If you are interested in joining iLAB, please read the following carefully. Due to the large volume of emails we receive from prospective students, unfortunately, we do not have time to respond to most emails individually. Please check the information provided below.
Admission:
If you are considering USC’s graduate program as a PhD student, there are three PhD admission deadlines: October 1, February 15 and March 15. To be ensured of consideration for financial aid, application materials must be finalized by December, 15. Since it can take some time for all materials to be processed, we suggest you submit everything by mid-November. Please see our Department website for more information about the application process, our academic programs and our faculty: https://cee.usc.edu/. Please note that the admissions committee makes decisions about aceeptance to the PhD program.
The criteria we look at for PhD admission are TOEFL (if applicable) and GRE scores, recommendation letters, and the bachelors and masters degrees (school, GPA and transcripts). We also look for a good fit of research interests with our faculty. Specialization areas for PhD in Civil Engineering can be found at our department's website. Our research group’s focus is in the area of Informatics for Intelligent Built Environments. If you are interested in this research area and would like to join iLAB, make sure you indicate Dr. Becerik-Gerber or Dr. Soibelman as your potential supervisor. If you are interested in other PhD specialization areas, we would suggest you contact faculty in that area.
Please review the PhD program requirements: https://cee.usc.edu/academics/phd-programs/
Application process is explained in detail here: https://viterbigradadmission.usc.edu/doctoral/how-to-apply-phd/
A strong and well-organized research statement, examples of past research done and any other evidence shows your interest and enthusiasm in the area of informatics in intelligent built environments are important considerations for us. Due to a large number of applications, we contact only competitive applicants and usually invite them for a phone interview.
Research Assistantships:
Based on current projects and funding availability, PhD and MS students join iLAB every year. PhD students are given priority for research assistantships. If you are a MS student and would like to work in iLAB, we suggest you enroll in one of our courses or a directed research course and do well. We will consider your application at that time. Candidates are expected to have an understanding and significant interest in informatics, sensing, control, data management, information modeling/visualization, simulation, machine learning and artificial intelligence. You are not required to have knowledge in all of these areas, but you must have at least basic knowledge of and desire to learn and research some of these subjects. Most incoming students spend their first year at USC enhancing their knowledge on these subjects. The most important things are that you are interested in the research area, you have the ability to work with a large degree of independence and also have the ability to work with your peers. We usually schedule weekly meetings with our students to provide research direction, address possible problems/solutions and discuss progress made.
Dr. Burcin Becerik-Gerber
If you would like to contact me, please use email instead of phone: becerik@usc.edu. However, please note that I receive about ten emails a day from prospective students with various questions and request to review their application materials. Unfortunately, I am not able to provide feedback to each prospective applicant.