I am always eagerly searching for talented and self-motivated students and researchers to join my research group. The greatest aspect of my job is the privilege of working with dedicated students and colleagues motivated to do original work. Nevertheless, attending graduate school and working as a postdoc are both substantial commitments. Hence, I made my hiring decision mostly based on my prediction on whether a successful outcome at the end of the tenure of the team member is feasible, given all the evidence I gathered. This approach has led to some incredible success cases, along with some failures.
Since joining Columbia in 2014, I have graduated nine Ph.D. students, five of them found tenure track positions, Northwestern (BB), Case Western (HSS), McMaster (SHN), Northeastern (YL) and Rutgers (NNV) ), and two (EB, KW) joined Los Alamos National Laboratory as postdoc research associate, and successfully launched a career as research scientists and Los Alamos, and one (BB) just joined Johns Hopkins as a postdoc.
Four of my former postdocs are now assistant and associate professors at the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Southeast University in China (see specific job placements in the team member page [URL]). The complete list of PhD graduates from my research group can be found in the Mathematics Genealogy [URL].
If you are interested in joining my research group, I hope you will find the information below somewhat helpful. You are also encouraged to contact me for specific questions, but I am unable to respond all emails I received due to the volume of emails I received.
General Recruitment Plan
Generally speaking, I try to recruit one to two graduate students or postdoc per year, depending on the availability and time constraint of the funding and my ability to maintain the quality of the research with the existing students and postdoc research associates. My goal in the hiring process is to filter the candidates that are less likely to be successful under my tutelage while trying not to miss any talent that may have potential to do great research.
Logistics of Ph.D. applications
Interested candidates please contact me and visit http://gradengineering.columbia.edu/onlineapplication for general information. Answers to general admission questions can be found at http://gradengineering.columbia.edu/frequently-asked-questions-2. In your application, please indicate your interest to work with my research group. I also highly recommend students applying for the NSF Graduate Fellowship, the DOE Office of Science Graduate Fellowship, the Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship, and the NDSEG Fellowship. Please notice that my Columbia email account will filter out the generic application emails sent to numerous recipients/universities and classified them as spams. Please be specific about (1) why you think our research group is a good fit for you and (2) why you want to attend graduate school.
The PhD application process begins in the Fall semester each year. The review of the Ph.D. applications typically begins in the spring and ends before the summer. Ideally, the successful Ph.D. candidates should have (1) a master degree in civil engineering, applied mechanics, mechanical engineering, applied mathematics, or any other related disciplines, (2) some background in computational mechanics and reasonable mathematical skills (e.g. linear algebra (the understanding of a space, e.g. orthogonality, dimensionality, basis) , undergraduate calculus (the ability to express how things changes with respect to other factors), ordinary/partial differential equations (the ability to predict evolutions), (3) be proficient in Python and C++ code developments (the ability to convert your ideas into program), and (4) possess excellent communication skills (the ability to express the outcomes efficiently).
In the past, the maximum team members I recruited in one single year is 3, the lowest is 1. My hope is to have the students graduate as soon as there is a plausible chance for the student to land a great position. Ph.D. students in my group on average takes four years to finish their Ph.D if they have a master's degree in a related field. All of my current and former PhD students in my research group have been fully funded during the entire period they work with me. Typically, students are supported by a combination of fellowships (Fulbright, NDSEG, Presidential fellowship), research assistantship from research grant and teaching assistant support. If the resource is available and that is understandably not always the case, my goal is to have each student serves at least once as TA to get some teaching experience (especially if they are interested at academic position) within the first 2 years of PhD study and then support the last two years of all of my PhD students' work with RA or fellowship.
Due to the large number of applications and inquiries I received, I might not be able to read and respond to all the emails I received. If you decided that you would like to explore the possibility of joining my research team, please list me as the potential advisor in the application package. For postdoctoral students, please consider applying for the NSF Earth science postdoctoral fellowship. For information about housing options for graduate students, please visit http://engineering.columbia.edu/housing-2. Admitted SEAS master students with sufficient background in computational mechanics and/or geomechanics are invited to schedule appointments to discuss possible Ph.D./MS projects with me ([email protected]). For Columbia MS students interested to work with me for PhD, taking the Computational Poromechanics course (ENME6320) or Finite Element in Geotechnical Engineering (now Computational Mechanics with AI) (CIENE4263) offered during the Autumn semester is necessary.
