123 lines
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123 lines
6.0 KiB
Markdown
# What should I do about my PhD?
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The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The dog stays blissfully asleep. :)
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This time, I'm actually going to begin writing a journal. I feel like I have a
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lot of thoughts that I let swim around, without doing much about them. To quote
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*the Happiness Lab* episode that I listened to today:
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"Good intentions mean nothing if they don't translate into actions."
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So I'll take Dan's advice, and use writing to do thinking. I also think that
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writing this journal can improve my writing skills.
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So what's going on today?
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Well as I'm writing this, I'm on the 61D on my way into school listening to
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*Spanish Pipedream* by John Prine. But what I really want to tell you about is
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the decision I'm trying to make about whether or not to finish my PhD here at
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Pitt with Dan. Last Friday, I had a meeting with Dan about an idea I was
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interested in pursuing that at the core involved working with a real, tangible
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system. That idea was politely dismissed, and I was 'nudged' back towards formal
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methods for critical infrastructure. My immediate impression is that formal
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methods for our lab is a crock of shit.
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Dan means well and is genuinely looking out for my best interest, but that
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doesn't translate into belief into his mission. Formal methods are an intense
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mathematical pursuit in order to prove 'correctness' of something to something
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else. Formal methods experts may disagree with that characterization, but
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ultimately that second 'something' can be a lot of things, such as a model of a
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plant, a written specification, or anything that can be logically defined. Dan
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wants to use formal methods to prove things about physical systems. His idea is
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aligned with what Manyu just finished up: can we use formal methods to prove that
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certain systems adhere to requirements using formal methods? This is connected
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in part to the HARDENS report, which tried to use formal methods tools at several
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layers of abstraction to prove that a written requirement can be translated into
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a proof for a determined plant design. There is certainly work to be done there.
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But is that work that I want to do? My brain says I could do it, but my gut
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screams out a vehement no. This is the core issue--I know I could do it, but
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once I would finish, where does that leave me? The answer: a formal methods
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expert. Formal methods experts are highly sought after, but it is an intensely
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theoretical oriented field. When I think about what I want to do in my career
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and what my values are, they are not only working through a computer (despite
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my aptitude for such). I want to build real things, works you can touch, and
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that interact with the world. A formal methods proof about a reactor that *might*
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get built is not in that alignment.
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So what the hell do I do? As I write this, it seems pretty clear the relationship
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between myself and the Cole Lab's work is fractured. Going forward, I see three
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main options:
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1) Find another PhD advisor at Pitt. Bajaj is an obvious choice.
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2) Master out and go find a job.
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3) Go find another PhD opportunity somewhere else. Yichen did this.
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Pros and cons of each situation:
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1) Find another PhD advisor at Pitt
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+ I would be able to keep my NRC Fellowship
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+ I know people here already
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+ I've already passed the qualifying exam
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- Money is garbage
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- I don't think anyone is actually doing work that I really want to do
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- Have to stay in Pittsburgh
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- NRC debt keeps growing
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2) Master out and go find a job
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+ I would immediately make much more money
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+ Can move somewhere else (Boston?)
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+ NRC commitment is only a year
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+ Could find an interesting R&D job?
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+ Could get a second publication out for Bajaj's project
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+ Could pick up PhD again in a year or so. Work on projects to make
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myself super competitive
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- Dr. Sabo is on hold
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- No thesis!
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3) Master out and start a PhD at another school
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+ Dr. Sabo is slightly delayed
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+ Could go work in Boston
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+ Could go work on something I feel passionate about
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+ Better degree diversity
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+ Teaching plan could still work out
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- Slightly longer timeline
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- Have to take another qualifying exam
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- Still have the NRC commitment likely
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- Would not make much money
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I think the smartest thing is to master out, find a job for a year that will
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satisfy the NRC requirement, and then if I want to, restart the PhD somewhere
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else. This would put me finishing sometime in 2030 or so. That's certainly a lot.
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If I went to find a PhD now, I would finish somewhere in 2029 or so, then have
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the 1-year NRC commitment. Hmmm.
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I checked my current progress in my degree, and learned that I satisfy the controls
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track masters degree after this semester. I would need to negotiate two things:
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either ME 2046 or ME 2150 would need to count as a DSC elective, and NUCE 2100
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would have to be accepted as a ME elective (it is cross listed as ME 2100, so
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shouldn't be impossible to argue for). The next thing I need to do for this would
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to be to talk to Dan about it.
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Thinking about stopping with the Master's feels good. I think I should seriously
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pursue this, and maybe talk to Rachel and my family about it.
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## Chat w/ Pat
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Patrick and I got lunch today. He was generally pretty supportive and gave me
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some sound advice that I can use. He asked me "have you read some literature
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reviews?" And the answer to that is no, not really. He also advised to "just do
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something", which perhaps will help me feel like I'm actually getting something
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built. I think that is helpful. Going forward, I'm going to really try and do
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two things:
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1) Read at least 3 literature reviews by Friday
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2) Get ARCADE and I2C working by next Monday
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[Could be interesting](https://www.adafruit.com/product/2264?gQT=0)
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I really don't know what I should do. This certainly is not a one day decision.
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Honestly, I may like the idea of option 3 the best, but I do need to do some work.
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I've got it in the works to:figure out how to get the MS along the way with Antoine,
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so we'll see how that happens. I think the earliest things would happen would be at
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the end of the summer.
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