2017 MATC Scholars Program: Dr. Erick Jones
Larissa Sazama
Author
11/03/2017
Added
29
Plays
Description
Dr. Erick Jones, George and Elizabeth Pickett Endowed Professor at the University of Texas Arlington, presents on "NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and Internship Programs". For more information, please visit http://matc.unl.edu/education/scholars-program2017.php.
Searchable Transcript
Toggle between list and paragraph view.
- [00:00:00.965]Okay so I'm gonna go ahead and get started.
- [00:00:03.453]And what I was hoping to do today, one of the challenges
- [00:00:06.169]we have with doing a graduate education recruitment
- [00:00:09.373]event is we sometimes miss the subtlety that you are
- [00:00:12.689]an engineer and when you go to graduate school you will
- [00:00:15.673]be doing engineering.
- [00:00:18.126]Dr. Perez referred to that, but one of the challenges
- [00:00:20.999]you have when you talk about graduate recruitment,
- [00:00:23.357]we make it seem all nice and fuzzy, write your statement,
- [00:00:25.481]do your GRE.
- [00:00:28.277]But ultimately you're gonna add to the field,
- [00:00:31.534]and that's one of the most important things.
- [00:00:33.856]So even though I'm gonna talk about fellowships and
- [00:00:36.053]I'm gonna get into the blocking and tackling of how to
- [00:00:39.287]strategically apply for the largest fellowship
- [00:00:41.551]in the country, one of the things that I want to talk
- [00:00:42.550]about is that, and you should see it demonstrated
- [00:00:46.399]from a professor, is that we are part of the solution
- [00:00:50.062]and we are engineers that actually have to touch the world.
- [00:00:53.796]So one of the things that I did, I just got back
- [00:00:55.716]from India.
- [00:00:56.892]I was in India for 12 days, I did two Ted talks,
- [00:00:59.382]one in Mumbai and one in Bangalore and there were 800
- [00:01:03.518]students and then the second one was 1,200 and we
- [00:01:06.609]stream-casted across the country.
- [00:01:08.409]One of the challenges is that if we, if we talk and
- [00:01:12.828]we say a good game we say, "You guys should be engineers,
- [00:01:15.457]"come to graduate school and become a better engineer
- [00:01:17.958]"or a more scientific engineer," that I think we have
- [00:01:20.631]to demonstrate it.
- [00:01:21.828]So today I want to make sure the first part of my talk
- [00:01:23.706]was a little bit more about engineering and where
- [00:01:26.732]the world's going and the second part will get into
- [00:01:28.858]application of some of the things that we've been
- [00:01:31.337]talking about.
- [00:01:32.533]So the title is the Fourth Industrial Revolution
- [00:01:34.353]and the Next Generation of Students.
- [00:01:37.749]So a little bit about myself, one of the things,
- [00:01:40.203]the question we get all the time about graduate education is
- [00:01:42.869]"Should I go to graduate school right after under graduate?"
- [00:01:46.808]I didn't.
- [00:01:48.673]But I will tell you, there's some benefits for you guys
- [00:01:50.746]doing it differently than the way I did it.
- [00:01:53.697]'Cause the world has changed.
- [00:01:55.900]And so a little bit about me, I have a research lab.
- [00:01:58.488]My research lab, this year I have 12 students,
- [00:02:01.056]two post-docs, two visiting scientists.
- [00:02:04.903]And what I don't want to belittle is that you are gonna
- [00:02:09.623]be joining a fraternity.
- [00:02:11.709]You'll be joining a group and you'll be doing some
- [00:02:14.346]good things that are important as far as engineering,
- [00:02:19.423]as far as science, as far as the activities you want
- [00:02:21.727]to participate in.
- [00:02:23.124]I don't want to sugar coat and say that it's easy.
- [00:02:24.922]I think I get a little concerned because we want to
- [00:02:27.814]encourage blacks and Latinos and American-Indian,
- [00:02:31.940]but we have to be careful.
- [00:02:33.426]We still are gonna be acceptable,
- [00:02:35.667]we still are gonna be held to the standards that are
- [00:02:38.492]required by the field.
- [00:02:39.493]One of the centers I ran is the SAVNT Center,
- [00:02:41.539]which is Security Advance (mumbles) Nano Technology.
- [00:02:43.727]I hate nanotechnology.
- [00:02:47.112]But as Dr. Perez mentions, as you get more specific
- [00:02:50.491]and more successful in your career, people will ask
- [00:02:53.190]you to do things.
- [00:02:54.349]This was the Homeland Security center that I had to do
- [00:02:56.196]in Dallas and some of the technologies seen at DFW
- [00:02:58.652]airport I have patents on them.
- [00:03:00.779]Didn't do it because I wanted to do it,
- [00:03:02.379]I did it because I thought it was important.
- [00:03:04.545]So I don't know what happened to that,
- [00:03:06.605]but the four questions we have about the fourth
- [00:03:10.021]industrial revolution--
- [00:03:11.284]I know, zigzag.
- [00:03:12.582]Is that where are the fundamental difference between
- [00:03:16.065]the information age and the fourth industrial revolution?
- [00:03:17.820]How does the internet of things change big data?
- [00:03:21.855]How did we get to self driving cars?
- [00:03:24.147]And what does this mean for the next generation of students?
- [00:03:27.220]Unfortunately I don't have an hour to do a Ted talk,
- [00:03:29.617]so I'm only gonna focus on some parts of this, right?
- [00:03:31.873]What a lot of our faculty don't realize is that we're
- [00:03:34.477]actually in the fourth industrial revolution.
