Relation between lor and research field

[Done]

Hi,

I want to apply for a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering. My research field so far is and should be robotic.

What I have so far:

a) The Prof i work for. Robotic Department/Teaching Assistent; he used to teach at CalTech and had a fellowship at the NASA, so he should know what he talks about.

My bachelor degree overviewer: Robotic Departement, Multi Body Systems/Resarch; I support his Ph.D. with my bachelor thesis. So he can write about research.

So far these two persons know me pretty well and are both in the field i want to do my Ph.D. in

c) A Prof I took an additional course. Adhesive Bonding. He is a kind of hybrid. He only teaches a few lectures, and spends the rest of his time in a research-company. He told me he'd like to support me but as he has so much to do, I should write my own letter and he'll look over it/correct it

d) Another Prof I heard. Thermodynamics. He has its own chair like a) and earned his Ph.D in the US, so he has experience in studying abroad.

As u can prob. already see these fields don't have anything to do with my research field. Thermodynamics was a required subject. I only took adhesive bonding because I was interested in, but it is not a core subject like mechanics, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics etc

So what would u take and how bad is it, that these two subjects differ a lot from my research interest.

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e) There is a human resource manager from a robotic company, I sometimes go to ( I haven't worked there for a long time, its more like little internships) . The company is in the states. She could write about my interest in robotic, BUT she is not academic staff!

So what do u guys think?

Besides that: There are 5 Universities offering a robotic program I am interested in. Of course their programs all differ a little bit. I will talk about that in my statement of purpose. (explain why this program, which prof i'd like to work for and so on) But can i always submit the same lor or should they already announce that program in their lor?

thx

[ktel]

You don't mention whether your thermo prof would write a strong letter. If it's just a "did well in class" letter, that's not going to be very good. Since prof © is going to let you write the letter, you have more control over it, which is a positive. I would try to avoid going with the HR person from your company. You may want a PhD in robotics, but that doesn't mean all your letters have to come from robotics people. It would be expected that you've taken more than just robotics courses in your undergrad.

[Done]

You don't mention whether your thermo prof would write a strong letter. If it's just a "did well in class" letter, that's not going to be very good. Since prof © is going to let you write the letter, you have more control over it, which is a positive. I would try to avoid going with the HR person from your company. You may want a PhD in robotics, but that doesn't mean all your letters have to come from robotics people. It would be expected that you've taken more than just robotics courses in your undergrad.

Hey, thanks first!

I assume that the thermo prof writes a strong letter, as he asked me for a lot of things (Area of research , statement of purpose, CV, plan of study, my grades and every thing else i want to be in this lor). Besides that I am allowed to see every recommendation and also have the possibility to change little things, if my prof is ok with it of course.

As mentioned the only thing i am worried about is that I i don't have any research interest in thermo.

It was just a course i liked and did pretty well.