Financial Support
The 2024-2025 PhD student in appointment is $48,080 for 12 months or $42425 for 9-month. For students in their funded years, the University covers the Facilities fee, Columbia Health & Related Services Fee, ISSO fee for international students, upgraded printing fee, and gym access fee. In addition, full tuition remission (e.g., for a first-year PhD student, $55,184 for 2024-2025) for students are provided in their funded years. In addition, the student also received guaranteed university housing for 5 years, medical coverage and $5,500 child care benefit for each child under the age of 6. In addition, the university has also established a Health Funds in which student can apply for support.
Postdoc Research scientist/Associate Research Scientist/Research Scientist
Postdoc candidates are recruited based on (1) past research accomplishment, (2) future potential, (3) joint interest in the funded research topics, and (4) compatibility, and (5) the research group they graduate from and if applicable (6) the performance of my previous postdoc graduated from the same group of the candidates. Depending on the availability of the funding and the performance of the team members, we might have one associate research scientist or research scientist in my research group. The appoint of such position requires the approval of the department. This position is supported by external funding from research projects and carried the officer rank at Columbia but is generally not open to fresh PhD graduate. The salary for 2024-2025 from the Provost's office can be found at https://provost.columbia.edu/news/2024-25-salary-guidelines-officers-research
Visiting scholars
If you are interested in visiting my research group temporarily (with external support), please contact me at least a few months ahead of your proposed arrival date. Visiting scholars must provide evidence that they possess sufficient communication skills and have sufficient support to apply for a US visa. Only researchers with compatible research interests and sufficient research background will be considered. We do not support visiting researchers coming to New York for leisure travel. Interested candidate please contact me by email and fill out the application form available at https://portal.seas.columbia.edu/form/view.php?id=114.
Responsibility of a PhD advisor and objectives of PhD research
While working with Ph.D. students and postdoc fellows, my goal is to find a research theme that (i) makes the student and I both excited about the work, (ii) matches well with the student's key competencies, personality, and work habits, (iii) contains elements that are of fundamental importance, (iv) has sufficient chances to find sustainable funding during and, ideally, beyond the Ph.D. study. As your advisor, it is my primary duty is to
In essence, my goal is to help you do the best research possible and keep you focused, motivated and funded.
Expectations on students and postdoc associates
I expect that all Ph.D. students and postdoc research scientists will produce research results worthy of publishing in well-respected peer-reviewed journals within a reasonable amount of time in my research group as the first author (e.g. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering [PDF1][PDF2][PDF3][URL], Journal of Engineering Mechanics [PDF], International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering [PDF] and International Journal of Analytical and Numerical Methods in Geomechanics [PDF]). That being said, quality and originality of the work are more important than the number of papers published.
It is expected that all team members in this research group, including myself, would set the highest standard on their work and thrive to conduct high-quality research that impacts our research field. For instance, please show up in group meeting prepared and on time, make sure that all results presented in the papers are reproducible, keep a written record of the research progress, pay attention to the details of a research idea, and be honest when analyzing the data and interpreting the experimental results. Please be advised that we have a zero-tolerance policy on falsification, fabrication and plagiarism as well as other misconduct [URL].
A success research is often a natural outcome of successful partnership between the advisee and the advisor. This success in research partnership requires good faith, dedication, persistence/patience and mutual understanding from both parties such that the rights of both parties are respected and the responsibilities of both parties are shared.
