Keynote at Doctoral Consortium - CAiSE 2013 - Valencia Spain

Completing the Dissertation,
Publishing, Getting Tenure, and
Making Career Choices
1
Sandeep Purao
College of Information Sciences and Technology
Penn State University, University Park, PA, USA
CAiSE’13 Doctoral Consortium
Valencia Spain, June 2013

© Sandeep Purao. spurao@ist.psu.edu
12 reasons not to get a PhD
2
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-57468913/12-reasons-not-to-get-a-phd/
1. A PhD can take twice as long as a bachelor’s degree to complete
2. Professors will exploit you
3. You could drop out (57% completion rate, 10 years after joining)
4. You might end up on government help
5. Academic jobs are hard to find
6. It could cost you
7. You probably will not get tenure (68% in the US are without)
8. Universities would eliminate tenure if they could
9. More than 50% of the faculty are part-timers
10. Jobs can be scarce for PhDs outside academia
11. Difficult to find placement info for PhDs so you don’t know what to expect
12. Unfortunately, you can’t eat prestige
Introduction

But if you persist (and succeed)
3
< 3%
have a
PhD
Less than
half have
tenure
Fewer get
full and
round :)
Population
Introduction

My Accidental Journey
• Not an ‘academically-oriented’ family background
• Bachelor of Commerce, Chartered Accountant, Practicing ..
• PhD in MIS (Management Science, with Minor in Computer Science)
• First job at Georgia State University, Business School
• Post-tenure, moved to Penn State, Information School
• Now - Professor of IST at Penn State, and affiliations elsewhere
• Research Director, Center for Enterprise Architecture
• Affiliate Appointments - Industrial Engg, Engineering Design
• Publications in IS, SE, CS, CSCW, Health Informatics
• Editorial Boards: MISQ, ISR, JAIS, IT&M, JDM and others
• Research: design science, knowledge management
4
Introduction

You
• Simon Forster - Investigating the Collaborative Process of Process Modeling
• Clara Ayora - Towards the Enhancement of Process Families Support using
Change Patterns
• Diana Marosin - Towards a Principle-Based Framework for Enterprise Architecture
Rationalization
• Hugo Alatrista - Salas A Spatial-based KDD Process to Better Understand the
Spatiotemporal Phenomena
• Fáber Danilo Giraldo Velásquez - A framework for evaluating the ontological
quality of languages in MDE environments
• Patricia Martin-Rodilla - Software-Assisted Knowledge Generation in the
Archaeological Domain: A Conceptual Framework
• Muhammad Aun Abbas - Compatible and incompatible ontology mappings
• Maria Fernanda Granda Juca - An Approach for Testing-Based Conceptual
Schema Validation in a Model-Driven Environment
5
Introduction

Your journey so far ..
• Education and Life decisions so far
• Making the decision to pursue a PhD
• And now – Working on a dissertation
• What comes Next ?
– Completing the Dissertation
– Publishing your Work
– Getting Tenure
– Making Career Choices
6
Introduction

Against the backdrop of -
7
• Macro-level Concerns
– Global academic marketplace
– Distance education and MOOCs
– Walmartization of education and research
– State and Private funding of research and education
– Demographics: graying in Europe and North America
• Micro-level Concerns
– Disciplines - IS, CS, SE, DB, others
– Schools – Engineering, Business, Information, Design
Introduction

So, let’s get this straight
The Game is Real*
8
* Orson Scott Card
From Ender’s Game. Nov 2013
Introduction

A Fundamental Choice
9
• An Accidental Career
– If you build it, they
will come
– If you write it, they
will read
• A Planned Career
– What choices will
you face?
– What decisions will
you make?
Introduction

An Exercise
• Circa 2015
– I will be (doing) - -
– Others will know me for / as - -
• Circa 2020
• Circa 2025
10
• Please create a short
statement that starts
with the prompts
provided for each
time period.
• Write it down
(preferably in an
editable format) and
bring along to the
Doctoral
Consortium.
Introduction

How will you get there?
11
• Circa 20XX
– I will be an Assistant Professor of Software Engineering in the
most prestigious university in the region. I will be working on
multiple projects related to mobile applications in the cloud.
– Others will know me for my expertise in pricing models for
cloud computing applications in the social web.
– What should I do now to ensure that I achieve my goal(s)?
Introduction

Our Agenda Today
• Introductions ✔
• Task 1: Completing your Dissertation
• Task 2: Publishing your Work
• Task 3: Getting Tenure
• Task 4: Making Career Choices
• Wrap-up
12

Task 1 : Completing the Dissertation
13
• Now that you are well along your dissertation effort
• Framing your topic
• Finishing your writing
• Planning for outcomes
• Knowing your place
• Targeting audience(s)

Framing the Topic
14
Completing the Dissertation
Prior
Work
This
Work

Finishing your Writing
15
HBR June 2013
99U.com

Planning for Outcomes
16
DissertationDissertation
http://www.flickr.com/photos/caseorga
nic/5376366869/sizes/o/in/photostrea
m/

Knowing your place
17
(Applegate 1996, cited in Purao 2002)

Targeting Audiences
18
Academic and
Practitioner
Conferences
Working with
Industry for
Potential use
Writing research
papers for
archival journals

First Refinement
19
Was there anything
you heard that you
want to use and
revise your plans for
2015?
Please add two
bullets that describe
actions you will take
now to reach your
goals for 2015.
• Circa 2015
– To get there, I will need to - -
• Circa 2020
• Circa 2025

Task 2 : Publishing your Work
20
• Thinking about and delivering on the publications promise
• Writing as Reporting ?
• Writing as a Process
• Managing Timelines
• The Publication Process
– Does it get better?
• Setting up a Platform
• A Portfolio Approach

