December 29, 2016, by Lisa Chin
My PhD journey thus far
This post is written by Arun Prabhakar, PhD student from the Department of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering.
My journey as a PhD student has been comparable to a mountain hike without a doubt. Throughout this ride I’ve come through peaks of joy and downfalls. My supervisors, Dr Yousif (UNMC) and Dr Kathy (UNUK), have always stood by me as supportive pillars and uplifted my spirits ceaselessly. They have placed a huge amount of confidence and given me the chance to work with a project in collaboration with a leading aerospace engineering company, Rolls Royce. This has been one of the driving reasons for me to keep moving forward continuously. During the course of my PhD they also gave me the opportunity to visit the Gas Turbine and Transmissions Research Centre (G2TRC) at Nottingham, UK. The visit exposed me to a number of researchers working in a similar area of research, and considerably enhanced my knowledge and understanding of the project.
The Graduate School at UNMC has been playing an important role in moulding me and paving my pathway in research. Dr Tissa and Dr Jiin from the Graduate School have been two inspirational people and mentors who I really look up to. Many of the training programmes delivered by them have taught me valuable things apart from research itself. One of the training programmes that I highly recommend for incoming students is “How to be an Effective Researcher”. It is a day long programme that comprises of activities which are more like warm up exercises to research life.
For a PhD student or researcher, the clock runs quite fast and it is vital to have plans and targets set in mind. I’ve personally experienced that planning my research milestones has allowed me to achieve a lot over a short period of time. Tools such as “Gantt Charts” have tremendously helped me do my research planning. Following the two years into this exciting journey, I’ve learned that patience, determination and self-motivation are three essential qualities that PhD students should develop and possess. To the folks stepping into this incredible ride, bear in mind whatever happens “Life must go on and so must your PhD”, don’t give up!
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