Awful apartments, and a loose plan with Paul and Katie

We're in San Diego for an Anoushka Shankar concert, and so I drove up to Irvine to look at apartments, and to meet with Katie and Paul. It was also Graduate Visit Day; I didn't attend much of it, but I was a little surprised to see that it was actually a recruiting event for students that hadn't decided on which school to go to.

Housing

Apartment hunting was eye opening and successful, in that I'm now almost 100% sure I can't live in an apartment complex. While some of the buildings were nicer than others, and some of the units were clean and even "mature" in their aesthetic, there's just a sense of compressedness—everyone is living on top of each other. If you're used to this and lived in a similarly dense environment, these were probably great—but I'm used to a yard and some degree of neighborless tranquility. I can't imagine trying to work in such close quarters.

Additionally, the appliances are consistently dated, and ouch, countertops from the 70s...

As I was driving around, I got a sense for how long things take to navigate. I think I'm okay extending our search a little further out, to a 15 or 20 minute commute. Traffic was only obnoxious on the 5, and it seems like 73 is consistently lighter.

So, next step on housing is going to be in Juneish, and with a focus on houses in either Laguna Beach or Costa Mesa.

Initial planning

On the academic side, I spent about an hour with Katie and Paul. We discussed the overall nature of the PhD cadence, and then focused on year 1 in a little more depth. Katie mentioned, and then shared, documents created by a previous student that have a small overlap in interests around creativity; this was helpful, in that it showed the depth and quality that's expected. None of the materials seem overly intimidating to create; I need to get used to the "academic" part of the writing, particularly on citations, because it seems like every third word is a reference to something else. It's super difficult to read, and I understand why people write off the value of academic materials as being unapproachable.

For fun, I pushed all of the documents through NotebookLM. I like that I can interrogate the documents; I created a podcast of the material, and it was thin to the point of being trash, which I think is the point of a podcast.

This is what my year 1 is looking like:

I'm perplexed, but sort of in a positive way, by how open-ended a lot of this is. I'm very good at giving structure to the ambiguous, but I can see how younger students (who lack experience managing vague projects) could be overwhelmed by it. I also see how that ambiguity somewhat inevitably leads someone to gain skills in being self-directed—and if they don’t develop those skills, they'll never succeed.

This is my chat-gpt supported summary of the key points of the meeting:

Comprehensive Exam & Advancement

• The comprehensive exam is typically completed by the end of year three but could happen in year two.
• It involves selecting a topic, reviewing relevant literature (50-80 sources), and writing a paper, with committee approval.
• Advancement requires a portfolio of three publication-quality papers, at least one as the lead author. The process includes a public presentation and evaluation of research skills.

Research & First-Year Focus

• Start a small study in year one to produce an academic paper.
• Focus on research questions, methods, and literature conversations.
• Use tools like Miro boards to track ideas and discussions with advisors.

Electives & Independent Studies

• Electives can help with networking and interdisciplinary connections.
• If not taking electives, enroll in independent studies (298s/299s) with faculty for structured accountability.
• These studies contribute to comprehensive exams and committee selection.

Committee & Collaboration

• The committee must have at least three members, with a majority from Informatics.
• External members are possible with special approval.
• Consider collaborating with academics outside UCI.