- [00:03:37.075]And if a faculty member tells you we're in information age,
- [00:03:38.930]they missed it.
- [00:03:41.022]Information age started in 1960.
- [00:03:43.942]Bill Gates is old, Steve Jobs is dead.
- [00:03:47.369]We are not in the information age.
- [00:03:49.924]We're in the third dimension.
- [00:03:51.877]These are the ages we've had; the industrial revolution,
- [00:03:54.911]the second industrial revolution, the third,
- [00:03:57.820]and we are not in the information age.
- [00:03:59.855]And as we talk about this, you have to prepare yourself
- [00:04:02.644]for the next age and how you're gonna be employed.
- [00:04:05.469]So part of graduate student is not sit back and the
- [00:04:08.396]professor teaches you thing.
- [00:04:10.351]It's the new world, if you don't create your own
- [00:04:13.249]graduate education experience, you will not be
- [00:04:15.790]employable.
- [00:04:17.686]Dr. Perez just said that, you didn't hear the subtleties.
- [00:04:20.160]You can't just go to graduate school and hope that
- [00:04:23.383]what you learn is gonna be correct and that you're
- [00:04:26.197]gonna be employable.
- [00:04:27.472]You have to keep up with the next set of things.
- [00:04:30.507]You guys know the third dimension, right?
- [00:04:32.505]3D printing, right? You've heard it.
- [00:04:34.637]Uber.
- [00:04:35.970]I mean, Uber's self-driving car.
- [00:04:37.716]I was in Mumbai, they were asking me how the heck are
- [00:04:39.610]we gonna have self-driving cars?
- [00:04:41.088]I said well you've got to have rules and regulations first.
- [00:04:42.837]'Cause cows walking down the middle of the road,
- [00:04:45.488]that's kind of hard to have an algorithm.
- [00:04:47.595]But the idea that you guys are seeing, my daughter,
- [00:04:52.871]I'll give you an example, my daughter four years ago
- [00:04:54.602]when she was nine years old we did a drone.
- [00:04:56.462]We were looking at the neighbors yard and some neighbor
- [00:04:58.742]shot it down from Texas, they shot it with a gun,
- [00:05:01.592]they shot it down.
- [00:05:03.276]And I got in trouble with the Home Owners Association.
- [00:05:05.122]They're like, "You can't do that."
- [00:05:07.000]Four years later we created a drone program in
- [00:05:10.272]graduate level said we have a graduate certificate for it,
- [00:05:12.426]automated guided vehicles.
- [00:05:14.104]I told my graduate students if they take that certification
- [00:05:15.886]I will kick them out of my lab.
- [00:05:18.232]If my nine year daughter can do it then I don't think
- [00:05:20.425]you should be doing it in graduate school,
- [00:05:21.805]you should already know how to do it.
- [00:05:23.476]Do you understand what I'm saying to you guys?
- [00:05:26.118]You can go and coast in graduate school like you did
- [00:05:28.067]in undergrad and you will have no value to the world.
- [00:05:31.613]And so I'll say this, the fourth industrial revolution,
- [00:05:34.052]this is where the jobs are going.
- [00:05:36.873]This is where it's going.
- [00:05:38.359]But what people don't talk about is infrastructure.
- [00:05:40.472]We have less engineers thinking about smart infrastructure,
- [00:05:43.303]smart devices, we have everybody doing healthcare.
- [00:05:47.004]Unfortunately I don't think this is gonna hold up.
- [00:05:50.332]I think we're gonna have an infrastructure problem
- [00:05:52.007]in the next 10 years.
- [00:05:53.188]And you guys are civil engineers.
- [00:05:54.997]Let me say this, funding will go towards infrastructure.
- [00:05:58.671]In fact, I can't tell you I just got something this morning,
- [00:06:00.776]there's gonna be some federal funding towards it.
- [00:06:04.058]So if someone asks me, "Dr. Jones, you represent diversity,
- [00:06:06.732]"black male diversity," honestly I've got five books.
- [00:06:09.446]They don't say black male diversity, right?
- [00:06:12.667]They say they're in my field, I'm the best in my friggin'
- [00:06:15.885]world at what I do.
- [00:06:17.876]And I do it as an engineer and as a scientist.
- [00:06:21.118]And the truth is, if I don't start with that bar then
- [00:06:23.320]none of my students will hit it.
- [00:06:25.811]And it's an opportunity to be an underrepresented
- [00:06:29.168]minority that represents that, but if I don't start with
- [00:06:31.388]that bar I won't hit it.
- [00:06:33.376]Today I'm asking you to think about hitting the bar.
- [00:06:35.324]So what does that mean for next generation of students?
- [00:06:39.024]Well these are the three things that I think are
- [00:06:42.272]gonna happen.
- [00:06:43.418]And I'm giving you some words that some of the faculty
- [00:06:45.055]haven't heard yet.
- [00:06:46.055]But I get to see these in Washington, I get to see these
- [00:06:47.849]in different rooms.
- [00:06:49.834]The 14 Grand Challenges of the world.
- [00:06:52.984]This is where we're asking PhDs and scientists,
- [00:06:56.362]when they get ready to think about taking on graduate
- [00:06:58.557]education at graduate school we hope the masters can
- [00:07:00.982]tap it so when they go into industry they can support it,
- [00:07:03.479]but we hope the PhDs embrace the fact that our
- [00:07:06.701]great grandkids will not have food.
- [00:07:08.963]We're gonna be on Battlestar Galactica.
- [00:07:11.217]The planet is dying.
- [00:07:12.965]I'm saying this to you guys 'cause you know what?
- [00:07:15.394]You're the most socially responsible generation.
