Expectations for student research projects

This page is the reference for how I run research projects with undergraduate and master’s students. If you found it because you’re interested in collaborating, the first step is still the fifteen-minute meeting described on the main page; this document is meant to make expectations clear before we start and to give us both something to point back to later.

• New projects, not late-stage ones. I don’t generally add undergraduate or master’s students to late-stage projects, as getting a new collaborator up to speed usually slows down the project. If we work together, it will likely be on a new project that you lead, which gives you a better shot at being first author.
• Where ideas come from. We can develop a project idea together, or we can start from an idea you bring after some initial literature review. If you don’t have an idea yet, that’s fine; I have plenty to share.
• My role is mentor, not co-lead. I’ll help shape the project, meet with you regularly (at least once a week), and give you frequent feedback on your work and writing, but I expect you to own execution and most of the writing.
• Shared projects. If there are multiple strong candidates for working with me, I may recommend that you work on a shared project with one other person. In that case, the plan is co-first authorship, provided you both contribute at a co-first level and understand all major parts of the project, and we’ll have weekly group meetings plus shorter 1:1s every 2–3 weeks.
• An aggressive timeline. Every project starts by aiming for submission to a conference or arXiv within about four months. The goal is to keep scope focused, have honest monthly check-ins about progress, and make sure expectations are clear. If, over a couple of months, we consistently miss reasonable goals even after adjusting them, I’ll usually recommend ending or restructuring the collaboration so neither of us is quietly dragging around a project we don’t have time for. I expect the timeline to be achievable with about 15–20 hours of solid work per week (roughly two moderate courses), and we’ll adjust as needed.
• AI tools. To hit this timeline, I strongly encourage using AI tools at many stages (literature search, coding, drafting), as long as you fully understand the work and can defend its correctness. You’ll still need to follow your courses’ academic integrity policies if you use any part of the work in class assignments, and you’ll need to cite and double-check sources carefully to avoid plagiarism or hallucinated related work.
• Independent studies. Supervising an independent study for credit is a heavier commitment than mentoring a project, and I’m usually not able to offer one. Ask in our meeting if this matters to you.

I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to take on a project in any given semester, but if we meet and it seems like there’s a good mutual fit, this is what you can expect.