In fall 2025, I will start as an Assistant Professor at the University of Denver Department of Computer Science. I’m looking to recruit new students interested in working with me. However, I have to limit the number of students I advise so I have the capacity to support them developmentally and financially.

This page provides information for current and prospective University of Denver (DU) students on whether I am able to advise new students and how I would recommend students reach out to me. The goal is to be more fair and transparent with information to students and establish norms for correspondence.

Who I’m Currently Advising

As of April 2025, I am excited to be advising 1-2 PhD students and 0-1 Master’s student for the 2025-2026 academic year! More info about them to come…

For Current DU Students

This information relates to students who DU has admitted or currently study at the University of Denver.

Current DU PhD Students

I currently do not have the funding to advise any more PhD students.

Current DU Master’s Students

I will not know about my capacity to advise or fund any Master’s students until August 2025. Please check back with me then.

Current DU Undergraduates

I will not know about my capacity to advise Honors theses and/or support undergraduate research advisors until August 2025. Please check back with me then.

For Prospective Students

This information pertains to students applying to DU during the 2025-2026 to start around fall 2026.

Prospective PhD Students

I plan to recruit up to 1 more PhD student to start fall 2026. While the DU PhD program has a rolling application process and start date, I prefer PhD students start in the fall to enable a greater sense of community amongst their cohort of PhD applicants. However, I recognize other start dates may make sense due to students’ circumstances.

Prospective Master’s Students

DU offers the following Master’s degrees: Computer Science MS, Cybersecurity MS, and Applied Data Science and AI MS. I am not involved in reviewing applications for any of DU’s Master’s programs. If you are interested in working with me, please reach out to me after you have been admitted.

Prospective Undergraduates

DU CS offers the following undergraduate degrees: Computer Science (BA, BS), Game Development (BA, BS), and Applied Computing (BA). I am not involved with reviewing undergraduate applications. If you have general questions about undergraduate education at DU CS, please complete this form. If you have specific DU CS questions which do not relate to admissions (e.g. regarding a course I taught or my research), please feel free to reach out to me!

Emailing me

I get a lot of emails from students and unfortunately many of them appear AI-generated. Before emailing me for the first time about potentially having me as a research advisor, please do the following:

1. Read through my research values below and ensure we have sufficient value alignment. If you’re not sure, let me know and we can talk about it!
2. Look through my current projects and/or skim through titles and abstracts of some papers I’ve published to identify potential overlap in interests.

My Research Values

• Equity: research advances equity or justice oriented goals by making space for critiquing and/or changing existing social structures and norms
• Plurality: research makes space for pluralistic interpretations or uses of data and/or computing
• Learning: research involves individuals, groups, and/or communities learning, preferably in a socially-situated context
• Boundary Crossing: people’s diverse expertise and lived experiences enrichen the research
• Augmenting What Already Exists: Use of data and computing augment existing social initiatives

Assuming we have sufficient overlap in research values and interests…

Write to me! Email me at benjixie@du.edu with the following information:

1. Indicate your current status: For current students, indicate what program and year of your program you’re in (e.g. 3rd year undergraduate majoring in CS). For prospective students, indicate what program(s) you’re interested in and the status of your application (e.g. interested in a PhD in CS starting Fall next year, but have not applied yet).
2. Briefly describe a potential research project: In a short paragraph (2-5 sentences), describe to me a potential research idea you have. This description can include 1) a broader goal or vision this project could advance, 2) what steps are involved to execute the project, 3) what you hope to discover, and 4) how this project could advance knowledge and/or impact society. Doing this gives me a concrete idea of what you’re interested so we can talk about it. It doesn’t have to be fully thought out, and I am not asking you to commit to the project!
3. Let me know of any deadlines you have (e.g. need to find an advisor before Fall term begins).
4. Let me know what questions I can answer.

Other notes on emailing me:

• You may (but are not required to) attach a resume or CV or link to a website or portfolio.
• If I haven’t responded to you, please feel free to follow up in 7-10 days.
• Please do NOT send me any transcripts.

Closing Thoughts: I promise I’m not scary.

Did all these policies make you feel intimidated by me? I’m sorry; that’s totally fair. I too was scared of reaching out to professors (and still kind of am?). If you don’t follow the policies I outlined here exactly or are confused, please still reach out to me.

When you email me, please include any emoji in the subject and the link to this webpage in the message body. This lets me know you at least glanced at this (and signal to me your email wasn’t 100% AI generated). The worst things that could happen are I don’t respond (because I’m regrettably busy), or I ask you to clarify something.

The real worst thing that happens is that I don’t get a potential opportunity to connect with you, an awesome human being. So please, do reach out.

You made it to end of this post! As a tiny prize for your accomplishment, here’s some photos of my dogs.