Do I ask if they can facilitate my research or do I have to fit in with theirs?

[Alexrey]

I'm hoping to start sending a few emails to universities and profs in the next month or so just to touch base but, more importantly, to see if they are able to cater for my research interests. Currently I have a fairly (but not overly) specific idea of what I'd like to do as part of my Master's research, and I know my top choice will most likely be able to cater for it. However, I'd like to ask profs or admissions staff of other universities if they would also be able to facilitate such research. For example, I'm interested in doing research in a specific field of propulsion/fluid mechanics/combustion, so I'm planning on contacting profs in these fields, but they may not have specific interest in exactly what I'm hoping to do (but will have an interest in the general field).

 

Would this be seen as something rude, where the norm is for students to read current research papers from each "professor of interest" and then align themselves with that, or is it okay if I ask them if they can help me? I was hoping this would show a hint of preparedness and assertiveness, but I'm scared they'll shoot me down then and there!

[bsharpe269]

I just finished the 1st year of my masters so there are probably others on here who know much more and can answer this better.

 

From my (limited) experience, I dont think that you should ask them to supervise your idea. For one thing, since they have a phd and you are just starting your masters, honestly, any ideas they have are likely better. If you are interested in a related area to theirs then you could start on their work and then ask for help developing your idea. Also, what if your idea isnt as great as you think? Since you don't know the field as well as they do, I think you risk saying something sort of dumb and coming off like you think you have this amazing idea. I'm not trying to be mean to you specifically! I just think that at the masters level, we are only just learning about the field.

 

Another important point to consider is that If you want them to supervise your specific project then you decrease the chance that they can use their grant money to pay you. For example, I would love to work on a different protein then the one I current work with but my PI has lots of grant money for this protein and it is totally worth it to work on what he wants since he can pay me well in exchange!

 

The asnwer to your question probably varies by professor. I recommend playing it safe and just talking about their research and then if your projects fits in nicely, you could add a line like "I really liked our paper on blah blah. Do you think similar results would hold for specific blah that youre interested in." You might be able to guage their interest in your question in that method. I think that it would be safer to go with that route and then once you get to know their mentor style, you could ask more specific questions about your idea. I hope that helps!

[Dedi]

I don't know if they would "cater" to your idea, but you can certainly make compromises. For example, absolutely no one does exactly what I want to do. However, I think I made a good argument for a certain project that I am now currently leading with certain limitations. This is at a lab with my top choice POI.

Maybe you won't get your dream project, but you can do things similar to it and make inferences. Or, you can get your own grant money (I'm not sure about your field but the life sciences usually have a few opportunities to get grants at the predoctoral level).

[GeoDUDE!]

My dissertation is met in the middle between my advisor and me: I am researching the attributes that I have chosen, laid out, and find interesting and in return I am developing the methods and software that she wanted her new graduate student to work on. We matched very well, so it wasn't much of a compromise, by my statement of purpose was 75% research proposal. One thing you must realize is that your PhD work is your work. This isn't your advisors work, your advisor will not be an "expert" necessarily in your field. What your advisor should be able to do is advise you through the pitfalls of this research, help you brain storm and help you get through the degree. Other things like publishing and conferences are your advisors job as well. A lot of people get RA money, and use the work that they are doing from their RA in their dissertation; this is fine, but it isn't the only way. 

 

Either way, its important to communicate;  the work you do should be mostly your ideas and not your advisors !

Edited July 28, 2014 by GeoDUDE!

[Alexrey]

Thanks very much for your help guys; very informative. Hmmm, so it looks like I have to tread quite softly. I've been reading quite a few research papers from professors at my top choice university, but looking at professors from other choices, I haven't been able to find any links to papers, as their profiles generally only give information on their research interests. Is there possibly a general repository where students can find some research papers without having to pay the $30 or so that some online journals require?

Edited July 29, 2014 by Alexrey

[juilletmercredi]

The asnwer to your question probably varies by professor. I recommend playing it safe and just talking about their research and then if your projects fits in nicely, you could add a line like "I really liked our paper on blah blah. Do you think similar results would hold for specific blah that youre interested in." You might be able to guage their interest in your question in that method. I think that it would be safer to go with that route and then once you get to know their mentor style, you could ask more specific questions about your idea. I hope that helps!

 

I'm not as sure about master's programs - they're a little different, because you aren't there as long and if you are doing scientific research, you have less time to collect data and analyze it.  But in general (and specific to PhD programs), I would give opposite advice.  You do want to talk about the professor's research, but you want to outline your own ideas as well.  Advisors want to take on doctoral students who have their own ideas and are going to become productive, intellectual scholars; the currency of scholarship is ideas.  My doctoral program's personal statement asked me to specify a dissertation topic; I was a college senior when I applied, and had no real idea what I wanted to do for my dissertation.  Or rather, I did have a nebulous, unformed Idea.  I still wrote it and my application was forwarded to a professor (now my advisor) who did similar but not exactly the same work.  The reason is because the exercise is designed to see how you think and what you think about, not for you to actually propose a feasible dissertation.

 

Especially if you are considering continuing to a PhD, I would absolutely contact professors who do similar work to yours and ask them if your idea is something they would be interested in and able to collaborate on with you.  You never know: the information on the website could've been last updated in 1995, but now they do new and more related stuff; or maybe this professor never really thought about research in that field but is interested in the prospect now that you brought it up; or maybe he's wanted to get into that area but has found himself unable to because he didn't have a grad student/base to move into the area.  Or it could just be that the professor's work is similar enough that he's willing to supervise you in that research.

 

But no, you don't want to read the papers of a professor and then try to change/align yourself with their research.  Your interests are your interests, and you shouldn't go to work with someone who isn't working on what you want to do - within reason.  Now, maybe your MS project is too big to be an MS project and is more appropriate as a dissertation or even a first grant for a new faculty member.  Or maybe you decide that it would work, but take too much time and too many resources and you want to hold off until after you graduate.  But that's different from saying "I really want to do research on the interface between cancer and mental health, but Professor X at University of Nowhere is doing research on obesity and mental health so I guess I should align myself with him."

 

Thanks very much for your help guys; very informative. Hmmm, so it looks like I have to tread quite softly. I've been reading quite a few research papers from professors at my top choice university, but looking at professors from other choices, I haven't been able to find any links to papers, as their profiles generally only give information on their research interests. Is there possibly a general repository where students can find some research papers without having to pay the $30 or so that some online journals require?

 

Are you currently a student at a university or college? If you are, then you can go to your library and search their names.  If you aren't, but you've graduated already, then maybe your alumni privileges allow you to use the library or you can pay a small fee to have alumni access to the library.