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On Research and Ph.D Education #5 - Sabbatical and Supervision
On Ph.D Education and Research #5 - Sabbaticals and PH.D.Supervision
My motivation to write on this topic was inspired by Professor 黄安年 ‘s
article on “导师学术休假 研究生“放羊” ”. Furthermore, I felt that my own
assertion concerning the two different styles of Ph.D education in “How to do
Research? (5/17/07)” requires a bit more explanation.
Actually the Chinese translation of the word “Sabbatical” into “休假” is
very faithful to the original intent of the word. Also traditionally, sabbatical
is considered a privilege rather than a “right”. However, in recent decades,
sabbatical in US research universities has taken on a somewhat different
connotation. It is an opportunity for you to be free from teaching and other
academic obligations in order to accomplish some important scholarly task such
as finish a book, or start a new project or research direction. The idea of
“taking a rest” is the farthest thing from your mind. You are not expected to
neglect your research and research students. You are expected to add luster to
your work during a sabbatical. The department sometimes in fact would suggest
that you take a sabbatical if you have been teaching for too long. The operating
rule, which is quite typical, at my department has been this: “One year of
sabbatical at half pay after six years of full time service. Ideally, the six
years will be further broken into two parts by inserting another semester or
academic year of leave without pay midway through. Thus, you are generally away
from your department job every three years.” The thinking here is that you
should be able to find funding to support yourself during those periods of away
from teaching. Now funding means producing research and not taking a rest. In
1987 when I was taking a sabbatical and visiting MIT, I deliberately park my car
at Harvard every morning and each of my research graduate students took turn
walking with me the two miles of distance from Harvard to MIT. This way, we get
to talk about his/her research at least one or two times a week for half an hour
each. In 1989, when I took a leave at UT Texas, I flew back to Boston every
month to have face-to-face interactions with my ph.d. students. This is not
because I am particularly generous with my time. It is enlightened self-interest.
This brings up the issue of 牧羊 and 放羊. China had a well developed system of
examinations during her dynasty days of thousands of years. People rise through
local, regional, and finally imperial examinations to become 秀才，进士，状元.
You are awarded these ”degrees ” through competitive examinations based on
your self study (十年寒窗). I suppose such concepts were carried over to the
system today of scientific endeavors. Ph.d and master degrees are awarded
based on “examinations” The role of an advisor becomes that of an examiner
rather than a mentor. You duties are simply to insure rules are observed and
certain standards are met. As such, people feel they can “supervise” fifty to
hundred research students. But my experience and opinion are that this is not
a good way of producing ph.ds in science and technology. “Quality” and
“Taste” in research are unlikely to be learned through examinations. Sure,
real genius come along every now and then. They do well no matter what. But most
of us mortals need guidance and experience to learn to do research well.
Interaction and feedback with your advisor is a necessary part of this process.
Again take my own experience which is not at all unique. Before retirement, I
have usually a group of less than ten ph.d students, postdocs, and visitors. We
meet once a week for an hour or two where one member of the group will give an
oral report on a paper s/he has read or a research topic s/he has studied. The
group ask question and probe the understanding of the reporter. One soon learns
to be prepared for these reports or suffer humiliation in front of the group. In
addition, I critique mercilessly the presentation from the viewpoint of clarity
and technique. I always say to my students that I cannot teach them how to be
smart, but I can surely teach them how to give a good talk. It is something
everyone can and should learn. The best compliment I can receive is to hear
people say at a conference after listening a talk ”you can always tell that the
speaker is a former student of Ho”. Often year later student return to tell me
that the most useful thing they learned at Harvard was the presentation skill
(see the unsolicited testimonial by Mike Yang in my blog page “more on how to
do research 5/17/07).
At end of the group meeting, we usually retire to a restaurant near the campus
for lunch. The talk at lunch is more informal. But it is here much of the
unspoken tradition of research and the rules of the game are passed on .
Individually I meet with ph.d student at least once a week to find out what s/he
has accomplished. I push very hard during these one-on-one face-to-face
meetings. We are not a teacher-students pair but two colleagues arguing and
seeking truth. No holes barred. We each argue, conjecture, and make mistakes.
Students soon learn to come well prepared, argue with me, and eventually can
push back when I push them. That is when I feel they have learned to stand on
their own technically and can leave to meet the world. The two most important
things for the student to develop during this period are how to gain self-
confidence and how to ask questions. I always say half jokingly that once the
problem has been properly formulated, you can always hired a technician to solve
it for you. This process of scientific maturing lasts over four to five years
of the student’s ph.d career. When I mentioned in my first blog article of self
introduction (4/25/07) that I just finished my first ph.d student from Tsinghua
as if he was my regular Harvard student. The above process is what I mean. This
student is Dr. Jia Qing-Shan now a lecturer at Tsinghua jiaqs@tsinghua.edu.cn.