Resources
Columbia has a work/life balance that provides general resources to help students and postdoc to pursuit meaningful and productive academic, personal and work lives. These services ranges from counseling, student-life support groups to off-campus housing.For more information please visit: https://worklife.columbia.edu/
Columbia graduate student are unionized. The current Columbia University and SWC-UAW Collective Bargaining Agreement can be found at
https://humanresources.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/content/Documents/SWC_Agreement_6.10.2022.pdf
Since joining Columbia in 2014, I have graduated nine Ph.D. students, five of them found tenure track positions, Northwestern (BB), Case Western (HSS), McMaster (SHN), Northeastern (YL) and Rutgers (NNV) ), and two (EB, KW) joined Los Alamos National Laboratory as postdoc research associate, and successfully launched a career as research scientists and Los Alamos, and one (BB) just joined Johns Hopkins as a postdoc.
Four of my former postdocs are now assistant and associate professors at the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Southeast University in China (see specific job placements in the team member page [URL]). The complete list of PhD graduates from my research group can be found in the Mathematics Genealogy [URL].
If you are interested in joining my research group, I hope you will find the information below somewhat helpful. You are also encouraged to contact me for specific questions, but I am unable to respond all emails I received due to the volume of emails I received.
General Recruitment Plan
Generally speaking, I try to recruit one to two graduate students or postdoc per year, depending on the availability and time constraint of the funding and my ability to maintain the quality of the research with the existing students and postdoc research associates. My goal in the hiring process is to filter the candidates that are less likely to be successful under my tutelage while trying not to miss any talent that may have potential to do great research.
Logistics of Ph.D. applications
Interested candidates please contact me and visit http://gradengineering.columbia.edu/onlineapplication for general information. Answers to general admission questions can be found at http://gradengineering.columbia.edu/frequently-asked-questions-2. In your application, please indicate your interest to work with my research group. I also highly recommend students applying for the NSF Graduate Fellowship, the DOE Office of Science Graduate Fellowship, the Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship, and the NDSEG Fellowship. Please notice that my Columbia email account will filter out the generic application emails sent to numerous recipients/universities and classified them as spams. Please be specific about (1) why you think our research group is a good fit for you and (2) why you want to attend graduate school.
The PhD application process begins in the Fall semester each year. The review of the Ph.D. applications typically begins in the spring and ends before the summer. Ideally, the successful Ph.D. candidates should have (1) a master degree in civil engineering, applied mechanics, mechanical engineering, applied mathematics, or any other related disciplines, (2) some background in computational mechanics and reasonable mathematical skills (e.g. linear algebra (the understanding of a space, e.g. orthogonality, dimensionality, basis) , undergraduate calculus (the ability to express how things changes with respect to other factors), ordinary/partial differential equations (the ability to predict evolutions), (3) be proficient in Python and C++ code developments (the ability to convert your ideas into program), and (4) possess excellent communication skills (the ability to express the outcomes efficiently).
In the past, the maximum team members I recruited in one single year is 3, the lowest is 1. My hope is to have the students graduate as soon as there is a plausible chance for the student to land a great position. Ph.D. students in my group on average takes four years to finish their Ph.D if they have a master's degree in a related field. All of my current and former PhD students in my research group have been fully funded during the entire period they work with me. Typically, students are supported by a combination of fellowships (Fulbright, NDSEG, Presidential fellowship), research assistantship from research grant and teaching assistant support. If the resource is available and that is understandably not always the case, my goal is to have each student serves at least once as TA to get some teaching experience (especially if they are interested at academic position) within the first 2 years of PhD study and then support the last two years of all of my PhD students' work with RA or fellowship.
Due to the large number of applications and inquiries I received, I might not be able to read and respond to all the emails I received. If you decided that you would like to explore the possibility of joining my research team, please list me as the potential advisor in the application package. For postdoctoral students, please consider applying for the NSF Earth science postdoctoral fellowship. For information about housing options for graduate students, please visit http://engineering.columbia.edu/housing-2. Admitted SEAS master students with sufficient background in computational mechanics and/or geomechanics are invited to schedule appointments to discuss possible Ph.D./MS projects with me ([email protected]). For Columbia MS students interested to work with me for PhD, taking the Computational Poromechanics course (ENME6320) or Finite Element in Geotechnical Engineering (now Computational Mechanics with AI) (CIENE4263) offered during the Autumn semester is necessary.
