Advice for Graduate Students from Internet Authority Professor Jennifer Rexford
Translator’s note: Jennifer Rexford is a professor at Princeton University and a leading figure in the field of network research. She gave a talk to new graduate students in the field of engineering in 2010: Advice for New Graduates.
Those who know me know that I have a hobby of collecting famous quotes. A sentence explains the story behind this: famous quotes are short and portable, which is a suitable hobby for me who often moved when I was a child. Two famous scientists from Princeton in the 1930s, Einstein and Thomas Lewis, made interesting and somewhat opposing comments on the role of the “individual”.
Einstein in the field of physics said: “All valuable things in human society depend on the opportunity for individual development.”
Thomas Lewis in the field of pharmacology and biology said, “In fact, there is no such thing as a single individual; his own life is not much more than a cell torn from the surface of the skin.”
These two quotes summarize well what graduate students do.
Individual Development
First of all, being a graduate student is a very personal experience. The undergraduate experience is somewhat more obscure: taking the same classes in large classrooms, doing the same homework, taking the same exams. In contrast, being a graduate student is very unique. No one is doing exactly the same research as you (or at least you don’t want others to be doing the same research as you), and you will get direct and relevant feedback on your work—from your advisor, from your colleagues, from the reviewers of your papers and presentations. If your work is just passable and not very good, you won’t just get an A- and move on to the next task, but persistently research, get more feedback, until you achieve definitive results. This is an extremely efficient way for learning, growth, and academic development.
Of course, there are two sides to everything. Critical comments on your work, no matter how meaningful or good for you, feel a bit “harsh”. This requires a thick skin; and a delicate dance, maintaining a love for your work (so you have the tenacity to keep digging into it), while keeping enough emotional distance to make constructive comments on the early stages of your work. The balance here is not easy to find, and I believe all of us who do research are struggling with it. I am no exception. The emotional challenges of being a graduate student are no less than the intellectual ones, and this is one aspect of it.
Another important aspect of being a “individual” as a graduate student is to develop your research “taste”. You may not realize it yet, but it is your destiny. You will have a peculiar sensitivity to some research questions that others do not have. You will be attracted to a particular type of research question—perhaps a complex real-world problem, perhaps a strictly formalized (but difficult) theoretical problem, perhaps a problem somewhere between theory and reality. You will notice certain types of defects or omissions in other people’s research results. You will have a unique set of skills and methods for solving problems. Being a graduate student is a great time to discover your “taste”, and after that, you can freely solve technical problems in your career.
Therefore, being a graduate student is a microcosm of what Einstein called “individual development”. I hope that you can get the opportunity for individual development that you deserve during this time. This experience will take you further on the academic path, expand the foundation of your knowledge, and make you confident when expressing your novel and complex ideas to others.
Part of a Group
After all the talk about “individuals”, being a graduate student is actually also a collaborative experience. You are part of a research group, part of a college, part of a research direction, part of an engineering school (for most of you), part of a graduate school, and part of student communities like GWISE (Graduate Women in Science and Engineering).
About your research group, I want to say a few more words, because it is so important. Your colleagues and other graduate students around you are a very important part of your graduate student experience. They not only provide a community that can fully understand your experience (which is of course important), but also guide you on big and small topics.
I had a good colleague Jim when I was a graduate student. It took him ten years to graduate, and he had been there for seven years when I first arrived. Therefore, Jim knew everything. He taught me philosophies that I still use today—how to become efficient. He would sit at my neighboring desk, sternly criticize me “Jen, I hear repetitive keyboard tapping. Today you are going to learn Perl.” Honestly, I started learning with quite a bit of pain, but he would watch me out of the corner of his eye. He would teach me skills to save time, so that I have time and energy to solve bigger, more interesting problems.
Your classmates will also give you wonderful moments of unexpected discovery, just when you are drinking coffee, playing table football, you might randomly flash a part of your work that you have not noticed, or realize a never-discovered connection between two research fields. You might even bridge the gap for faculty members, facilitating the collaboration of two professors, because you see the relationship between their research, and they don’t. Chance encounters, frank feedback on your research, unforeseen discussions about research taste and philosophy, are all a big part of your interaction with your group members.
However, I must warn you that this informal interaction has an important enemy: the Internet. Yes, I study the Internet, so it sounds strange to say something negative from my mouth, but this is important, so I list it as an exception. The Internet makes it too easy for us to work at home, in coffee shops, or on trains, rather than working in the office or lab with peers. The reasons you choose to work away from the office are actually completely rational: coming to the office has a fixed cost, on the one hand, it is time, on the other hand, you have to dress neatly, and take a bath (translator’s note: Americans like to take a bath before going out in the morning). And all this is in exchange for those vague, imagined benefits: you might encounter an opportunity that really changes your research. And frankly, after a whole day in the office, we are all likely to have no profound experience, and your colleagues may not be in the same academic mood as you. But I still strongly recommend you to go to the office.
Not only that, I also encourage you to have a broader understanding of the community, whether it’s in the department, in the school of engineering, or in similar groups. It’s not just for you to be luckier in academics - although this will happen - but also for friendship and help. Graduate life is interesting and tough, and sometimes annoying. If you can find a balance in life, the whole graduate experience is worth it.
What is the value of this? In fact, I found that students who have closer relationships with other students in the group often graduate earlier than other students. They are often better at managing time, focusing on work, and efficiently leaving space for other pursuits in their lives. They can also more naturally seek help from other students, whether it is feedback on papers, certain analytical skills, or certain software tools. They have a better understanding of the quirks of the teaching staff and know how to deal with them. For those students whose native language is not English, these social activities also have the additional function of improving English skills. Frankly speaking, mastering a language is quite boring, and socializing in English is a more enjoyable way to learn English than any formal study.
In conclusion, my confirmation as a graduate student is a different kind of experience, both highly individual (in terms of training and professional development) and highly cooperative (as part of a research group, research direction, and larger community). During this time in Princeton, I hope you have gained in both aspects, and I hope you can take the time to give back to the next wave of students who come to Princeton after you.