From owner-chemistry@ccl.net Wed Dec 8 22:08:01 2010 From: "David Mannock dmannock%ualberta.ca" To: CCL Subject: CCL: I am applying to Phys Phd program at USA, need your advice. Message-Id: <-43307-101208061333-12708-070kFbdsCnN5V6NYnQ5SvQ ~ server.ccl.net> X-Original-From: David Mannock Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Date: Wed, 08 Dec 2010 04:13:05 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Sent to CCL by: David Mannock [dmannock^ualberta.ca] Tsung-Wen, Looking for someone in exactly the same area as your own studies is not always a good thing to do. This is playing safe. If you must work in this area search on the web of science using appropriate search terms. My advice is to look 10 years into the future of your intended area and ask yourself, where will this area be? Will it still be fundable and sexy? What marketable skills will I have at the end of my PhD studies? I should also mention to you that you should take care in deciding on a lab to work in. Will there be someone to guide and direct the project in the early stages? Are you capable of working on a project independently without guidance from day 1? If so, this is a big responsibility. With the cut throat state of funding at the moment in many western countries, you need to know that you will be funded at the full studentship level for your full PhD term. Competition will be intense and you should beware of the sharks in the water. You should be looking for a positive, supportive learning environment, both within a lab and a department. Whenever money becomes tight, there is a lot of back stabbing that goes on at both levels. You do not want to be in a pressure cooker with nothing to show for 5 years work. Make sure that the PI has some relevant skills. Is he/she a good paper/grant writer? Are the names of lab workers present as co-authors in grants? Are students permitted to be the corresponding authors on some papers? Where are the former students and postdoctoral fellows that have been through the lab? How many have faculty positions? Will you be able to talk to them or students in the department about their experiences locally. If the answers to these questions is negative, I would urge caution. Be wary of people with too many awards. Some people like to pad their CVs with other peoples accomplishments! Remember, the prospective employer wants to interview you, but you also need to interview them. You must not be shy in asking these questions. When you are finishing your thesis, you should be able to write a paper or a grant independently. This ultimately is what the western academic systems want to see at the end of a PhD studentship and this is what you must aim for yourself. That is my 10 cents worth. David Mannock On 12/7/2010 7:43 PM, Tsung-Wen Yen peter308~~gmail.com wrote: > Sent to CCL by: "Tsung-Wen Yen" [peter308%a%gmail.com] > Dear CCLers: > My research is about Metallic clusters, I studied its geometry, thermal properties,dynamics and time-correlation properties. Recently, I am studying its magnetism using DFT and I have discovered how cluster's symmetry induce its magnetism. I planned to apply for PHD in the phyics department in USA. However, I searched over the universities and find several groups which has the same research topic as mine. For example, Prof Landman in GIT and Prof.Bloomfield in U of Virgina, and many others. I just want to consult you that are there other research groups in USA that are well-knowed for their research in metallic clusters?( theory and simulation). Appreciated if you could give me some suggestions. I spend a lot of time searching on google and scholar google. I just want to confirm if I missed any researchers in this field. Please give me feedbacks if you think I am asking a dumb question. Many thanks! > > > > > > With Best Regards > Tsung-Wen Yen> > >