I receive many queries from prospective international applicants indicating interest in joining my group. I am glad that many applicants consider our graduate program, and I would like to thank you for your interest and encourage you to apply. Below, you can find my responses to frequently-asked-questions and some other useful pointers and comments. Please read this FAQ carefully before contacting me with general questions regarding admission or financial aid. If you believe that your question/situation is not covered in the following bullets (e.g. if you are not an international applicant), please feel free to contact me.

If you are still inclined to apply to our dept and would like to join our group, I recommend that
  1. formally apply to our dept. Please indicate that you are interested in "computer system design" or "embedded systems" on your application. Also, you may want to mention my name as one of the faculty mentors with whom you would like to work.
  2. Apply early to make sure that your application receives full consideration. 
  3. Ensure that your application is complete, i.e., all of your application material, including official transcripts and all of the recommendation letters, are available for me to review.
  4. Contact me with your resume, when your application package is complete at UCDavis. I will review your application and will get back to you *only if* there may be a matching opening in our group. 
  5. I (and many other colleagues) consider only PhD applicants for financial aid. If your degree objective is MS or MS/PhD, it is much less likely that you receive financial assistance. Remember that you need to indicate your final degree objective on the application forms, so one can directly apply to our PhD program without having a MS degree. 
I hope that I have answered your questions. Feel free to contact me if this is not the case.