Writing as Reporting ?
21
• Conducting Research
• Understand problem
• Create solution
• Refine solution
• Gather data
• Analyze data
• Generate findings
• Reporting Research
• Describe approach
• Describe algorithms
• Describe benefits
• Demonstrate results
• Describe limitations
• Describe next steps
Do the research, THEN Report the results
Is this true?
Publishing

Writing as a Process
22
• Writing is not a process of reporting
– It is an integral part of doing research
• Writing is not a process of reporting
– It is a dialog with your colleagues
• Writing is critical because it allows you to connect
– With audiences, communities and colleagues
• Writing is critical because it allows you to work
– With multiple researchers
Publishing

Managing Timelines
23
Publishing
• Time as a Surrogate for the importance of Writing
– e.g. Conference Papers vs. Journal Articles
conference
journal
12 months
24 months
8 months
18 months

The Publication Process
24
Publishing
One
Version

The Publication Process
25
Publishing
One
Version

Does it get better?
26
Publishing

Setting up the Platform
27
Publishing
DissertationDissertation
NOW

A Portfolio Approach
28
Program
Impact
yes
yes
Publishing

Second Refinement
29
• Circa 2015
• Circa 2020
• Circa 2025
Was there anything
you heard that you
want to use and
2020?
Please add two
now to reach your
goals for 2020.
Publishing

Task 3 : Getting Tenure
30
• Tenure sets you free
• What is tenure
• What gets you tenure
– Multiple Models
• Membership in an Exclusive Club
• Participating in the community
• Cultivating ‘externals’

What is Tenure
31
Getting Tenure
• Academic tenure is primarily intended to
guarantee the right to academic freedom.
• It protects teachers and researchers when
they dissent from prevailing opinion, openly
disagree with authorities …
• The intent of tenure is to allow … scholars
the intellectual autonomy to investigate the
problems … about which they are most
passionate, and to report their honest
conclusions. http://galileo.rice.e
du/bio/narrative_7.h
tml
Galileo's belief in
the Copernican
System eventually
got him into trouble
with the Catholic
Church.

What gets you tenure
32
Performance = F + F*P + F*T (2a)
Performance = P + P*F + P*T (2b)
Impact = C + C*F + C*F*P + C*F*T (3b)
Impact = C + C*P + C*P*F + C*P*T (3a)
There are other possibilities
Legend:
R = Research, T=Teaching, F=Funding, P=Publications, S=Service
Getting Tenure
Performance = R + R*T (1) basic model
variations

Multiple Models
33
The 3 P’s Model
Papers
PhD Students
Pounds
The 3 F Model
Funding
Funding
Funding
The Impact Model
Patents
Partnerships
Start-ups
Institution
The Educator Model
Teaching Evaluations
New Courses
New Programs
Getting Tenure
Path

Membership in an Exclusive Club
34
• Who grants you Tenure?
• The University you belong to
• On whose Recommendation?
• Your Research Community
• What does Tenure really mean?
• ‘Acceptance’ by your research community
• What does it mean for the University?
• Reputation, Recognition, Influence

Participating in the Community
35
Volunteer
Review
Serve
Help
Comment
Discuss
Submit
Attend
Listen
Contact
Sport
Pass
Tackle
Block
Score
Getting Tenure

Cultivating ‘Externals’
36
You
Computer
Science
Business
School
Information
School
Research
Labs
Getting Tenure

Third Refinement
37
• Circa 2015
• Circa 2020
• Circa 2025
Was there anything
you heard that you
want to use and
2025?
Please add two
now to reach your
goals for 2025.
Getting Tenure

Task 4 : Making Career Choices
38
• You will need to make some choices
• The decision tree
• Deciding on the first job and then ..
• Choosing your focus
• Getting ready to jump
• The “rules of thumb”

The decision tree
39
Now
Academia
Industry
Research
Teaching
Practice
R & D

Deciding on the first job and then ..
40
You
First Job Next Job Next Job Next Job Next Job

Choosing your focus
41
• Teaching
– Because students are the reason we are here
• Research and academic publications
– Because there is value in what you have done
• Connecting and partnering with industry and government
– Because you want to make an immediate impact
• Service to the profession, department, college and university
– Because you believe in the causes and want to contribute

Getting ready to jump
42

The “rules of thumb”
43
You
First Job Next Job Next Job Next Job Next Job
• Rule 1: Go to the place with the best reputation
• Rule 2: Go with the job that enhances your options
• Rule 3: Go with the job that gives you a chance to build
• Rule 4: Go with the job that allows you to help others
• Rule 5: Stop when things are no longer exciting

Our discussion so far
• Introductions ✔
• Task 1: Completing your Dissertation ✔
• Task 2: Publishing your Work ✔
• Task 3: Getting Tenure ✔
• Task 4: Making Career Choices ✔
• Wrap-up
44

Wrap-up
The Game is Real*
45
* Orson Scott Card
From Ender’s Game. Nov 2013
The choices you make
matter, regardless of
what you think (or not
think) about them
Wrap-up

Final Refinement
46
• Circa 2015
• Circa 2020
• Circa 2025
It is ok to steal from your
colleagues :)
Wrap-up
Did your colleagues
interpret things
differently? Do you like
something in their
plans / actions?
Make final revisions.
Was there anything you
heard that you want to
use and revise any plans
/ actions?

47
Completing the Dissertation, Publishing, Getting
Tenure, and Making Career Choices
Sandeep Purao
College of Information Sciences and Technology
Penn State University, University Park, PA, USA
www.purao.net
spurao@ist.psu.edu
Our final task today (depending upon time availability)
1.Read out something from what your colleagues wrote.
2.Open discussion with mentors and colleagues.

Keynote at Doctoral Consortium - CAiSE 2013 - Valencia Spain

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