Admissions
If you have already applied for admission, you have done all that is required to gain full consideration for admission and financial support.
Please do not ask me to evaluate your admission packet. I would not be able to provide an accurate evaluatation. Please apply. 

Here is a dream email from a student that I would be happy to meet.

Professor Lok,
Hello. My name is $FIRST_AND_LAST_NAME$ and I am in my $YEAR_AT_UF$ in the $MAJOR$ program. My anticipated graduated date is $ANTICIPATED_GRADUATION_DATE$. I’m also involved in the $POSITION$ in the $UF-STUDENT_GROUPS_RELEVANT_TO_MY_RESEARCH$. I was hoping to get involved in virtual reality undergraduate research as I am interested in $INTEREST_AREA_1$ and $INTEREST_AREA_2$. I have read two research publications you’ve worked on. Those publications are $RECENT_PAPER#1$ and $RECENT_PAPRE#2$. Given my interest areas and your research, I have the following research questions: $INTERESTING_RESEARCH_DIRECTIONS$.

I understand that the top students are best suited for research, and so I am including here a brief paragraph of my academic credentials and accomplishments. Attached is my resume.

Could we possibly meet to discuss this further? I propose $A_SET_OF_AT_LEAST_THREE_TIMES_BASED_ON_YOUR_CALENDAR$.

Sincerely,
$YOUR_NAME$

Research
My research is in the areas of:
1. Virtual Environments (interaction, rendering, avatars, and real-world applications)
2. Human-Computer Interaction (interacting with digital characters, virtual worlds, 3D interfaces)\

If you are not interested in these areas, please contact a faculty member that shares your interests!

If our interests align, please reach out to discuss more.

Preparation: Students should be interested in virtual reality, human-computer interaction, or computer graphics. Students should know or be learning Unity, C#, and Java.

General Advice: If you are an undergraduate or MS student and want to apply for a Ph.D. program (here or elsewhere), you should become involved in research *NOW*.  A senior project, MS project, or MS Thesis is a good test to see if you enjoy and have talent for research.  It will also improve your chances of getting accepted into a good Ph.D. program.

A good GPA is not enough for a highly competitive (top 20) graduate school.  The acceptance rate is usually less than 10%.  Everyone that applies has a very high GPA!   

Funding

Do not email me for a funded position. To get a funded position, you must apply and be accepted to the Ph.D. Program. Here’s an email from our graduate program director:

Begin forwarded message:

From: “Wilson,Joseph N” <jnw@cise.ufl.edu>

Subject: Re: Seeking OPS Positions for Summer and Fall Semesters – Talented Graduate Student with Diverse Skills

…

I’m including the text of a mail I sent on 9 February of this year to every CISE Master’s student.
Apparently you did not read it at that time.
Please read it now and take it to heart.

I am copying this to all the other recipients so they will be aware of the mail I sent and feel free to refer to it in the future.

J.N. Wilson

—
From: Joseph Wilson <jnw@ufl.edu>
Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2023 12:27:09 -0500
Subject: Message to all CISE Master Students Concerning How to Seek Employment
Bcc: <email addresses redacted />
Cc: “Gilbert,Juan E” <juan@ufl.edu>,
Adrienne Lesly Cook <alcook@eng.ufl.edu>
To: Joseph Wilson <jnw@ufl.edu>

Dear Students:

It has reached my notice that a number of students have been vigorously seeking
employment opportunities at the University. Unfortunately, when something
like this reaches my notice, it is usually not because it is a good thing.
I want all of our students to be successful in their endeavors, including, and especially,
in maintaining good relationships with faculty and administrators at the University.

The least successful way to get employment is to knock on people’s doors
or send them unsolicited email. I get dozens of emails each week from people
I have never met who will sing the praises of my work and ask for a job.
I have never hired a person based on such an email.
No-one hires employees based on such contacts. It just doesn’t happen.
And when numerous students contact deans and faculty in other departments in this way,
they respond by asking us why this is happening. That’s never good.

When positions are available, they are advertised in a variety of ways.
Continuing graduate students are eligible to sign up for our TA pool.
(Information on that is emailed each semester to all eligible people.)
RA positions are often advertised by word of mouth or on the graduate student blog.
You wil often find small notices on bulletin boards in the various buildings on
campus asking for students with the right skills to apply for positions.

The most important thing to avoid is contacting someone asking about unadvertised positions.
This will actually hurt you, your fellow students, and the department.


If you help foster good relations with everyone in the UF community, we all benefit.


Joseph N. Wilson
Graduate Program Director
CISE Department