Thank you for your thoughts! Funding is another issue, the both professors at Delaware do not have funding for additional students. So I were going there, I have to work around to find other professor as my primary adviser and have the professor of interests co-advise my PhD. But the first year is university-funded.so I have about an year to find my adviser.
I do not mind working my PhD on what I want to do. It is this sense of uncertainty that makes me concerned. Thus, I want to explore the MS program and see whether they would open more opportunities (such as conversion to PhD) for me.