Xueyu Hou - ECE PhD Student of the Month - November 2024
Xueyu Hou began her Ph.D. study at NJIT in 2021 with Dr. Tao Han as her advisor. She earned her Ph.D. in May 2024 and started her current role as a tenure-track assistant professor in the ECE department at the University of Maine in September 2024. Since the beginning of her Ph.D. journey, AI and machine learning have gained significant attention across various fields, and she is proud to be among the researchers exploring these areas within cyber-physical systems. Working with Dr. Tao Han, she's been able to extensively investigate her research interests in applying machine learning to enhance the performance of networks and IoT (Internet of Things) devices, as well as deploying deep learning models on resource-constrained IoT devices. In the final year of her Ph.D., she expanded her research focus to embodied AI, a field that enables AI applications in the physical world. She is fortunate to have the support of the ECE department at the University of Maine, where she is establishing her own lab, CyPAIS (Cyber Physical Artificial Intelligence Systems), to further pursue her research goals.
Compared to industrial jobs, academia jobs come with particular benefits, especially for international students. Along your Ph.D. study, when did you decide to give it a try? What major efforts did you make after having made the decision?
One of my motivations for pursuing a Ph.D. was to eventually secure a position in academia, although I didn’t initially feel confident about achieving this goal. Consider when I first envisioned becoming a professor, it dates back to my decision to pursue a Ph.D. However, my confidence in entering the job market, actively submitting my CV for tenure-track assistant professor (TTAP) positions, came much later—almost at the end of the last year, in December 2023.
Building this confidence required consistent effort: (1) I continually pushed myself to submit papers to high-impact venues with low acceptance rates (<20%) and (2) I remained productive, focused on generating research results and writing papers. Just as GPA is crucial for undergraduate students, both the quality and quantity of publications are essential indicators of success for Ph.D. students. I believe that both are important, and I was fortunate to have my advisor, Dr. Tao Han, as an ideal role model. Through his mentorship, I learned what contributes to a Ph.D. student’s success.
You managed to land a faculty position right after obtaining your PhD degree, which is a great achievement. Now you are addressed not only as Dr. Hou but also Prof. Hou. How does it feel when suddenly finding yourself on the other side of the educator-student relationship?
The transition from student to educator has been an exciting experience, with a key shift in responsibility. As a student, my primary responsibility was to myself; for example, if I had a research idea, I could dive straight into exploring it. However, as a mentor, I now need to evaluate the feasibility of ideas before recommending them to my students. In both research and teaching, student feedback is valuable, as my focus has shifted from personal growth to fostering the growth of my students.
Additionally, as a tenure-track assistant professor, maintaining funding support for my lab is crucial. Writing proposals, however, differs significantly from writing research papers, as proposals often require interdisciplinary collaboration. I enjoy this collaborative aspect and am continually seeking research opportunities with a broad-reaching impact.
The job market in the US has changed drastically over recent years. As a result, more and more Ph.D. students are interested in faculty jobs. What suggestions do you have for current Ph.D. students to do if they would like to pursue a faculty job in the future?
First, be really focused on your research area and be productive in publishing high-impact papers. Specializing in one research direction is important because faculty recruitment, much like hiring in industry, seeks candidates whose work complements the expertise of the department’s current faculty. Becoming an expert in a specific area will make you more competitive. The quality and quantity of your publications serve as evidence of your hard work and expertise.
Second, always explore the broader potential of your research ideas, particularly regarding applications that could benefit from your work. This is crucial, as your future department will expect that your presence will enhance its academic and industry impact, attracting funding, collaborations, and prospective students.
Lastly, never assume you won’t succeed until you truly try. Before I began my job search, I heard many discouraging stories, such as the belief that without conditions A or B, it would be impossible to secure a faculty position. In my experience, job opportunities vary greatly, and no single criterion can determine success or failure in the job market.