Amanda Hughes
CSCI 7900
10/10/2006
I interviewed Professor Leysia Palen for this assignment. We began our interview
by discussing why Professor Palen decided to pursue a PhD.
As an undergraduate she got involved in some research which she greatly
enjoyed. After this experience she knew she wanted to do more research. When she
completed her undergraduate degree, she took a job at Boeing. She used her time at
Boeing to learn about the industry and to try and decide what path she wanted to take
in her career. She discovered that she wanted to be able to lead research, not just
participate in it. Graduate school seemed to be the best path to accomplish this so she
went back to school to get her PhD.
When she went back to graduate school she really wanted to be able to initiate her
own research and at that time she felt like she could do it better than she had seen it
being done. Now, she laughs, she realizes that research is really hard. She feels that
there are still many improvements to be made, but in general research is not an easy
thing to do.
When considering getting a PhD and becoming a professor she wanted a career
where she could achieve intellectual autonomy, but still have control over family and
personal life. Her decision was a life issue, not just professional or personal. As a
professor she felt like she would have the flexibility to pursue her professional goals
as well as her personal goals.
In the field of Computer Science she feels it is important to be aware that
computers cross all boundaries of life. It is very much an inter-disciplinary field,
knitting in with many different areas. It is also a constantly evolving field. She feels
that students need to be aware of these things and remain flexible.
She also believes it is important to become involved in research early on in one’s
PhD pursuit. Many students focus on getting all of their classes done first. Taking
classes provides structure to the graduate student life, but unfortunately when the
classes are complete there is no formal structure and students are expected to create
their own structure with their research. It is kind of like a cliff, and it can be difficult
to overcome. For this reason she feels it is important to know that you are heading in
that direction, and start your research early so there is not as much of a break. She
has noticed PhD programs orienting differently to help students address this problem,
specifically with the recent changes in the CU CS department’s program.
Finally, she emphasized that getting a PhD prepares you for future research. It
will seem like such a large project and it will take you years to finish. What is really
important is you are learning how to do research and that takes time. Later in your
career you will engage in projects of the same scope but they will be less
overwhelming because you have done it before. It will also take much less time
because you already know how to research and you will be better at it.