[MBZ] Ph.D.'s

2007-08-12 Thread Tony Wirtel

 That all depends if you are doing your doctorate in something you really
 love and there is a need for. It's a big mountain to climb and unless
 you really love doing IT stuff, you may not make it.
 My Uncle did a PhD in toxicology with emphasis on the blue ring octopus.
 From memory he was in his fifties (I think he started it in his
 thirties) when he finally presented his paper, however he did it before
 they started changing the Unis to make them more profit orientated.

One of the factors that drove me to stop at a masters was a comment by
a wise department head I was talking to.  He said that he regrets the
shift in academic research (at least in engineering) to grant driven
projects; said that once upon a time a PhD was about a building a
strong mind, whereas now it was simply a matter of having a strong
back.

That said, at the conclusion of my masters defense this May one of my
committee members asked me (and my advisor) why the work I presented
wasn't a for a Ph.D.!  I have no regrets, though.

Tony Wirtel

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Re: [MBZ] Ph.D.'s

2007-08-12 Thread LWB250
My department head is determined to see me do my
doctorate, so I have to keep my head down until I
finish my current program to break the news to her. 
Right now she thinks the sun shines out my arse, and I
don't want to do anything that would jeopardize that.

I will say that once you get plugged in to the grant
pipeline, it's amazing the amount of money that's out
there.  I hooked my cart to a prof that is very good
at grant writing (think goodness!) and as a result
have done a number of grant funded projects.  While
there is a budget, there seems to be little oversight
on how the funds are used as long as it's got
something to do with the grant.

I just closed out my last research project last week
and got the letter from the IRB folks saying they
approved it.  Right behind that letter came another
about how they are going to start charging for IRBs. 
Ouch.  Looks like the engineering and med school folks
are going to feel the brunt of it from the looks of
things.

Dan


--- Tony Wirtel [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 One of the factors that drove me to stop at a
 masters was a comment by
 a wise department head I was talking to.  He said
 that he regrets the
 shift in academic research (at least in engineering)
 to grant driven
 projects; said that once upon a time a PhD was about
 a building a
 strong mind, whereas now it was simply a matter of
 having a strong
 back.
 
 That said, at the conclusion of my masters defense
 this May one of my
 committee members asked me (and my advisor) why the
 work I presented
 wasn't a for a Ph.D.!  I have no regrets, though.



   

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