Hoon Hong是美国北卡罗来纳州立大学数学系终身教授，其主要研究领域为计算代数几何，对量词消去问题的研究作出过突出贡献。Hoon Hong教授组织过30余次国际学术会议，并担任过100多次会议的程序委员会委员。他还编撰了6期计算代数领域的专刊。从2000年起，Hoon Hong教授一直担任《Journal of Symbolic Computation》主编。本文的材料取自于2008年SCC会议举行期间，Hoon Hong教授访问北航时与王老师的博士生的谈话，主题为如何成为一名职业的研究人员（Professional Researcher）。文中的观点和看法对目前正在攻读博士学位的研究生及博士后研究人员应有一定的参考价值。

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Quotations of Prof. Hoon Hong

1.   Pioneers vs. followers

Pioneers are those who make new roads, while the others (followers) just follow the paths of the pioneers. Pioneers encounter many unexpected difficulties in their journey. But they choose to face and overcome the difficulties, in order to make roads for many others.

You, as a researcher, are just like a pioneer. You do not know what will happen even though you make great effort. However you know that your work will contribute to the wellbeing of many others. When you encounter some difficulties, remember that you are a pioneer and it is you who chose this life. So, be courageous!

2.   How to choose a good research problem

1. Important: It should be a fundamental problem. A fundamental problem is like a root/a trunk of a tree; it has many branches (applications). Do not choose a problem without many applications.

2. Nontrivial: It should be nontrivial. A good check is whether your advisor (or other experts whom your advisor knows) feels that it can be solved relatively easily. If so, it is most likely trivial.

3. Simple to state: It should be possible to state it concisely and precisely. If the precise statement needs more than half a page, do not choose it.

4. Prepared: You should have some basic knowledge/skill/training on the topic.

5. Note that I did not list “interesting” as a criterion. It is a big mistake to use “interesting” as a main criterion for choosing a problem. Any important and nontrivial problem, when digged deep enough, becomes interesting. 

   
   

3.   How to work on an interdisciplinary field

Highly appraised, but very hard. It is recommended that you find two advisors,one in each field. The advisors should be open-minded and can work cooperatively.

4.   How to ask an external professor to be a coauthor

1. Read at least one relevant paper of the professor.

2. Inform the professor that you are working on a related topic. Ask whether it will be acceptable if you contact the professor when some progress is made.

3. Inform the professor of your initial progress (problem and solution). It should be short (about half page long). It should be precise. There should be no typos and grammar errors. It will increase the probability for him/her to read the report.

4. Ask the professor whether he/she would be willing to be a coauthor of an eventual paper and to give advice on how to proceed with further work.

   
   

Further tips

• Introduce yourself at the beginning of the letter with pronunciation of your name. It shows that you are good at communication: I am Chenqi Mou, pronounced as ..........., and I am a Ph.D student of Prof. Dongming Wang and so on.

• It is good to refer to the professor with praise from another one: Prof. Hoon Hong said that your work on the pseudo-remainder function is impressive.

• “cc” to your advisor and other persons mentioned in the letter to show that all the information inside is genuine, transparent and internally agreed-upon.

• You can ask for papers of the professor only if you cannot find them yourself. Do not ask for any reference or document if you can get it on the web.

• When asking for materials, indicate that all his/her materials will be properly cited and acknowledged: This is important!

• Do not initiate discussions on tedious technical details. Do not assume that he/she already remembers all the previous discussions. Do not try to teach the professor.

• Do not treat the professor as your secretary. Try your best to minimize his/her work.

• Wait for at least two weeks before you send another letter to remind him/her of your earlier one.

（编辑：牟晨琪 杨静 李晓亮）