- [00:07:18.831]Our generation wasn't responsible, I still got a Mercedes
- [00:07:21.093]and it burns a heck of a lot of gas.
- [00:07:23.397]My kid, what's that YouGo, whatever car?
- [00:07:26.916]You plug it in?
- [00:07:28.337]I still haven't got past that.
- [00:07:30.016]I've been waiting for Mercedes 20 years.
- [00:07:32.184]But the truth is, we have to think about social
- [00:07:35.666]responsibility, electric cars, these things.
- [00:07:38.463]I'm from Houston, Texas, I saw the PV group, right?
- [00:07:41.390]My mother-in-law would not leave third world Texas.
- [00:07:45.503]So the boat had to go get here.
- [00:07:47.309]So when I had to go to Mumbai two weeks later
- [00:07:51.214]after having to have two rental properties and my
- [00:07:53.762]mother-in-laws house, having to pull up carpet and cut
- [00:07:56.056]the sheet rock because you know you got mold.
- [00:07:58.245]And then I went to Mumbai and they had the same problem.
- [00:08:01.059]The question I have to ask is why doesn't society
- [00:08:04.455]believe the news reports?
- [00:08:07.201](mumbles) left a week ago.
- [00:08:09.014]She could've stayed in the big house in Houston.
- [00:08:11.265]She's like, "I aint going, I don't trust the news report."
- [00:08:13.886]What that means is society does not believe in
- [00:08:16.582]engineering anymore.
- [00:08:18.193]They think we're some quacks.
- [00:08:20.210]And weather man is just somebody that just talks, right?
- [00:08:22.763]Am I saying this to you guys?
- [00:08:25.287]Are you understanding what I'm saying?
- [00:08:26.984]I said truly we need the human capital in engineering
- [00:08:30.853]to want to bring the engineering back,
- [00:08:33.320]I say some say bring the sexy back,
- [00:08:34.736]but we've got to bring the credibility back.
- [00:08:37.399]And you can't do it if you're trying to hide and
- [00:08:39.315]trying to half be an engineer.
- [00:08:41.188]So let me tell you, I want every one of you in graduate
- [00:08:43.522]school, but I want every one of you committed to
- [00:08:45.577]graduate school.
- [00:08:47.102]'Cause it's not just the PhDs that do all the work,
- [00:08:49.101]the masters get hired into companies that do the
- [00:08:50.781]investment.
- [00:08:53.323]So there's a thing called convergence.
- [00:08:55.793]And what it means is that we have to be teams when we
- [00:09:01.177]actually solve these problems.
- [00:09:03.083]The truth is the failure wasn't just with the
- [00:09:05.002]weather man, it was with the category five houses that
- [00:09:08.279]were designed for category two.
- [00:09:10.683]It was for the dam system that broke,
- [00:09:12.442]it was for the road system wasn't high enough 'cause
- [00:09:14.082]it flooded.
- [00:09:15.172]We had a whole bunch of people that couldn't get past
- [00:09:17.181]their discipline, couldn't get past working together,
- [00:09:20.025]to not solve a problem.
- [00:09:21.586]Hurricanes aren't new.
- [00:09:23.454]I think before I was born they were around, right?
- [00:09:25.886]God dang it, how can we keep having this happen?
- [00:09:28.220]Right? Okay.
- [00:09:30.154]So I'm gonna get off that, but what I'll tell you is--
- [00:09:32.313](laughter)
- [00:09:33.672]You should see the passion in your research.
- [00:09:35.768]One thing I'll say, global diversity drives local
- [00:09:38.961]economies.
- [00:09:40.767]What color is that baby?
- [00:09:47.519]I don't care.
- [00:09:49.109]If it's your kid you want them to have a better life,
- [00:09:50.921]would you agree?
- [00:09:52.485]If it's your kid you want a better life, don't you?
- [00:09:54.977]I got some coverage of NACME and they're like,
- [00:09:58.887]"Oh you support diversity."
- [00:10:00.534]And I was like, "Man, they make me look like a clown."
- [00:10:02.802]But the reality is when I think about diversity this is
- [00:10:05.158]a thing that I put up globally.
- [00:10:08.305]What program do I like?
- [00:10:09.367]I came back, "Dr. (mumbles) are you coming?"
- [00:10:11.071]"Yeah, I'm coming."
- [00:10:11.983]"You sure you're coming?"
- [00:10:13.120]"I'm busy," "you sure you're coming?"
- [00:10:14.918]I said I believe so much in this program and this is
- [00:10:17.263]the future that I'm gonna come.
- [00:10:20.334]I'm gonna be loud, I'm gonna try to sneak out,
- [00:10:22.537]be on my text, I'm still part of the current
- [00:10:26.191]administration, I've got to put disclaimers out,
- [00:10:29.045]but the reality is I believe in you guys.
- [00:10:31.852]But I'm not gonna come here if ya'll gonna half ass it.
- [00:10:34.574]We put this program together five years ago and I'm
- [00:10:38.266]passionate about this program.
- [00:10:40.541]So I also would tell you this, you are not always fighting
- [00:10:44.181]the white folks.
- [00:10:45.713]I'm gonna say it again, I heard the white folks
- [00:10:47.374]discussion.
- [00:10:48.376]It is a global economy, we have eastern Indian,
- [00:10:51.826]we have Chinese, we have African, we have Nigerian--
- [00:10:55.251]Part of Africa.
- [00:10:56.827]I'm looking at you, I saw you.
- [00:10:59.370](laughter)
- [00:11:00.784]We are in a global economy.
