Prospective Students

The purpose of this section is to help prospective students understand whether Dr. Yung-Hsiang Lu’s research team can meet your expectation. Dr. Lu advises both graduate and undergraduate students.

For Graduate Students

If you consider to join Dr. Lu’s research team, please read this before you send an email. Doing so can save your time.

  • Dr. Lu’s research is about computer vision and embedded systems (how to make computer vision efficient so that it can run on embedded systems). Dr. Lu does not conduct research in topics related to Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, or Quantum Computing.

  • Research means creating new knowledge. Research is not about learning existing knowledge. Research is not about reading books or papers. If your goal is to learn things, please take courses.

  • Creating new knowledge is difficult. It is necessary to focus on one topic only. If you investigate multiple topics, you cannot make any progress.

  • Honesty is the foundation of science. Quality is always more important than quantity.

  • Dr. Lu sets a research direction and expects each student to develop a plan. He does not micro-manage students on daily basis.

  • Dr. Lu advises graduate students only if they want to write MS or PhD theses with Dr. Lu.

  • Dr. Lu can advise only (1) Purdue students, or (2) non-Purdue students whose advisors are collaborating with Dr. Lu.

  • Dr. Lu has no authorization to admit any student. Do not ask him, “Can I get admission from Purdue?”

  • Before you send email to Dr. Lu, read his recent papers. He will not answer your email if the email does not mention any of his papers.

  • Financial support for graduate students is based on available funding and research ability. Financial support will be discussed after there is mutual interest doing research together.

  • Please fill this form. Thank you.

For Undergraduate Students

If you are an undergraduate student, Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) is the best way to start research. If you have any question about VIP, please visit this website.

  • This is a research team. A research team’s purpose is to discover new knowledge. Dr. Lu’s research is about how to improve efficiency of computers.

  • If your purpose is to learn and you do not want to create new knowledge, please take courses.

  • Will you stay in this team for at least two semesters? Creating new knowledge is not easy. One semester is too short and nothing can be accomplished.

  • Writing a research paper usually takes two years.

  • This team has a strong record and high expectations. Many past members published research papers in peer-reviewed journals or conferences. Many members became graduate students in top universities. Multiple members received “Honorable Mentions” as Outstanding Undergraduate Researchers by the Computing Research Association. Some members won business competitions. Some members started companies and successfully raised fund before they graduated. One member received the Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation.

  • If you join this team, you will work with exceptional students. You must expect yourself to be exceptional as well.

  • Teamwork is absolutely critical. If you want to work alone, this research team is not for you.

  • You must explain your work to the other team members in speaking and writing. If you absolutely hate to speak and write, this research team is not for you.

  • If you want to get Dr. Lu recommendation letters, think about what you want to accomplish before he writes the letters. Dr. Lu’s letters state observable facts, such as (1) whether you have published a research paper? (2) is your software used by anyone else? (3) have you created research data used by anyone else?

  • Dr. Lu does not write letters that say anything like “This student works very hard” or “This student learns a lot” or “This student enjoys my class” or “This student smiles to everyone”.

  • Before Dr. Lu writes letters for you, he will ask you for your project reports and presentations. Make sure you keep these materials.

  • Universities ask questions like “intellectual independence”, “written English”, “oral English”, “maturity”, “research ability”, “teaching ability”, “interpersonal skills”, “reliability and sense of responsibility”, “organization”. If Dr. Lu does not know enough about you, he will answer “No information”.

  • If you have never talked to Dr. Lu, he knows nothing about you and cannot write recommendation letters for you.