A chat with Philip Guo (UCSD)
A dozen UW students interrogated UCSD Prof. Philip Guo about his research, how students can start researching, and his cow-related “brand.” Here are the declassified parts of our talk.
Philip visited UW to talk at the DUB seminar about his work in using visualization as scaffolding for helping people learn programming and data science. After the seminar, he sat down with graduate and undergraduate students from various departments and we poked his brain with all the questions we could think of. Here are Philip’s answers to some of those questions.
Passages in quotation marks are Philip’s words verbatim. Everything else is paraphrasing because I was just typing and not recording. I tried not to bias Philip’s responses as best I could. He reviewed this post before it was published.
On his research
What impact do you want to be making in 10 years?
I want to enable people to express themselves and be creative in a digital space. I want people to feel like they’re doing something innovative or novel, even if it’s just for themselves.
How do you decide which projects or tools should have continued development?
It’s determine by my students. I let their interests lead.
I’ve maintained Python Tutor personally for quite awhile and it’s pretty low maintenance. Some labs have the money to hire permanent research staff, which is much harder.
“Current incentives in academia make it a challenging place for maintaining long-term software.”
What is your design process for coming up with the visual representations in your tools?
Our indirect inspiration is what people already do manually, whether that’s blog posts, textbooks, and what people are already drawing. I’m not a visualization researcher, so I’m not trying to innovate in terms of the visualization. “They’re supposed to be stock.” We’re often going from zero to one; having a visualization is better than not having one at all.
What is the role of design in motivating computing?
I like to introduce programming in terms of design because there’s a low barrier to entry. Whether it’s whiteboards or sticky notes, we can easily do role playing with scenarios involving technology. And then students can mock-up and paper-prototype and brainstorm and iterate.
How can we address the dropout in informal learning?
Mentorship and community is key.
(He said more, I just missed it.)
Advice for students
Advice for first year PhD students?
Don’t worry about FOMO. You won’t be able to do it all. If there’s somebody whose research is interesting to you, be proactive in reaching out to learn more about their research.
As a freshman with no research experience, how can I get involved?
The closer it is to something that you’ve been involved in, the easier it is. Some ways include stopping by people’s office hours and asking them how to get involved. You’re going to get lots of misses, and that’s ok. “Don’t worry about [encounters] being random.”
I’m an undergrad and in a lab I really like, but I’m interested in exploring other labs. What do you recommend?
Keep the momentum going. Don’t worry too much about the FOMO. If you’re in the attitude that you want to build momentum, keep going. If you want to explore other research, then attend lab meetings and talks!
“As long as you’re focused on building something that’s in a reasonably promising direction, keep going!”
What can transfer students do to help other transfer students?
I would focus on getting your hands dirty and prototyping something and don’t immediately worry about if it’s commonly-accepted practice. Think of one domain that you’re passionate about, find a cohort of people who face similar issues.
“Catching people right after a class or a talk is a good time to capture their attention, especially for professors.”
On Academia
Thoughts on the “Slow Academia Movement”
To be very reductionist about it, I think the best researchers value quality over quantity. In Academia, you actually can see the work of everyone around you. “I wouldn’t think of it as ‘oh I need to publish a paper right now’, but also it’s really hard to get work done by being isolated for 5 years. My optimistic view on people publishing consistently is that that’s how the creative process works.”
Thoughts on CS pushing people towards industry and away from a PhD?
“There are plenty of great CS jobs that don’t require a PhD. I don’t think there’s a dire need to push people towards a PhD.” The exception to that is removing barriers of entry for underrepresented people.
Why do professors move institutions?
The earlier you move, the easier it is. Most job calls are for pre-tenure hires. If you want to move schools, the first five years is the time to do it.
On “pgbovine”
“Why pgbovine and what’s with the favicon on your website?”
“[pgbovine] was a design choice I made when I was 17, picking an MIT email address…”
“The favicon is actually a hamburger head from Friendly Toast, a restaurant near MIT. I used that picture as my Facebook profile picture for a long time.”
Closing thoughts
I first met Philip when I was an undergrad and he was a post-doc at EdX. He gave a presentation on applying to graduate school. On that same night, I also heard a talk by Dropbox founder Drew Houston on founding a company. I decided to pursue the research route, and Philip Guo is in part to thank (blame?) for that. He’s been a consistent influence and source of advice and inspiration for me ever since. His candid perspectives are enlightening and his “just build it” mentality is motivational.
For those who haven’t already, I would encourage you all to check out pgbovine.net for Philip’s advice and musings. For PhD students or those considering it, his PhD memoir is a must read.