- [00:11:03.952]We are in a global--
- [00:11:05.689]Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico, we got Puerto Rico, right?
- [00:11:08.742]The engineer is the most ethical player in the world.
- [00:11:13.867]Engineering ethics.
- [00:11:14.915]When you take the P exam it's ethics.
- [00:11:16.602]We have to be beyond our color.
- [00:11:18.827]We have to design, not because it's a black bridge,
- [00:11:21.010]it's not a white bridge, it's not a black road,
- [00:11:23.633]it's a road.
- [00:11:25.198]Do you understand what I'm saying to you guys?
- [00:11:26.694]And you have to work together globally.
- [00:11:29.075]In fact, your diverse background gives you more power.
- [00:11:33.506]I have programs in Mexico, Brazil, India.
- [00:11:37.481]Hell they love me.
- [00:11:38.882]They say, "Wow, this is bad road, I live in the ghetto."
- [00:11:42.371]Well at least you ain't pull a pistol out this week.
- [00:11:45.384]My diverse background--
- [00:11:46.965]That's a third world country, I say hallelujah.
- [00:11:49.045]India's a little bit worse than Mexico but it depends
- [00:11:51.940]on what street.
- [00:11:53.411]But if I go to third world, (mumbles),
- [00:11:56.524]people pulling pistols on me.
- [00:11:58.810]Your diverse background makes you stronger, not weaker.
- [00:12:01.233]I'm tired of all this, "Somebody holding me back."
- [00:12:03.568]Are you serious? No.
- [00:12:06.240]You are already getting an engineering degree.
- [00:12:08.799]I'm sorry, I need to get motivated, I need to get motivated.
- [00:12:11.424]This was when I was in Mexico and I used to race
- [00:12:14.854]all the cats up that.
- [00:12:16.111]It's called Pyramid de Sol.
- [00:12:17.450]And I'm not gonna do Spanish today 'cause I make
- [00:12:20.633]everybody nervous.
- [00:12:21.920]Even the people that are Latino 'cause their grandparents
- [00:12:24.408]speak Spanish, but they don't.
- [00:12:25.525]That's another story.
- [00:12:27.330]But when we used to race up that hill,
- [00:12:29.655]I was trained for a whole year and I'd say if a students
- [00:12:32.426]beats me up that pyramid I'd give them $100.
- [00:12:36.029]So all the ex-baseball players, football,
- [00:12:38.284]they all thought they could beat me,
- [00:12:39.960]but they didn't know what was coming, right?
- [00:12:41.474]So I beat everybody up the hill then people had their
- [00:12:44.254]stomach hurt, somebody throws up, all that good stuff.
- [00:12:48.101]But what we would do is when somebody couldn't get up
- [00:12:50.230]the hill, Big Moe, Big Moe was about 300 when we went
- [00:12:53.121]down to Mexico, he's Indian actual.
- [00:12:55.767]He looks Latino, he's eastern Indian.
- [00:12:58.419]And he couldn't make it.
- [00:13:00.095]We all went down and carried him up to the pyramid,
- [00:13:01.876]'cause you know what?
- [00:13:03.512]We were there.
- [00:13:04.748]If we couldn't all get up that pyramid we couldn't
- [00:13:06.209]be successful.
- [00:13:07.799]I still kept the 100 bucks, but the point I make
- [00:13:11.112]to you guys is that engineering is the most ethical field.
- [00:13:15.498]You can't design and exclude people,
- [00:13:18.828]you have to design for inclusiveness.
- [00:13:21.151]These are my first group of PhD and I look at Dwight
- [00:13:25.002]came from (mumbles) and Clark, right?
- [00:13:27.522]No he came from Clark, and then we had Maurice, he's PV,
- [00:13:30.646]we got--
- [00:13:33.533]Dang it, Katherine, she's Tennessee State.
- [00:13:37.024]Only one I could do was eastern shore 'cause they're
- [00:13:38.629]booshie in the easy coast.
- [00:13:40.190](laughter)
- [00:13:41.631]But you see where the programs came from, right?
- [00:13:44.825]During graduate school they hated me.
- [00:13:47.580]I would say, "This paper, I can't believe you wrote this
- [00:13:49.225]"and embarrassed me."
- [00:13:50.864]But they all graduated, all 17.
- [00:13:52.918]And they weren't all black, but the fact is that
- [00:13:55.882]they all believed in the journey.
- [00:13:58.102]You didn't come here to be half way (mumbles) into
- [00:14:00.663]graduate school.
- [00:14:01.898]You're going to graduate school and you take it and you
- [00:14:03.351]make the world better.
- [00:14:05.072]So look at this pipeline.
- [00:14:07.024]Dr. Perez answered the question about Switzerland.
- [00:14:09.714]Do you know in most countries they don't let you
- [00:14:11.864]go to high school?
- [00:14:13.137]You got test into sixth grade.
- [00:14:16.591]Then you've got to test into ninth grade.
- [00:14:18.313]You see all these tests and you wonder why they exist,
- [00:14:20.728]'cause America, even though you fail,
- [00:14:22.600]they're still gonna let you in.
- [00:14:24.979]Do you know it's a privilege to go to college?
- [00:14:28.206]Someone said student loan debt, I say student loan debt
- [00:14:30.266]exists because people knew the value of it.
- [00:14:32.541]But if you're gonna go in there and buy a Mercedes
- [00:14:34.341]with student loan debt then don't go.
- [00:14:36.352]'Cause you don't care about the degree,
- [00:14:38.089]you care about your Mercedes.
- [00:14:39.509]I'm talking to people, ya'll know I'm talking to you.
- [00:14:41.220]You can't help your momma if you're in college.
