I'm glad you're thinking about the lab. If you're a prospective student, this page is for you — please read all of it first, because it will dramatically change the odds that I write back.
A note up front: due to the very high volume of email I receive daily, I cannot respond to all inquiries.
The path doesn't run through my inbox. To work in my lab as a PhD student, apply directly to the Information Systems or Operations Management doctoral programs in the business school. The application link is on this page — I'll let you figure out where.
Emailing me before you apply won't move your application forward, so save us both the note and go through the official process.
I have to be honest about my bandwidth. Unfortunately, I don't have the capacity to work with high school or undergraduate students, even those who are genuinely and exceptionally motivated. This isn't a judgment of your potential; it's simply a limit on the mentoring I can do well right now.
If that's you: keep building on your own, ship things you're proud of, and feel free to reach back out later in your trajectory.
Looking for an internship, RA position, or postdoc? When I have funded RA positions, I hire UW students. I do not take on summer interns.
I receive a lot of inquiries. Many are entirely AI-generated and very long — that's not disqualifying on its own, but a short, specific, human note is far more likely to earn a reply. Three asks that genuinely make the difference:
It's how I know you actually read this page. If the word “bird” isn't in your subject, it's very unlikely I'll reply.
Tell me plainly what you're interested in working on. A few sharp sentences beat a few sprawling paragraphs.
Include a link to something you've built and deployed — a project, repo, demo, or page online — that shows me you're a builder who can ship, not just an admirer of the field.
If you've included all of that but still don't hear back from me, either I'm too busy or you asked for something I can't provide.
I'm generally happy to speak with the media (time permitting), because I see public scholarship as part of my job. I appreciate it when journalists indicate what they're working on and why they want to talk to me in particular, and include pointers to their previous work on similar topics.
Please also cc Suzanne Lee (suzlee@uw.edu) and Morgan Litke (MLitke@groupgordon.com).