Advising

Check out the main squaresLab@CMU website for more information on my group and students, and our various research projects.

Undergraduate advising: CMU undergrads: I encourage you to check out the Undergraduate Minor/Concentration in Software Engineering! The current director is Michael Hilton, though of course you’re welcome to reach out to me as well if you’re interested in learning more.

I do periodically advise undergraduate research projects; see below.

Please note that I do not participate in (and indeed know remarkably little about) CMU/SCS undergraduate admissions.

Research advising: If you are a CMU student (grad or undergrad, in any program) interested in working with me, send an email (CC my admin, Jenni!) to set up an appointment. Be prepared to talk about research problems you find interesting. My current projects and recent publications are good starting points, but coming with your own ideas about interesting problems/potential solutions in analysis/transformation/search-based software engineering for improving software quality will only impress me, so don’t feel limited by what I’m currently doing. I have advised thesis/research projects and served on committees in a wide variety of schools/departments, so feel free to reach out even if you’re not in SCS or a PhD student.

Non-CMU students: You may apply to several of the PhD programs at CMU’s School of Computer Science at once; apply to those that match your interest area and background. If you are interested in working with me, apply to the S3D SE PhD program. Mention (and substantiate/justify!) your interest in my work to ensure that I see your application. Note that the SE PhD program does not look at GRE scores and does not have an application fee.

I discourage prospective PhD students from emailing me outside of application season about their plans to apply; I’ll simply repeat the above. I’m excited to meet you once you’re admitted, or through the various other channels outlined here.

Non-CMU PhD students interested in visiting: please contact me directly. Note that your chances will be much better if you secure an outside fellowship to support your visit, and even better than that if your research advisor emails me about you as well.

Masters students: I am happy to advise Masters theses when interests/topics align, see above.

The Masters of Software Engineering is an industry/practitioner-oriented (rather than a research-oriented) degree. I do not participate in the MSE admissions process. If you’d like to do research with me, apply to our PhD program instead. If you are a current MSE student who has developed an interest in research, contact me as noted above.

Undergraduate summer research: With Josh Sunshine and Charlie Garrod, I co-founded and co-direct the REUSE@CMU summer program.

REUSE@CMU provides summer research opportunities to undergrads interested in Interdisciplinary Software Engineering. We train students in all elements of research, including understanding literature, formulating research questions, developing novel solutions, and evaluating and communicating results. Our students regularly publish, and win awards in student research competitions; a number of our graduates have applied to and been accepted at top graduate programs.

If you are not at CMU (or even if you are), note that the vast majority of my group’s summer research interns come through this program. We’re interested in students from all walks of life: from rising freshmen to rising seniors and from regional state schools to small liberal schools to R1. Head over to the main site to learn more and apply!

The REUSE supports a large summer cohort by supplementing the site grant with other funding and supplements as available. However, our long term goal is to establish a permanent line of funding for the program. Contact me if you want to discuss.

REUSE 2016 cohort in front of The Fence