Transcript How to Ph.D. (subjective collection of words) Dmitri Nikonov [email protected] (feel free to e-mail) What qualifies me to advise ? Personal experience - Ph.D.

How to Ph.D.
(subjective collection of
words)
Dmitri Nikonov
[email protected]
(feel free to e-mail)
What qualifies me to advise ?
Personal experience
- Ph.D. – 4 years
- postdoc – 2 years
- Intel (development, manufacturing, research) – 10 years
- adjunct associate professor at Purdue– 3 years in parallel
Bragging about successes
Remorse about failures
Disclaimer:
- everybody’s circumstances differ;
- times changed since my Ph.D.;
- financial crisis – it is a new world out there;
- listen to everybody, apply a critical filter.
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Purdue University
The meaning of it all
Graduate school is NOT about
- having great time;
- exploring scientific mysteries;
- fostering your individuality.
Ph.D. is about LAUNCHING YOUR CAREER
- do not expect to land the dream job right away;
- but you need to keep you career momentum.
Academy or industry:
- there is no firewall, people go back and forth till retirement;
- research and mentoring are valued in industry;
- a professor and a group is a small business;
- required skills are similar.
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Components of your life success
science
discipline
health
luck
mentor
team
networking
office
politics
communication
skills
presentation
skills
Learn it all during your Ph.D.
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Purdue University
writing
skills
What is rewarded ?
intent
effort
result
impact
“Work, finish, publish!” – Michael Faraday
“Imagine you succeed in your research beyond
your wildest dreams. Will anybody care ?” –
George Halmar (?) (DARPA)
YOU are responsible for picking topics with real
impact on peoples’ lives.
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Thesis topic choice
What your advisor got funding for.
What the scientific community cares about.
What has economic impact (LEDs are better than Bose-Einstein
condensation).
Stay away from too theoretical or mathematical dead ends (e.g.
quantum computing, string theory, low temperature physics, …)
Make a topic out of 2-3 subtopics. When one is on hold, you work on
another. Too many is bad – you cannot focus and accomplish things.
Find a topic where you can write papers – “publish or perish”.
Sadly, very few people will read your thesis (I spent too much effort on
it).
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Communication
Talk to your adviser more often (I did not).
Ask for help from your teammates.
“Have you ever seen a successful hermit ?” – Mario Paniccia, Intel
Fellow, Purdue Ph.D.
“If you cannot explain your work to the janitor, you do not understand
what you are doing” – re-phrased Albert Einstein.
Un-communicated achievement is not an achievement. Make your
work known.
Young researcher who is a role model
http://physics.harvard.edu/people/facpages/lukin.html
Present, present, present. Be an actor and a writer.
Not a native English speaker? Learn or bust.
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Working
Be productive. Make a plan and track yourself. A small victory every
day.
Do not confine yourself to one occupation (theory, simulation,
fabrication, measurement). Learn what you are bad at. You will not
have a chance after the Ph.D.
Having multiple skills will help you in your job. You never know what
you will do in your profession.
A negative result is valuable in industry, but unfortunately not in
academia. Still do not deceive yourself and others. Find some use of
your negative result.
Do not investigate mistakes or deception of others. There is not credit
for it. You need to think about your career.
Listen to criticism, do not get blind spots (theory is not applicable to
your case, simulation method is inefficient, fabrication does not
produce what you think it does, you measure a different effect from
what you theorize, …)
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Purdue University
How to get a job ?
In academia – I have no idea. In industry:
- just sending resumes rarely works (but you need one written well,
ask me how).
- you need to “know the guy who knows the guy”. Jobs mostly
obtained by personal connections.
- therefore NETWORK. Meet people at conferences, reviews. Ask them
questions, about their experience and what they are working on. “One
sure way to remain stupid is being afraid to look like one.” – Marlan
Scully.
- get an internship !
- be competitive (see above “components of your life success”).
- moreover, have a skill valued in industry (complex extensible
simulators with C++, specific fabrication method, specific
characterization method, …)
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Reading recommendations
1. R. N. Bolles “What color is your parachute?” (Ten Speed Press,
2008). Must read if you want to find a job.
2. Richard Hamming “You and Your Research” – ask me for the file.
How to be successful in science.
3. Andrew S. Hirsch (2006), "Scientific Ethics and the Signs of Voodoo
Science," http://nanohub.org/resources/1898. How to fight crooks.
4. Beasley, Malcolm R.; Supriyo Datta, Herwig Kogelnik, Herbert
Kroemer (September 2002). "Report of the Investigation
Committee on the possibility of Scientific Misconduct in the work of
Hendrik Schon and Coauthors". Bell Labs. http://www.alcatellucent.com/wps/DocumentStreamerServlet?LMSG_CABINET=Docs_
and_Resource_Ctr&LMSG_CONTENT_FILE=Corp_Governance_Docs/
researchreview.pdf How NOT to do science.
5. R. Stanley Williams “How We Found the Missing Memristor”
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/dec08/7024. Trial and error in
science.
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