This session will provide information, examples, and strategies for how to prepare a competitive application for graduate school and external fellowships. The session will address questions such as: What should you write in the personal / research statement? What should you highlight in your resume? Should you take the GRE? Who and how should you ask for letters of recommendation? How are applications reviewed? Should you contact professors at the schools you are applying? How important is prior participation in research? Do awards (e.g., CRA Undergraduate Research Award) matter?

Speakers: Darko Marinov and Klara Nahrstedt

Darko Marinov is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois (at) Urbana-Champaign. His main research interests are in Software Engineering, especially improving software reliability using software testing. He has lots of fun looking for software bugs and little fun writing short bios. More info is at http://mir.cs.illinois.edu/marinov

Klara Nahrstedt is the Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering Professor in Computer Science Department, and Director of Coordinated Science Laboratory (CSL), which is an Interdisciplinary Research Institute at the intersection of computing, communication, control and circuits. Her research interests are in diverse distributed and networked systems such as video 360  distribution systems, tele-immersive systems, Internet of Things, cyber-physical systems, and trustworthy systems. Currently, she and her research collaborators are building a broadcasting 360 video system where viewers can control and watch sports from different views, i.e., a viewer can be his/her own director to decide what he/she wants to see from the sport match. More details about her research are at https://cs.illinois.edu/about/people/faculty/klara.