Your Career and Graduate School

Transcription

1 Your Career and Graduate School Professor Martha Mecartney UC Irvine Former Graduate Advisor to the Materials Science and Engineering Degree Program Former Chair of the Graduate Admissions Committee for MSE and Chemical Engineering Former UCI Associate Dean of Graduate Studies

2 Why go to graduate school? You want to teach in a college or university (need a Ph.D.) You want to conduct research at a university or in industry or at a government lab (need a Ph.D.) You want to be a manager and move up the professional management track (need M.S. or M.B.A.) You want to earn more than $100,000/year five years after finishing your Ph.D.

3 My Story Undergrad - Case Western Reserve University BA in Classics, BS in Engineering (6 years) Graduate School Stanford University, M.S. and Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering (5 years) Post-Doc Max-Planck-Institut, Stuttgart, Germany (2 years) Faculty Position at University of Minnesota then University of California, Irvine

4 Some Examples from My Group Mike Martin Vice President of Fuel Cell Technology, EMTEC, Dayton Ohio Adel Sharif Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Cal State LA Maria Gust Product Development, Western Digital, Lake Forest Joe Bailey Scientist, 3M, Minneapolis Andrew Shapiro Manager of Research, JPL, Pasadena Garo Dederian Engineering, MICRON, Idaho

5 What does a Masters of Science require? Usually have two options for the M.S. Coursework (12 courses or so) and comprehensive exam or project Coursework and thesis (based on small research project) One to two years to complete

6 What does a Doctorate of Philosophy (Ph.D) require? Must complete same coursework as for M.S. Research on an independent project providing a significant new contribution to science or engineering (dissertation) Milestones: comprehensive preliminary exam, Ph.D. qualifying exam, defense of your Ph.D. dissertation Time to degree, including M.S., is usually 5 years (this depends on YOU)

7 What are the steps you should take for admission? Take GRE in the summer/fall (prep course?) Check out the on-line catalogue for each school and the on-line web application process for each school Deadlines are usually December or January Fill out your application (statement of interest will help us know about your research experience, research interests) Request 3 letters of recommendation Get copies of transcripts from all colleges mailed to graduate school

8 How do you pick a graduate school? Ask faculty in your department to recommend schools (they know you best) Think about the research areas you are interested in Find a program that matches your research interests Find research advisors that you like Location Your GPA (CSU has different requirements than UC)

9 How we pick who gets in. GPA-For all UC programs, rare admission below 3.0 GRE scores, especially quantitative (math) Letters of recommendation (from faculty or Ph.D. recipients, especially research supervisors) Statement of interest, research experience Is everything in on time? Do we know you? Have you received an outside fellowship? Did you apply for an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship?

10 How your summer research is important Letters of recommendation are critically important How well did you perform? Showed up on time? Stayed for full time? Read and ask questions? Inquisitive? Learned how to operate equipment, take directions, perform careful calculation? Wanted to push research further? Came up with some ideas on own? Teamwork? Got along with others? Good oral and written presentation skills? Turned things in on time? Sought out grad Go mentor/professor Graduate School when needed

11 Come for a Visit Admission Letters sent usually in February or early March If a program wants you for the Ph.D., they may help pay for at least part of a visit (ask!) Many programs have visitation days, weekend after accepted Talk to faculty, talk to students, see the housing

12 Now the best part.. You can get paid for going to graduate school!

13 Financial Support All qualified U.S. citizens or permanent residents should be offered financial support with Ph.D. admission Financial support includes tuition/fees and a monthly living stipend Some campuses, such as UC Irvine, offer guaranteed on campus housing Some financial support for excellent M.S. students also

14 Types of Financial Support Fellowships Research Assistantships Teaching Assistantships Summer Internships All support is given competitively, and based on continued good academic standing. FAFSA must be filled out each year

15 Fellowships Fellowships are primarily given to first year Ph.D. students so they can focus on completing their coursework Special fellowships and external fellowships may also be used in subsequent years Students are expected to work on research full time after coursework is completed Some programs offer research rotations the first year for new students, to help them select a research group

16 Research Assistantships Students conduct research on projects sponsored by the faculty Expect 40 hours/week or more of time 20 hours/week paid by Research Assistantship hours/week from course units (credit for research) Can expect to be off when university is closed (completely) and perhaps 2 weeks/year additional

17 Teaching Assistantships TAs grade homework and tests, run demonstrations, hold office hours, lead discussions, maintain class websites, maintain records of grades, run labs, grade homework and tests Excellent preparation for future faculty positions fellowship opportunities Students are selected based on faculty nominations, match with course material, instructor preference, past experience TA training

18 Cool Fellowships to Check Out National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Fellowships, $30,000/year for 3 years (AND fees/tuition paid), deadline early November, apply directly to NSF NSF IGERT* (Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training), $30,000/year (AND fees/tuition paid) Graduate Assistantships in Areas of National Need (GAANN) Fellowships*, pays all tuition and fees, provides about $1800/month, guarantees 5 years of support for Ph.D. NSF Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP)* encourages minority underrepresented students to continue for the Ph.D. * Apply to individual graduate programs that may have these

19 NSF Graduate Fellowships Need Identify top choice institution 3 letters of recommendation Transcripts (GRE optional but recommended) Proposed research project (give a copy to references) Deadline near Nov Don t forget to check out the NSF Graduate Teaching K-12 Fellowships &org=dge&from=home

20 NSF IGERT Programs The Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program seeks to train PhD scientists and engineers with the interdisciplinary background and the technical, professional and personal skills needed to address the global questions of the future

21 Dept. of Education GAANN Fellowships Check out this link for a list of programs (3 year funding cycle) at various universities Both need based and merit based so if have a trust fund, working spouse, may not qualify tml

22 NSF AGEP Program is focused on encouraging underrepresented minority students to continue to the Ph.D.

23 What is the typical life of a graduate student? Year I take required classes and electives Spring Year I Ph.D. prelim exams Match with permanent advisor, start research summer Year I Work on research until you have a good idea of what you would like to propose for a dissertation take qualifying exams (Year 3). Publish papers, give talks at conferences, conduct collaborative work Year V complete Ph.D. dissertation, graduate

24 No, really what is the typical life of a graduate student? Lynher Ramirez two summer internships with IBM, three trips to New Zealand for research Phil Imamura and Mai Ng summer research in Japan on NSF program Kevin Olson internship at Corona Naval base, collaborative work with NIST in Washington D.C. Adel Sharif research at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico near Santa Fe

25 Any Questions? Professor Martha Mecartney C Engineering Tower