Is it weird to contact a POI's colleagues/current students about their work?

[1|]010ls10o]

Was invited to an interview, but the POI's websites are a little outdated (3 years).

1. Is it appropriate to ask directly for an updated CV? If so, how would you frame it?
2. Is it appropriate to contact the POI's students or colleagues about their work related to the POI? If so, how would you frame it?
3. If the POI signs off on the email with "First name (shortened) + Last name," is it okay to address them by their first name?

Mainly want to save time by doing the homework instead of spending precious interview time to ask a question that can be answered by just reading a CV. Also scared of being that person who has the POI repeat basic info about themselves. Thoughts?

[sun&stars]

Have you tried to google the POI to see what comes up? If I didn't have a CV beforehand, I at least got information from researchgate(dot)net. I don't have much information about emailing POIs after being invited to interview. Typically, it would have been ideal to email them prior to application deadlines.

If you decide to email anyone, it might be best to email current students if their information is available. If you do email a professor and they sign off with a first name, I would still use "Professor X" or "Dr. Y" since you don't know them yet.

[1|]010ls10o]

52 minutes ago, sun&stars said:

Have you tried to google the POI to see what comes up? If I didn't have a CV beforehand, I at least got information from researchgate(dot)net. I don't have much information about emailing POIs after being invited to interview. Typically, it would have been ideal to email them prior to application deadlines.

If you decide to email anyone, it might be best to email current students if their information is available. If you do email a professor and they sign off with a first name, I would still use "Professor X" or "Dr. Y" since you don't know them yet.

Thanks. Yeah, I googled for it first. No public CV. And latest publications are all relatively old. I checked scholar, regular google, NIH reporter, POIs websites, researchgate, and granttome. 

[paraent]

Google scholar should be up to date imo. It happens automatically almost right as papers get published.

[MarineBluePsy]

Did you try linkedin?  Some of the students may be on there.

[1|]010ls10o]

7 hours ago, paraent said:

Google scholar should be up to date imo. It happens automatically almost right as papers get published.

Yeah it’s a good approximation but usually people will list their grants in progress, right? I want to know what their directions are for the near future so I can express how I can contribute and ways I would extend or maximize their data

5 hours ago, MarineBluePsy said:

Did you try linkedin?  Some of the students may be on there.

Yeah, so you think it’s alright for me to contact them then? How would you open? “Hey I’m invited to interview and was curious about your current projects?” I would totally say this in person without the preface but for some reason I feel uneasy about doing it via email 

Edited February 1, 2019 by 21n14l

[MarineBluePsy]

@21n14l If you're able to find publicly available information about their current work then no I don't think its strange to reach out with a couple of follow up questions.  If you're not finding publicly available information about their work then it may increase your chances of a response if you went through the faculty member you're interviewing for or if there is a liaison you've been told to send your interview/application related questions to.  You could simply state that you noticed the website hasn't been updated and you wondered if any of the students might be open to a quick email regarding their current work.  The professor or liaison will likely just forward your request to the students and encourage them to respond.

If you decide to email students directly I'd keep it short and sweet.  Maybe something like......Hi Student, I'll be interviewing with Professor soon and I'd love to learn a bit about your recent work.  I'm sure you're quite busy, but unfortunately the website doesn't mention any projects from the last few years.  Care to share any info?  Thanks for your time.

This gives them the option of just whipping up a couple of lines, attaching a CV, pointing you to a publicly available source for up to date information, etc.  

[1|]010ls10o]

2 hours ago, MarineBluePsy said:

@21n14l If you're able to find publicly available information about their current work then no I don't think its strange to reach out with a couple of follow up questions.  If you're not finding publicly available information about their work then it may increase your chances of a response if you went through the faculty member you're interviewing for or if there is a liaison you've been told to send your interview/application related questions to.  You could simply state that you noticed the website hasn't been updated and you wondered if any of the students might be open to a quick email regarding their current work.  The professor or liaison will likely just forward your request to the students and encourage them to respond.

If you decide to email students directly I'd keep it short and sweet.  Maybe something like......Hi Student, I'll be interviewing with Professor soon and I'd love to learn a bit about your recent work.  I'm sure you're quite busy, but unfortunately the website doesn't mention any projects from the last few years.  Care to share any info?  Thanks for your time.

This gives them the option of just whipping up a couple of lines, attaching a CV, pointing you to a publicly available source for up to date information, etc.  

Thanks, that template is helpful. I want to send something out soon (interview in less than 2 weeks), but I want to do the same for the professor as well. Any thoughts on how I should word an email to the professor, asking for the most recent work? Again this all comes so naturally in person but awkward over email

Edited February 1, 2019 by 21n14l

[LOiseauRouge]

Another thing you might consider would be emailing a prof from your previous institution who is in the same field (if that is an option). I had trouble finding research by a medievalist at one of the prospective schools, and my previous medieval lit prof said he could help me. 

[PsyDuck90]

On 1/31/2019 at 3:53 PM, 21n14l said:

Thanks. Yeah, I googled for it first. No public CV. And latest publications are all relatively old. I checked scholar, regular google, NIH reporter, POIs websites, researchgate, and granttome. 

Is this POI older? If you've searched all of these places and haven't found anything, I'd be worried that this person is gearing up for retirement and has therefore slowed their roll and isn't as productive anymore. This can potentially have implications for you as a student, especially if they don't seem to be too motivated to publish, it may be harder for you to get stuff out in your time there. 

[1|]010ls10o]

On 2/1/2019 at 5:19 PM, LOiseauRouge said:

Another thing you might consider would be emailing a prof from your previous institution who is in the same field (if that is an option). I had trouble finding research by a medievalist at one of the prospective schools, and my previous medieval lit prof said he could help me. 

I'm reaching out to colleagues (current students) I know who knew him, but they're all also having difficulty finding anything.

 

On 2/2/2019 at 11:22 AM, PsyDGrad90 said:

Is this POI older? If you've searched all of these places and haven't found anything, I'd be worried that this person is gearing up for retirement and has therefore slowed their roll and isn't as productive anymore. This can potentially have implications for you as a student, especially if they don't seem to be too motivated to publish, it may be harder for you to get stuff out in your time there. 

The POI seems middle aged. Seems younger from pictures. Still pumping out 5+ publications in good journals per year

[PsyDuck90]

That's good! Good luck with your search then!