EngineerGrad

The paper I published last year has just recently been featured at the journal's home page. How should I include this on my CV?! Any tips?

Hi folks, I'm currently a second year grad student in the best school of my state. My advisor is pretty famous and very well established in the field. We have one publicatipn together, one under review, and one in the manuscript stage. He is a wonderful adviser and I truly enjoy his mentoring. The problem is that my lab recently got a new grant and the work we'll be doing is restricted by the funding agency, which means that only U.S. Citizens are allowed to work in this project. Since I am a foreign national, I was moved to a different room and am now isolated from the rest of my research group. Because my advisor is pretty well established, securing funding for me was not a problem, for which I am really happy. The thing is that this new arrangement turned out to be fairly annoying and the feeling of not belonging in this lab started to grow on me. There's a lot of interesting work that I am simply not allowed to do anymore, and I overall just feel like stepping on egg shells with my research. i started to consider looking to apply to other schools, but am afraid I won't find such an inspirational mentor. I am stuck in this limbo where I enjoy my mentor, but not my current working situation. I also cringe when thinking about having to go through grad applications all over again. What should I do? Suck it up and finish my PhD here or move elsewhere and risk having a better working situation with a not so great advisor? Any help is appreciated...

Hi guys, I was wondering: how do you balance classes and research? I feel like I'm not getting a lot of research done lately because I'm constantly busy with classes. How do you manage to take care of your classes and get substantial research done during the semester?

Guys, I have just received the results from my written qualifying exam -- and I passed it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UM without a doubt

Hi guys, Today my advisor gave me a stack of applicants for our lab and asked me to select my top 3 (we will hire one phd student to work with me in collecting data for my/our research). Have you guys done this before? I don't know how to choose them... There's one applicant that I really like but his SOP is soooooooooo bad. Since I'll need someone who writes well, I don't know what to think about this applicant. Any advice?

I survived my first semester in grad school! Got As in all my classes, published a paper in a peer-reviewed journal and attended a conference. I need a break though... =P

Finals start this week I'm gonna die omg help

Thanks for the advice, guys! =)

Thanks guys! And yeah, everything happened very fast

My first peer reviewed paper was accepted for publication this afternoon :-D yay!

Hi, I'm from Brazil too and I got into an excellent program with a dream funding package. People need to understand that applying for grad school is much more than a bunch of numbers and stats. They have to know who you are. When I applied, I religiously emailed all my potential PIs and had a serious conversation with them: I told them I needed funding, and that I was motivated to do good work. That attitude was what got me into grad school. My stats were good, but could've been better. I had a 160Q/158V/5.5AW GRE, a 3.93/4.00 undergrad GPA and one published conference paper. I'm sure other people with much better stats than mine applied to the same schools I did, but few of them had a personal and genuine interaction with their potential PIs. My current advisor tells me all the time if it weren't for the emails we exchanged months before I applied, I might've stayed under his radar. In summary, before stressing out about your GRE and GPAs, try to reach out to faculty of interest and tell him/her what you told us (you have good grades, experience, etc). I personally asked one of my potential PIs if I should re-take the GRE, and he said no. Do the same -- ask for advice, but ask advice from people who can actually give you some insight on the admissions process. These are just my two cents... Good luck =)

Hi guys, I've just received the decision letter for a paper I submitted to a peer reviewed journal, and it was accepted! Yay! Now I wonder if I should reply to the editor's decision email? Should I send a thank you message? How do I handle this situation?! What is the rule of thumb in my case? Thanks

1- Astronaut (I'm not american and my country's aerospace technology is a joke) 2- Rocket Scientist (I kinda do that in my lab) 3- Working as a designer for Boeing/Airbus/Embraer/etc (I love planes) 4- My dream was actually to be a commercial pilot lol (My vision doesn't meet the requirements ) 5- Fashion Designer (I have no talent at all)

I feel very lucky and extremely grateful that I got accepted on a full fellowship and with a great RA position in a lab that greatly interests me. I actually started working in the lab before school started, so I've been in the grad school mode since May and a lot of great stuff happened since then. I am publishing my first paper with my PI, and am getting ready to start our next one. I dove deeply into my research and am a little tired already, so I am joining at least one club this next week to work a little bit on my social life. I am also taking classes and had my first exam in one of them this past week. One of my classes is overwhelmingly hard and I am freaking out about it. My quals are in less than a year from now, so yeah, I am doing well but definitely super busy in grad school...

First thing you need to do is to get rid of Comic Sans...

Guys, thank you so much for your input. I decided to go on the natural route and not make a big deal. So here it's how it happened: i was at petsmart with my boyfriend looking for puppies to adopt. Suddenly, one of my labmates calls me and introduces his fiance -- well, i did the same! My boyfriend was with me so I just introduced him to my labmate and his fiance and everything was cool. This was the first seed, and now i won't hesitate in mentioning my boyfriend in casual conversations in the lab :-) Thanks again!!

Hi guys, I have recently started working at my advisor's lab and everyone is really nice in there. I love my job, and we all hangout, go out for lunch together, etc. They are really nice lab mates and i enjoy working there. The thing is that they don't know I'm gay, nor that i have a boyfriend. My partner and I live together, and i'm struggling to hide this from my lab mates. I always have to come up with excuses to miss social events because i don't want to leave my partner behind... The thing is that I am in engineering and, well, let's face it... There are very few gay guys in the field. I have a good relatipnship with them and I don't want to risk it by coming out. I also don't know how my advisor would react... He seems to be quite conservative. Anyone in the same shoes who wants to share the experience? Is it worth it coming out to your fellows? Or should I keep professional and personal life apart?

I bought a new Mazda 3 last august and I love it. I paid it all in cash and it costed me around 15k. It was on sale because it is a stick shift -- which I prefer. It was a no brainer and i love having a new car. My old car was a piece of shit and i had only terrible experiences with it.

I use this one: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003M9S5WQ?pc_redir=1402972964&robot_redir=1 It's of very good quality and everyone likes it. It has a laptop compartment and lots of pockets. Mine is orange and purple and I often receive compliments. I recommend it.

I use a patagonia hiking bag for everything. As a matter of fact, I am in a conference right now and am wearing a suit with my bright yellow fashionable backpack hehehe. I like to tell myself that i look much cooler than everyone else wearing the same old brown/black messenger bag. They all look so uncomfortable and walk like they are in pain (they probably are -- carrying everything over only one shoulder is painful)

Totally agree with you! I am working with my POI this summer (I start my PhD in august). And it's being phenomenal! I'm learning a lot, getting a hold on the experiments and etc... It's definitely a lot of work, but hey... I'm getting paid and getting started in my research =)

In Electrical Engineering, a tank is not a place where you put water/liquid. A tank is an RLC ressonant circuit.

Florida Atlantic University is still accepting

Who's going to Gainesville this year? I am trying to find a 1 or 2 bd apartment. I am moving with my SO, and we wish to live in Downtown Gville, because it's a cool area. Any suggestions?!