You can decide what to work on, as well as when and where to work. I aim to bring the best out of you for top performance.
Have fun. Be awesome.
Be the best
If we want to publish a research paper, we shoot for the top venues (e.g. SIGGRAPH for graphics or CHI/UIST for human computer interaction). If we want to build a product, we aim to benefit as many users as possible. There is nothing inherently wrong about not aiming for the best; it is just not what I want to spend my time on. Life is too short.Do what you love
You must be really interested in what you do rather than for other reasons, such as trends or external expectation. Just like every profession, your long term success and happiness depend on your passion.
Work for yourself
My design is to have everyone working for yourself; you reap what you sow and how much you achieve depends on how hard you work. The amount of time I spend on you will be proportional to your productivity. If you slack off, you only hurt yourself.
Consequently, you should never ask me when and where you should work. You are doing these for yourself, not me, or anybody else.
Work anytime anywhere
I operate in a continuous and asynchronous fashion through mechanisms such as paper drafts and shared data, which I have found to be more effective than discrete and synchronous meetings.
Consequently, you can work anytime anywhere you like. What matters is your output productivity, not your input efforts.
Control your own destiny
Life is stochastic, and nobody can predict the future. All I can do is to provide suggestions, and you will have to decide what the best is for you.I would prefer you to tell me what you like to work on, and I will try to come up with projects that can fit our interests and backgrounds. You will be happier and more productive, and I will be motivated to learn new things.
I am not a fan of micro management. Feel free to explore, and mistakes are an integral part of learning. If you prefer to be told exactly what to do, you might not be a good fit for research.
Have fun and get what you want
You will have a lot of fun working with me. For me, the purpose of life is to have fun. And I do research because I really enjoy it. I will help you feel the same.
I advocate a healthy life style. I get enough sleep every night and enough exercise every morning. I seldom stay late, as I find it detrimental to my productivity and creativity. (None of my ideas are produced while sitting in an office.)
I blog about various issues related to research; look for tags "advice" and "research", or simply this summary page.