Etiquette of Sending Reseach Work to Multiple Companies

Graduate School
1

BACKGRUOND

So, I am applying to new engineering jobs. I had a MS in Aerospace Engineering and did pretty heavy research (because I was originally a PhD student). Many of the jobs are asking for presentations of the work that I did. It’s a legitimate request.

Now in aerospace engineering, research/design data is heavily sensitive. Furthermore, anyone in science/engineering doctoral programs knows that any concepts or ideas are highly sensitive.

PROBLEM

Many companies are asking for presentations, videos, plots, etc of projects I was involved in. Of course this is a very fair request. I have some great research work that is highly relevant to the jobs I am applying to. I want to send it to them. However, I am wondering the etiquette of sending presentations for research. Note that my research was:

–Advised by multiple professors, with important contributions from them
–I took advantage of in-house software to get results
–I used expensive equipment owned by professors or the university
–other RA colleagues contributed to my work at times (often informally)
–Some of the concepts were originally coined by the professors
–The work was funded by a sponsor, who also had intellectual contributions to the work
–Much of the work was not published (therefore not formally disclosed to the public)

In other words, I do not fully “own” my research nor am I the sole contributor. This is the case for many graduate students. I prepared presentations of research to send to potential employers, but I ultimately hesitated to send it. I am wondering if I could offend (or even break contractual rules) by sending information to potential employers/companies. Furthermore, my professors are very well-connected guys, so they would find out if necessary. In general, in defense/aerospace engineering you do not want documents of your (or your colleague’s) work floating around to random companies and sent in emails where you do not even know the recipient.

QUESTIONS

What is the etiquette for sending out this research to another company? I feel very uncomfortable sending this research to people as if I OWN the research. Of course I cite my professors, but I am worried I could still offend them by sending out info that they may not want to make available to a dozen companies? Note that I deleted (“blacked out”) all sensitive data. But you can’t “black-out” an entire concept/idea. Are there any PhD students (or thesis-based MS students) applying for jobs? Did you provide research to companies via emai? Anyone here in aerospace/defense?

Answers from anyone (not just aero) would be great.

2

Have you discussed this with your professor(s)? They ought to be able to help you navigate any of the issues pertaining to the public release of any potentially proprietary information. They aren’t going to care if you send along the information to illustrate what you’ve done even though you had help. Science is rarely done in a vacuum, so all involved likely already know that you likely had collaborators. The only real issue I see here is whether or not any of the information you worked on is proprietary, in which case you certainly can’t send it, and whether or not any of the information will be published in the future, in which case it may be prudent to withhold actually sending the data until after publication. Instead you might offer to present it but not hand it over like you would at a conference.

Either way, your professor(s) is(are) likely to have the answers you seek on that issue.

3

If these are companies that are familiar with PhDs and research work, I think that they will be expecting all of the things on your list. Most research in the sciences is collaborative these days, and people recruiting graduate students and postdoctoral fellows know that they aren’t running their own labs and generating research grants all on their own. They’re going to be curious about what part of the work is yours, and to what extent you did the intellectual work and analysis on the project itself.

It’s pretty common to present work-in-progress to potential employers when on the job market. If any of it is sensitive or you’re worried about getting scooped, you can omit minor details or change them slightly (make sure that you note that when you present the information). You can also discuss this with your supervisor in the doctoral program and get his take on it - likely they’ve dealt with similar issues before.