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Info for prospective students

The lab is currently recruiting one PhD Student to work on embodied agents at the intersection of VLMs and RL. Please apply to the UCSD CSE app before Dec 15th. We are not recruiting anyone else at this time - undergrads, Master’s, interns, etc.

When positions are available we are interested in recruiting is select topics, particularly students with a strong background in: reinforcement learning, natural language processing, machine learning, and general deep learning engineering.

Please mention “Prithviraj Ammanabrolu” as a potential PI on your PhD application to UCSD CSE. It is the only way to ensure that Raj will see your application.

Low-depth choose your own adventure decision tree on if you should email Prithviraj (or Prithvi or Raj, whatever you’re comfortable with, really):

  • Are you a current UCSD Student?
    • Yes:
      • Are you a PhD Student or an MS/BS student applying to UCSD for PhDs?
        • Yes: Please go ahead and mention in detail what you want to talk about in the email.
        • No: You can email but there is no guarantee of a reply due to the sheer number of total emails received.
    • No:
      • Are you applying for PhD positions?:
        • Yes: The easist way is to just mention your interest in the Statement of Purpose and drop Prithviraj an email note. A response isn’t guaranteed but your application will be read!
        • No: You can email but there is no guarantee of a reply due to the sheer number of total emails received.

Some resources to help potential PhD applicants:

  • An overview of the UCSD CSE PhD Program.
  • SOPs: A list of Statements of Purpose (SOP) from previously successful applications. There’s heavy selection bias here so take these with a grain of salt, it is totally fine if you don’t have as many papers or as much research experience.
    • Honest advice: When you write an SOP, the MOST IMPORANT thing is to have a tiny bit at the end that details specifics about why this lab over all others. How do your research interests align with the lab’s? Emails (or SOPs) with generic “I want to do RLHF” or worse “I want to ML and NLP” will not get very far.
  • Letters of Recommendation: Video on how to request one by Casey Fiesler here.
  • UCSD Application Fee waiver here.
  • Other UCSD Grad application FAQs here.