Advising and Research Opportunities
I would love to meet with students to discuss their research interests and career plans. Unfortunately, faculty’s schedule is not always open (in fact, most of the time we are busy with who knows what is going on). So please check my calendar below for potential meeting slots: I really prefer putting such meetings on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday so that I can focus on other work on Wednesday and Friday. Please only consider Wednesday/Friday if that is your only choice.
My calendar can be viewed here.
If you want to meet with me, please find one or multiple open slots that work for you on my calendar and email me the slots, meeting purposes and whether it is in person or zoom. If I didn’t reply your email within a week, please feel free to send another email to remind me.
Research Opportunities
For undergraduate and master students who are interested in research, you are very welcome to schedule a meeting with me. Please send me your CV when you schedule the meeting.
For potential PhD students, please send me an email first with your CV and research interests. Then over emails we will talk about next steps (i.e., if we should schedule a meeting).
Please read the FAQ below before contacting me.
- Can I do undergraduate research for credits?
- Can I directly register for research credits (e.g., CS2860/3860/33861) with you before talking to you?
- When can I start doing undergraduate research with you?
- I am an undergrad in CS and I want to get a software development job after graduation. Do I have to do undergrad research to get that type of job?
- I am currenly an undergrad student in another country. Can I do remote research with you?
- Do you have PhD openings?
- How should I call you?
Yes. You can register CS2860, CS3860, CS3861 and CS3862 (3862 is for team project only) for research credits. You can also use undergraduate research to fill your Immersion requirement.
No. The system will first require my approval anyway. But more importantly, I only take undergraduate researchers that are motivated and willing to commit to our project plans: to evaluate if it is a good fit, you need to schedule a meeting with me first.
In theory, it is never too late/early to do research as long as you are interested. In practice, I suggest students to consider it after (or at least when you have started) taking CS2201 Data Structures. Also, I suggest you consider it no later than the begining of the second semester of your junior year especially if you want to apply for graduate school.
No. You don't have to do research to get an industry SDE job. But yes, the experience you gained from your research project can speak for your capabilities. I personally don't think undergrad research is more appealing to recruiters than having an industry internship in this context.
Our lab is open to remote collaboration. Please email me first.
In general, it depends on my grant situation. But it is case by case. So please email me first.
My students usually call me "Dr. Huang" or "Prof. Huang". This is not because I care about the title that much, but more about "this person's first name (Yu sounds like You) is a disaster in conversation". In general, you can call me "Yu, HuangYu, Dr. Huang, Prof. Huang" or whatever as long as I can tell you are trying to talk to me.
Undergraduate Advising
For my undergraduate advisees (i.e., I am assigned as your academic advisor), I schedule office hours for all of you every semester before the course registration for the next semester starts. Please try your best to go to the OH if you want to discuss your course plans. If you cannot make that OH or have other questions during the semester, please feel free to email me and/or schedule a meeting as needed.
I have been collecting and updating common FAQs for my undergrad advisees as below. Please read them first when you have a question (because you can probably find an answer really fast):
- Where can I find the general guidance for my course requirement in CS?
- How do I know what courses I still need to graduate? Can Course X be used to staisfy the requirement of Y for my graduation/major/minor?
- Where can I find the undergraduate academic catalog for CS?
- Where can I find the general information for all advising-related questions?
- Can I study aboard? Can I transfer the credits from my abroad program?
- I am an international student and I need summer CPT for my internship. How should I start the process?
- Where can I find the form to (1) apply for a major/minor (2) audit a class (3) waive prerequisite and (4) basically anything about undergrad education?
- How can I enroll in CS2860/3860/3861/3862 in YES (after having a plan with the professor I intend to work with)?
- As an undergrad student, can I take a grad course and how?
- How can I view/calculate my major CS GPA in YES?
- What are the requirements for getting a CS minor?
- Can you help me change XYZ in YES?
- I really need to enroll in course CS XXXX but it is full. Can you add me to the course?
Here you can find all the documents for CS courses (under Advising Resources -> Computer Science): Course Requirement.
Detailed descriptions for the CS graduation requirements can be found here: Curriculum Requirements. And please remember the Degree Audit is the most useful tool for you to check if you are on track for graduation.
Based on our experience, the best way to check your own graduation plan (regarding courses) is to check the Degree Audit in YES. You are highly recommended to use the What If feature in Degree Audit to test if a course would be counted for a requirement.
Here you can find all the courses offered by CS including research credits (just look for the corresponding academic year -> Undergraduate -> School of Engineering -> Computer Science -> COURSES OFFERED: CS): Catalogs.
Here you can find most of information for undegrad advising: Undergraduate Advising - CS FAQs.
This is a good starting point: Study Abroad.
Getting CPT approval requires a series of steps completed by the student applicant: CPT for International Students.It also includes the registration for ES 3884 with me as your academic advisor (you need to email OAS to enroll in this course, it is advisable to CC me in the email). For your offer letter, please make sure it follows the dates specified in the CPT instructions each academic year (the dates are very important and non-negotiable). Upon the completion of your internship, you need to submit a report for 3884 before the deadline (the deadline is usually after your internship end date but before the summer course grading deadline. We can discuss the deadline for the report per case.)
All the forms are listed here: Forms for Students.
Please refer to "HowTo's" in this Forms link: Engineering Forms.
Yes. Here you can find the information about whether you are eligilble, how to enroll in a graduate course, and the policy (under "UNDERGRADUATE ENROLLMENT IN GRADUATE COURSES"): School of Engineering Academic Regulations. You can also use a graduate course as CS depth. However, if you do so, you cannot ALSO apply the credit to a Vanderbilt Accelerated masters, Vanderbilt graduate degree, nor can you transfer the course to another university graduate program (i.e., this credit is already "consumed").
Open your Degree Audit, then "Bachelor of Science: Computer Science" > "Computer Science Veirfy 2.0 GPA in CS Courses". Details might be slightly different based on your home school.
The information is listed in the end of the CS catalog (see "where can I find the undergraduate academic catalog for CS?" above).
Sadly I don't have any permission to edit anything in YES associated with your audit. For such requests, you will need to contact the Engineeging OAS via email: engineering-oas at vanderbilt.edu.
Sadly I don't have any permission to add a studnet to a full class. If you really need this course (e.g., "I really need to take this course this semester, otherwise I won't be able to graduate on time."), please email the instructor and me about your situation.