Accepted to RPI (CS, PhD, Fall '12). Requesting advice / information before I join.

[Velvet Ghost]

I may be joining RPI (CS, PhD) this fall. I will be a TA. I applied to the RAIR (Rensselaer Artificial Intelligence and Reasoning) lab, so I will be starting my work there. Interdisciplinary AI / Cogsci research, both theory and interesting applications, is very much what I want to do in grad school.

I'm looking for someone familiar with the RPI CS department (and ideally with the RAIR lab as well) to advise me on the quality of research (is it competitive with the best schools), and the overall experience of being an RPI CS grad student.

I'd be very grateful for any replies. Thanks!

[jjsakurai]

While I'm not familiar with RPI, one way of figuring this out might be to look at the publication lists of potential advisors. Do they regularly publish in top conferences and/or journals of their field? If so, then the research is probably competitive. For AI in general, the top conferences are AAAI & IJCAI. For ML, it's NIPS and ICML. Don't know about Cogsci.

[Velvet Ghost]

While I'm not familiar with RPI, one way of figuring this out might be to look at the publication lists of potential advisors. Do they regularly publish in top conferences and/or journals of their field? If so, then the research is probably competitive. For AI in general, the top conferences are AAAI & IJCAI. For ML, it's NIPS and ICML. Don't know about Cogsci.

Thanks. Apart from academic.research.microsoft.com, where can I get information about where a professor publishes / has published? From academic.research.microsoft.com, I get the information that my potential advisor has published in both AAAI and IJCAI, but has only 1 publication in AAAI and 2 in IJCAI. This seems very low to me - would you consider it low?. However, it is possible that the data there may be incomplete / out of date - that's why I'm looking for more sources of such information.

[jjsakurai]

Thanks. Apart from academic.research.microsoft.com, where can I get information about where a professor publishes / has published?

There's also scholar.google.com (though that sometimes shows pubs from a different person with the same name) , DBLP (it's not totally complete though) and the person's own web page.

From academic.research.microsoft.com, I get the information that my potential advisor has published in both AAAI and IJCAI, but has only 1 publication in AAAI and 2 in IJCAI. This seems very low to me - would you consider it low?. However, it is possible that the data there may be incomplete / out of date - that's why I'm looking for more sources of such information.

My impression is that at the top 10-20 schools, professors usually have 1-2 pubs in the top conferences of their field every year. For the really highly ranked schools (say top 5), profs usually have several pubs in top journals and conferences every year.

Be cautious though - AAAI/IJCAI are not the best conferences for every field. Many subfields of AI have their own conferences which they consider the best. For instance, ML has NIPS/ICML as I mentioned above, game theory has AAMAS/EC, etc.

[Pauli]

ACM Digital Lib

Apart from academic.research.microsoft.com, where can I get information about where a professor publishes / has published?

• ACM Digital Library (Best)
  
• CiteSeerX
  
• IEEE Xplore
  
• DBLP
  
• Google Scholar (So-so)
  

[Velvet Ghost]

Thanks very much. While all this information has certainly been very useful, I'm still looking for someone who has direct experience with the RPI CS dept and ideally the RAIR lab. Any such person on GradCafe?

[NYScholars]

Hey, Velvet Ghost

Im also looking at RPI and wanted to know if you were willing to share some of your basic stats. I'm currently at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) pursing an MS degree.

[Velvet Ghost]

@NYScholars: Sure, but exactly what info do you need?

[NYScholars]

I plan on applying to the Ph.D in Information Technology for Fall 2013. Information such as research experience, undergrad stats and rank, work experience etc... Feel free to PM me

[Velvet Ghost]

I plan on applying to the Ph.D in Information Technology for Fall 2013. Information such as research experience, undergrad stats and rank, work experience etc... Feel free to PM me

I had no relevant research experience. Worked for a year as a software developer (cannot be considered relevant work experience either). Undergrads stats and rank are marginally important.

What I did have was an excellent fit of research interests with my potential advisor. This is very important. Write to professors whose research and interests matches with yours, explaining why you would be a good fit in their lab. If they ask you to apply, go ahead and apply.

Edited June 11, 2012 by Velvet Ghost

[dori]

Hey Velvet Ghost,

I was also accepted at RPI and will start my PhD in the fall this year. I am looking for similar information but my program is electrical engineering. I have one question for you though. Since I am TA as well. How did you apply to a lab and what kind of work will you be starting if you're not an RA now?