Graduate Education for Materials Scientists and Engineers: General, Special, or Fundamental?
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ings and literature in these other fields. One problem academics have in the research universities is that on the average we emphasize our own knowledge and do not give sufficient weight to the full range of information that could be taught. In a sense, we feel that we know the most about the scope of field and how to prepare its practitioners. But who hires the products of our universities? What do they want? I would make two comments here. 1. I don't think there is a collective "they" who know the desirable characteristics of perspective employees, i.e., not all employers seek the same characteristics; and 2. The bits and pieces of information academicians get from their academic and industrial contacts are not well-integrated into the academic community. We can easily define where most graduates will be hired: by academia to replace the professors who taught them what they know, by government laboratories, and by industries. Do employers look for qualities in a prospective employee that will help in the short term or the long term? Industry is increasingly looking for people to solve short-term problems, e.g., to perfect within the next two years a product vital to the survival of a particular industry. What is it like in academia? I am afraid that all too often we look only for those with the ability and inclination to keep abreast with all research at the forefront of
their disciplines and to make major contributions to the endeavors at the forefront of knowledge. Little attention is given to candidates' abilities to teach or to an expectation of their effectiveness as teachers in the future. Their ability to obtain external support for research based on their previous performance in research is the dominant quality we look for today. The future of government laboratories is one of turmoil, questioning, and uncertainty at the moment. Although NASA recently opened six technology transfer centers, hoping to define a particular role for these laboratories, it appears that the role played by the government laboratories does not focus directly on the questions at hand. At least in the near term, they will not be the hirers of many people nor will they contribute significantly to the definitions of what ought to be the preparation of scientists and engineers.
The Most Important Influence Two fundamental facts need to be considered when determining the appropriate preparation of a PhD for the work force: 1. It is highly unlikely that the PhD will be doing the same specific work at the beginning and end of any five-year span in his or her career, and 2. Only a person grounded in the fundamentals will make these switches rapidly and successfully. The needs of industry shift rapidly as new products are developed from fundamentals. In academia, the advancing edge of knowledge shifts rapidly from one area to another. All such areas change so rapidly today that any extrapolation into the future indicates continuation of this trend. What then are the fundamental educational strategies that will prepare students to cope wi
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