- #1
theFencer
- 9
- 0
Here is the dilemma that I am facing with these two professors. The question is should I work with Prof A or B.
With Professor A, I have a 35-50% chance of publishing a paper. I have been working with Prof. A since this semester. He is only a research assistant professor who works under the umbrella of a full professor (whom I don't know very well). So he doesn't get any direct funding or has any group working under him. Basically he's a one man team. I am the only guy working for him. The research deals with ferroelectrics. I have to admit the research can get quite monotonous sometimes: the project has yet required me to put into a significant amount of critical thinking or original insight (that can change this summer, I think). However, Prof.A has a very nice record of publishing papers with his undergrads in very respected journals,i.e Phys. Review. And He has done so twice over the last two years.
With Professor B, I will have pretty much a slim to none chance of publishing a paper. But She is a very accomplished young professor with quite a big research group (~9 people). The field of her research topics is quite a popular one and very competitive (an area in condensed matter). And she's well respected in this field. I will be working under a graduate student. I will be making samples (carbon nanotubes) and taking electrical measurements on them. Since the work involves several sophisticated experimental procedures, such as AFM, SEM, evaporation... i will have to get trained on these techniques first, which can take a few weeks. The project will largely be a repetition of these procedures, cycles of making samples, taking measurements, making more samples and taking the same measurements again. The goal is to get enough data for the grad student's analysis, who might use it in his potential paper. So as you can see, the project can become a little tedius and quite time consuming: in addition to several weeks of training in the beginning, each procedure in each cycle can also take days. My eight weeks of work in the summer will probably just get me started on taking some data, let alone getting anywhere close to writing a paper.
In summary, Prof. A is very much unknown but I get all his attention and a shot of publishing a paper. Prof B. is much more well known and does research in a very popular area. The drawback is that the prospect of publishing is very bleak.
Also I am a junior and this will be the last summer before I apply for grad schools.
With Professor A, I have a 35-50% chance of publishing a paper. I have been working with Prof. A since this semester. He is only a research assistant professor who works under the umbrella of a full professor (whom I don't know very well). So he doesn't get any direct funding or has any group working under him. Basically he's a one man team. I am the only guy working for him. The research deals with ferroelectrics. I have to admit the research can get quite monotonous sometimes: the project has yet required me to put into a significant amount of critical thinking or original insight (that can change this summer, I think). However, Prof.A has a very nice record of publishing papers with his undergrads in very respected journals,i.e Phys. Review. And He has done so twice over the last two years.
With Professor B, I will have pretty much a slim to none chance of publishing a paper. But She is a very accomplished young professor with quite a big research group (~9 people). The field of her research topics is quite a popular one and very competitive (an area in condensed matter). And she's well respected in this field. I will be working under a graduate student. I will be making samples (carbon nanotubes) and taking electrical measurements on them. Since the work involves several sophisticated experimental procedures, such as AFM, SEM, evaporation... i will have to get trained on these techniques first, which can take a few weeks. The project will largely be a repetition of these procedures, cycles of making samples, taking measurements, making more samples and taking the same measurements again. The goal is to get enough data for the grad student's analysis, who might use it in his potential paper. So as you can see, the project can become a little tedius and quite time consuming: in addition to several weeks of training in the beginning, each procedure in each cycle can also take days. My eight weeks of work in the summer will probably just get me started on taking some data, let alone getting anywhere close to writing a paper.
In summary, Prof. A is very much unknown but I get all his attention and a shot of publishing a paper. Prof B. is much more well known and does research in a very popular area. The drawback is that the prospect of publishing is very bleak.
Also I am a junior and this will be the last summer before I apply for grad schools.