Newsgroups: sci.physics.plasma
From root@inel.gov Tue Jan 10 11:17:49 1995
From: tqr@inel.gov (Tom Repetti)
Organization: LITCO
Subject: Re: Nuclear Engineering or Nuclear Physics or Physics?

In article <3esft0$o71@mojo.eng.umd.edu>, princemike@aol.com (PrinceMike) wrote:

> My current line of thought goes like this: If I get an nuclear
> engineering degree I could probably work in industry(nuclear power plants)
> or research just the same.

(!) The nuclear power industry is pretty much the antithesis of a growth
industry; I don't know many NE's who are sanguine about their job
prospects. Plus, with a nuclear engineering degree, you're going to have
to explain yourself a LOT at parties. "What do you do?" "I'm a nuclear
engineer." "Oh yeah?! Nuclear power sucks! It pollutes the environment! It
started the cold war! Three Mile Island! The Andromeda Strain! Dogs and
Cats!" Tough to pick up women that way.

> I am kind of drawn to doing fusion research, not neccessarily cold fusion
> though. The work currently being done at Princeton seems very intersesting

Fusion is a tough game to get into, IMO. New grads are entering the same
area which has been populated by very smart fusion types for the last
20-30 years. There is no fusion power industry to take up any of the flow.
You might consider branching off into other plasma areas which seem to
have higher growth potential. Industrial uses of plasma will increase. And
the laser-plasma connection is also a good avenue to learn lasers and
optics, which improves your flexibility tremendously.

> My fear is that if I get one of these academic type degrees than I'll be
> less attractive to industry and be stuck doing research even if I find out
> I don't enjoy it ten years down the road.

I sympathize, brother. Real-world research is a different thing than what
it is in grad school, with the exception of the environments in a few big
labs. To an alarming degree, grad school does not provide training in
several skills which are now very important to an industrial researcher,
such as:

* Aggressively seeking new sources of funding
* Marketing your ideas to industry
* Writing proposals
* Giving effective presentations
* Communicating with your customers and funding sponsors to keep them happy
* Defending your work against the budget axe
* Making your work sound like it fits Management's new Business Initiatives

This is not fun. And yet, you don't know if you'll like it unless you try.
Life is like that, whether you're thinking about doing research or about
selling shoes.

Tom Repetti
Lockheed Idaho Technologies Co.
tqr@inel.gov