- [00:14:43.122]You need to graduate and then help your mom.
- [00:14:45.681]They pay for you through their blood, sweat, and tears
- [00:14:48.914]to go to college.
- [00:14:50.042]You owe it to them to finish.
- [00:14:52.798]Go get a bull job and then talk about I don't know,
- [00:14:55.248]"I couldn't go to grad school and have opportunity."
- [00:14:58.200]No, you have opportunity.
- [00:14:59.642]You need to go home tonight and have a gut check.
- [00:15:04.325]Alright, by buddy James L. More III he owns the
- [00:15:07.000]Bell Center at Ohio State.
- [00:15:09.653]He's a senior vice (mumbles) Ohio State so I always
- [00:15:12.390]give him a hard time about it.
- [00:15:13.910]He's also chief diversity officer.
- [00:15:15.710]I stole some of his slides.
- [00:15:18.142]And what we talk about is why do (mumbles)
- [00:15:21.117]opportunities in education?
- [00:15:23.037]It starts with interest, opportunities, resources.
- [00:15:26.385]But what I said to him the corollary to this is
- [00:15:28.653]preparation.
- [00:15:30.549]You don't do the GRE you don't get into grad school
- [00:15:32.645]and you shouldn't be there.
- [00:15:33.815]You could take the GRE five times and wait two more years
- [00:15:35.741]and take it five more times.
- [00:15:37.778]I don't want to hear about no GRE score too low,
- [00:15:40.002]I don't want to hear that.
- [00:15:41.813]Now, again, I'm the mean professor that's not telling
- [00:15:43.791]you how warm and fuzzy graduate school is.
- [00:15:46.587]But I'm telling you you owe it to yourself,
- [00:15:48.608]'cause you know what?
- [00:15:49.885]In the next decade you need a masters degree or you
- [00:15:51.423]won't get a job.
- [00:15:52.956]There's not, I don't think it's an option.
- [00:15:55.301]The PhD, I think, is a lifelong commitment,
- [00:15:57.663]but the masters you need one.
- [00:15:59.846]It's not, "Oh I need to think about grad school."
- [00:16:01.742]No, you need to go.
- [00:16:03.437]Okay now I've got to do what I'm supposed to do.
- [00:16:07.721]You came for the science foundation fellowship program.
- [00:16:10.659](laughter)
- [00:16:12.892]So I have to have a disclaimer 'cause I had to actually
- [00:16:15.853]take off my federal badge because if I wanted to talk
- [00:16:18.909]to you about what I just talked to you about I couldn't
- [00:16:21.340]do that 'cause that was what?
- [00:16:23.324]Does not represent the science foundation's information.
- [00:16:26.705]So I had to do that 'cause the last two years I came,
- [00:16:30.140]I was real nice, I was a federal employee and I still am,
- [00:16:33.453]but I wanted you guys to hear that from me.
- [00:16:36.256]'Cause again my name's on the logo and Perkins always
- [00:16:40.870]gets you, but my name is on the program and I need to
- [00:16:44.388]make sure that my heart is in the program.
- [00:16:47.188]Is that fair?
- [00:16:48.710]Okay now, the National Science Foundation has the most
- [00:16:51.283]prestigious fellowship in the world.
- [00:16:54.956]And not only does winning the fellowship give you money,
- [00:16:57.200]it actually opens doors.
- [00:17:00.072]And what I'll tell you is that this is the fellowship
- [00:17:02.463]that if you get you could go from your school to Harvard,
- [00:17:06.589]MIT, Stanford, they could turn you down from going
- [00:17:08.736]to Stanford.
- [00:17:09.769]You win the fellowship, guess what?
- [00:17:11.518]They accept you to Stanford.
- [00:17:13.069]There's a three year wait list to go to Stanford
- [00:17:14.642]PhD program.
- [00:17:15.941]You win the fellowship, guess what?
- [00:17:17.474]Not only are you going, you're going for free.
- [00:17:19.726]So it is not just a fellowship, it's the access through
- [00:17:24.274]the fellowship.
- [00:17:25.650]It is also the most competitive fellowship in the country.
- [00:17:27.418]Some would say even if you lose you can get the
- [00:17:30.919]other fellowships.
- [00:17:32.425]So I'm gonna take you what I think is the best way to
- [00:17:34.647]approach winning it and you should write it even if
- [00:17:36.690]you lose because you know what?
- [00:17:38.492]It'll help you determine your graduate education journey.
- [00:17:42.909]So first thing is I want to tell you what a fellowship is
- [00:17:46.555]and what a traineeship is.
- [00:17:48.840]Universities have fellowships and traineeships.
- [00:17:51.317]Traineeships are designed to be in-house and they're
- [00:17:54.512]within the university.
- [00:17:56.275]Fellowships are nationally competitive grants.
- [00:17:59.447]If you want the access you've got to win.
- [00:18:02.376]The traineeships, a lot of schools will give you things
- [00:18:05.087]because they want you here and they value you as
- [00:18:07.386]the things that you're contributing.
- [00:18:09.640]The fellowship means that you can compete with anybody
- [00:18:11.776]in the world.
- [00:18:13.776]So, again, my goal is not to only encourage you to
- [00:18:16.726]get the money, it's to challenge yourself to see how
- [00:18:19.269]well you compete.
- [00:18:21.173]One thing that I'll talk about graduate education,
- [00:18:23.873]people don't realize graduate education was not called
- [00:18:26.496]graduate education in the 50s,
- [00:18:28.527]it was called workforce.
- [00:18:31.213]People would mix, they would say workforce development,
- [00:18:33.212]it's gonna support the workforce.
