Aaron M. Johnson

Resources and Advice

Here is a random collection of resources, tutorials, and other advice for my students that I have put together over the years. I decided that there was no reason not to make these public, so please enjoy.

Writing a Paper - Information on how to outline and write a paper with me.

Board Design Rules - Suggestions and tips for PCB design.


Code and Scripts

Code snippets and bash scripts that I often use.

Motor Thermal Calculator - Calculate heating and cooling curves for a motor in excel.

check_latex.sh - Checks for common problems in LaTeX manuscripts. Also check out these three scripts.

exchange_ssh.sh - Exchange SSH keys with a remote host.

CMU Proxy - Bookmark to reload current page through CMU library proxy (for access to papers off campus)


Companies and Jobs

Some places to find robotics companies and jobs.

Pittsburgh Robotics Network - Consortium of local (Pittsburgh) companies.

Silicon Valley Robotics - Professional network, events, and job listings.

MRSD Internship Overview - Listing of companies interested in robotics interns from the CMU MRSD program.

Weekly Robotics Jobs Board - Weekly newsletter that hosts job listings.

TechCrunch - A list of robotics companies that are hiring. (May not be maintained)

How to Become a Robotics Engineer - Article on different skills and roles (in part 2) in the robotics industry.

External Links

Here are some external resources and links that I feel are useful for myself and my students.

Checklist for a well-rounded, balanced PhD experienc

How to Avoid the Reviewer’s Axe

Managing Your Advisor - As well as other resources on How to do Great Research.

What matters in a Ph.D. adviser?

Making the Right Moves - Scientific Management for Postdocs and New Faculty.

5 Tips for Writing a Winning NSF GRFP Application

The Awesomest 7-Year Postdoc or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Tenure-Track Faculty Life

The Graduate School FAQ

What is a robotics PhD?