How to Be a Good Graduate Student (Characteristics of a Successful - - PDF document

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How to Be a Good Graduate Student (Characteristics of a Successful - - PDF document

How to Be a Good Graduate Student (Characteristics of a Successful Researcher) Biswanath Mukherjee Biswanath Mukherjee Child Family Professor Department of Computer Science University of California, Davis mukherje@cs.ucdavis.edu This


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How to Be a Good Graduate Student

(Characteristics of a Successful Researcher) Biswanath Mukherjee Biswanath Mukherjee

Child Family Professor Department of Computer Science University of California, Davis mukherje@cs.ucdavis.edu This presentation is located at: http://networks.cs.ucdavis.edu/~mukherje/GoodGradStudent.pdf

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

p j p Presented on: May 13, 2010 Dedicated to: Professor James S. Meditch, my PhD Advisor

The objective of this presentation is to train my graduate students to become better researchers and better citizens. The issues covered are examples and not exhaustive. Utility of this material is limited without the oral presentation. Not everyone may agree with my views.

  • Marketing

– Inbound… are your ears and eyes open? … are you receptive to (constructive) criticism?

  • Sale(s)

– Outbound (marketing)… elevator speech… can you modulate your talk? … writing skills!

  • Entrepreneurship
  • Marketing

  • Sale(s)
  • Entrepreneurship

General Comments

p p

– Monopolistic elements

  • Creating “value”

– Are you a scholar? … … a “philosopher”? … … having “fun”?

  • Industry R&D vs. Academic Research
  • (Developing) core competency

– Does every research work have to be “practical”?

  • Short-term pain + long-term gain

– Do you want to “create the wave”, ride the wave, or be at the trailing edge of the wave?

Barrier(s) to entr p p

  • Creating “value”
  • Industry R&D vs. Academic Research
  • (Developing) core competency
  • Short-term pain + long-term gain

Barrier(s) to entr

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

  • Barrier(s) to entry

– “Incremental” problems (“low-hanging fruit”) vs. hard/important problems

  • What makes a PhD Dissertation (or MS Thesis)?
  • 2+2 = 4 or 10(?)… the power of collaboration

– “cross-layer optimization” … sharing credit (and pain)

  • 10-90-0 (GS model) vs. 90-90-90 (or 33-33-33) (BM rule)
  • Barrier(s) to entry
  • What makes a PhD Dissertation (or MS Thesis)?
  • 2+2 = 4 or 10(?)… the power of collaboration
  • 10-90-0 (GS model) vs. 90-90-90 (or 33-33-33) (BM rule)
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  • Leadership
  • $5
  • Education
  • Ethics
  • Extraordinary (

)

Topics

  • PMA
  • Deadlines
  • Self-assessment
  • Research: Depth + Breadth
  • Extraordinary (…)
  • Overachiever
  • Logbook
  • (Measuring) Progress
  • Reward (-ing Yourself)
  • “Ego”
  • “Business”
  • Social-smartness
  • Research: Depth + Breadth
  • Publishing
  • Divide-and-Conquer
  • Appreciation
  • Communication
  • Writing
  • Speaking
  • Reading

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

  • Confidence
  • “Mafia”
  • Contrarian
  • (Level) Playing-field
  • Lazy
  • Dictionary
  • Off-Computer
  • Scholarship
  • Philosopher

Leadership Leadership

  • Who is a leader?
  • Are you a leader?
  • Do you need a title: CEO, etc.?
  • Do you “jump in”/volunteer when needed

(even before being asked)? “I am happy if others around me are happy”

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • I am happy if others around me are happy

– Do you “hog” food, space, etc. w/o caring if others got their fair share?

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

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Leadership (contd.) Leadership (contd.)

  • Do you understand politics?

– Is politics a bad word?

  • Do you understand diplomacy?

democracy is about dialog it does not

  • “(India has an excellent opportunity to

demonstrate to its neighbors that…)”

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • … democracy is about dialog… it does not

necessarily have to do with friendship… but it has to do with building working relationships among people who differ” – Bill Clinton

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

Leadership (contd.) Leadership (contd.)

  • “Treat others as you want others to treat you…”
  • When is the last time you showed some

random act of kindness?

– Today, yesterday, past week, past month, …

  • Form “good habits” early…

– Do you complete the “three-way handshake”?

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

y p y – How well do you handle (accept/convey) bad news?

  • Call a spade a spade?

– Communicate clearly (more later)

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

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Leadership (contd.) Leadership (contd.)

  • Are you heading towards

career middle management?

– “Buttering” upper management; and – Ruling subordinates with a stick

  • Should you rule with a stick or a carrot?
  • How can you get things done?

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

How can you get things done?

– … while keeping others happy…

  • Are you always conscious of “hierarchy”?

– Do you hold the door open for strangers?

  • “The truth story”

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

$5 $5

  • Do you always have $5 in your pocket?
  • Are you willing to buy coffee for a friend at any time?
  • Are you generous?
  • Are you ready to reward yourself at any time?
  • … investing in relationship…

“ ”?

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • What is the “bottom line”?

– … and “other lines”?

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

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Education Education

  • Who is an educated person?

– Degree holder?

  • Meaning of education?
  • My grandma was an “educated” person…
  • Are you ready to be an educator?
  • “Intelligence is uniformly distributed throughout

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • Intelligence is uniformly distributed throughout

the world… it is the opportunities that are not” – Bill Clinton

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

Ethics Ethics

  • “Just because you can do it, should you?”
  • Do you worry about ethics in an age of

technology: “green/clean tech”, IT, bio, climate, environment, globalization, etc.?

  • Do you think about where will the world be 10,

20, 50, 100, 300, … years from now?

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

0, 50, 00, 300, yea s

  • What is “tragedy of the commons”?

– And what are you doing about it?

  • No compromises on fairness, morals, law, …

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

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Extraordinary (…) Extraordinary (…)

  • You want extraordinary achievement?
  • Are your efforts extraordinary?

– Think about the efforts of the best people in each discipline (Michael Jordan, Michael Jackson, …) – No compromise on hard work, … but having fun…

  • What are ordinary people doing?

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • What is your “competition” doing?

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

Overachiever Overachiever

  • Are you achieving your true potential?

– … and beyond?

  • The world dislikes underachievers…
  • Are you motivated?
  • Can you do thorough self-assessment?
  • Page

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

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Logbook Logbook

  • Do you maintain a logbook?

– Of your research/activity? – Time spent (quantity and quality)? – And analyze if you are wasting time…

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

(Measuring) Progress (Measuring) Progress

  • How much progress did you make as a

(researcher): today, past week, past month, past year, …?

  • How much did you “grow” as a researcher

and as a person?

  • Was the salary from your employer well

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

as t e sa a y

  • you e

p oye e spent?

– By your employer, not by you… 

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

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Rewarding Yourself Rewarding Yourself

  • Do you celebrate when you have good news?
  • … Buy yourself icecream…
  • Celebrate with family and friends…
  • Do/should you over-celebrate?
  • Conversely, does bad news get you down too

much?

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

much?

– Are you ready to “fight”? (See good ego… next slide)

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

“Ego” Ego

  • Bad ego: Show others how smart you are…

– And put them down…

  • Good ego: Challenge yourself to do better…
  • Are you arrogant?

– Do you think the world revolves around you? – Does the world like arrogant people?

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

g p p

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

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“Business” Business

  • Many relationships have a business

angle…

  • What is a good business deal?
  • How/where are business deals done?
  • What is successful negotiation: do you get

nervous lose your cool ?

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

nervous, lose your cool, … ?

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

Social-smartness Social smartness

  • Can you pick up jargons?

– C-level executive? North of one million? – Valuation? Pre-money? Post-money? …

  • Who is smarter: you (the technically-smart guy,

traveling in coach) or the guy in first class?

  • Can you speak the language of your “customer”

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

y p g g y

  • r the person you are communicating with?
  • Are you street-smart? (think on your feet,

appreciate humor, crack jokes, …)

– How many work hours in a year (approx.)? – Your hourly wage?

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

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Confidence Confidence

  • Are you confident in your abilities?

– Are you over-confident? – Or do you under-rate yourself?

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

“Mafia” (Mentality) Mafia (Mentality)

  • What are good aspects of “mafia” mentality?
  • Are you a team player?
  • Do you support your lab-mates when they

are giving talks, need help, etc.?

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

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Contrarian Contrarian

  • Do you think like everyone else?
  • Do you have hunches that challenge the

establishment?

  • Successful ventures generally start from

contrarian ideas…

  • Page

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

(Level) Playing-Field? (Level) Playing Field?

  • Is the ref 50-50?
  • Is the ref 60-40?

– Can you succeed even then (by being well prepared)?

  • Is the ref 70-30?…

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

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Lazy Lazy

  • Are you lazy?
  • Are lazy people successful?
  • Can you go the extra mile?
  • “What, me tired?”
  • Are you physically (and mentally) fit?

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

PMA PMA

  • Positive Mental Attitude
  • Do you have a can-do attitude?
  • “Is the cup half full? Or half empty?”

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

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Deadlines Deadlines

  • Do you meet/honor your commitments

(and deadlines)?

  • “Don’t sleep if you cannot afford it…

make up for it later”

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

Self-assessment Self assessment

  • Do you know your strengths?
  • … and non-strengths?
  • Are you working on improving your non-strengths?

– And strengths?

  • How do you handle good news and bad news?

– Extreme or guarded/muted or in-between emotions?

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

– Extreme or guarded/muted or in-between emotions?