- [00:18:34.894]Graduate education was created to support the US workforce.
- [00:18:40.076]You know what happened in the 1950s?
- [00:18:42.707]When this stuff was created.
- [00:18:44.226]Nobody wanted to go to grad school in STEM,
- [00:18:46.256]nobody wanted to be an engineer.
- [00:18:48.375]Everybody wanted to just get an engineering degree,
- [00:18:50.877]go get a job, and not do any engineering.
- [00:18:53.286]So they created federal agencies to support STEM.
- [00:18:55.781]Guess what happens, and they say we need domestic
- [00:18:58.620]graduate students.
- [00:19:01.002]It's 2017 guess what nobody wants to do?
- [00:19:05.624]Same thing, right? Same thing, right?
- [00:19:07.943]So, again, my job is to say it's important and the
- [00:19:11.652]talented temp has to prevail.
- [00:19:14.762]You've already proven you can be engineers,
- [00:19:17.060]now it's for you to decide to be even more thorough
- [00:19:19.677]engineer.
- [00:19:22.113]So what are the goals?
- [00:19:24.220]I'll tell you this, these goals have changed 'cause
- [00:19:26.822]broadening participation was not always a goal.
- [00:19:29.181]What's broadening participation mean?
- [00:19:30.707]What's that code word mean?
- [00:19:32.917]Diversity, right.
- [00:19:34.689]They can't use that word anymore, globally.
- [00:19:38.260]Be careful.
- [00:19:39.752]But I think the amount of money that we have--
- [00:19:42.210]She can delete it.
- [00:19:43.420]It's what, 34,000, the 12,000 stipen.
- [00:19:48.041]This is what I need you to wake up 'cause I know
- [00:19:49.978]you're sleeping.
- [00:19:51.451]What you need to wake up on is that this fellowship,
- [00:19:54.610]they will take the $12,000 in lieu of whatever the
- [00:19:57.214]tuition is.
- [00:19:58.992]So if tuition is $80,000 a year, guess what they'll
- [00:20:01.799]take on this fellowship?
- [00:20:04.078]12,000.
- [00:20:05.080]So if you want to go to Harvard and tuition is 80,000
- [00:20:07.321]a semester, it's 160,000 a year, guess what they'll
- [00:20:10.773]take for $160,000?
- [00:20:13.214]12,000.
- [00:20:15.250]Now, if that doesn't mean much to you, that's on you.
- [00:20:20.119]If I didn't explain it well, that's on you.
- [00:20:23.652]But the truth is that some money is created differently
- [00:20:27.057]than others.
- [00:20:28.057]Why would they take that money?
- [00:20:29.399]Because it's the most competitive fellowship in the country.
- [00:20:34.057]Right? Okay.
- [00:20:35.896]So what I will tell you is that there's a solicitation.
- [00:20:39.666]When you get a chance google NSF GRFP, Graduate Research
- [00:20:45.343]Fellowship Program.
- [00:20:46.801]But there's a thing called solicitation.
- [00:20:48.198]Most faculty don't realize this, the rules of the game--
- [00:20:50.841]Anybody play football, sports?
- [00:20:52.595]Who doesn't play sports? Let me put it that way.
- [00:20:54.735]Who's never played a sport in their life.
- [00:20:56.905]You never played a sport in your life?
- [00:20:59.769]There are things called the rules, right?
- [00:21:02.059]There are things called the rules.
- [00:21:04.284]I'm just gonna ignore that.
- [00:21:05.848]There's a thing called the rules, right?
- [00:21:07.862]If you don't know the rules you can't win the game.
- [00:21:10.460]Some people got talent, but they can't play the rules.
- [00:21:12.946]So I would tell faculty, I would tell grant writers,
- [00:21:18.137]the first thing you call up their employee there's
- [00:21:20.500]always a rules.
- [00:21:22.134]"Erick Jones, I'm calling, I didn't win a grant.
- [00:21:25.171]"Why didn't I win that grant?"
- [00:21:26.949]Refer to rule number 35, your name is misspelled.
- [00:21:30.487]And the truth is, in a competitive environment,
- [00:21:34.580]in a competitive environment what happens?
- [00:21:38.046]They want to disqualify you.
- [00:21:39.625]We had 17,000 applications for 1,000 awards.
- [00:21:42.584]Do the math.
- [00:21:45.206]I hope that, the Princeton review guy was here yesterday,
- [00:21:48.244]do the math in your head.
- [00:21:50.239]What do we want to do?
- [00:21:51.629]We want to disqualify a helluva lot of people, right?
- [00:21:53.800]As employees.
- [00:21:55.349]We love everybody.
- [00:21:57.260]So I'm telling you you've got to read the rules.
- [00:21:59.653]If you don't know the rules you can't win.
- [00:22:01.725]You can try to win.
- [00:22:04.208]Here are the fields of study, here are the fields that
- [00:22:06.239]don't study.
- [00:22:07.896]Let me tell you, if you're thinking about the
- [00:22:09.721]fellowship, you can't get your masters and then turn
- [00:22:13.033]around and try to get this fellowship.
- [00:22:15.280]You have to get the fellowship before you go to grad
- [00:22:17.784]school or while you're in grad school.
- [00:22:19.528]Masters time counts.
- [00:22:20.904]You can use the money for masters degrees.
- [00:22:23.061]I'm careful because we have a lot of social--
- [00:22:26.867]I mean life scientists who want to win,
- [00:22:30.047]but you can't write an NIH grant, what they call a K award
- [00:22:33.059]and try to use it for NSF.
