Information about Open Research Positions
If you are interested on doing research with me, this page contains helpful
information.
Ph.D. Positions
My research group has currently an open Ph.D. position in the general area
of Human-Computer Interaction and Interactive Virtual Reality. Students will
have the opportunity to work in a large interdisciplinary research group,
and will have access to several very well equipped laboratories.
The Interactive Systems Research Group
(ISRG) is part of the
Department of Computer Science and
Engineering and the
Centre for Vision Research at
York University
in Toronto, Canada. Accepted candidates for full-time studies will receive
full funding as specified in our graduate program.
Prerequisites:
- Entrance requirements for the
Graduate
Program in Computer Science and Engineering.
Please refer to the corresponding WWW page for details.
- Very good academic achievements (average of A).
- Good English language skills (i.e. speak & read English fluently, write
English well).
- The ability to work in a team.
- A background in Human-Computer Interaction, Virtual Reality,
Computer Graphics, or Psychology as documented by a MSc thesis
(or equivalent) or by successfully completed projects in the area.
Strongly desirable criteria:
- At least one course in human-computer interaction/human factors or
virtual reality or equivalent experience (highly desirable).
- Good presentation skills.
- Having published at least one scientific publication.
- Eligibility for local scholarships (average of A or better over
last 2 years of studies, excellent reference
letters, Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada).
For more information on how to become a permanent resident of Canada,
please refer to the
official requirements.
If you fulfill the prerequisites, please send the following documents
informally in electronic version via e-mail to me. All attached documents
should be in PDF, ASCII, or HTML format.
- An extended CV, including grades in HCI, VR, and 3D Graphics courses as well
as the overall weighted average grade (please specify the maximum achieveable
grade, too). The
CV should also include a description of all projects (inside and outside
university) you worked on, as well as a list of your skills and hobbies.
This CV can also be made available on your home page.
- The URL for your homepage, which should also include links to the
places where you have worked before.
- Either URL's or electronic copies of all your publications.
- A statement of your future research plans (1-2 pages).
Please note that applications from Ph.D. students whose background does not
match the above criteria will be handled with much lower priority. In other
words, if you are seriously interested in working with me, I suggest you
take appropriate courses or work on projects within HCI or Virtual Reality
before you apply to increase your chances of acceptance.
Master's Positions
If you are interested in working towards a Master's degree with me
you must fulfill the graduate program entrance requirements,
have taken at least one
Human-Computer Interaction course, have very good academic
achievements (average of A) and good English language skills,
and have the ability to work in a team. Furthermore, you should fulfill
most of the desirable criteria listed above. Then apply to the
Graduate Program in Computer Science and Engineering
and specify "Human-Computer Interaction / 3D Interaction" as your main
area of interest.
As there are usually many more applicants who want to work with me compared
to the numbers I can fund, your application may be rejected even though
you do fullfil the criteria. For such cases I can only point to the possibility
of being accepted as a graduate student if you bring your own funding
in the form of a scholarship with you (or you fund yourself).
Master's Positions (Interdisciplinary Master's degree)
Another way to study for a Master's with me is through the full-time
Interdisciplinary Master's
degree. This requires that you identify three different
academic disciplines that are relevant for your proposed area of research.
For studies in Human-Computer Interaction, such a combination is e.g.
Computer Science/Engineering, Design (Fine Arts), and Psychology/Perception.
You need to write a proposal that documents adequately why your proposed area
of specialization does not fit into one of the traditional disciplines.
Note that the funding model for this program is different, e.g.
the funding level depends on your grade average.
From my side the requirements to support such a proposal are identical
to the criteria mentioned above, except that you do not need a Bachelor's
degree in Computer Science and Engineering, i.e. undergraduate degrees
from other disciplines are acceptable. However, you need to have at significant
documentable Computer Science and Engineering skills. If you are interested
in applying for this position you should contact me with a draft proposal for
your intended area of study. The proposal should be in accordance with
the guidelines from the Interdiscplinary Master's program.
