LOR From a Non-CS Prof?

[DorkRawk]

A little background: I'm planning on applying to a CS PhD program to do AI research particularly about cognition/cognitive models/AGI for Fall 2012

I'm currently applying for a job at a Cog Sci research lab at a very pretentious university (for both Psych and CS) as a lab administrator, so I'll help code for them, crunch numbers, and help with some research. Ideally I'd be able to get a good LOR from this. My question is... for the type of CS research I'm looking to do would this be good LOR? Does it matter that it wouldn't be from a CS prof, if I'm doing good related research with a well respected professor/lab?

If my goal is to apply to CS PhD programs would I be better off doing this than taking a better paying job in industry for a year?

Thanks!

[the poisoned pawn]

Should be a good LOR if the prof you work with write you a good letter. There are a lot of PhD CS students with background of cognitive science, linguistic, math, engineering, etc.

Edited July 10, 2011 by the poisoned pawn

[barber5]

Yes, I think you'd probably be better off doing this than taking a job in industry unless you can get a job where you might be doing research in a larger capacity than the cog sci job. In particular, I think there are several AI research groups out there (that you might apply to for a PhD) which interface much more closely with cog sci / neuro people than other groups, and I'd think this would be a pretty nice letter to show these groups.

[newms]

I agree with the above two replies. Many AI professors work with Cog Sci and Psychology people, and a lot of AI work is done by Cog Sci or Psychology or Neuro people, so a letter from the Cog Sci lab you work at will very likely help you (assuming that they speak well about your research potential).

BTW I'm assuming you mean 'prestigious' rather than 'pretentious'?