- [00:22:34.964]There's a lot of games and so I'm just kind of giving
- [00:22:37.078]you guys some context.
- [00:22:39.171]What you do want to know is there are four competitions.
- [00:22:41.183]Most people don't realize there are four competitions.
- [00:22:44.209]There's the seniors, first year graduate students,
- [00:22:47.721]third year, second year graduate students,
- [00:22:49.814]and people returning from the military service.
- [00:22:51.807]Let me give you example.
- [00:22:54.080]If I'm a senior undergraduate and I'm a second year
- [00:22:57.477]PhD student who should have publications?
- [00:23:03.690]Okay so if you try to have a second year student saying,
- [00:23:07.177]"I ain't got no publication," you ain't gonna win.
- [00:23:10.684]But guess when you're best opportunity to win the grant?
- [00:23:13.767]Senior.
- [00:23:15.152]How many times can you apply?
- [00:23:16.806]Let's say you only can apply two times.
- [00:23:18.815]Actually it's more than that.
- [00:23:20.283]While I was at NSF we changed some rules.
- [00:23:22.861]You know why we changed some rules?
- [00:23:24.743]'Cause I was there.
- [00:23:26.026]Why did I change the rules?
- [00:23:27.536]'Cause I want some of you guys to win.
- [00:23:30.022]What you don't know is that you can apply until you
- [00:23:33.417]go to graduate school.
- [00:23:35.599]You can apply as a senior, say you don't go to college
- [00:23:39.279]right after undergrad, you can apply while you're working.
- [00:23:42.923]You can apply until you win.
- [00:23:45.015]But once you're in graduate school you can only apply
- [00:23:47.294]one time.
- [00:23:49.137]Now I'm teaching you the nuances of the rules.
- [00:23:51.723]You can do what you want to do,
- [00:23:53.792]but if you want to go after the most competitive
- [00:23:56.077]fellowship in the world, you've got to think about
- [00:23:58.642]how to play.
- [00:24:00.624]The other thing is I changed the rules and guess what
- [00:24:03.990]happened last year?
- [00:24:07.408]Diversity happened.
- [00:24:09.489]Oh my God, what happened? Oh my God!
- [00:24:12.618]Now I'm in engineering.
- [00:24:15.202]That's why I can talk about this 'cause I'm no longer
- [00:24:16.876]in that program.
- [00:24:17.961]They didn't kick me out, I just wanted to change.
- [00:24:19.918]But the reality is that it's designed for you guys
- [00:24:23.118]who are thinking about going to graduate school
- [00:24:25.160]to go to graduate school.
- [00:24:26.519]It's been redesigned so that it's not,
- [00:24:28.681]it's something that you should think about and we want
- [00:24:31.005]more people going to graduate school.
- [00:24:33.834]Anyway, the competition, I'm gonna give you broad brush,
- [00:24:39.353]but I expect you just to read this and I've got to
- [00:24:41.368]give Tim his time, is one you've got to have a personal
- [00:24:43.219]statement and you have to have a what?
- [00:24:46.421]That second word says "re" what?
- [00:24:48.480]Research.
- [00:24:50.301]Just because you grew up and you're first gen and
- [00:24:52.861]your (mumbles) and you helped the community,
- [00:24:55.922]you go to YMC on Thursday and you tutor people at night,
- [00:25:00.014]that's great, that's great.
- [00:25:02.721]But what are we trying to get? Engineers.
- [00:25:05.553]You're gonna have to think about the research.
- [00:25:09.127]If you did a REU program at McNair, any of these things,
- [00:25:11.676]you're gonna have to go to some of these professors,
- [00:25:13.813]ask what their research is, you may have to go in
- [00:25:16.714]their lab and work.
- [00:25:18.132]But you have to take it seriously.
- [00:25:19.802]It's just not, hey, I know that some applications
- [00:25:23.099]don't require that, but this requires this.
- [00:25:27.212]And then the three reference letters and we'll talk
- [00:25:29.084]about that in just a second.
- [00:25:30.766]I'm gonna t--
- [00:25:32.962]I can talk all day, these are for your edification
- [00:25:35.064]and I'm gonna blow through them, but you need to read
- [00:25:37.322]them while I'm talking.
- [00:25:38.546]Number one a personal statement is are you doing stuff
- [00:25:41.093]for someone?
- [00:25:42.321]If you get funding, are you gonna reach back and help
- [00:25:44.124]somebody?
- [00:25:45.401]If you say, "I should get it just because my feet were
- [00:25:47.797]"big and people with big feet need help,"
- [00:25:51.114]that's not gonna work.
- [00:25:52.796]What I would tell you, I've seen Caucasians out-minority
- [00:25:57.006]minorities.
- [00:25:58.305]I gotta use a different word 'cause I'm recording.
- [00:26:00.252]I've seen Caucasians go back to the old folks home
- [00:26:03.099]in the ghetto and teach people how to read and write.
- [00:26:05.879]That's helping diverse community.
- [00:26:09.644]You just walking around saying, "I am part of a diverse
- [00:26:12.204]"community," does not contribute to diverse communities.
- [00:26:14.780]You going to HBCU or HSI or MSI doesn't mean that
- [00:26:17.447]you did anything, you could've just showed up.
- [00:26:21.069]Other people are trying to actively make an impact.
- [00:26:24.781]So if you aren't doing it you should be tutoring somebody
- [00:26:27.693]if you're a senior in engineering, in mathematics.
- [00:26:31.072]So anyway, I'm bringing that up, I'll get off of that
- [00:26:32.988]topic 'cause people get upset.
- [00:26:35.209]The other idea is relevant research.
