It's hard for me to know exactly what to write here; I'd like to somehow give you a feel for what it's like to be a CIRL graduate student.
The most important thing, I think, is that all of the CIRL graduate students are doing the best work of which they are capable. I'm very proud of that; its says a lot for the lab as a whole, and for the environment in which we all work.
CIRL grad students typically get Ph.D.'s in about 4-5 years, starting from a bachelor's degree. They go on to get the kinds of jobs they want, whether in industry or academics.
As far as CIRL itself goes, the lab is almost unique in the open environment we foster. The doors are always open, and since CIRL is a relatively small lab (currently three faculty, five graduate students and two programmers), we all know what each other is doing. The level of interaction between students and faculty is unmatched by any other environment any of us has ever seen. We are committed to never having more than twice as many students as faculty, and all students are given full financial support.
Another unique element of research life at CIRL is the weekly Friday meeting at which research progress is discussed. The meeting includes lunch, and typically runs for most of the afternoon. The basic intention is that it provides people with a forum to present half baked thoughts and ideas -- in fact, if the idea is baked enough to be put on transparencies, it's not viewed as suitable material for a Friday meeting!
Overall, CIRL's environment is friendly and competitive. With the lab as small as it is, there is something of a CIRL "family" feeling -- we are all very much on the same side, and every CIRL member is always ready to help any other when a problem arises. But we are also very good at what we do, and we all know it. This leads to a reasonably competitive atmosphere, although the competition is against the absolute standard set by scientific problems, as opposed to being against other lab members.
All told, the CIRL faculty have tried to make CIRL the kind of place in which we all wish we had gotten our own Ph.D.'s. In large measure, I think we've succeeded. It's a great place to finish an education.
Matt Ginsberg