Recruitment

Depending on available funding, the lab may recruit master’s students, doctoral students, postdoctoral researchers, and an administrative secretary.

In addition to completing the procedures required by the university, the advisor should interview each candidate. Lab members may choose to participate.

Training

The advisor and other lab members should organize a weekly session on research methods, foundational knowledge, practical applications, frontier innovation, and mental health. Each session should last at least one hour. Lab members should attend; anyone unable to attend must request leave in advance.

The topic and materials should be determined in advance. The advisor and students take turns sharing, demonstrating, or organizing discussions. Course materials and conclusions should be archived consistently.

The advisor should help master’s and doctoral students solve problems encountered during research.

The advisor should hold a weekly group meeting to discuss projects, management, and other matters. Lab members should attend; anyone unable to attend must request leave in advance.

The advisor should support first authors in attending academic and industry conferences.

The advisor should support students in completing three- to four-month internships in industry.

Activities

Formal activities:

  • Feedback: a one-on-one meeting at the beginning of each semester.
  • Annual kickoff: once a year after the Spring Festival.
  • Annual meeting: once a year before the Spring Festival.

Informal activities, at least once per semester:

  • Group-meeting lunches, recreational activities, and similar events.
  • Participation is optional, and individual differences should be respected.

Assessment

Master’s students are assessed primarily through semester projects and their theses.

Doctoral students are assessed primarily in research, teaching, and service:

  • Research: complete three projects.
  • Teaching: serve as a teaching assistant (TA).
  • Service: provide one service contribution to the lab each semester.

Incentives

Incentives follow three principles:

  • Fairness: the standards should be explainable.
  • Timeliness: feedback should be provided soon after a contribution is made.
  • Alignment: incentives should be strongly related to the behavior being encouraged.

Departures

The advisor should provide guidance for different career paths, including academic paths such as doctoral study, postdoctoral positions, and faculty applications; industry paths such as research and development, security, and platform engineering roles; and entrepreneurship or transitions into other fields. The advisor should provide a recommendation letter when needed.

Before leaving the lab, students should complete knowledge transfer and archive their documentation.