One Down…
When I started this journey to earn a PhD, I was excited and very nervous about what was ahead of me. I left a stable job that I loved and moved with Laura to a new state. I never considered this path as an undergraduate at Clemson, so I had little idea what to expect. Everything seemed so daunting; it’s been eight years since I took a math class and my new colleagues all seemed to be well published and decorated with accolades. I felt like a fish out of water, and at times I wondered if I had made the right choice.
The turning point came when I received the grade on my first math exam. I had built up a great fear of this exam and it hit me hard during the test. A wave of dread overcame me as I read a problem that I didn’t immediately know how to do, but I took a deep breath, moved on, and completed the exam. I felt anxious for days until I received my grade: an 87. Despite my mid-exam panic I performed when it mattered and scored well. Learning that many of my classmates fared much worse reminded me that I am capable of doing this and that I belong here in this program. It was a much needed boost to my confidence.
As the semester wore on I refined my studying/homework patterns and got better and better at balancing my research work and school work. I earned a 97.5 on my second math exam and continued to perform well on all of my homework assignments. After my second math exam the pace of the semester reached the redline. Between research commitments, homeworks, a massive final project in my multibody dynamics class, and studying for finals I was nearly at full capacity. In the end, the effort paid off: I received an A in math and an A- in multibody dynamics for a cumulative GPA of 3.85 for my first semester. I feel like I have hit my stride.
Beyond schoolwork I have been working hard at my research work. I came into this program feeling much more confident about this aspect of earning a PhD. At Team Penske, I was expected to innovate and design quickly, and the results had to be right or, in the worst case, people could get hurt. So, when it came to designing components for our melt spinning system I felt right at home. Thus far I’ve had the opportunity to design and make parts that have already greatly improved our process quality, and I’m quickly heading outside my box experience towards mechatronics, data acquisition, and machine learning.
Now that my first semester is complete I can really dig into my research. I’ve been looking forward to this summer for that reason; It became clear how much I could contribute to this project if I could dedicate all of my time to it. I already have a laundry list of projects that I want to tackle, and I’m excited to share them here. I’ll also be attending my first conference this summer! There is so much to look forward to in the coming months, which makes me all the more glad that I took this opportunity to make a big career leap. I can already see that I’ve grown as an engineer in new and unexpected ways, and although I’ve got a long way to go I know that this has already been a journey worth taking.