- #1
random_soldier
- 80
- 10
Good day, ladies and gents.
I am an Indian student of Electronics and Communications engineering currently studying in India. However, I wish to do research in a field of physics. I'm not sure at the moment of which one since the number of how many interest me is too numerous (however, if you would like to know I will add a list at the bottom). Even more than that, though, I wish to live and earn my income solely for the purpose of researching and learning physics, maybe as much as I can of my field and as much as I can of it overall. Unfortunately, prospects here are limited for further education and research.
So I wanted to know how would I exactly maximize my chances of getting my preferred job in a region where an actual attempt at research is made?
Grades are obvious. I plan on giving the GRE after getting done with my engineering and then applying to a (hopefully) reputed institute. That much is obvious.
One of the things I think would help me more is if I knew exactly what skill sets I should possesses and what areas I should have knowledge in. To be more specific what primary (e.g. physics/maths), secondary (e.g. programming), tertiary [e.g. language(s)/philosophy/general knowledge] should I possesses that would augment my success at the field itself and when making dealings regarding said field? The reason I am asking is because I've heard it said quite often that while programming is not taught in school as a mandatory subject everywhere, current circumstances have made it almost as basic as mathematics, at least as far as technical fields are concerned. Then on top of that there is the fact that a lot of my education has minor gaps here and there on account of my family having to stay in different countries due to my mother's postings. For example, I didn't even know how to properly apply a limit until recently. Yes I was lazy earlier but since I was starting to see it far too often I realized couldn't do without it. I have also been fairly out of touch with physics proper for a while. So I want to make sure I have the requisite understanding of at least the fundamentals, if not any advanced topics. Don't be shy of suggesting and advanced ones on my account, however. Also if you could tell me a good place to start with (either textbooks or online), I would appreciate it.
The other thing is what aside from the whole GRE, getting recommendations and applying to an insitute of my choosing (which is doing well in the desired field), should I do, if anything?
Other suggestions and insights would also be highly appreciated.
TL;DR - Indian engineering student in India wanting to do physics research for a living. What all should be said and done to ensure this happens?
List of desired fields:
1. Particle Physics
2. Quantum physics in general or something specific such as
a. Quantum information science (computing, information theory, etc.)
b. Quantum Field theory/Quantum gravity (I'm not sure if there is anything to actually research)
3. Nuclear Physics/Engineering/Technology or Solar Physics (I'd love to aid in the research of fully realized fusion reactors)
4. Photonics
5. Photovoltaics
6. Renewable Energy Research in general
7. Astrophysics
8. Condensed Matter physics
9. Physics of computers/information (again not sure if there is anything left to research since a lot of it seems like it could fall into information theory)
10. I'm lumping these together because I'm not sure if there is any actual research into these or if there is any meaningful contribution to be made and some sound a bit metaphysical instead; topics like wormholes, uniparticle physics, theory of everything,string theory, scale relativity, m-theory, loop quantum gravity, causal sets, quantum mind
The following are not strictly physics but still sound interesting:
1. Dynamic systems theory (Control Theory, Chaos Theory, Quantum chaos, etc.)
2. Nanotech
3. Materials Science
4. Metamaterials
5. Neural Engineering
6. Study of Complex Systems
I am an Indian student of Electronics and Communications engineering currently studying in India. However, I wish to do research in a field of physics. I'm not sure at the moment of which one since the number of how many interest me is too numerous (however, if you would like to know I will add a list at the bottom). Even more than that, though, I wish to live and earn my income solely for the purpose of researching and learning physics, maybe as much as I can of my field and as much as I can of it overall. Unfortunately, prospects here are limited for further education and research.
So I wanted to know how would I exactly maximize my chances of getting my preferred job in a region where an actual attempt at research is made?
Grades are obvious. I plan on giving the GRE after getting done with my engineering and then applying to a (hopefully) reputed institute. That much is obvious.
One of the things I think would help me more is if I knew exactly what skill sets I should possesses and what areas I should have knowledge in. To be more specific what primary (e.g. physics/maths), secondary (e.g. programming), tertiary [e.g. language(s)/philosophy/general knowledge] should I possesses that would augment my success at the field itself and when making dealings regarding said field? The reason I am asking is because I've heard it said quite often that while programming is not taught in school as a mandatory subject everywhere, current circumstances have made it almost as basic as mathematics, at least as far as technical fields are concerned. Then on top of that there is the fact that a lot of my education has minor gaps here and there on account of my family having to stay in different countries due to my mother's postings. For example, I didn't even know how to properly apply a limit until recently. Yes I was lazy earlier but since I was starting to see it far too often I realized couldn't do without it. I have also been fairly out of touch with physics proper for a while. So I want to make sure I have the requisite understanding of at least the fundamentals, if not any advanced topics. Don't be shy of suggesting and advanced ones on my account, however. Also if you could tell me a good place to start with (either textbooks or online), I would appreciate it.
The other thing is what aside from the whole GRE, getting recommendations and applying to an insitute of my choosing (which is doing well in the desired field), should I do, if anything?
Other suggestions and insights would also be highly appreciated.
TL;DR - Indian engineering student in India wanting to do physics research for a living. What all should be said and done to ensure this happens?
List of desired fields:
1. Particle Physics
2. Quantum physics in general or something specific such as
a. Quantum information science (computing, information theory, etc.)
b. Quantum Field theory/Quantum gravity (I'm not sure if there is anything to actually research)
3. Nuclear Physics/Engineering/Technology or Solar Physics (I'd love to aid in the research of fully realized fusion reactors)
4. Photonics
5. Photovoltaics
6. Renewable Energy Research in general
7. Astrophysics
8. Condensed Matter physics
9. Physics of computers/information (again not sure if there is anything left to research since a lot of it seems like it could fall into information theory)
10. I'm lumping these together because I'm not sure if there is any actual research into these or if there is any meaningful contribution to be made and some sound a bit metaphysical instead; topics like wormholes, uniparticle physics, theory of everything,string theory, scale relativity, m-theory, loop quantum gravity, causal sets, quantum mind
The following are not strictly physics but still sound interesting:
1. Dynamic systems theory (Control Theory, Chaos Theory, Quantum chaos, etc.)
2. Nanotech
3. Materials Science
4. Metamaterials
5. Neural Engineering
6. Study of Complex Systems