My Finite Element Simulation of an optical plane wave traveling through a vibrating electro-optic crystal
(not to scale)
I get a lot of questions about graduate school, being a PhD student, what I can do when I graduate, what my research is about etc. which is quite understandable - I had no idea about any of this before I started the program and it's a different world from what most people go through.
What I had to do in Graduate school
- Take 90 credit hours beyond my undergrad degree. About half of that time is research and the other half is classes.
- Pass a written test and an oral proposal to become a "PhD candidate" about half way through the program
- Write/publish papers and present at conferences
- Write a Dissertation (really long final paper) about all my research
- Committee must approve it
- Will be published in the school library
- Given a Dissertation Defense (final presentation)
- It means I am qualified to teach at the college level
- It means I have some extremely specialized knowledge about a subject you have never heard of
- It means I am qualified to be a Scientist or Engineer at a University, Company, or Government organization
- It means I am a Doctor (but not a medical doctor) I can legally write PhD after my name or Dr. before it
- It means I have spent several years in graduate school taking classes and doing original research. The actual time varies from one person to another and is different for different majors. For example Engineering takes about 5 years beyond the Bachelors degree but theoretical physics can take 8 or 9 years.
Here is a really nice, brief, easy to follow explanation of what it means to be a phd
- It doesn't mean I am any more intelligent that the average person
- It doesn't mean I am a better person than anyone else
- It doesn't mean I know everything about science, or literature, or history, or auto mechanics
- It doesn't mean I can diagnose your illness
- It doesn't mean I will necessarily make a lot of money or have job security
- It doesn't mean I can beat you at poker or monopoly
A doctoral defense is a final presentation of your research work before a committee of professors. There is a committee of at least 4 PhDs that grade me. The committee is made of mostly professors but sometimes others from outside the university. My committee has four professors and one scientist from a local research facility.
Structure of the Defense
- Public presentation with interuptions for questions - about 40-60 minutes
- Everyone but candidate and committee leaves
- Committee can ask questions about anything from my education (but usually only things relating to the dissertation)
- Candidate leaves the room so committee can talk
- Candidate is invited back in and then one of two things happen
- My adviser will reach out to shake my hand and say "Congratulations Dr. McIntosh"
- Or my adviser will say "Sorry, try again" and I get one more chance to pass
So why did I go to school this long?
- I love Science
- I love college - I hated school all the way from day one of kinder-garden to my senior year of high school - but I love college
- I used to work at a company where pretty much everyone else was a scientist - so I said "Me too!"
- I genuinely enjoy learning
A brief description of my research
I am studying electro-optic materials. When you apply a voltage to an electro-optic material the refractive index will change. The refractive index is a measure of how fast light travels in the material. These materials are used in devices to encode information on to an optical beam. So for example they are used in fiber optic networks to encode electrical information from your computer so it can travel over an optical fiber. When we apply an electrical signal at a specific frequency called the resonant frequency the material vibrates very strongly resulting in increased coupling between the electrical and optical signals. This improved coupling is very important for improving device efficiency. My research is primarily involved in studying/understanding/optimizing this effect through experimental techniques and computer modeling.
Want to see an interactive computer model I made that is related to my research? go here: Acoustic velocity of materials. You will need to install the Wolfram Mathematica Player, its free.
Defense day
My defense was March 4th 2013 and I passed!
Not bad for a kid the State of New York classified with a "learning disability" from third grade to twelfth grade right?
Thank you
- Thank you fellow students for helping me with my classes
- Thank you colleagues for teaching me what you know and encouragning me to go back to school
- Thank you teachers for your patience and extra help
- Thank you to my professors for your help and very patient explanations
- Thank you to all the Church congregations I have been a part of for making me feel at home while I was far form home
- Thank you friends for your encouragement, for letting me skip parties/trips/concerts so I could study, for bringing me food while I was studying, for letting me do homework at your house
- Thank you to my family for letting me be away from home so long
- Thank you to my parents for the constant 30 years of support and encouragement
- Thank you Jesus
Dr. Steady-State
