Graduate School 101

ESP Seminar, September 19, 2005Dr. N. K. Anand

Dwight Look College of EngineeringAssistant Dean for Graduate Programs

Texas A&M UniversityCollege Station, Texas 77843

Why Graduate School?

Why graduate school is important to you

Why graduate school is important to the U.S.

How to choose a graduate program Why TAMU? How to apply to TAMU

Graduate School Options After Graduation

Obtain an engineering position in a corporation, government, or military

Become an independent entrepreneur Complete a social or mission service Attend engineering graduate school Attend other type of graduate school Combinations of the above (not exclusive) BUT: a) Not easy to go back to school

b) Night school not the samec) Part-time school not the samed) Some (fewer) companies will support

you attending school

What Should You Get From Graduate School?

New learning skills New confidence in solving difficult

problems New appreciation in research New knowledge in a specific area New perspectives on how the world works New and broader outlooks on many

technical and non-technical topics Leadership skills

The Importance of Continual Learning

Your career could be 40-50 years long No degree or training will be valid for this

length of time – technology is advancing at increasing rates

You will need to continue to learn or will be out-dated quickly

Graduate school’s most important feature is that it helps you master how to continually learn

Education is a continuing process for all of our lives

Just some of the disciplines…... Average Starting Salaries Spring 2005

Aerospace Engr. $65,000 Masters

Biomedical Engr.$53,000 Masters

Chemical Engr. $57,713 Masters

Civil Engr. $48,240 Masters

Electrical Engr. $51,390 Masters $85,000 Doctorate

Industrial Engr. $58,000 Masters $85,000 Doctorate

Mechanical Engr. $63,333 Masters

Ocean Engr. $45,000 Masters

Source: TAMU Career Ctr.

Challenges

Numbers gap Ambition gap Education gap In the Age of Flatism, these gaps

are what most threaten our standard of living.

“The World is Flat”;Thomas L. Friedman; Douglas & McIntrye, Ltd., 2005

Challenges in Recruiting Domestic Students

COUNTRY POPULATION (MILLIONS)

# BACCULAURATE ENGINEERS/YR

# BACCULAURATE ENGINEERS/YR/MILLIO

N

USA 293 70,949 242

CHINA 1299 660,000 508

INDIA 1065 525,000 493

FRANCE 60 25,000 417

UNITED KINGDOM

60 16,200 270

GERMANY 82 40,000 488

WORLDWIDE >6000 >1,000,000 >167

Source: ASEE1; Weekly Magazines, and CIA Fact Book; National Academy of Engineering; National Institute of Informatics

U.S. Leadership in Science and Technology

Qualified U.S. students with baccalaureate degrees in engineering have an obligation to consider graduate school in engineering.

Challenges

National Science Board Science and Engineering Indicators,

2004

⇩in U.S. citizens training to become scientists and engineers

⇧ in jobs requiring S&E training Threatens economic welfare and security

of U.S.“The World is Flat”;Thomas L. Friedman; Douglas & McIntrye, Ltd., 2005

Challenges cont’d…

National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the Twenty-first Century Chaired by former astronaut and

senator John Glenn 2/3 of the nation’s math & science

teaching force will retire by 2010

The World is Flat”;Thomas L. Friedman; Douglas & McIntrye, Ltd., 2005

Challenges cont’d…

2.8 million BS degrees granted worldwide, 2003 1.2 million earned by Asian students

in Asian Universities 830,000 Europe 400,000 United States Asian universities produce 8 times as

many engineering BS degrees as U.S.

“The World is Flat”;Thomas L. Friedman; Douglas & McIntrye, Ltd., 2005

Challenges cont’d… Engineering & Science BS Degrees

60% China 33% South Korea 41% Taiwan 31% United States

Engineering BS Degrees 46% China 25% Russia 5% United States

“The World is Flat”;Thomas L. Friedman; Douglas & McIntrye, Ltd., 2005

Challenges cont’d…

Science & Engineering PhD’s awarded in U.S. ⇩ from 29,000 in 1998 to 27,000 in 1999

Engineering undergraduates in America

⇩ about 12% between mid-1980s and 1998

“The World is Flat”;Thomas L. Friedman; Douglas & McIntrye, Ltd., 2005

Challenges cont’d…

U.S. labor force⇧almost 5% per year

Rest of labor force⇧at just over 1%

“The World is Flat”;Thomas L. Friedman; Douglas & McIntrye, Ltd., 2005

Challenges cont’d… Persons born outside U.S. accounted for

14% all S&E occupations in 1990 1990 – 2000

proportion of foreign-born with BS degrees

in S&E occupations ⇧ from 11% to 17% proportion of foreign-born with MS

degrees⇧ from 19% to 29% proportion of foreign-born with Ph.D’s in

S&E labor force ⇧ from 24% to 38%

“The World is Flat”;Thomas L. Friedman; Douglas & McIntrye, Ltd., 2005

Challenges cont’d… New York Times

Sam Dillon, Dec. 21, 2004 “foreign applications to American graduate schools

declined 28 percent this year. Actual foreign graduate student enrollments dropped 6 percent. Enrollments of all foreign students, in undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral programs, fell for the first time in three decades in an annual census released this fall.

