Examining Student Interest and Motivations in Graduate Computer Science Research
This program is tentative and subject to change.
The research focuses in academia are typically driven from the top down, with professors primarily focusing on projects that align with their existing lab or can be readily supported by grants. Student interest in learning how research is done, however, does not always align with those existing focuses. As part of a broader effort to expand the available research opportunities in a graduate program in computer science, this work focuses on collecting data on what is motivating student interest in research and what specific fields students desire to study with the intention of using the results for decision-making about how to allocate resources to best match student interests.
This work reports on the responses from 143 graduate students in computer science at a major research institution in the United States in a course-based program where access to research opportunities is not guaranteed. It details both the fields of particular interest and the self-reported motivations leading these students to attempt to seek out research opportunities.