn.”
35. Organization of the motor cortex - Brain’s fundamental function = movement - Aspects of cognition - control of movement - perception of the environment - numerical cognition - Motor theory of language development
36. Organization of the motor cortex What’s motor cortex all about? Identify on an anatomical basis the different circuits.
37. Penfield and Boldrey (1937)
38. Graziano (2016)
39. Let’s study the frontal-parietal networks NOT SO FAST! First need to identify those regions based on data Averbeck et al (2009)
40. Steps involved 1. Region of interest 2. Determine connectivity 3. Cross-correlation matrix 4. Employ a clustering algorithm (kmeans) 5. Back-project to brain
41. Start with a region of interest... The frontal lobe Hmph… what’s this region?
42. Research happened!
43. “Great… I want one
44. It’s not always the “cutting-edge” of science!
45. “Great… I still want one
46. How to get a Ph.D? What are your interests? Demonstrate potential ◦ ◦ ◦ Meet them in person, if possible before applying Proofread your application and be yourself
47. Be yourself
48. Clip showing how the speaker conveyed teaching and research were equally interesting to him during the Ph.D interview. Point being - Ph.D is really like getting into a relationship! You don’t want to start on false beliefs and unrealistic hopes and assumptions.
49. Aims this course • Design, carry out and analyze empirical research in a methodologically correct way • Critically read and evaluate academic articles • Translate a theory into a practical framework, algorithm or a computational model • Able to present the results in a scientifically rigorous way • Collaborate with partners
50. Year 0 Start Ph.D Year 1 Design 1st experiment Get some data Year 2 Publish paper Go to conferences Design next n experiments Year 3 Year 4 Get a Ph.D PUBLISH
52. Start with a region of interest... The frontal lobe Hmph… what’s this region?
53. Goulas et al (2016) While we were still working on things ... Our results (unpublished)
55. Experiment 1 Status: under progress… (until end of year 2) Motivation Status: under evaluation Future research Status: under construction Fix all the things! - Is NOT what you should do. Focus on your particular research question.
56. Future 1. Find what I love investigating 2. See if it fits with the lab 3. Design experiments 4. Get a Ph.D 5. Do all the things!
57. General trajectory Ph.D Post-doc Post-doc Post-doc? Assistant prof Associate prof Full prof What next?
58. General trajectory Ph.D Post-doc Mainly because - skill set/qualifications - need on-job training (sometimes) - inexperienced job in an unrelated field Switching can be difficult AI is an exception
59. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applications_of_artificial_intelligence
60. You really do have the opportunity to do Anything you want!
61. The promises • Behind the scenes - PhD Why do a PhD? How to get one? Oh! The chaos • What after PhD? • Why AI will change everything? • Finding passion!
62. Finding your passion Lose sense of time Gain energy rather than losing it You do it anyway, no matter the problems
64. By no means easy Let’s give it a try anyway
65. Questions? Exercise?
66. Exercise 1. Good at 2. Enjoy doing 3. Never tried 4. Stopped doing 5. Feeling
67. I love doing I’m good at I can be paid for There is a need for PASSION MISSION JOB PROFESSION
68. Questions submitted to Qn’A forum For more questions, feel free to contact @matteroftract (cue to remember: like “[as a] matter of fact”) Anonymous 11:24 AM "A PHD is more about becoming a better researcher than about the field" So, you think that the specialization doesn't matter too much or that after a PHD you can always come back to your "Passion" ? Upvote: 2 Downvote: 0 Anonymous 11:51 AM How many hours a week do you spend? Upvote: 2 Downvote: 0 Anonymous 10:54 AM How do you deal with the disappointments/feelings of insignificance that can arise during research? Upvote: 2 Downvote: 1
69. goo.gl/forms/QxU0dh73coptYFx82
70. Thank you Suhas Vijayakumar s.vijayakumar@donders.ru.nl http://suhasvijayakumar.in Oct 16, 2017