readings.md

layout	page
title	Course Materials & Additional Readings
permalink	/readings/

We, as a society, hold beliefs about science that may be romanticized and inaccurate. These ideas can be exclusionary in the way we define a typical scientist and how science is done. These notions about science can also become obstacles for us as a community to perform rigorous, inclusive and useful science, impede us individually in our professional growth by contributing to unrealistic self-expectations (and therefore poor mental health), and hinder our ability to build supportive academic communities. We hope that these materials will provide you with a starting point to build a more accurate conception of science.

Acknowledgement: This reading list is adapted from the Readings page from Harvard CS 290. As such, some of the resources are somewhat CS-specific, but many of the high-level ideas transfer to Stats/ML.

Skill Building

In addition to developing technical skills, there are many equally important soft-skills you will learn as a PhD student -- skills like reading research papers, communicating at group meetings, writing research papers and rebuttals, and time management. Although you will likely have worked on similar skills throughout your academic and professional life so far, you may find that adapting the skills you already have to fit the needs of your PhD program is challenging. The resources below will help you get started. We hope that in going through them, you can shift your focus from outcome to process: you’re a PhD student and here to learn -- it wouldn’t make sense if you already knew how to do everything!

• How to make the most out of your PhD: a guide from current to incoming students{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}, which discusses:
  1. What should you expect from yourself in your first year?
  2. What does your advisor expect from you in your first year?
  3. How can you be supportive of your peers?
• Aaditya Ramdas has a number of helpful "checklists" for PhD students
• Terrance Tao has "career advice" at many levels of education
• [How to read a research paper]({{ site.baseurl }}/readings/how-to-read-a-research-paper){:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
  • Aaditya Ramdas: Tips on reading papers
• [How to communicate about weekly progress with your collaborators]({{ site.baseurl }}/readings/communication-in-collaborative-environments){:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
• [Designing and presenting computational experiments]({{ site.baseurl }}/readings/computational-experiments){:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
• How to give a research talk{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
• Trevor Campbell: How to Explain Things
• How to (and how not to) review a paper:
  • The Ins and Outs of Reviewing -- what's good, what's bad, what's ugly?{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
  • Mistakes Reviewers Make{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
  • Last minute reviewing advice{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
• Professor Margo Seltzer's Tips on Writing a Thesis{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
• Larry McEnerney: The Craft of Writing Effectively{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}

Different Professional Paths

While a career in academia may be fulfilling (e.g., What is it like to be a professor in computer science?{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}), when pursuing your PhD, you will be surrounded by academics, and you may feel pressure to pursue a similar career path. There are of course many career options that are fulfilling, whether in academia, industry, government, or NGOs, and many different ways to use the skills you develop in your PhD (even in jobs that do not list "PhD" as a qualification). We list some articles here that share perspectives you may hear less frequently from your mentors in hope to help you understand different professional paths:

• Why is it so hard for scientists to talk about leaving academia?{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
• Most Ph.Ds aren't professors{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
• Why it is not a 'failure' to leave academia{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
• The Jobs I Didn't See: My Misconceptions of the Academic Job Market{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
• To get a sense for what life might look like initially for an assistant professor at an R1 institution, see Advising Junior Colleagues{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"} and Aaditya Ramdas's "checklists" for Assistant Professors

Power Dynamics and Research in Context

Who decides which questions are interesting, what research is important and what research gets funded? How does this bias the scientific community towards specific types of discourse, and how does this ultimately affect our societal values and community? It is important to be cognizant of what forces shape our scientific communities, to be skeptical of and to challenge pre-existing values to ensure our research does not create or exacerbate disparities in our society. We list some papers below that illustrate these types of power dynamics in scientific communities as a starting point for you to engage with these issues.

• Saving Science{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
• Computing Technology as Racial Infrastructure: A History of the Present & Blueprint for Black Future{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
• Beyond Bias: Re-imagining the Terms of “Ethical AI” in Criminal Law{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
• "Fair" Risk Assessments: A Precarious Approach for Criminal Justice Reform{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
• Critical Race Theory for HCI{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}

Understanding Research in Societal Contexts

As scientists and engineers we might be tempted to think of the technology we design, along with the intended end-users, as a closed system. This is misleading because our research is embedded in a complex human system (i.e., society) where human values and history shape what research questions we consider interesting and important, and where our intended end-users are one actor in a web of stake-holders that may come in contact with or will be affected by our technology. In order to understand where our research questions come from and gauge the true down-stream effects of our reasearch output, we have to broaden our impact analysis to consider historical, cultural, political and social contexts.

• Word Embeddings Quantify 100 Years of Gender and Ethnic Stereotypes{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
• Ghost Work: How to Stop Silicon Valley from Building a New Global Underclass (talk{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}, book via Hollis{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"})
• Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism (talk{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}, book via Hollis{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"})
• The Filter Bubble: How the New Personalized Web Is Changing What We Read and How We Think (TED talk{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}, book{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"})

Academic Language and Currency

What is academic culture (language, customs, and values)? Who does this culture exclude and undervalue? And who does it include and award credit and recognition? As members of the academic and scientific communities, it is important for us to think about these questions, and examine our notions of meritocracy and individual excellence. Below are some resources to help you get started thinking about these issues.

• "The Pursuit of Collective Intelligence"{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}, a Talk by Professor Radhika Nagpal
• The Matthew Matilda Effect in Science{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
• Silent Technical Privilege: As a novice computer programmer, I always got the benefit of the doubt -- because I looked the part.{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
• Et al. for all: Citations as a Tool for Racial Equity, Inclusion, and Justice{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
• Racial and ethnic imbalance in neuroscience reference lists and intersections with gender{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
• The myth of the lone genius{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
• The Disappeared: Beyond Winning and Losing{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}

Problems with Publishing

Publications and citations serve as a form of currency in academic communities. As such, as academics, we often entangle our sense of self-worth with our publishing record. The publishing and peer-review processes are far from perfect, and we believe that understanding their pitfalls will help you disentangle your sense of self-worth, from the quality of the work you produce, and from the peer-reviews and publishing record of your research (whether good or bad).

• The NeurIPS experiment (2014){:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}, and a recent retrospective{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
• Misinformation in and about science{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
• Publish or perish: Where are we heading?{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
• The Journey of a Complaint at SIGCOMM HotNets 2020{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}

Mental Health in Academia

Even with a supportive advisor and community, the PhD process is intellectually and emotionally challenging; it often forces us to re-examine our closely-held beliefs and can challenge our sense of identity. And while the process may lead to growth, it may also lead to struggle. We want to normalize the struggles that PhD students face, as well as the practice of openly discussing these struggles and seeking help. We hope that some of these resources can help with understanding mental health challenges in academia.

• “I Know I Have to Work Twice as Hard and Hope That Makes Me Good Enough”: Exploring the Stress and Strain of Black Doctoral Students in Engineering and Computing{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
• “Black Genius, Asian Fail”: The Detriment of Stereotype Lift and Stereotype Threat in High-Achieving Asian and Black STEM Students{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
• For some graduate students, the cost of doing science is their mental health{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
• Dealing with Social Isolation to Minimize Doctoral Attrition -- A Four Stage Framework{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
• PhD Balance:
  • Mental Health in Academia by Fay Lin{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}
  • Grad Chat Podcast by PhD Balance{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}

We additionally encourage you to familiar yourself with UBC's mental health resources{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}, and consider finding a support network by affinity{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"} or interest{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}, or attending / joining a peer-to-peer support group on campus (e.g., GSS{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"} or group counseling{:target="_blank"}{:rel="noopener noreferrer"}).