“…Chinese applications to American graduate schools fell 45% this year, while several European countries announced surges in Chinese enrollment.”

HOW TO CHOOSE A GRADUATE PROGRAM

Graduate Program Quality Indicators

Faculty Curriculum Quality of Incoming Graduate

Students Quality of Graduates (value added) Resources/Infrastructure Rankings

Research Funding - Quality

Peer Reviewed Competitive Grants e.g. NSF, NIH,…………..

Factors Affecting Graduate Program Quality - Faculty

Size Research Funding Scholarship Visibility

Faculty Visibility Number of NAE members Number of Endowed, Distinguished, and

Regents Professorships Number of members in State and National

level policy making bodies Number of Editorships of Archival Journals Number of memberships on Editorial

Boards of Archival Journals Number of Fellows in Professional Societies

Faculty Citations

http://www.webofscience.com

Scholarship

Quantitative No. of Refereed

Journal Articles No. of Conference

Papers No. of Patents No. of Textbooks

and Research Monographs

Qualitative Journal Impact

Factors Immediacy Index Cited Half Life No. of Citations Acceptance Rate

per Conference

www.webofscience.com

Factors Affecting Graduate Program Quality - Curriculum

Number of Graduate Courses taught per year

Number of Special Topics Taught per year

Number of Graduate Courses omitted from the catalog /year

Number of cross listed graduate courses taught per year

Factors Affecting Graduate Program - Quality of Incoming Students

GPA GRE Scores Academic Preparation Acceptance Rate Composition of Domestic Students Composition of underrepresented

minority students

Factors Affecting Graduate Program Quality - Resources and Infrastructure

Percent of students on Financial Support-

Number of Endowed Fellowships Number of Federal Graduate

Fellowships Space per Graduate Student Graduate Student Salary

RANKINGS

U.S. News and World Report U.S. NRC (1995, 2005,..) London Times

Opportunities NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Workshop

Sept. 21, 2005 Graduate School 101 Workshop

Oct. 26, 2005 USRG (Undergraduate Summer Research Grant)

May 30 – August 7, 2005 http://eapo.tamu.edu/usrg

Fast Track Graduate Invitational

March 3-4, 2006 http://eapo.tamu.edu/gi

Best Graduate Engineering Programs – Public Institutions

2005 2006

1 1 Berkeley2 2 Illinois (Urbana)3 3 Georgia Tech 4 4 Michigan5 4 Purdue (+)5 6 University of Texas (-)7 7 UC San Diego8 8 Texas A&M 9 8 Wisconsin (+)11 10 UCLA (+)

Source: U.S. News and World Report rankings of U.S. universities

U.S. News & World ReportAmerica’s Best Graduate Schools

Category 2005Edition

2006Edition

Engineering 14 (8) 14 (8)

Aerospace 15 (9) 9 (5)

Biomedical 28 (13) 39 (21)

Chemical 27 (17) 25 (16)

Civil 14 (8) 13 (8)

Computer 21 (11) 23 (14)

Electrical nr 18 (11)

Industrial 9 (7) 10 (7)

Mechanical 20 (12) 23 (14)

Nuclear nr 4 (2)

Petroleum nr 4 (2)

Note: first number is ranking by all institutions; number in ( ) are only public institutions

nr = not ranked in this edition

12005 Edition TAMU was rankedIn the top 50 for teacher preparedness(no individual ranking was done in this category).

1995 NRC Rankings Methodology: Faculty from each university

granting a doctorate in an area was asked to rate each other ‘s doctorate granting universities in that area according to faculty quality and effectiveness of program on a 0.0 to 5.0 scale

Texas A&M programs in the top quartile: Civil Engineering Electrical Engineering Industrial Engineering Mechanical Engineering Chemistry Statistics

TAMU COE Funding Opportunities Fellowships

National Level (31 national fellowship winners)

NSF, U.S. Dept. of Ed., GEM, etc. University Level

Graduate Merit (COE = 9 offers for Fall’05) Regents Diversity (COE = 8 offers for Fall’05, round 1)

Department Level Assistantships

Teaching Research

TAMU Engineering Graduate Disciplines

Aerospace Engr. Biological & Agric.