You can contact him directly to get his experience, particularly on how it is
different from the prevailing Chinese examination style of ph.d. production. He
can offer you the student’s viewpoint.
https://wap.sciencenet.cn/blog-1565-2950.html
上一篇：中国孝子
下一篇：On Language and Translation #3
My motivation to write on this topic was inspired by Professor 黄安年 ‘s
article on “导师学术休假 研究生“放羊” ”. Furthermore, I felt that my own
assertion concerning the two different styles of Ph.D education in “How to do
Research? (5/17/07)” requires a bit more explanation.
Actually the Chinese translation of the word “Sabbatical” into “休假” is
very faithful to the original intent of the word. Also traditionally, sabbatical
is considered a privilege rather than a “right”. However, in recent decades,
sabbatical in US research universities has taken on a somewhat different
connotation. It is an opportunity for you to be free from teaching and other
academic obligations in order to accomplish some important scholarly task such
as finish a book, or start a new project or research direction. The idea of
“taking a rest” is the farthest thing from your mind. You are not expected to
neglect your research and research students. You are expected to add luster to
your work during a sabbatical. The department sometimes in fact would suggest
that you take a sabbatical if you have been teaching for too long. The operating
rule, which is quite typical, at my department has been this: “One year of
sabbatical at half pay after six years of full time service. Ideally, the six
years will be further broken into two parts by inserting another semester or
academic year of leave without pay midway through. Thus, you are generally away
from your department job every three years.” The thinking here is that you
should be able to find funding to support yourself during those periods of away
from teaching. Now funding means producing research and not taking a rest. In
1987 when I was taking a sabbatical and visiting MIT, I deliberately park my car
at Harvard every morning and each of my research graduate students took turn
walking with me the two miles of distance from Harvard to MIT. This way, we get
to talk about his/her research at least one or two times a week for half an hour
each. In 1989, when I took a leave at UT Texas, I flew back to Boston every
month to have face-to-face interactions with my ph.d. students. This is not
because I am particularly generous with my time. It is enlightened self-interest.
This brings up the issue of 牧羊 and 放羊. China had a well developed system of
examinations during her dynasty days of thousands of years. People rise through
local, regional, and finally imperial examinations to become 秀才，进士，状元.
You are awarded these ”degrees ” through competitive examinations based on
your self study (十年寒窗). I suppose such concepts were carried over to the
system today of scientific endeavors. Ph.d and master degrees are awarded
based on “examinations” The role of an advisor becomes that of an examiner
rather than a mentor. You duties are simply to insure rules are observed and
certain standards are met. As such, people feel they can “supervise” fifty to
hundred research students. But my experience and opinion are that this is not
a good way of producing ph.ds in science and technology. “Quality” and
“Taste” in research are unlikely to be learned through examinations. Sure,
real genius come along every now and then. They do well no matter what. But most
of us mortals need guidance and experience to learn to do research well.
Interaction and feedback with your advisor is a necessary part of this process.
Again take my own experience which is not at all unique. Before retirement, I
have usually a group of less than ten ph.d students, postdocs, and visitors. We
meet once a week for an hour or two where one member of the group will give an
oral report on a paper s/he has read or a research topic s/he has studied. The
group ask question and probe the understanding of the reporter. One soon learns
to be prepared for these reports or suffer humiliation in front of the group. In
addition, I critique mercilessly the presentation from the viewpoint of clarity
and technique. I always say to my students that I cannot teach them how to be
smart, but I can surely teach them how to give a good talk. It is something
everyone can and should learn. The best compliment I can receive is to hear
people say at a conference after listening a talk ”you can always tell that the
speaker is a former student of Ho”. Often year later student return to tell me
that the most useful thing they learned at Harvard was the presentation skill
(see the unsolicited testimonial by Mike Yang in my blog page “more on how to
do research 5/17/07).
At end of the group meeting, we usually retire to a restaurant near the campus
for lunch. The talk at lunch is more informal. But it is here much of the
unspoken tradition of research and the rules of the game are passed on .
Individually I meet with ph.d student at least once a week to find out what s/he
has accomplished. I push very hard during these one-on-one face-to-face
meetings. We are not a teacher-students pair but two colleagues arguing and
seeking truth. No holes barred. We each argue, conjecture, and make mistakes.
Students soon learn to come well prepared, argue with me, and eventually can
push back when I push them. That is when I feel they have learned to stand on
their own technically and can leave to meet the world. The two most important
things for the student to develop during this period are how to gain self-
confidence and how to ask questions. I always say half jokingly that once the
problem has been properly formulated, you can always hired a technician to solve
it for you. This process of scientific maturing lasts over four to five years
of the student’s ph.d career. When I mentioned in my first blog article of self
introduction (4/25/07) that I just finished my first ph.d student from Tsinghua
as if he was my regular Harvard student. The above process is what I mean. This
student is Dr. Jia Qing-Shan now a lecturer at Tsinghua jiaqs@tsinghua.edu.cn.
You can contact him directly to get his experience, particularly on how it is
different from the prevailing Chinese examination style of ph.d. production. He
can offer you the student’s viewpoint.
https://wap.sciencenet.cn/blog-1565-2950.html
上一篇：中国孝子
下一篇：On Language and Translation #3
