Looking over the fence
My husband, Mr.ME and I often compare notes on what it’s like being in industry versus graduate school as part of our “how was your day” discussions.He graduated the year before I did, so it’s interesting to see what it would be like if we’d taken the other route after graduation. Of course, not all graduate schools are the same, nor are all jobs the same, but we decided to offer some tag team insight into what our experiences have been like. Describe your job Miss MSE: I’m a graduate student in materials science at a major research university. My research is to study the structure of amorphous solids by molecular dynamics simulations. This is a major departure from what I did as an undergraduate, which was classical metallurgy. Mr. ME: I’m a mechanical engineer responsible for the design of a key subsystem for a consumer product produced by a major OEM. …
Be all you can be… for free
Most of you who read engineering blogs probably fit into one of two categories. Either you’re in the workforce or you’re in graduate school (or higher). But today’s post isn’t really geared (did you see what I did there?) toward you; rather, it is for anyone who is an undergraduate in an engineering field or possibly in an unpaid MS or PhD engineering program. There’s a seldom discussed fact about engineering graduate school programs that every American student should know. If you want to go to grad school, in engineering, and you’re a US citizen, you can get accepted at virtually every university even with less than stellar grades, get paid the standard stipend, and not have to pay tuition. Any place that tells you that you must TA for a year or two before receiving an RA or tells you that you must pay the first year’s tuition is,…