Advisor Definition and 49 Threads

English is not my first language (grammar in general is not an interest). For what it's worth, I am also fluent in Bulgarian and Hebrew. Diagnosed HFA, 37, employed in software engineering (learned that myself). Long time ago, I've chosen my purpose in life to study Electromagnetism...

I am considering a PhD program in Physics, and my prospective advisor is a more mature faculty member (full professor, late career). I am really interested in the field of study, and the advisor's students speak really highly of their experiences. Are there any advantages or disadvantages to...

The recent edition of Physics Today has an article that should be of interest to prospective Ph.D. students. I think that new graduate students will benefit from this article as well as new faculty on how to find a good match between student and advisor...

I mean apart from the obvious that they'll select some research topic and learn about that.

Hi everyone, I recently finished applying to a university for grad school. Previously, I had contacted a professor with whom I wanted to work with, and it seemed they were also interested in taking me as a PhD student. Ideally, would one follow up (by email) with the professor once they've...

I'm applying to physics graduate programs this fall. I volunteered with an experimentalist in my hometown (at a small undergraduate-only physics program) over this past summer (I'm going to keep it intentionally vague for privacy reasons, but let me know if you really think the response depends...

I have a major in mathematical physics and mathematics and I've started on graduate school january of the last year to get a master's degree in theoretical physics. My real interest is fundamental physics, specialy related to general relativity and quantum field theory. I've talked to a...

Hi! I just earned a PhD in Physics and I am interested in the career of scientific advisor. Can anyone give me some advices (sorry for the game of words :-)!) about a possible way to follow to become it? Thank you very much

So some brief backstory about why I’m asking this question: I’m applying to grad schools next fall, and everything on my CV looks great (2 REUs, I know four professors I can get a great research letter from, I’m doing honors at a top 10 university for physics, etc.) except my gpa, which is...

Hi all, I'll be applying for Graduate school (PhD) at the end of this year. I have been told that it is a good time to start scoping out the best people in the field that I am interested in, no matter where they are from. Is there an 'easy' way to go about doing this? How does one do this? If...

Hi everyone, I am a second year postgraduate student working in astrophysics. I chose my university pretty hastily, and now I feel like I am at a dead end. My colleagues do not speak to me in English and I need to fight to be able to hold a normal conversation at lunch table. I am currently...

TheAdmin submitted a new PF Insights post Interview with Science Advisor DrChinese Continue reading the Original PF Insights Post.

I'm happily headed to an astrophysics PhD program in the fall, but without a good idea of who I want to work with. What considerations usually go into choosing? How did you personally go about it? Any good stories? My PhD program involves short research projects with different faculty...

Hi Physics forums patrons, I'm a bit of an academic pickle and I don't really know where to turn so I was hoping someone could offer an alternate point of view. For a little background, I'm currently a physics student, having transferred from finance about a year ago (go science). Now, I'm very...

I'm in a physics graduate program shopping around for research advisors and I met with my number one pick today. He works with biological systems using calorimetry and other lab methods a biologist would know. He saw my enthusiasm and liked it but was wary about my lack of biochem knowledge. He...

ZapperZ submitted a new PF Insights post Choosing a Research Area and an Advisor Continue reading the Original PF Insights Post.

I am a first-year PhD student who worked with a professor over the summer. I get along very well with her, and I would be happy to work with her if I was certain that my interests aligned with hers. She is a very popular advisor and has a lot of students wanting to work with her, so she gave me...

I know having a letter of recommendation from a research advisor is great. However, the research advisor I am currently working with barely knows me. He will be my advisor for about 5 more weeks, but I do not see him suddenly becoming interested in my project (I'm working with the postdoc), or...

Dear all, Please I need your help and suggestions I contacted a professor for a PhD program in electrical engineering. First, he asked me to send him some documents (CV, transcripts,...etc). Then, he told me to apply for the university. Unfortunately, my application has been rejected...

Do I need to do it? Should I put his name somewhere? Thanks

Advisor I am applying to graduate school and there is a professor I want to work with. According to the university, he is an active faculty. I checked his profile and all I could find was his name, the university's address and his research which tersely states: "geometry". So I looked him...

My question is whether it is a bad idea to be a physics graduate student with an EE advisor. I ask this because I'm interested in nanophysics at Carnegie Mellon University. On the physics website on the nanophysics page they have listed 6 EE professors and 5 physics professors. It seems likely...

This has been bugging me for a while. Last month I narrowed my choices down two two very good graduate programs. I found that one program I didn't feel very comfortable, so I chose the other one, where I felt like I would be happier and fit in more and a project that seemed more interesting...

So I will be starting my Phd program in three weeks as a graduate intern. I was thinking of emailing my advisor with basic questions such as what I should be reading up on, relevant papers, what he would like me to get started on once I get there. However, I am worried that it will be...

So I was 3rd author of a paper published by our group. I then applied for a fellowship which requested me to describe my research activities. I cited the paper I had my name on. My advisor reviewed the application and told me to put my name first on the fellowship application. She even wrote...

A little bit of background I have passed all my qualifiers and my even passed my preliminary exam (research plan). My research area was particle searches at the CMS detector. The issues that led to me being dismissed was due to my computing ability. I am able to program however had very little...

