Expectations from new students
I am looking for people who are passionate about networking research and care deeply about the Internet that our whole society now depends on, who have decent knowledge about the TCP/IP protocol stack (knowedge about NDN is a big plus) and good system development skills, and who are good team players. The following few lines are borrowed from Prof. Bin Zhao of University of Chicago (with a few nits), and match my expectations:
- Passion for research. I do what I do because I have a mission that I am passionate about. I really enjoy doing it: the late nights, the search for the ultimate answers, the ups and downs, the nerves. If you don't love doing something, you won't be able to hold on through the tough parts.
- Creativity/openmindedness, think deeply. Creativity often comes from much broader knowledge than the specific area the problem sits in, and from much deeper understanding than the problem statement itself which (in most cases) describes the surface instead of the root cause.
- Hunger to succeed. Call this drive, ambition, competitiveness, whatever. The result is the same. You should want that thrill that comes with finding a fantastic solution to a hard problem, the rush that comes from seeing a great, brand new system/app comes up and running afters months of hard working.
- Persistence. You still hold the faith of that eventual success even after countless failures, and you are just as joyful from learning big lessons out of failures as you get a paper accepted.
- Students should work harder than their professors. They should be able to work together, contribute as a team, and always deliver what they promise.