Internship Positions
In general, we do not support undergraduate students from abroad for
paid internships. One of the main issues here is that the buerocratic
and financial overhead for such positions is relatively large. If you are
really interested in working with me, I suggest you finish your undergraduate
program first and then apply for a graduate student position, see above.
Alternatively, you can work with me without funding.
Note on the Application Process
Please note that faculty members cannot accept new graduate students directly.
That means, any e-mail communication with me is just an informal mechanism.
To be admitted, you must send your application through the York
Graduate Admission office. This office performs a first round of selections,
based on their standardized conversion of grade scales.
Subsequently, the remaining applications are screened again by a Departmental
admissions committee. Individual faculty members only get to comment/decide
on files that have passed this process.
Note to Applicants without a Computer Science and Engineering Background
If you do not have a Computer Science and Engineering background, your
chances of acceptance into our graduate Computer Science and Engieneering
program with a funding guarantee are close to zero.
The reason is that students may receive part of
their funding via teaching assistant duties for Computer Science and
Engineering courses. Hence they need an appropriate background for
receiving this kind of money.
In this situation, one option is the above mentioned Interdisciplinary
Master's degree. The only other way is to attract enough external
funding (such as scholarships) to support yourself to a large part,
i.e. significantly more than 50% of your total funding.
Then apply and state clearly in your application that you have already
a large scholarship and that you are willing to accept a reduced
funding guarantee from our side.
Note to International Applicants
Due to Ontario funding regulations, only a small portion of our graduate
student population can consist of students with international visas
(i.e. students from outside of North America). This severely
limits our ability to accept foreign students into our program and means
that only exceptional individuals can be considered for acceptance. In
general, Ph.D. students are also given priority over Master's students.
By far the best way to deal with this is to apply for permanent residency
in Canada before or at the same time as applying to Ph.D. studies,
as the processing time for
permanent residency applications is often longer than a year. Then
mention the details of your residency application in your application
letter to our graduate program. An added
benefit is that you are then also eligible for many Canadian scholarship
opportunities!
Note on Application Timelines
In our graduate program the application deadline for all graduate students
(Master's and PhD) is in January or February for each year and
students start their work in September. Canadian citizens or permanent
residents may be eligible to start their work in January or May, but need
permission by the graduate director for submitting their application.
International students, who need a student visa, can only start in
September, if they want to receive funding from our program.
How Good Are My Chances?
Admission to our graduate program is quite competitive. We usually have
several hundred applications each year, and only a small percentage (5-10%)
of those will start each September.
The large majority of accepted students are Canadians or permanent residents.
A weighted grade average of A
over all Computer Science courses in the last two years of studies is more
or less a precondition for acceptance (conversion between different grade
scales in different countries is done by the York Admissions office). We also
carefully evaluate the reference letters and other materials submitted with
your application. Finally, we also try to match the existing skills of
students with the requirements of potential supervisors. However, and to
emphasize how important good grades are, please note that the primary
ranking of candidates is by grade averages.
As there are limits of how many students a professor can supervise (e.g.
funding, time, and space), you may also not be accepted if
you apply for a research area that is popular, even though you fulfill
all requirements. E.g. in some previous years we had many applications in
database related fields, while we had only few in theory.
As for my own group, I am usually able to accept 1 to 3 new graduate
students each year. The number of students applying to join my research
group each year is usually many times larger.
If you really want to work with me, and your grades are good enough, but
your application is rejected because I don't have enough resources to
support you, you may want to consider applying for scholarships to attract
funding to work with me. Another option is to apply as a part-time
student without a funding guarantee, but this is only possible for Master's
level studies.
Meetings at Academic Conferences
I am regularly at academic conferences in my research areas, e.g.
ACM CHI, ACM UIST, IEEE 3DUI, IEEE VR. If you are attending such an event,
I am happy to meet with applicants, as long as you contact me well before
the event so we can schedule a meeting.
Further Information
Please note that the above information is based on my experience and
opinions and may deviate from official requirements and positions.