U of Arizona vs. NCSU - PhD in chemical engineering

[Colaman]

I was accepted by U of Arizona and NCSU for PhD in chemical engineering and received full funding from both schools. My research interest is semiconductor processing or materials.

U of Arizona: I know that U of Arizona has a long history in semiconductor research and semiconductor companies, especially intel, hires a lot of students from U of Arizona every year. But the department is relatively small and I heard that grad students over there tend to take longer to graduate (over 5 years) with few publications. 

NCSU: I think they have a better reputation/ranking for their engineering program and have a bigger department, but the department only has a few faculties who do semiconductor-related research. And according to the alumni profile from different research groups in both schools, NCSU seems to have fewer people who went into semiconductor industry after graduation compared to U of Arizona. Many alumni graduated from NCSU who did semiconductor research went for postdoc for some reasons. 

Any opinion/advice? Any insight into the PhD program in chemical engineering in both schools is also appreciated.

[Placebo]

23 hours ago, Colaman said:

I was accepted by U of Arizona and NCSU for PhD in chemical engineering and received full funding from both schools. My research interest is semiconductor processing or materials.

U of Arizona: I know that U of Arizona has a long history in semiconductor research and semiconductor companies, especially intel, hires a lot of students from U of Arizona every year. But the department is relatively small and I heard that grad students over there tend to take longer to graduate (over 5 years) with few publications. 

NCSU: I think they have a better reputation/ranking for their engineering program and have a bigger department, but the department only has a few faculties who do semiconductor-related research. And according to the alumni profile from different research groups in both schools, NCSU seems to have fewer people who went into semiconductor industry after graduation compared to U of Arizona. Many alumni graduated from NCSU who did semiconductor research went for postdoc for some reasons. 

Any opinion/advice? Any insight into the PhD program in chemical engineering in both schools is also appreciated.

4

Hey when did you receive the admit from NCSU? Do you know whether they are done with sending admits for international students!

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

On 3/6/2019 at 11:54 AM, Colaman said:

I was accepted by U of Arizona and NCSU for PhD in chemical engineering and received full funding from both schools. My research interest is semiconductor processing or materials.

U of Arizona: I know that U of Arizona has a long history in semiconductor research and semiconductor companies, especially intel, hires a lot of students from U of Arizona every year. But the department is relatively small and I heard that grad students over there tend to take longer to graduate (over 5 years) with few publications. 

NCSU: I think they have a better reputation/ranking for their engineering program and have a bigger department, but the department only has a few faculties who do semiconductor-related research. And according to the alumni profile from different research groups in both schools, NCSU seems to have fewer people who went into semiconductor industry after graduation compared to U of Arizona. Many alumni graduated from NCSU who did semiconductor research went for postdoc for some reasons. 

Any opinion/advice? Any insight into the PhD program in chemical engineering in both schools is also appreciated.

I don't know about U of Arizona, but I did my undergrad at NCSU in MSE. MSE and ChemE share the same building, which I think would be useful for you since your research interests seem more materials-based. I know that some MSE professors at NCSU do semiconductor work and I wonder if you could maybe have two advisors or be allowed an MSE professor be in your committee. At NCSU, there is a separate campus for engineering called Centennial Campus. On that campus, there is this facility called Monteith Engineering Research Center (MRC) where there are clean rooms for semiconductor development as well as tons of equipment for material characterization. There are also a lot of industry partners on the campus. Raleigh is part of the Research Triangle, which means that there a lot of companies in the area. Good luck with your decision.

[Jbenrod]

I would spend time looking at the type of research that the different PI's are doing at the respective programs.  If one or more get your attention that might be the group(s) you want to consider joining. 

[Colaman]

Thanks for all the responses.

On 3/7/2019 at 11:08 AM, Placebo said:

Hey when did you receive the admit from NCSU? Do you know whether they are done with sending admits for international students!

I received the admittance via phone call on February 20th. And I think they are still accepting students since the deadline has not passed yet. 

[Beaudreau]

Srini Raghavan, a UA professor, lives near me.  He is on sabbatical this year, consulting at Intel.  You might contact him; he's an extremely nice guy, very down to earth.  His dog's name is Kumar (as in Harold and Kumar).  https://chee.engineering.arizona.edu/faculty-staff/faculty/srini-raghavan

[T.C.96]

On 3/6/2019 at 11:54 AM, Colaman said:

I was accepted by U of Arizona and NCSU for PhD in chemical engineering and received full funding from both schools. My research interest is semiconductor processing or materials.

U of Arizona: I know that U of Arizona has a long history in semiconductor research and semiconductor companies, especially intel, hires a lot of students from U of Arizona every year. But the department is relatively small and I heard that grad students over there tend to take longer to graduate (over 5 years) with few publications. 

NCSU: I think they have a better reputation/ranking for their engineering program and have a bigger department, but the department only has a few faculties who do semiconductor-related research. And according to the alumni profile from different research groups in both schools, NCSU seems to have fewer people who went into semiconductor industry after graduation compared to U of Arizona. Many alumni graduated from NCSU who did semiconductor research went for postdoc for some reasons. 

Any opinion/advice? Any insight into the PhD program in chemical engineering in both schools is also appreciated.

I applied for U of Arizona 2 months ago and have not heard back from them. When did you get accepted?

[tanvi579]

That were some great advice's.