Kara Kockelman

3.0 3.0 / 5 1 reviews

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University: University of Texas at Austin
Department: Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Website: http://www.caee.utexas.edu/prof/kockelman/

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Total 1 Reviews

Anonymous

Fair

Posted:

AFFILIATED EMAIL

## Advisor Style & Mentorship
Dr. Kockelman has "Monday Updates" needed on first and third Monday of month. Update should have past and planned work for next 2, 4, and 8 weeks. Also, you'll have meeting every other week, lasting 30 to 75 minutes. But be ready, Dr. Kockelman may cancel last minute due to events that come up. Dr. Kockelman doesn't plan assignments, she gives students random and unreasonable deadlines. Task given may change in few days or weeks, and she makes students believe it takes 30 minutes, but no one could finish in under 10 hours. Even if you give her task, she only quickly looks and gives random feedback. She changes abstract, intro, figures/tables, and conclusions ONLY. Careful, as she changes words and makes up numbers without realizing. Students doing well always document emails and note down what she says in meetings for future reference. Dr. Kockelman works late at night and emails & calls outside normal work hours. She gives students a lot of work, including University paperwork and faculty-related tasks, but claims it's for their benefit. If you want academic career, her name is good in long term. But if not, stress and unpaid work not worth it.
## Expectations for PhD Students
Dr. Kockelman expects PhD students to bring new ideas and coding skills. Independent students and those with strong methods backgrounds graduate faster. Usually, 1-2 PhD students run the lab.
## Funding & Support
Dr. Kockelman funds students from projects or TAs. If you're paid as TA, you're expected to work on research without extra pay. She doesn't pay for open access. Students write proposals for lab funding each year. Students must research salaries, benefits, and talk to agencies for proposals. Dr. Kockelman does good for graduate student community, organizing hikes, dog walks, racquetball/museum gatherings.
## Research
Research is well-cited and novel. Some SAEV work might not apply in real-world. Dr. Kockelman lacks coding skills, leading to unreasonable expectations on students. She often works last minute.
## Lab Culture
Students usually work on different projects, resulting in limited collaboration. However, students support and talk to each other. Dr. Kockelman is friendly and pleasant to talk to. She may ask others to do managerial work for her. Some people ignore her emails, shut their office doors, or work from home more. Some students take internships with companies or national labs during summers. If interested, inform Dr. Kockelman in first meeting and explain why.

Review #305

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: not surprised on the unpaid work as she even put other PI's student to work. Couple of years ago, she sent a very ridiculous email demanding students in other groups help her kids with some research program, the said email even mentioned her husband working as attorney for UT (for intimidation?).
Reply 2025-03-24T22:13:28Z
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