The Robotics Doctoral and Masters Programs at Carnegie Mellon are the first and still the only degrees based on a term and technology coined and envisioned in fiction. Throughout the Ph.D. and M.Sc. programs, this sense of pioneering remains. With far-flung backgrounds in education, culture and interests, the faculty and students are a diverse group, resulting in a stimulating and challenging environment -- and a lot of fun.
RoboGrads enjoy a stable work environment through guaranteed academic funding for students in good standing. The computing and laboratory facilities are world-class. The work environment is enhanced by an open and friendly community of researchers and results in an attrition rate among students that is incredibly low. The interdisciplinary nature of robotics allows for a wide range of experiences, from building hardware for the real world to programming mission-critical applications to developing the underlying theories that drive research.
The vast scope of robotics research and the relative infancy of the field create exciting opportunities for novel contributions and creation of new paradigms. Students interact with other students and faculty outside their group to establish common threads of research. The Robotics Seminar provides an active global link where distinguished speakers from the robotics community present their work and perspectives. Additional seminars organized by various research groups in the Robotics Institute (RI) and the Computer Science Department (CS) give us an opportunity to meet leading robotics researchers from around the world.
A student begins life in the Robotics Program in an intensive and informative immigration course, leading to the selection of an advisor in the "marriage process." The first two to three years of the Robotics Ph.D. Program are spent working on both qualifiers and independent research. The qualifiers are a series of courses that cover the basic areas of perception, cognition, manipulation, and mathematics as well as advanced studies in a specialized area for each student. Qualifiers in teaching, writing, speaking and research ensure a well rounded professional identity. Summers offer the opportunity to explore professional lifestyles in industry or academia through internships. The emerging norm for the duration of a student's stay in the Ph.D. program is four to five years. Balancing research, classes, and outside activities can be quite a challenge - students learn a great deal about time management during the first few years of the program.
After completing the qualifiers, typically during the third year of study, students begin preparing their thesis proposals. The student selects a committee of faculty members to serve as the thesis committee, including someone from outside Carnegie Mellon. The proposed project is presented in an open seminar, and after the faculty committee approves the line of research the student enters "thesis mode" and advances to Ph.D. candidacy. Typically one and a half or more years later the student is ready to write the dissertation document and defend the thesis in a public oral examination. The research is disseminated in conference and journal publications and formalized in the written thesis. With help from faculty and colleagues, the student usually searches for a job or generates an enterprise in this same period of time.
The M.Sc. program is essentially the first two years of the Ph. D. program. The "marriage process" and course requirements are identical to those of the doctoral program, the only difference being that the number of required courses is lower. All the requirements of the master's program can be used towards a doctoral degree if the student chooses to apply to the Ph.D. program. The technical knowledge gained completing the M.Sc. well prepares the student for a career in robotics, or the many related fields.
The courses in the Robotics Program serve to create a common basis for technical interaction. Students find that the course structure is evolving over time to accomodate various needs. Faculty listen closely to student feedback even while courses are in progress. Based on student input, faculty have revamped whole parts of the curriculum. The environment at the RI is one of partnership rather than of hierarchy. Students are on a first-name basis with faculty and participate at all levels of activity. This activity includes the generation of new research ideas, the consequent composition of funding proposals, and the active participation of students on the Admissions Committee, Curriculum Committee, and various institute quality management committees. In return, students are expected to think and act as a leaders by honoring their commitments to remain in good academic standing, to identify and formulate thesis ideas, and, through innovation, to contribute to the field of robotics.
The social calendar for RoboGrads is lively with events for just about everyone. During the first month of every academic year, these events include a picnic, dinner party with faculty, a whitewater rafting trip, and a fiercely contested croquet tournament. The year is marked by monthly social events such as the winter holiday party, a ski trip to a nearby skiing resort, and innumerable ethnic or simply pizza lunches. In the RoboLounge, students relax, eat lunch together, watch TV, or play pool and foosball. RoboGrads are also notorious for their exuberant competition in intramural soccer, hockey, ultimate frisbee, waterpolo and softball. Spouses and significant others are welcome at all events.
RoboGrads have historically been active in the campus community through their participation in the Graduate Student Assembly (GSA). The GSA serves dual purposes. The first of these is to plan social, recreational and educational activities to promote the interaction of graduate students both within their own departments and between departments. Secondly, the GSA is a representative body through which graduate students can express their views to the university administration. The GSA provides funding for several ethnic and national graduate student organizations, such as the Black Graduate Student Organization, Chinese Graduate Student Organization and Mayur (for Indian students), as well as RoboOrg itself.
We hope that you'll get a chance to know us and join us as a colleague at the Robotics Institute.
The RoboGrads