Who's doing a PhD?

Ricochet J

Ricochet J

Ricochet J

Soldato
Joined
29 Jun 2004
Posts
12,957
What field are you doing your PhD in?
Why did you chose to do it?
Do you enjoy it?
How long have you got left?
What do you plan to do after you complete your PhD?

Thank you! :)
 
Last edited:
Did one.
Surface Engineering;
It was awesome;
Not science, as it's full of people with too much vested in out-dated paradigms.
 
I'm not doing a PhD right now, but I finished one around 18 months ago, so perhaps I could provide some useful info...

My PhD was based on developing meshless numerical methods for the solution of continuum mechanics problems (fluid dynamics, solid mechanics - elastic / plastic deformation, and nonlinear heat conduction). I developed a numerical method based on local collocation with radial basis functions, which actually turned out quite well (after several failed attempts at other variations on the theme).

The work itself was mainly applied maths (numerical analysis specifically), but took place in the mechanical engineering department. My first degree was mathematics... The work was funded by the EU, as part of a framework 7 EU project investigating artificial aquifer recharge. As a result, a large proportion of the models we ran were based on flow through unsaturated porous media (Richards' equation), and in particular how to handle heterogeneities (i.e. soil layers). Still, most of the work was in developing the method rather than the application to specific models.

The end product, other than the thesis and a few journal publications, was a simulation code that was passed around to the EU partners. I was quite proud of the code, given how little programming experience I had, but it's not exactly in a state that it can be used easily by non-expert third parties. It's still at research code at heart, though it does have a GUI-driven pre-processor as an interface.

Aaanyway. Now I'm doing a post-doc in another EU project, investigating sequestration of CO2 in deep saline aquifers. I'm doing similar stuff (developing meshless RBF-based numerical methods), but the equations are a lot more complex, involving poroelastic deformation, and phase change of CO2. The stuff we're trying is just not working, but that's research I guess. I got spoiled a little by how well things worked out in the PhD. Now I'm experiencing the other end of the scale.

Aside from that, I'm involved in a consulting business that I set up in partnership with a colleague from my PhD work, and an Israeli guy from our first EU consortium. We've been at it almost a year, and it's damn slow going. We only have two major jobs on the go right now, but for a while it looked like we would have several more - until they all fell through. Still ploughing away, but it can be quite demoralising to put tens of hours into applications / tenders etc and come away with nothing. But still, we're learning a lot about the field and it should help us all down the road whether the business works out or not.


To anyone considering a PhD I would highly recommend it, as long as you don't see it as a path to riches or anything. For the most part, PhDs tend to go on to do very interesting work, in a relatively relaxed and free environment, but are not paid significantly more than graduates who go straight into work [a generalisation to be sure, but largely accurate].

The life of a PhD student is generally not too bad. A lot depends on your supervisor, and the source of your funding, but for the most part you enjoy a fair degree of freedom into what you investigate, and a relative lack of responsibility. Pay is not too bad; It was around £13k PA during my 3.5years as a PhD student, but when you consider that you pay no income tax, no student loan repayments, and no council tax, this is really equivalent to around £22k as a regular wage. I will say one thing though - be wary of projects which are too strongly tied to a particular company. A lot of the PhD students who are doing work for Rolls Royce or similar end up doing very little in the way of research - instead acting as low-paid employees of the sponsoring company. Unless you're just looking for a way into that specific company by way of contacts, it's better to go for something that will give you a little more freedom.

Anyway, I hope this post didn't sound to self-serving, and I hope that I've given you an idea of what life as a PhD student is like, and the opportunities it can provide.



PS - writing a thesis is a long, slow, painful process!
 
Duff-man with regards to your post doc, I thought you couldn't model phase change using CAE?

But thanks for the post, it gave me stuff to think about! :)
 
Ricochet J said:
Duff-man with regards to your post doc, I thought you couldn't model phase change using CAE?

But thanks for the post, it gave me stuff to think about! :)
Click to expand...

A lot of numerical models fall down, due to the very rapid changes in thermal properties as you transition from one phase to another, but it is possible :)

If you want more specifics: The method I use involves applying a Kirchhoff integral transform to the dependent variable in the governing equation (the pressure field in most cases), which reduces the degree of non-linearity. This allows a solution with standard nonlinear iterative solvers, but comes at the cost of increased complexity with regards to transforming from the physical (pressure) variable to the transformed (Kirchhoff) variable. Which is a pain as far as programming goes. Also, the problem is still highly nonlinear, so you need a very high precision numerical solver. That's where the RBF method from my PhD comes in (it's highly accurate and stable but generally more expensive than finite element methods).

Anyway, so far we've had great success in modelling liquid-solid phase change (for example in food freezing), but the phase change of CO2 we nee to model involves liquid to supercritical transformations, which are a lot more complex. The thermal property curves vary strongly depending on the temperature and pressure. So yeah... needs a lot more work there.
 
What field are you doing your PhD in?

Quantum Mechanical modelling (Physics)

Why did you chose to do it?

It was not my first choice of a PhD, but alas my old lecturers were too slow in completing their references for my first choice. This was what was left, unless I wanted to wait for another year for the next round (I have since realised this is totally untrue, and would definitely recommend holding out for a PhD you really want to do!).

Do you enjoy it?

Yes, and no. The yes's come on conferences trips away, days when I achieve something that has been hard, and the days when (finally) a paper gets published and you feel like your results are finally validated. The bad days come when you realise a whole calculation (talking millions of CPU hours) have been wasted, or that there isn't enough time left to complete something before you are meant to present it, or your supervisor decides that specifically what you have done is not what they would do.... those days annoy me!

