Quotes from student evaluations of the course and from email messages from students
``Overall an excellent class, I learned a lot of things that will carry into my future research. Roel is a fountain of advice, and can generally answer all research related questions reasonably well.''
``I think this class should be a must to any
graduate student."
"I think you are giving us all the sorts of counseling that you typically don't receive from an advisor. I for one appreciate it."
``I like the openness of the class and the
freedom to do what we want as a group.''
Quotes from student evaluation of the short course taught at Utrecht University
``Disliking something in a course like this is rather difficult."
``I have learned that that there are much more people encountering the same problems as I am regarding my research."
``The course was very useful, although I
think it would have been even more useful if I would have
taken it when I just started my PhD research."
For whom is this course meant: The goal of this course is to teach beginning graduate students a variety of different aspects of doing research. This course is also helpful for preparing senior undergraduate students for a career in research. The target group therefore are beginning graduate students and senior undergraduate students from all departments.
Course description: This 1-credit course consists of class sessions and practical exercises. The content of the course is aimed at helping students acquire the skills needed for a career in research. The class sessions cover topics such as the choice of a research topic, making a work plan and executing that plan effectively, what to do when you are stuck, how to write a publication and choose a journal for publication, how to write proposals, the ethics of research, the academic career versus a career in industry, time-management, and a variety of other topics. The course is open to students with very different backgrounds; this ensures a rich and diverse intellectual environment.
Prerequisites: There are no formal requirements. Informal prerequisites are enthusiasm, the willingness to collaborate with fellow students, and the desire to learn new things.
The teacher: Roel Snieder holds the W.M. Keck Distinguished Chair of Professional Development Education at the Colorado School of Mines. This chair is aimed at strengthening interdisciplinary research and teaching at the Colorado School of Mines. He has a background in geophysical fluid mechanics, theoretical physics and seismology. Before joining the Colorado School of Mines he was Dean of the Faculty of Earth Sciences at Utrecht University.
``It has shown me different approaches to life.”