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Hello,
I'm currently a master's student in mechanical engineering, only for about 2 weeks now. I can say that my adviser would really like me to pursue a PhD under him, though he doesn't tell me that explicitly maybe because he doesn't want to seem like he's enforcing it on me. He would much rather I come forward of my own accord. I came in here open to the idea of a PhD depending on my rapport with my professor and the research and both have been great as of now thankfully. His research involves multiphase flows (mostly flow condensers and boilers) for microgravity (and microscale) applications and that would include thermal management for space, electronic cooling, etc. My background and experience are mostly with computational research hence I'm working with his computational group currently. The work is very challenging and (maybe hence) equally motivating.
I do not see myself headed for a life in academia but I do see myself in a career of research and development. So my primary question is about the opportunities for this research in the industry. Do you think the bigwigs of the electronic industry would want someone of my background after a PhD? What about national labs? I'm not really considering space research labs though that is a very obvious application of the kind of work I will do to get a PhD because I'm a temporary resident of the US (on an F1 visa) and I believe that only citizens and permanent residents have the opportunity of working with NASA, for instance. Also, how much do PhD graduates make in the industry on an average? I heard some horror stories of guys who completed their PhD and starting off with a $60k salary. That is way too less for the kind of commitment and hard work that goes into a PhD, I think. Also because I could probably quite easily get a job that pays $70k on an average after only a master's. I know it sounds shallow and materialistic but I believe I should be worth a lot more after a PhD.
Sorry for rambling on about this but it's something that's been eating into me for many days now, also because I would probably finish my PhD earlier if I switch over from a Master's to a PhD earlier than say finishing my master's and then starting off as a doctoral candidate. I would really appreciate any useful comments on this from people both in the industry and in academia. Again, sorry for the long post.
Thanks.
-Nikhil.
I'm currently a master's student in mechanical engineering, only for about 2 weeks now. I can say that my adviser would really like me to pursue a PhD under him, though he doesn't tell me that explicitly maybe because he doesn't want to seem like he's enforcing it on me. He would much rather I come forward of my own accord. I came in here open to the idea of a PhD depending on my rapport with my professor and the research and both have been great as of now thankfully. His research involves multiphase flows (mostly flow condensers and boilers) for microgravity (and microscale) applications and that would include thermal management for space, electronic cooling, etc. My background and experience are mostly with computational research hence I'm working with his computational group currently. The work is very challenging and (maybe hence) equally motivating.
I do not see myself headed for a life in academia but I do see myself in a career of research and development. So my primary question is about the opportunities for this research in the industry. Do you think the bigwigs of the electronic industry would want someone of my background after a PhD? What about national labs? I'm not really considering space research labs though that is a very obvious application of the kind of work I will do to get a PhD because I'm a temporary resident of the US (on an F1 visa) and I believe that only citizens and permanent residents have the opportunity of working with NASA, for instance. Also, how much do PhD graduates make in the industry on an average? I heard some horror stories of guys who completed their PhD and starting off with a $60k salary. That is way too less for the kind of commitment and hard work that goes into a PhD, I think. Also because I could probably quite easily get a job that pays $70k on an average after only a master's. I know it sounds shallow and materialistic but I believe I should be worth a lot more after a PhD.
Sorry for rambling on about this but it's something that's been eating into me for many days now, also because I would probably finish my PhD earlier if I switch over from a Master's to a PhD earlier than say finishing my master's and then starting off as a doctoral candidate. I would really appreciate any useful comments on this from people both in the industry and in academia. Again, sorry for the long post.
Thanks.
-Nikhil.