My policy on advising undergraduate research

I encourage those students who may be interested in carrying out undergraduate research projects (and feel that I may be able advise them) to discuss the possibilities with me. There are certain principles which I follow in such cases:

• The informal work carried out will be well separated from formal work carried out for a course - such as the Senior Project course. Work in the Senior Project course will start with student assignment, and end with the presentation. Work carried out earlier - during summer or the previous semester - will not be a part of the Senior Project course.
• I try to select topics which will help the student to learn the physics of a phenomena, and/or learn some methodology (usually some numerical technique) which will be beneficial. Do not expect me to put you on a problem associated with some detail of my research.
• You can suggest the problem yourself, but it must be about something on which I can provide some guidance. My student projects generally involve computer work; you can make learning scientific programming to solve a particular problem a part of your aim.
• In all research projects I expect the student to follow a schedule, and meet me at least twice a week so that we can discuss the progress. The experience should be an enjoyable one, and if you think it will be difficult for you to allocate a reasonable amount of time for the project, maybe it is best to delay it to a later time. Always treat your formal coursework with a higher priority.