Hi guys, Last term I joined the research group of one of the professors in my university, and I did a one-semester research project with him. He offered me to continue on with the project and with his group for my final year thesis, but I think I do not want to. This is because I have decided...

Hi, Everyone: I recently passed my oral exams for my Math PHD, and I am going on into the actual thesis prep. My problem is that I (wrongly) believed that the topic I worked on for the 2nd exam -- call it T--,was supposed to be an "entry" into the general area I was interested in, and...

I've been in a research lab all summer doing a sort of internship program. Anyway, my research adviser has really spent a lot of time with me helping me get things done in the lab as well as taking the time to make sure I understood the science behind what we are doing. I want to get a...

I wanted to ask the many experienced members of PF what they feel the role is. My interest is in math, but I am sure many physics students want to know. As in, are they primarily there to alert us to things we should be thinking about in relation to our research problems? Help us with actual...

I just found myself a professor who's interested to be my research advisor recently, and so he wants to meet me at his office today... Now all of a sudden I feel a little flustered because he didn't mention what's on the agenda! I presume we'll discuss some administrative stuff (our schedules...

So I haven't really been having a very good REU experience. My advisor has not made himself very accessible and I probably only spend like 20 minutes a week talking to him. Most the time I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to be doing so I haven't really been working very hard on my project...

I want to start undergrad research for fun I emailed my school and they told me they don't offer any such opportunities for undergrads and suggested I wait until grad school. But I'm really bored this summer and lots of schools have UR so why shouldn't I? The problem is I don't know...

Advisor from Hell? I just graduated with a PhD in Physics. (Passed my defense and deposited. Yay!) My relationship with my advisor was very rough. I'm a suck it up, non confrontational kinda of person, so I made it through, but this experience has traumatized me in multiple ways. I try...

Hi all, I have what I think is a strange situation. I am pretty swamped with assignments, and my advisor seems to know this. He insists that I bring questions about physics assignments to him. To date, he's helped me earn full marks on more than a few assignments in a troublesome-class with...

Hi Guys, This question doesn't pertain directly to me-- since I'm not a PhD student until next fall. However, I do have a friend that is really struggling with a terrible PhD advisor, and I would really appreciate you guys opinion (especially those of you in academia). I'll try to keep the...

I applied to graduate schools (for PhD programs) hoping to enter a place where I could be scientifically creative and collaborate with like-minded individuals. I chose my current school because they offered me the best package, it had a good location, I was promised an RA position and I...

Hi all I am new here. I need advice about my grad school application. I need 3 LoRs and I am not sure whether I should include my current (master thesis) advisor in it. The reason is he really hates me. For some reasons he wants me to stay at his lab and do my PhD there instead of going...

Hi, I want to change my current phd subject/advisor. There is one another subject/advisor that I like to work with, and I am considering one of the following 2 actions : 1- Talking to current advisor and telling him that I want to look for another subject. Then talking to the other one...

hello all, I'm pretty much new to this forum, and hope that through this, i'll be able to make new friends, and find "advisors" who would be able to help me along my learning process for mathematics and physics. for mathematics, these are some of the topics that I'm learning now 1)...

hey, I hope i post this in the right section of the forum. I'm working on my thesis and i need to construct an economic hyrbid truck. The program I'm using for that is advisor 3.2, it is a program that simulates the truck. My problem is that i need to add ultra-capacitors and batterys...

Ok, so I am just an undergraduate intern this summer. We have light source shining through an optical chopper, reflecting of a lit display, and going to a detector. So, we have a signal on top of a DC signal coming from the fact that the display is also emitting light. We want to measure...

I thought this was interesting because of the long Jeremiah Wright thread: Bush's spiritual adviser backing Obama Published: Jan. 20, 2008 at 4:25 PM HOUSTON, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush's spiritual adviser, the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, has decided to support the...

She said it's probably the hardest course I'll take in the physics program. Right now, I'm taking University Physics I with II right after. What's the best way I can prepare for the Modern Physics courses? PHYS 3315: Modern Physics I Cr. 3. (3-0). Prerequisites: PHYS 1301 and 1302, or PHYS...

So I started this REU and my UG research advisor wants me to come up with my own research project. That way I can be the number one author of any paper I publish. However, my creativity seems to be lacknig and I am having trouble coming up with feasible project topics, especially since I am...

So, something somewhat disheartening happened to me. I was hired as a part time REU student (research experience for ugrads) in the middle of january and have been in the lab for about 10 hours a week, and I hope to work there full-time over the summer. I feel like I do good work even though I...

He insists they are synonymous. I said I didn't agree. I told him that impedance is specifically the ratio of voltage to current in the s-domain or frequency domain. Impedance carries much more information that resistance alone. Is it technically correct to think of impedance as being the...

So, now that graduate school is just around the corner, I'm left with the daunting task of picking a school and research group that I'd like to work with. This question may sound silly, but all other things being equal, but what age would people recommend a research advisor be? The more I think...

So, I'm a sophomore in Electrical engineering, and I love it even though it's wicked hard. Anyways, I have a meeting with my advisor in a couple days, which all sophomores have to do before registering for spring semester. I was wondering if anyone has any good questions I should ask him? I went...