Careers in Science and Engineering A Student Planning Guide to Grad School and Beyond (1996) / Chapter Skim
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4 WHAT EDUCATION DO YOU NEED TO REACH YOUR CAREER GOALS?
4 WHAT EDUCATION DO YOU NEED TO REACH YOUR CAREER GOALS?
Pages 47-90
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From page 47... ...
The Undergraduate Years Many students start thinking about the possibility of a career when their interest is ignited by a high-school or undergraduate teacher or some other role model. This is the time to start meeting and talking with scientists and engineers in fields that interest you.
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From page 48... ...
In a university setting, you can meet with graduate students and postdoctoral researchers and gain insights about specific graduate programs, possible careers, and the current job market. You can join student chapters of scientific and engineering disciplinary societies, both general (such as the Society of Women Engineers)
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From page 49... ...
This is a test required for admission to most graduate schools. Discuss with your adviser your potential for advanced study.
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As a graduate student, you pursue at much greater depth knowledge that 50
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To pass the time, he accepted a job as a newspaper reporter with The Times of India -- a decision that changed his life. He was quickly hooked on the realism of his new job, and he relished the responsibility of helping people to understand current events.
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Even if you don't become a science writer, you'll always benefit from having stronger writing skills." 52
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There is no simple formula to use to decide whether you should attend graduate school; your love for your subject may be your best guide. For a discussion of more of the issues involved, see the scenario "Deciding Whether to Attend Graduate School," and the related discussion in Appendix A
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From page 54... ...
But graduate work can be very demanding, especially at the doctoral level, where few programs accept part-time students. For a PhD program, it might make better sense to borrow money for living expenses and pay it back later from your increased earnings.
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Delighted to find that her analytic skills and scientific knowledge were valued in the public-policy arena, she worked at the US Congress's Office of Technology Assessment and for the assistant secretary of health, providing scientific advice that helped decision-makers to draft regulations, write legis continued 55
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From page 56... ...
After several years of pursuing a long-held interest in public science education as a grant-program director at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Dr. Hoben and her family moved to Minneapolis, where she now holds two halftime positions.
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From page 57... ...
' For example, on the dairy-cow project, I have a physicist, an electrical engineer, an epidemiologist, an animal physiologist, and a veterinarian all looking at the possibility that electricity affects dairy cows. This is the kind of thing students could be doing to explore career options and serve their community -- find an interesting problem, team up with students from other disciplines that bear on the problem, and go out and solve it.
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From page 58... ...
And just as an alumni network can be an important source of career and job-hunting advice, so can the reputation of the school that those alumni represent influence their ability to find you a job. Through a disciplinary society, library, or guidance office, you can find sources that describe the programs of various universities, such as the American Chemical Society's Directory of Graduate Research (ACS 1994)
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From page 59... ...
When you join a broad-based program, such as environmental engineering, you might have more potential advisers from whom to choose. Note that some degrees, such as a business master's, can be obtained via distance learning or through "executive degrees" that are offered on weekends.
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➤ Does that school offer an opportunity to obtain a broad education, including the acquisition of career skills outside your primary field (e.g., a mathematics major might want to take some engineering or physics classes)
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Does it help their graduates to find positions? Be aware that some graduate programs prepare their students only for academic careers, some direct their students primarily toward industry, and others value academe and industry equally.
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Planning, sound guidance, and a focus on setting and achieving goals can make your work meaningful and your life easier. This section offers advice on survival skills and on ways to enjoy graduate school.
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From page 63... ...
The path of Carol Balfe's career illustrates that it is sometimes not very useful to stick to a blueprint. After a series of very substan tial -- and unplanned -- changes, her present occu pation makes use of virtually all her experiences and allows her to do work that she values highly: trying to reform science education on a national scale.
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From page 64... ...
My future husband worked for the Department of Employment, so I was very aware of labor market issues. I got fired up to do the research I hadn't finished at Wisconsin, but I was keeping the education issues in the back of my mind." After earning her PhD, she spent two years at Sandia National Laboratories, where she was one of only two chemists on a team of materials scientists.
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From page 65... ...
In particular, I want to help industries and professional societies have more effective and strategic roles in public science education. "This may sound like a ‘grand plan,' that I knew all along how I'd bring all my careers together.
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From page 66... ...
Students are generally required to take courses for 1 or 2 years and sometimes required to write a thesis and take departmental examinations. After successfully completing the examinations, you can take a master's degree and enter the workplace or proceed into a PhD program.
