On-boarding

Prior to joining

• Get admission document and schedule a visa appointment, and then flight
• Join the lab Slack channel and introduce yourself –> give Tim the email you want to use with slack
• Find a place to live and possibly a roommate (talk to with other students to figure out where is a good area)
• Tell Tim your 1) PSID, 2) official UH email, 3) Gmail account
• Agree with Tim on a start date and ask to schedule a meeting in the first week
• Get your Cougar card (go to https://accessuh.uh.edu/, upload a photo)
• You will be reached out by a department administrator to complete:
  • Personal Data Sheet
  • I-9 Receipt
  • CHRI Background check
  • complete an application for Non-Resident Tuition Waiver.

Information

• As a part of your starting equipment, you will receive a Macbook which you will have to return at the end of your studies.
• Visit the following ISSSO links:
  • https://www.uh.edu/oisss/students/new-students/ for information before arrival, upon arrival, and other helpful information.
  • https://www.uh.edu/oisss/students/entry-and-exit/ for information on entry and exit and VISA appointments.

First day

• Go to University of Houston, College of Engineering, Engineering Building 1
  • Address: 4226 Martin Luther King Blvd, Houston TX 77204
• Introduce yourself to the staff members (saying you are Dr. Tian Chen’s new phd student), including
  • Cindy Chavez-Wiechec, department’s business admin (DBA, supervisor of all staff members)
  • Viet
  • Tammy Engelbosch, https://www.me.uh.edu/staff (staff member who will set up your monthly payment)
• Talk to Dr. Shailendra Joshi https://www.me.uh.edu/faculty/joshi (who sent you the admission letter)
• Talk to Tim just to say hi

First week

Personal

• Get a cell phone plan (Mint is a good provider, https://www.mintmobile.com/)
• Consider getting a driving license and a car https://www.dps.texas.gov/section/driver-license
• Get Social Security Number https://www.dps.texas.gov/section/driver-license/social-security-number-ssn
• Open a bank account (Chase bank is on campus, you need a SSN)

Work

• Meet with Tim to
  • to invite you to google drive
  • to add you to wiki
  • to add you to network drive
  • for keys to the office and the lab
  • to be added as a user to workstations
  • Schedule a weekly meeting
• Install AnyConnect and connect to VPN (www.vpn.uh.edu)
• Log into wiki, http://aimwiki.me.e.uh.edu/ and Review the Lab Manual (wiki only works with VPN)
• Review the PhD Timeline
• Familiarize yourself with lab website https://aim.me.uh.edu and Google Drive
• Ask a fellow PhD to add you to the shared calendar

First month

• You should start your first project
• Participate in weekly group meetings Group_Meeting_Agenda
• From a fellow PhD student
  • to learn how to make purchases
  • to learn how to use the different machines in the lab including Instron, 3D printers, Laser cutter, magnetizer, fabrication techniques, etc https://aim.me.uh.edu/resouces/
• Learn common software listed below

Tools to Learn

• Rhino / grasshopper: download it, I will send you an invite on gmail https://www.rhino3d.com/
• Abaqus: this is available on workstations https://www.3ds.com/products-services/simulia/products/abaqus/
• Latex: https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Learn_LaTeX_in_30_minutes
• Photoshop / Illustrator (https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud.html)
• Python and Matlab (https://www.anaconda.com/download)

Created and edited by Tim and Elizabeth Lakas