  • When something goes wrong, do you consider

pointing the finger at yourself?

– Or are you always looking for someone else to blame?

  • Your jokes… at yourself? or at others?

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

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Extra-Curricular Activities

  • Sunday Morning Soccer

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

Extra-Curricular Activities (contd.)

  • Quarterly potluck…

– diverse international cuisine!

  • Annual Winter Holiday party

– With alumni, faculty, students, and family – Sponsored by alumni

  • Annual travel to OFC (world’s

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

( #1 conference in our field, usually in SoCal (San Diego, Anaheim, LA) – Convoy of 2-3 vans and cars… social bonding

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

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Research: Depth Research: Depth

  • When will you have full command of all the

literature in your field under your belt?

  • When can you write the authentic survey
  • r tutorial paper in your field?
  • Extend definition of research to include all

forms of creative work…

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • s o c eat e
  • When can you become the world’s leading

authority in “blah blah blah” (BBB)?

– Where BBB is a narrow sub-sub-subfield initially – But BBB will become larger and wider with time

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

Research: Breadth Research: Breadth

  • Theory vs. practice…

– There is good theory; there is bad theory – There is good practice; there is bad practice – There is good research; there is bad research

  • Academic research vs. industry R&D…
  • Can you appreciate other fields?

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

y pp

  • Can you appreciate the value of stuff you

know little about?

  • Are you willing to learn new stuff?

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

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Publishing Publishing

  • Why publish?

– Focus on new discoveries/inventions/findings; not on yourself…

  • When can you say: I will not publish this

work?

  • How/when do you know people care about

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

your work?

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

Divide-and-Conquer Divide and Conquer

  • Writing a PhD Dissertation, writing a

chapter/paper: apply divide-and-conquer…

  • Our model: Prepare early version, present in

group meetings and at conference, get comments, improve, prepare journal version, becomes a chapter of your dissertation, …

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

– Eliminate overlap between various chapters in your dissertation, and cross-reference chapters

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

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Appreciation Appreciation

  • Do you appreciate feedback?
  • Do you (really) appreciate feedback?
  • Can you appreciate comments from

difficult reviewers? … and colleagues?

  • Do you openly acknowledge feedback?

Do you economize on the use of “thank

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • Do you economize on the use of thank

you”, “sorry”, “smile”, …

  • “It takes months to win a customer, it

takes a minute to lose one…”

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

Communication Communication

  • Can you communicate properly: orally and

in writing?

  • When should you use F2F meeting, phone

call, email?

  • How are most business deals done?
  • Page

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

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Writing Writing

  • Recall the basics (generally):

– Actor (subject) and action (verb); like story-telling – Avoiding nominalizations – Concision – Cohesion (first old info., then new info.) – Coherence (consistent topic in a passage)

?

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • Managing long sentences?

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

Writing (contd.) Writing (contd.)

  • BE CONSISTENT in

– Usage of styles – Punctuation – References

  • Pay attention to the corrections I make…

– Don’t repeat the mistakes

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

– And don’t get me annoyed…

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

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Writing (contd.) Writing (contd.)

  • Does your writing contain high (or low)

“signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)”?

  • Are you repeating too much?
  • Are you stating irrelevant stuff?
  • Are you not stating relevant stuff?

Can you analyze other people’s writing?

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • Can you analyze other people s writing?

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

Speaking Speaking

  • Many of the writing comments apply…

– Recall story-telling

  • Speak up, be concise, be clear, repeat

when necessary, practice…

  • “Modulate”… depending on audience…
  • Do you lecture to the “average” person in

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

Do you lecture to the average person in the audience? … or higher up? … or lower down?

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

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Reading Reading

  • Do you read (and enjoy reading): outside
  • f your area? Non-technical stuff?
  • Do you read only from the computer

screen?

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

Dictionary Dictionary

  • How often do you consult the dictionary,

wiki, etc.?

  • Do you look up the dictionary when you

encounter a word you don’t know?

  • Can you pick up one new word every

week to use in your writing?

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

ee to use you t g

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

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Off-computer Off computer

  • Is all your work (reading, thinking,

experimenting, etc.) done on the computer?

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

Scholarship Scholarship

  • Are you a scholar?
  • Who is a scholar?
  • People (faculty and others) have to be

scholars as well as hustlers (e.g., for funding)

– Which comes first: scholarship or hustling?

  • Page

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May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010

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Philosopher Philosopher

  • Ph in PhD = ? Are you a philosopher?
  • Do you have a “thesis”?
  • Can you do thorough “self-assessment”?
  • Are you at the stage where you know more than

your advisor on your research topic?

And hence ready to graduate? 

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  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis
  • B. Mukherjee, UC Davis

– And hence ready to graduate? 

  • “Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching

for the stars”

  • What have been (and will be) your contributions

to society… to make this world a better place?

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010