Engr. Biomedical Engr. Chemical Engr. Civil Engr. Computer Engr. Computer Science

Electrical Engr. Health Physics Industrial Engr. Industrial Distr. Materials Sci. &

Engr. Nuclear Engr. Ocean Engr. Petroleum Engr.

Aerospace Engineering Research Areas

Space Technology Aerodynamics and

Fluid Dynamics Materials and

Structures

http://aero.tamu.edu/?view=academics/graduate/index.php

Biological and Agricultural Research Areas

Air Quality Engineering Biomaterials

Engineering Bioprocess Engineering Environmental &

Natural Resource Engineering

Food, Feed & Fiber Processing

Machine & Energy Systems

Soil & Water Resources Engineering

http://baen.tamu.edu/academics/graduates/degree_programs.asp

Biomedical Engineering Research Areas

Biomechanics Finite Element Methods Biomedical Electronics and Instrumentation Human Factors and System Safety Biomedical Imaging Nano and Micro Biosensing and Imaging Biomedical Signal Processing Nonlinear Optical Microscopy Biophotonics Orthopedic Rehabilitation Engineering Cardiac, Vascular and Cellular Mechanics Optical Diagnostics Clinical Engineering Optical Sensing Computational Mechanics Soft Tissue Biomechanics Computer Simulation of Biomolecules Telemedicine Constitutive Modeling Control Theory

http://biomed.tamu.edu/academics/grad.htm

Chemical Engineering

Research Areas Bio-(medical,

chemical, molecular) & life sciences

Computational chemistry

Materials Process systems

http://cheweb.tamu.edu/education/grad.php

Civil Engineering Research Areas

Structural Control and Reliability Deepwater Offshore Structures Wind and Earthquake Engineering Project Control and Simulation Risk Assessment Life Cycle Cost Analysis Coastal Processes and Tsunamis Scour and Foundations Partially Saturated Soils Transportation Network

Optimization Concrete and Asphalt Mixture

Design High Performance Materials Water Allocation Environmental Contaminant

Removal

http://www.civil.tamu.edu/Academics/graduate/index.html

Electrical Engineering Research Areas

Analog & Mixed Signal Biomedical Imaging and

Genomic Signal Processing

Computer Engineering Control Systems Electromagnetic and

Microwaves Electric Power and

Power Electronics Solid State Electronics,

Photonics and Nano-Engineering

Telecommunications and Signal Processing

http://www.ee.tamu.edu/htmlFrames.htm

Industrial and Systems Engineering

Research Areas Production and service

systems Logistics and supply chain

management Transportation Quality and reliability

engineering Homeland security Decision analysis Optimization Modeling and analysis of

probabilistic systems Simulation modeling Virtual reality and 3D

visualization

http://ie.tamu.edu/academic/graduate/degrees_offered.html

Mechanical Engineering

Research Areas Materials Mechanics Systems and Controls Thermal and Fluid

Sciences

http://www.mengr.tamu.edu/Academics/GraduateProgram/graduateprogram.html

Nuclear Engineering Research Areas

Reactor Analysis / Computational Methods

Space Nuclear Power Radiation Biology Reactor Experiments Dosimetry Nuclear Power Plant

Engineering Irradiation Effects on

Materials

http://nuclear.tamu.edu/home/academics/graduate/index.php

Petroleum Engineering Research Areas

Tight Gas/Shale Gas Heavy Oil Recovery Coalbed-Methane Reservoirs Natural Gas Hydrate Reservoirs Resource Assessments Advanced Drilling Technology Well Construction Deep Gas Well Construction Advanced Production Technology Well Stimulation Acidizing and Fracture

Conductivity Formation Evaluation Reservoir Simulation Enhanced Recovery Naturally Fractured Reservoirs Analysis of Reservoir Performance Energy Environmental and Water Issues Transportation Innovation

http://pumpjack.tamu.edu/homepage/Academics/Grad.shtml

How to apply

https://www.applytexas.org/adappc/commonapp.WBX

Engineering Graduate Programs

204 Zachry Dr. N. K. Anand

Assistant Dean of Engineering for Graduate Programs

Phone: 862-8869 Email: nkanand@tamu.edu

Ms. Teresa Wright Coordinator, Engineering Graduate

Studies Phone: 845-6883 Email: t-wright@tamu.edu

Any Questions?