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Chengzhi Shi

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Mentoring Plan for PhD Students

Communication and Meetings


How would you describe your advising style? Does your approach vary over the course of a student's progress within their degree?


My advising style depends on the students' needs. My approach varies over the course of the student's progress within their degree. For students with less experience, I would provide them more detailed advices. As the students grow through the research training, I would provide them more flexibilities in identifying the problems and solving problems.

What is the best way/technology for students to contact you? Are there time frames in which students should expect to hear from you?


The best way to contact me is through emails. I usually respond to my students in the manner of minutes and definitely no later than 24 hours.

How often do you plan to meet with students one-on-one (be as specific as possible, it's okay to describe multiple styles that may vary with student needs)? Is an agenda required? How long are meetings?


The style of my one-on-one meeting with students varies depending on the topics. For discussion on brain storming of research topics and identifying problem, there is usually no agenda, but I would ask the student to prepare some thought before the discussion. For discussion on the progresses of specific projects, I would prefer the student to prepare an agenda for discussion. The length of the meetings varies as well. Short ones could be in 10-15 minutes. Longer ones could be several hours.

Do you have regular group meetings? What does student participation look like in a group meeting?


We have regular group meetings every week. Students will report their progress, discussing any problems and challenges they are facing. Each week, one student will be scheduled to present a long talk on the research topic he/she is working on to train his/her communication skills.

Research and Teaching Expectations


Describe your students' primary area(s) of responsibility and expectations (e.g., reading peer-reviewed literature, in-lab working hours, etc.).


My students' primary areas of responsibility are reading peer-reviewed literature, performing numerical simulations, designing and conducting experiments, analyzing data, and publishing and presenting their work at journals and conferences. There is no specific requirement on in-lab working hours, but I would expect the students to have significant progresses through the research training program.

How do you decide authorship and/or authorship order?


The authorship and authorship order are decided based on the contribution of each person to the work.

Do you ask students in your group to serve as a GSI over the course of their program?


Depending on the progress and willingness of the students, I may request some of them to serve as a GSI over the course of their program.

Do you have general expectations for graduation?


There is no general expectations for graduation, but I do want to see significant progresses and growth of the students before they graduate.

Are you supportive of your students going on internships? If so, is there a time of year that is best? How many internships can they do?


Depending on the students' goal, I may be supportive of my students going on internships. One internship is recommended and it is better in the last year of their program to help them secure a job opportunity if they choose to work in the industry.

Opportunities for Feedback


How do you provide students with feedback regarding overall progress, research activities, etc.?


I usually provide my feedback to the students during discussions and meetings when the students report their progress or discussing specific research activities and problems.

How far in advance of a deadline should a student expect to provide written work for feedback, such as publication drafts?


I usually return my feedback within a couple of days and no later than a week for written work, but multiple rounds of revisions are expected. Thus, a student should send the written work to me no later than 1.5 months before the deadline.

How do you solicit feedback from your students?


All the feedback and response should be documented so that we can check the progresses the students made.

Conference Attendance


Which meetings do your students generally attend? What funding is available to attend these meetings?


My students generally attend the Acoustical Society of America conference, International Ultrasound Symposium, and other acoustics and ultrasound related conferences. They sometimes also attend physics conferences like APS March Meetings. Funding to attend these meetings is available through my research grants.

Time Away from Campus


Discuss expectations regarding vacations and time away from campus and how best to plan for them. What is the time-frame for notification regarding anticipated absences?


Vacations and time away from campus are usually planned based on the student's progress and personal needs. I would expect the students to inform me their anticipated absences no later than one month before the absence.

Are there specific standard times that students in your group generally take vacation?


There is no specific standard times of students in my group generally take vacation. It depends on their progress and personal needs.

What do you do to facilitate students taking time off (e.g., do you proactively encourage people to take vacation after major deadlines)?


I encourage my student to take vacation after major deadlines and when they reach milestones.

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