<p>I'm looking to do a PhD in Robotics. In most schools this is done simply as an area of research through their Mechanical Engineering department but with some it is done through the CS or EE departments. The schools I'm currently considering applying to are as follows:</p>
<p>MIT, Standford, Cal Tech, Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, Princeton, Cornell, Harvard, Boston University</p>
<p>Harvard and Boston U are both on there because my gf recently moved to Boston and I'd like to go there if at all possible (also I feel like BU is going to give me the best shot at getting accepted). I have an Aero undergrad (3.2) and a Master's of Engineering in Space Systems (3.6) from the University of Michigan. I've worked the past 2 years in the space industry as a Systems Engineer. I'm pretty confident I can get good recommendations. I'll be taking the GRE soon. No publications and my research experience has all been on satellite projects for school laboratories.</p>
<p>Ideally I'd like my list of schools to be down to 5 or 6, so I need to cut 2-3 schools. Any thoughts on which ones I should cut? Do I even have a chance at getting accepted to any of these schools? I don't want to throw money away in application fees if there's no chance. UM was great, but since this will likely be the last degree I ever get I'd like a school with a prestigious name to help me in my future career, and it has to be enticing enough to warrant me leaving my well-paying job to slave in poverty for 5-6 years. Sorry, UM, UI, Purdue, etc. just aren't going to cut it :O</p>
<p>There are a lot of WHYs that you could be asking about. If you’re asking WHY I’m looking to get a PhD, it’s because I’m looking to get more technical depth in a field that has a shorter product life-cycle than satellites (I get bored if a project lasts a year…satellites I work on now stick around for 20+). I feel that my aero/mechanical background gives me a good base in structures/controls but I would like to learn more about EE and CS. Robotics offers an interdisciplinary education which is what I’m looking for. For what specifics I plan to study in robotics, that’s still up in the air. Swarm theory and the control side of things appear interesting but I’m still trying to narrow my focus down. I’ve got a few months before the applications are due, so I’m hoping to figure it out by then.</p>
<p>As far as why I’ve picked these specific schools: My trade study on schools was based on the following: what schools are consistently ranked the highest in ME (or whatever program that specific school offers research in robotics); what schools are consistently ranked the highest across engineering; what schools are consistently ranked the highest as a whole; how diverse/exciting is the city that the school is based. Basically the same things anyone looks for when applying to schools. Of course, the probability of me getting accepted also needs to be taken into account, which is one of the things I’m seeking guidance for. I’ve knocked a number of very good schools off of my list for a variety of reasons including GA Tech, UI, UM, Texas, Purdue, etc. I haven’t completely ruled any of them out, but I felt that the list I originally put out had the strongest contenders for me.</p>
<p>I’m also working in an area that is close to robotics. If it has to be 5 AND only from your list, then CMU, Caltech, MIT, Berkeley, Stanford. But to be honest, your stats doesn’t look too good for any of those schools. If I can add 1 more school other than those 5, it has to be Gatech. Those 6 schools are what I consider to be the tier-1 schools for robotics.</p>
<p>I think one of the main things that might hinder you from admission into those top (MIT, CMU, Stanford, etc) tier Robotics school is your lack of research experience. I think to be competitive, you need to demonstrate your ability to research exceptionally, and get people who can comment on your research skills.</p>
<p>Don’t take this wrong way but to me, you are finishing up with your degree and since there are no jobs available for your technical area of your interest, you just picked random subject that you are interested in the past and try to spend next 4 years busy until the economy recovers.</p>
<p>You have master degree in the area you have chosen. And now, you are gonna go into totally different area than you already have studied? Robotic require lots of system and control programing. You will need to go way back in computer science in undergraduate level to grasp the knowledge about how to code for robotics and just making parts for robots using CAD… you think you will enjoy doing this without actually be able to control robots to do something?</p>
<p>explorer-c & medrobotics, thanks for your input. I agree, I’m very worried about my gpa and lack of research and I’m currently debating whether it’s even worth the effort to apply considering I’ll most likely get rejected. I’ve considered waiting another year or so to give me time to publish a few papers on some work I’m doing for my company, but at the same time I’m afraid if I put this off any longer it will never happen. explorer-c, GA Tech is a very good school and a lot of the research they do there looks interesting. Perhaps I’ll take another look at it.</p>
<p>CSmajor5, I’ve been fully-employed for 2 years. I graduated with my master’s degree in May '08 and began working immediately afterwards. I’ve been sailing through the economic down-turn just fine. I am pursuing a PhD because a) it’s always been a personal goal of mine, b) I believe it will help me in my future business endeavors and c) I’m genuinely interested in the subject area. One of the reasons I have only the very best schools on my list is that it’s going to take the very best school offering me full funding to convince me to leave my current job/pay. I realize that I’m missing a lot of the fundamentals in EE and CS…but that’s why I want to go back and learn more! And who ever said that you can’t decide you want to change the direction your life is going in? If I decided I hated engineering and wanted to take up interpretive dance there’s nothing that says I can’t do that. Besides, I feel that there’s quite a bit of overlap between an Aerospace Engineering education and Robotics. Yes, my EE and CS knowledge is weak and yes, I will have to take remedial courses in those, but I’ve taken a signal theory course, no less than 3 programming courses and two courses in robotics. Not to mention I’m fluent in CAD (solidworks, Autocad and ProE) and structural/mechanisms design already as these are aspects of my current job.</p>
<p>One more thing for this thread: I’m not completely lacking research experience, I just don’t have any published papers. I worked for 3 years part-time in a student run university laboratory designing and building nano-satellites. This was mostly mechanical design and fabircation. I worked part-time in grad school at the Space Physics Research Laboratory creating a computer simulation of how an instrument on the Messenger satellite would respond to different scenarios as it made fly-bys of planets. Since I started working in my spare time I’ve built two amateur rockets (one single-stage 8’ rocket and now working on a dual-stage 14’ rocket with custom payload that includes gps, accelerometers, real-time telemetry link to the ground, etc.) and I’m a volunteer on a company sponsored cubesat project for young engineers which we hope to launch in the next year (hopefully just before I go off for a PhD in fall '11). I also tutor high school students in physics, calculus and algebra.</p>
<p>Ok, so you do have significant research/project work. I agree with the you that Aerospace and Robotics DO have overlap, especially on the mechanical side - at least this is the case in my school (university of toronto), and probably others as well, and considering you have experience in mechanical design and fabrication, I think it might be best for you to pursue Robotics through mechanical engineering.</p>
<p>I think if you get some published papers, you’ll be a solid candidate for robotics through the mech eng stream at the universities you listed</p>
<p>By the time you get the phD, your MS pay and many years of experience would be greater than the phD. </p>
<p>DS is the opposite opinion and experience in almost all points.