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From page 67... ...
He enjoys classwork and laboratory work equally. His grades are average, but he has excellent "people skills," which make him a popular student teacher and mentor of local high-school science students.
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From page 68... ...
After passing departmental examinations, the student enters candidacy under the supervision of a faculty adviser and a dissertation committee. Candidacy is a period for performing original research, writing a dissertation describing that research, and orally defending the dissertation before the faculty committee.
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From page 69... ...
Sometimes, there are excellent opportunities abroad, especially postdoctoral appointments. In addition, distance learning programs -- in which courses are taken via satellite, videotape, television, or computer -- are increasingly popular and provide an additional option.
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If you will work as part of a research team, how will your role be defined and how will you gain credit for your own contribution to the team's work? Will your advisor support a nonresearch or nonacademic career choice?
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From page 71... ...
I have a good bit of clinical contact with patients, so I know I am doing something useful, and the work gets more interesting all the time." For the last 13 years, he has been director of the radiation-physics department at Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville. His work includes planning computerized radiation treatments, making physics measurements on equipment used to treat patients, and serving as a liaison between physicians, dosimetrists, and therapists.
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I am presently board certified by the American Board of Radiology (ABR) , the American Board of Medical Physics (ABMP)
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The Adviser–Student Relationship In many fields of science and engineering, especially in a PhD program, you might be invited to work as a research assistant in your adviser's research program. An aspect of this research might become your own research topic.
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There is often an implicit contract between adviser and student: the adviser devotes time, guidance, and personal energy in the expectation that the student-apprentice will some day do research that will make the mentor proud. Does your adviser have this expectation?
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From page 75... ...
Be aware that your original topic, especially in the life sciences, might not work out. A good thesis adviser will have backup plans in case your original project fails to yield results.
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Will you have financial support, whether from a professor's research grant or from some other source?
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Such breadth might allow you to see your own work in a fuller context and understand interdisciplinary questions. We have discussed how easy it is to overspecialize in pursuing a research topic.
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From page 78... ...
Employers often support such study financially because it brings them needed expertise; with such support, you might be able to study part-time, in the evening, or by distance learning. Some engineering students pursue a degree in another field in combination with the master's in engineering.
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"In grad school I knew I wanted to do research, and I thought I would become a professor and help my community back home in California. But my adviser told me it was too difficult for women to get grants or academic jobs.
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From page 80... ...
Because your goals and those of your faculty adviser are not usually the same, a good relationship requires continued effort, good judgment, and good will -- on both sides.
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From page 81... ...
Check the latest date at the NRC's Career Planning Center For Beginning Scientists and Engineers and ask recent graduates at your institution how long it has taken them. For a PhD candidate, working expeditiously is important.
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From page 82... ...
They can work with you and perhaps your adviser to develop a less-stressful environment for you. Postdoctoral Study In some fields, such as biology and chemistry, postdoctoral appointments are virtually required for an academic career.
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From page 83... ...
There are also nonresearch postdoctoral positions, offered primarily by disciplinary societies, in which you can gain experience in public policy and other fields. When academic jobs are scarce, students might find themselves taking successive postdoctoral positions -- as many as three or four -- while they wait for a permanent position.
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From page 84... ...
For postdoctoral fellows, career guidance is a pressing issue. Too often they exist in a state of "peerlessness," sometimes not even knowing whether there are other postdoctoral appointees in their program.
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This is the person who will have the biggest direct influence on your life as a graduate student. Check out the reputation of potential advisers with fellow students.
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From page 86... ...
You are more mature now, and you certainly know a great deal more about what it would be like to be a professor. Look honestly at the employment market for different fields, using information provided by the NRC in its Internet Career Planning Center For Beginning Scientists and Engineers, your disciplinary society, and government agencies, such as the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.
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Talk to other recent graduates and postdoctoral appointees to learn about their experience in the job market. Do not hesitate to let everyone know that you are looking for work.
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From page 88... ...
➤ Discuss potential programs with students and faculty and via Internet bulletin boards. ➤ At both the undergraduate and graduate lev els, take courses outside your major and pri mary field that you think will be useful in your career.
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From page 89... ...
➤ Look for classes and internships that will in crease your breadth and experience. ➤ When evaluating possible faculty advisers, look for a person who not only is professionally competent, but also cares about the quality of your educational experience.
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