So You're Interested in a Research Assistantship? Read On...

So you're a prospective or current graduate student.... Naturally you want some sort of support to help you stave off starvation during your studies, and even more important you want funding that will help you finish your graduate studies sooner rather than later. This means a research assistantship, where you're paid to do your thesis or dissertation work. You're studying graphics, interested in graphics, or just like the fact that "SIGGRAPH" has two g's in it. So you found me. Now comes the question....

"Can you support me as a research assistant?"

Well, at least you asked! If you never ask, I might not even know graphics is your thing.

Now for the facts:

1. Money does not grow on trees.
2. Keeping unused research assistant funding around doesn't do me any good.
   • The College & University do not like to see unused research money.
   • External funding agencies do not give money in order to simply to earn interest on it.
   • I get more research done if I pay someone to help than if I leave money lying around.
3. If I had extra money right now, you would probably already know about it (if you're a current student).
4. If I do not know who you are, I probably will not give you a research assistantship.
   • This means most incoming graduate students.
   • It does not hurt to ask, but don't feel insulted if I don't respond.
   • This is a very, very bad way to approach me!

So how do you get a research assistantship?

Glad you asked!

Keep a few things in mind:

1. Research assistants need to help me do research, so we can publish papers, so I can write pleas for more money to various government agencies and companies to support additional RAs. It's a vicious circle.
2. People who demonstrate a higher ability to do research get higher priority.
3. People who like to interact with me (and other students) get higher priority. After all, research tends to be collaborative.
4. People with the ability to ask questions and come up with new ideas get a higher priority. (That's what research is!)
5. People who demonstrate interest in my work get higher priority. (I have more ideas about my stuff than other random areas!)
6. People who demonstrate aptitude at graphics get higher priority. (If you get a "D" in my introductory course, you are out of luck!)
7. People who have been working with me on research while taking courses and working as a teaching assistant get higher priority! Persistance pays off!
8. Students who have obtained their own funding, through fellowships, have a much higher priority after finishing their fellowship.
9. Students who are making good progress towards their degree have a higher priority. Students beyond their 5th year lose priority, and students beyond their 6th year are unlikely to obtain funding. While being a graduate student is a good life, there needs to be encouragement to move on.

Unfortunately, given the current climate for funding computer graphics research, it is unlikely a master's student will be funded as a research assistant. At some point in the future, this may change, but for now it is an unfortunate fact of life. Fortunately for MCS students, our department tries very hard to fund as many teaching assistantships as possible.

Last Modified: Friday, November 11, 2005

Chris Wyman (cwyman@cs.uiowa.edu)