Prospective Undergraduate Students

If you require funding, I have listed options for obtaining funding here .

Topics of Interest

Thank you for your interest in working with me. Here's how you can find more information about what we are currently doing.
    • You should check out the list of possible topics on my webpage to see if your and my research interests overlap.
    • My main focus is currently machine learning for relational databases. Our Project Web Page provides information about our system, algorithms and papers.
    • I can give you more specific information according to what projects I'm currently pursuing in further discussion.

Expectations

I note some points below that I have found to clarify expectations for undergraduate assistants.
  • Fairly often I ask an undergraduate research assistant to team up with a graduate student, which helps both make faster progress.
  • Motivation: Many students want to experience what research is like and to work on challenging problems, which is great. But for some an important motivation is the desire to add coauthorship on publications on their C.V., for example for applying for graduate school. If you are in that group, please note the following.
    • Research can fail. Especially if it's trying to achieve a breakthrough. It's possible to work for months and not achieve a publishable result.
    • Publication can take time. Depending on the submission deadline, even a successful project may take 6-8 months to appear in conference proceedings. If the submission is initially rejected, we may need another 6 months for the next conference. Typical acceptance rates are 20-30%, so rejection is not unusual.
    • If you are concerned about getting results by a deadline, you should let me know and I can see if I have a suitable project. For example, sometimes I need assistance to complete work on a paper that has already been reviewed. That is usually fast to complete and has a higher chance of acceptance because we already had reviewer feedback.

If you want to proceed

  1. A typical scenario is that you are an SFU student and you have taken a course from me. In that case we can have discussions in the context of the course, for example during my office hours.
  2. If we haven't met before, you may want to send me information about yourself. Please look here for guidance on what information I find helpful. Please send me hardcopies, not emails. I simply do not have the time to print all the documentation I get, let alone look at it. If you are applying from abroad, I understand it may expensive or difficult to send material.
  3. Many undergraduate students are okay with working on a project without funding. If funds are available, I usually make an effort to provide financial support for students who are working with me for a longer period. Please check here for a list of funding opportunties.