Offered to do phD, but not interested.
Some robotic experience but not his goal
No job offers after MS and internships (2008).
Pay for a phD is not commensurate to the work for that degree.
Lack of freedom after getting that degree.
ME and CS degrees. </p>
<p>If you want the degree, don’t let this post discourage you. DS works and had worked with phD candidates and post phD’s while at CMU, Toronto, and UWashington (robotics), and Microsoft. Its tough.</p>
<p>A good fraction of the schools you listed I would consider virtual unknowns in robotics. If you really just want to go to a prestigious school to get that on your resume, say so. Schools strong in robotics will also be strong in things like artificial intelligence and electrical/computer engineering.</p>
<p>Once again though, your background is probably weak for robotics. Signals may help you some, depending on what you’re doing, knowing wireless communication is good, CAD is probably not going to be a dealbreaker because it’s an easily-acquired skill. If I were to distill it down to a few things, I would say theoretical CS ability is an absolute must, as well as ability in embedded computing (which you appear to have with your rockets) and control theory (if dealing with dynamics).</p>
<p>If I were you, I’d cut BU, Princeton and Cornell. I’ll leave Harvard there simply because you want to stay in Boston, and while I don’t consider Harvard to be a technology school by any stretch of the imagination, you might gain some good connections in an unrelated area. I would also cut Caltech. I’m sure it has a good reputation in your mind because it has JPL, but I honestly have never heard robotics research out of Caltech, but I have heard of research from Berkeley, Stanford, CMU, and MIT. That said, it will be extremely difficult for you to get into those 4 schools, but of course if you do not apply then you most certainly will not be accepted.</p>
<p>Caltech is very well known for its CDS program–but this is basically heavy math relating to the control of robotics. Anything more practical than that is virtually nonexistent here.</p>
<p>LongPrime, gthopeful and lizzardfire, thanks for the posts. gthopeful, I am looking for a prestigious school, but not at the expense of my education. Ideally I’d want both. Do you have suggestions for other schools that weren’t on my list? It’s good to know that Cal Tech is mostly theory based. I am looking for a more practical education/experience. Michigan was very heavy on theory (at least in my experience for aero) and for any practical experience you had to go outside the classroom. With all of that said, perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself right now. A common sentiment is that my lack of experience with CS and EE will be a big hindrance for me. Perhaps I’ve overlooked a potential field of study that will allow me to gain the education I want while still “playing to my strengths” to get me accepted.</p>
<p>Here’s what I consider my strengths (can you tell I’m a space guy?):
-Structural/mechanisms design (CAD, FEA, fab/manufacturing, etc.)
-Orbital dynamics
-Systems engineering
-Space technology</p>
<p>Here’s what I consider to be areas that I’m comfortable with but not an expert:
-Programming
-Controls
-Fluid dynamics
-Propulsion</p>
<p>What I’m REALLY trying to get out of this degree is more knowledge in EE (you might say “electronics” more so than EE if that makes sense), controls, and some CS/programming. Is there another degree/program that would be better suited for my educational goals? I’ve already thought about how a second master’s degree would probably be better suited for this than a PhD, but the bottom line is I’m determined to not pay another dime for school after what I spent on it already and a school won’t pay for my master’s, I don’t want to do it half-time through my company and then be indentured to them for a couple of years, and a second Master’s I feel will not make me an “expert” where a PhD would. I’d like to leverage a PhD to give me credibility if I decide to open my own business, or to use it to become a principle investigator/lead on a program at a company. Becoming a professor on a part-time basis later on in life is also something that interests me. Thoughts?</p>
<p>I think you are overblowing the skills and weakiness. There is no way that you can develop the robot of the future by yourself. As you said, interdisciplinary overlaps are necessary.
As for EE and CS, DS has some rudimentary skills and uses simple kit boards and programing for I/0. He has never taken a course in CS or in programming although he has a degree in CS, (HCI Toronto) and works in the department of CS at Washington. </p>
<p>If you want a phd for the nameplate, there is nothing I can say. If you can afford the compensation, OK. DS works with some at Washington who has worked for 7 years and now going for phd-but he can afford it. DS can afford a phd program but doesn’t see the need or have the want. </p>
<p>DS=dear son.
I can only relate the experiences of my son in this field of endeavor. He works in the dept of CS/Robotics, UofWashington, as staff researcher/engineer/support. BS ME & HCI from CMU. MS CS-HCI, Toronto. My personal experience is based on Asimov’s robots and the positronic brain. </p>
<p>Notice that I make no opinions on the schools you selected nor on your qualifications. I question your reasons which you, the schools, and your current-future employer will make.</p>
Hi, I’ve just started my 1st of engineering in electronics can you pls give me an idea abt what would I need to get PhD in robotics directly after my B.E. at Caltech.