How long have you got left?

Three months ish...

What do you plan to do after you complete your PhD?

Hopefully a postdoc somewhere, currently looking at Davis CA, Jyvaskavla Finland, or *fingers crossed* University of Sydney....
 
Ricochet J said:
What field are you doing your PhD in?
Physics - Lasers and High Energy Density. This is a heavy experimental PHD which uses some pretty serious kit both high power lasers and pulsed power technoglogy for plasma generation.
Things I'm working/going to work on include -
Plasma Diagnostics such as Thomson scattering/X-ray Backlighters/ Proton Imaging.
Laboratory Astrophysics - Shock Waves/Radiation Transport/Astrophysical Jets - Fully experimentally of course.
Why did you chose to do it?
I did a masters project in a very similar area before so already new some aspects of it but the lasers part was brand new for me

Do you enjoy it?

Yup, I get to blow stuff up with lasers, You can't beat that.

How long have you got left?

Only 11 months in atm so long way to go still.

What do you plan to do after you complete your PhD?

Unsure yet but will be open to postdocs in exotic places with even more exotic technology.
Thank you! :)
Click to expand...
 
I'm the opposite way round, just about to start a PhD in October!

What field are you doing your PhD in?

Computational fluid dynamics (Chemical Engineering, modelling heterogeneous Fischer-Tropsch reactions)

Why did you chose to do it?

Couple of reasons really - the supervisor and the project on offer. I graduated from Sheffield University with my undergrad but wanted a switch as there is quite a bit of "internal politics" in the department there in addition to a gradual shift towards the biological side of things. I chose to move universities for a bit of a change, and the project is led by someone who is internationally-renowned in their field so there's a massive potential to learn.

The project itself is very interesting - I have quite an interest in Fischer-Tropsch (developed novel catalysts for it in my second year summer-internship, looking at it now as a potential usage for captured CO2) and fluid dynamics. I've touched on CFD (compulsory modules for undergrad) and want to get into the heart of it. I'll come away from the project hopefully having validated and developed codes, and learnt a couple of programming languages.

Do you enjoy it?

Don't know yet! Very much looking forward to it though, looking forward to getting my teeth stuck into some challenging work and working within an excellent research group.

How long have you got left?

3 years.

What do you plan to do after you complete your PhD?

Not entirely sure yet, not thought that far ahead. If it all goes well I'd like to stay on as a postdoc researcher. My project is in collaboration with Johnson-Matthey (PhD pay is a little better as a result) so there's potential for work there if I don't stray too far down the path of academia. Staying at university for research and lecturing is very appealing though.
 
Last edited:
I don't understand why there is so much emphasis on numerical methods for continuum problems in engineering. I know it's a broad field aswell but in my experience modern engineering curriculum seems to be mainly divided into either fluid mechanics or structures with little emphasis on anything else such as manufacturing techniques, cad designs etc.

I did Aerospace Engineering which is essentially 70-80% mechanical engineering with some modules dedicated to aircraft design. While I was doing it I realised that what we were being taught had little relevance to how the aircraft such as boeing 747 is designed and manufactured. We didn't learn anything about aircraft manufacturing techniques such as how a wing is attached to the body, how landing gear is built etc.

It was mainly about boundary layers aerodynamics, lots of calculus with abstract mathematical concepts which we didn't apply at all to aircraft design and mohr's circle and generic stress/strain calculations.

My degree hasn't helped me in getting engineering job. The only reason I did Aerospace was because I was mainly interested in jet engine which is related to gas turbines that are also used in power plants etc.

I did query about phd in turbo machinery with large emphasis on turbine design and it was very interesting but was turned down on the grounds that I didn't possess enough CDF experience. After that I just lost interest in engineering.
 
This could be a good place to ask, but does PhD mean 'Doctor of Philosophy'? I don't mean to say that all PhDs are in philosophy, but is that literally what it means? Thanks.
 
What field are you doing your PhD in?

High Pressure (Chemistry/Physics)

Why did you chose to do it?

Fascinated by the idea of working with diamonds to generate pressures over 1,000,000 bar and then melt stuff with lasers :D Also living in London and studying at UCL persuaded me.

Do you enjoy it?

1 year in and I'm loving the project though it's very hard work at times (I left work at 7am yesterday in preparation for experiments this week (which will be 8am Wednesday until 8am Saturday). The conference travel has been amazing, I went to Boston, USA for a week, everything paid for.

Oh, but I've smashed 4 diamonds to date, that wasn't fun :rolleyes:

How long have you got left?

2.5 years.

What do you plan to do after you complete your PhD?

Post Doc at UCL / Edinburgh or on a synchrotron, otherwise no idea yet :)
 
WingZero30 said:
I don't understand why there is so much emphasis on numerical methods for continuum problems in engineering. I know it's a broad field aswell but in my experience modern engineering curriculum seems to be mainly divided into either fluid mechanics or structures with little emphasis on anything else such as manufacturing techniques, cad designs etc.
Click to expand...

I think the argument would probably be that that's exactly what engineering is - if you wanted to learn about manufacturing techniques etc then you'd "study" manufacturing. The fundamental science behind the manufactured parts (as you say, fluid & boundary flows, stress & Mohr circles) is where the engineering comes in.

Numerical methods are very useful in producing a good model of a system - heterogeneous catalysis as one field is very difficult to model accurately just using simple plug-flow/mixed-tank flow assumptions, and nigh-on impossible to solve for the temporal fluid flow profile in a non-iterative fashion. And of course it provides PhD opportunities to Chem Eng students :p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom