Eligibility Requirements
I teach pretty much everyone in the BME curriculum and sometimes for multiple courses. During the application season, many people will come and ask me for a recommendation. I treat the applications seriously; therefore, you can be assured that each letter written by me will be at least 1.5 pages on a 12-point font, and the letter will be about my interactions with you in a genuine and positive way. However, I will not be able to accommodate everyone since I also have a limited amount of time. In addition, I strongly care about my reputation as a recommender to not jeopardize all future applicants I recommend for graduate schools or other opportunities. Biomedical engineering faculty, especially those in biomedical engineering education, tend to meet each other often in conferences and are often acquainted. Therefore, if you seek a recommendation letter, please make sure that you satisfy at least one of the following eligibility criteria:
- You were a cubicle for at least 12 months and have completed at least 4 BIM 199 units with me. Cubicles that did not want BIM 199 units are expected to complete at least 250 hours of training and research in the lab.
- You were, at any time, hired into a paid position supervised by me. These positions include GSRs, TAs, undergraduate research assistants, and peer mentors that are essential for the lab's operation.
- You have interacted with me extensively, including coming to office hours 50% of the time or higher in a course, talking to me in lab when I teach my labs, and served on the same committee as me.
- You got an A in at least one of the following courses I teach: BIM 89C (Scientific Computing), BIM 111 (Bioinstrumentation), BIM 155 (Machine learning), BIM 110 ABC (Senior Design), or any of my WSU courses. For UC Davis students, A+ is preferred (WSU does not use the A+ grade). Notably, I will not write a recommendation letter for you if you got an A/A+ in only BIM 1 and/or 107.
Every year, I will only write a limited number of letters for people satisfying criterion 4 but will not have a quota for people who satisfy criteria 1-3.
Ready to Reach out?
If you would like me to write you a recommendation, please fill out this form: LOR form. You may expect one of the following responses:
- I agree to write one without asking for anything or only asking for your transcript. For this type of response, you can expect a fairly good letter from me. I'm most likely to pick "strongly recommend" or "recommend without reservation" on your recommendation form.
- I agree to write a letter for you but asked for your transcript, resume, and personal statement. For GRFPs and fellowship applications, this response is typical since those letters can require me to write a more comprehensive review for you. However, for other purposes, it can mean that I know you well enough to write you a letter, but do not know you enough to write a strong one. I'm mostly likely to pick "recommend" on your recommendation form.
- I respond to you that I can write you a letter, but you may want to find someone else. This situation typically happens when you got good grades in my courses, but we do not interact enough. In this case, you may be expecting as low as a "recommend with reservation" from me.
- I do not respond, say no, or saying that I no longer have bandwidth.
Please do not write my name as a recommender without asking me; you don't really want to know what I will do in those circumstances.