Choose a Specialty in ECE

Graduate School
1

<p>I'm interested in research and want to apply for 2011 fall PhD in ECE. However, I haven't decide which specialty to apply for. I'm group leader in almost all course projects. Besides manage the overall projects, I always do the most difficult part and I enjoy doing that. It seems that as long as I try hard, I can do everything well. I really don't know what interest me most. I'm good at programming, but I only regard it as a tool. I won't choose software and I don't like DSP. All the other fields are OK, I think.</p>

<p>I want to work in universities after getting the PhD degree, so I guess I should choose a specialty that is not too old or too theoretical, and that has wide applications and is easier to get funds. Can someone help me to analyse the following specialties? </p>

<ol>
<li>communication systems</li>
<li>computer design</li>
<li>controls and systems theory</li>
<li>Circuits and Microsystems</li>
<li>Applied Electromagnetics and RF Circuits</li>
<li>electronic devices and materials</li>
<li>intelligent systems</li>
<li>networks</li>
<li>Optics and Photonics
10.VLSI</li>
<li>Robotics and Computer Vision</li>
<li> hardware systems</li>
<li>software systems
14.Theory of Computation</li>
<li>SIP/DSP</li>
</ol>

2

<p>Have you had any research experience? If so, did you like the field/area you were doing research in?</p>

<p>I can understand if you’re not sure what you want to specialize in, but you need to have some sort of idea before you apply (even if you end up changing fields while doing your PhD)</p>

3

<p>Yes, I’m doing research and have had some idea about what I’m going to do. Since there’s still a chance to choose, I just want to get a comprehensive understanding of the ECE major.</p>

<p>Someone says circuit design is almost fully developed and communication already attracts too many students. If this is true, it’s not suitable to pursue a PhD degree on these two fields if I want to work in a college.</p>

<p>Can you make some comments or evalutions on other specialties? Or have different views on the two I mentioned?</p>

4

<p>Most of the people on this board (myself included) are pretty new in their fields. While we may know a far bit about our specialities, few if any of us can give across-the-board EE suggestions. I can tell you that there is some interesting stuff going on in E&M (#5) and optics (#9), and that they are lucrative and in-demand fields, but that doesn’t help you unless you enjoy and have talent there - most EE’s really don’t like that part of their education. And there IS at least some research and employment demand in every specialty you list.</p>

<p>One thing you might want to do is start at your own school - ask your professors about research in their specialty. If you want to know the best ones to talk to, ask around or look for full professors who are comparatively young - that almost always means an exemplary research standing.</p>

5

<p>Thank you, cosmicfish. By some interesting stuff in E&M (#5) and optics (#9), do you mean the MEMS and NEMS? What do you think about the bioMEMS?</p>

6

<p>

</p>

<p>Quite true. E&M (called EMag here), is also known colloquially as “Re-Mag” and “Three-Mag” because it’s so-hated.</p>

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</p>

<p>MEMS groups tend to be in mechanical engineering or a related discipline. I can’t think of too many ECE professors in the area.</p>

7

<p>

Not personally, no. I’ve some people in those fields (and some are in EE, since some MEMS involves piezoelectrics and the like) and they are doing some very cool stuff, but the work I was talking about was in things like antenna design, optical sensing systems, computational electromagnetics, and so on. MEMS is great but I don’t know enough to really comment.</p>

<p>As for Bio-MEMS? No idea. One of my PhD offers was to study the way bacteria find food (yes, from an EE professor), but that is the closest I have ever gotten to a discpline or specialty involving the prefix “Bio”.</p>