Financial Support
The 2024-2025 PhD student in appointment is $48,080 for 12 months or $42425 for 9-month. For students in their funded years, the University covers the Facilities fee, Columbia Health & Related Services Fee, ISSO fee for international students, upgraded printing fee, and gym access fee. In addition, full tuition remission (e.g., for a first-year PhD student, $55,184 for 2024-2025) for students are provided in their funded years. In addition, the student also received guaranteed university housing for 5 years, medical coverage and $5,500 child care benefit for each child under the age of 6. In addition, the university has also established a Health Funds in which student can apply for support.
Postdoc Research scientist/Associate Research Scientist/Research Scientist
Postdoc candidates are recruited based on (1) past research accomplishment, (2) future potential, (3) joint interest in the funded research topics, and (4) compatibility, and (5) the research group they graduate from and if applicable (6) the performance of my previous postdoc graduated from the same group of the candidates. Depending on the availability of the funding and the performance of the team members, we might have one associate research scientist or research scientist in my research group. The appoint of such position requires the approval of the department. This position is supported by external funding from research projects and carried the officer rank at Columbia but is generally not open to fresh PhD graduate. The salary for 2024-2025 from the Provost's office can be found at https://provost.columbia.edu/news/2024-25-salary-guidelines-officers-research
Visiting scholars
If you are interested in visiting my research group temporarily (with external support), please contact me at least a few months ahead of your proposed arrival date. Visiting scholars must provide evidence that they possess sufficient communication skills and have sufficient support to apply for a US visa. Only researchers with compatible research interests and sufficient research background will be considered. We do not support visiting researchers coming to New York for leisure travel. Interested candidate please contact me by email and fill out the application form available at https://portal.seas.columbia.edu/form/view.php?id=114.
Responsibility of a PhD advisor and objectives of PhD research
While working with Ph.D. students and postdoc fellows, my goal is to find a research theme that (i) makes the student and I both excited about the work, (ii) matches well with the student's key competencies, personality, and work habits, (iii) contains elements that are of fundamental importance, (iv) has sufficient chances to find sustainable funding during and, ideally, beyond the Ph.D. study. As your advisor, it is my primary duty is to
- provide an intellectually stimulating and safe environment for group members to conduct meaningful research,
- motivate you to set a high standard for your own research,
- provide the nuclei of research ideas as precise as possible,
- help you pursue research ideas as efficiently as possible,
- evaluate your intellectual growth critically.
In essence, my goal is to help you do the best research possible and keep you focused, motivated and funded.
Expectations on students and postdoc associates
I expect that all Ph.D. students and postdoc research scientists will produce research results worthy of publishing in well-respected peer-reviewed journals within a reasonable amount of time in my research group as the first author (e.g. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering [PDF1][PDF2][PDF3][URL], Journal of Engineering Mechanics [PDF], International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering [PDF] and International Journal of Analytical and Numerical Methods in Geomechanics [PDF]). That being said, quality and originality of the work are more important than the number of papers published.
It is expected that all team members in this research group, including myself, would set the highest standard on their work and thrive to conduct high-quality research that impacts our research field. For instance, please show up in group meeting prepared and on time, make sure that all results presented in the papers are reproducible, keep a written record of the research progress, pay attention to the details of a research idea, and be honest when analyzing the data and interpreting the experimental results. Please be advised that we have a zero-tolerance policy on falsification, fabrication and plagiarism as well as other misconduct [URL].
A success research is often a natural outcome of successful partnership between the advisee and the advisor. This success in research partnership requires good faith, dedication, persistence/patience and mutual understanding from both parties such that the rights of both parties are respected and the responsibilities of both parties are shared.
Resources
Columbia has a work/life balance that provides general resources to help students and postdoc to pursuit meaningful and productive academic, personal and work lives. These services ranges from counseling, student-life support groups to off-campus housing.For more information please visit: https://worklife.columbia.edu/
Columbia graduate student are unionized. The current Columbia University and SWC-UAW Collective Bargaining Agreement can be found at
https://humanresources.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/content/Documents/SWC_Agreement_6.10.2022.pdf