- [00:26:38.280]Again, we're trying to judge who are the future
- [00:26:41.278]scientists in the world.
- [00:26:43.643]Okay your research statement, this is example of it
- [00:26:46.684]has to advance knowledge, and again, you need to be
- [00:26:50.216]pushing the professors that you know and ask them
- [00:26:53.342]to do this and teach you and help you.
- [00:26:56.059]You shouldn't walk out the door not knowing what that
- [00:26:58.617]means to advance science.
- [00:27:00.159]What are they doing?
- [00:27:01.309]They're professors, they do it for a living.
- [00:27:03.925]Here is the time frame.
- [00:27:06.838]The competition for engineering is October 27.
- [00:27:10.904]You could try to put together for two weeks,
- [00:27:12.778]but most people spend a whole year trying to put it
- [00:27:14.781]together.
- [00:27:16.192]I'm gonna strongly encourage you, if you are a senior
- [00:27:18.682]to put it in.
- [00:27:20.494]Because, again, that's where we put the investment in
- [00:27:23.243]last couple of years.
- [00:27:26.132]There's a thing called FastLane, your vice president
- [00:27:29.680]of resource will tell you how to do this.
- [00:27:31.878]Now I'm gonna give you something that's gonna make
- [00:27:33.420]you really mad 'cause I've got to get through the end.
- [00:27:36.840]This is all for your edification, I've already told you.
- [00:27:40.729]Okay let me stop right here and then I'll drop the mic.
- [00:27:44.988]Professors are supposed to write your reference
- [00:27:47.800]letters and researchers.
- [00:27:49.264]It's a separate submission of reference letters.
- [00:27:51.823]Most of the under represented minorities get
- [00:27:54.375]disqualified because their professor or their advisor
- [00:27:57.973]did not upload the letter.
- [00:27:59.865]Letters are due November third.
- [00:28:02.220]Don't get somebody that don't like you,
- [00:28:04.124]don't know you, they don't think about you and you
- [00:28:06.323]just showed up and said, "Put me a reference letter."
- [00:28:08.539]The other thing is the reference letter dictates
- [00:28:11.280]you winning.
- [00:28:12.619]And the reference letter has to have intellectual
- [00:28:14.494]merit and broader impacts in it.
- [00:28:16.523]If you're a person go take that same old thing that
- [00:28:18.408]they always write for everybody else you will lose.
- [00:28:20.842]You will lose.
- [00:28:23.427]And here's the toughest part a good question is ask
- [00:28:27.321]the reference writer, "Have you won an NSF grant?"
- [00:28:30.670]And you know what? People are gonna be mad at you.
- [00:28:33.410]Some people, they're gonna look at you crazy and say,
- [00:28:35.262]"Well, it's good enough."
- [00:28:36.827]No, it's not good enough, you won't win.
- [00:28:39.350]And I'm saying that because I'm pushing you to do what?
- [00:28:42.398]Go after graduate education.
- [00:28:44.601]I'm not telling you to say,
- [00:28:46.222]"Well he may get his feelings hurt."
- [00:28:47.800]I don't care about his feelings.
- [00:28:49.857]I need you to change the world.
- [00:28:51.715]I'm gonna be old one day.
- [00:28:53.028]I tell my graduate students I'm so tired of ya'll
- [00:28:54.513]not taking academic positions, taking these six figure jobs.
- [00:28:57.722]I teach people, they get six figures, 180, you take it,
- [00:29:00.331]okay you gotta take it.
- [00:29:02.781]'Cause I teach the best in the world.
- [00:29:06.011]I get about four in academia, but what I'm trying
- [00:29:08.085]to tell you is that you have to be aggressive for
- [00:29:10.273]graduate education and you are the future.
- [00:29:13.596]I'm hoping that one of you guys fix this stuff for me.
- [00:29:15.867]I'm gonna be old one day.
- [00:29:17.424]I want you to say, "Doc, I designed this auto live,
- [00:29:19.696]"you can live forever," Okay, you owe me.
- [00:29:22.278]I taught, you right?
- [00:29:24.231]But the idea, I hope that this encourages you.
- [00:29:26.859]Tim I'm sorry about your time, but I what I want to make
- [00:29:29.327]sure that what you get out of this is one,
- [00:29:31.873]I want you to apply for this competition 'cause I need
- [00:29:34.326]you to push yourself and I also want you,
- [00:29:36.589]don't forget, you are part of a field in engineering
- [00:29:39.557]and that you need to make sure when you write your
- [00:29:42.967]application letters, you write your fellowship letters
- [00:29:45.111]that you're contributing to the field and I know
- [00:29:47.350]you can do a really good job.
- [00:29:48.526]Thank you.
- [00:29:49.659](applause)
The screen size you are trying to search captions on is too small!
You can always jump over to MediaHub and check it out there.
- Tags:
- ntc
- matc
- nebraska transportation center
- mid-america transportation center
- matc scholars program
- scholars program
- graduate school
- erick jones
- university of texas arlington
- uta
- national science foundation
- nsf
- engineering
- graduate research fellowship
- graduate internship program
Log in to post comments
Embed
Copy the following code into your page
HTML
<div style="padding-top: 56.25%; overflow: hidden; position:relative; -webkit-box-flex: 1; flex-grow: 1;">
<iframe
style="bottom: 0; left: 0; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; border: 0; height: 100%; width: 100%;"
src="https://mediahub.unl.edu/media/8686?format=iframe&autoplay=0"
title="Video Player: 2017 MATC Scholars Program: Dr. Erick Jones"
allowfullscreen
></iframe>
</div>
Comments
0 Comments