2017 MATC Scholars Program: Dr. Deo Chimba

Larissa Sazama Author

11/07/2017 Added

8 Plays

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Dr. Deo Chimba, Interim Department Chair and Associate Professor at Tennessee State University, presents on "Graduate School Student Experiences". For more information, please visit http://matc.unl.edu/education/scholars-program2017.php.

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[00:00:00.000]My name is Dr. Chimba,
[00:00:02.386]and I am from Tennessee State University.
[00:00:05.639]And my presentation will be about the student's experience.
[00:00:09.083]So in this session, we are going to give you just preview
[00:00:12.825]of what to expect as an experience as a graduate student
[00:00:16.507]if you one day decided to go there.
[00:00:18.630]So one thing which I wanted to discuss with you
[00:00:20.791]is on the mentality of being a graduate student.
[00:00:25.547]The first thing which you're going to see
[00:00:26.739]is the difference in the coursework
[00:00:27.970]which you are going to take.
[00:00:30.238]For undergrad coursework, it is kind of a general coursework
[00:00:33.369]where you are learning everything,
[00:00:34.766]and I will use civil engineering as example.
[00:00:37.101]In civil engineering,
[00:00:38.454]how many of you are civil engineering by the way?
[00:00:40.343]Okay, so I'll use that as example.
[00:00:42.357]In civil engineering,
[00:00:43.207]let's say we have our structural engineering,
[00:00:45.359]water resources engineering,
[00:00:46.785]transportation engineering, geotechnical engineering,
[00:00:48.885]conception management, something like that.
[00:00:51.895]In undergrad coursework,
[00:00:53.291]actually you are taking every course in those areas,
[00:00:55.803]including the general education courses too like chemistry,
[00:01:00.761]history, physics, and so forth.
[00:01:03.575]So you are forced to do that.
[00:01:05.015]There's no option, but when you go to graduate school,
[00:01:08.873]then your field of study is going to narrow a little bit.
[00:01:12.251]You are not going just to take the courses randomly.
[00:01:14.770]Just going to take the courses which align
[00:01:17.072]with the specialization which you are going to have.
[00:01:19.715]So let's say from civil engineering,
[00:01:22.292]you want maybe to specialize in transportation.
[00:01:25.085]Most of the courses which you are going to take
[00:01:27.193]in the graduate school will be
[00:01:28.782]transportation related courses.
[00:01:30.536]That will be the difference of what you can expect
[00:01:32.974]when you go for graduate school.
[00:01:35.293]Graduate school differ from undergrad college
[00:01:36.926]that much of the force is on the student.
[00:01:40.382]Right now, as a undergrad student, we attempt force you.
[00:01:43.366]Did you take this one?
[00:01:44.388]Did you take this course?
[00:01:45.573]But for the graduate school,
[00:01:47.528]most of the effort will be on you to know
[00:01:49.160]that what are you trying to do.
[00:01:50.626]What you are trying to achieve.
[00:01:51.534]What results you are working on.
[00:01:52.941]So the force will be on the student's side.
[00:01:56.169]In undergrad programs, there are lot of courses
[00:01:58.430]that focus only to the student basic foundation and ideas.
[00:02:02.622]But for the graduate student,
[00:02:05.400]you are going focus on what actually falls on your research.
[00:02:10.026]So graduate school asks student to feed themself,
[00:02:12.835]though there is still coursework here.
[00:02:14.245]Or you're still going to take some coursework.
[00:02:16.000]Actually, there are some school
[00:02:17.005]which you can just graduate with the research,
[00:02:19.504]and there are some school
[00:02:20.448]where you can just do the coursework.
[00:02:22.040]But most of the schools,
[00:02:23.313]you are going to combine the coursework
[00:02:24.824]as well as the research point of your study.
[00:02:28.380]So, you have to do the coursework,
[00:02:30.117]but from your research, then all the weight,
[00:02:32.954]all the consideration, all the effort will be
[00:02:35.347]from the student point of view.
[00:02:40.060]Undergraduate study allow an individual to explore
[00:02:42.187]a variety of areas.
[00:02:43.790]So we allow you, and I will be using
[00:02:46.037]civil engineering as example,
[00:02:48.612]when you graduate you don't know where you going.
[00:02:49.893]You can apply a job maybe to be storm engineer
[00:02:54.305]or maybe hydrology, to be a traffic engineer.
[00:02:56.540]So we don't restrict you to concentrate on one area.
[00:02:59.388]You are going to take everything.
[00:03:01.241]But for the graduate,
[00:03:03.018]then you are trying to narrow your field of expertise.
[00:03:07.368]Maybe you just want to be a traffic engineer.
[00:03:09.382]I just want to be maybe a structural engineer.
[00:03:12.523]I just want to be the geotechnical engineer.
[00:03:15.758]Your study will narrow a little bit,
[00:03:17.996]and the coursework is going to vary in that case.
[00:03:21.442]The workload in graduate studies entail
[00:03:23.406]that individual work closely
[00:03:24.761]with the major professor advisor as we are going to see,
[00:03:27.315]and the advisor will advise you
[00:03:29.025]what type of courses you are supposed to take,
[00:03:31.319]and those courses should be aligned well
[00:03:33.572]with what research you are working on.
[00:03:36.369]An individual may also become part
[00:03:38.163]of the lab or the research group,
[00:03:40.207]and that research group might working on something.
[00:03:42.924]And you are supposed to work on that special research
[00:03:46.685]which the other group are working on,
[00:03:48.019]based on that particular lab.
[00:03:51.228]Undergrad school is exam-based education.
[00:03:53.654]So you have the quizzes,
[00:03:54.854]you have homeworks and those kind of stuff.
[00:03:57.009]For the graduate school though you are going to have those,
[00:03:59.640]but it is for the purpose for those people
[00:04:02.514]who love research, scholarship, and teaching.
[00:04:05.365]In the graduate school, you have to do a research,
[00:04:09.364]you have maybe published some paper
[00:04:11.726]so you can presentation on what you are working on.
[00:04:15.084]So let's say, I will use this example,
[00:04:16.885]let's say you are working on the safety,
[00:04:19.103]maybe accident at the intersections.
[00:04:21.072]And then after you work there,
[00:04:22.363]then you want somebody to know
[00:04:23.498]that this is what you are working on.
[00:04:25.076]So how they can know it, you have to write a paper,
[00:04:27.459]go and present that paper somewhere,
[00:04:29.119]and then they know that this is the finding
[00:04:30.846]which you are going to come out with.
[00:04:33.433]The eventual goal of many doctoral student,
[00:04:35.807]and we are going to talk about the PhD,
[00:04:37.651]is to get a job as a college professors,
[00:04:40.256]maybe as a researcher in industry or something like that.
[00:04:42.687]So when you proceed above the master's level,
[00:04:44.958]you are going to the doctoral to get a PhD.
[00:04:48.442]Then some perception that maybe you are thinking
[00:04:51.002]of being in academics like me.
[00:04:53.335]Maybe teach or do some research in that case.
[00:04:57.620]So for undergrad coursework also
[00:05:00.370]you acquire a general identity such as a civil engineer.
[00:05:03.944]When you graduate from undergrad,
[00:05:04.991]they don't call it a traffic engineer,
[00:05:07.232]or they don't call you the geotechnical engineer.
[00:05:10.072]They just going to call you civil engineer,
[00:05:11.325]mechanical engineer, or electrical engineer.
[00:05:13.297]But when to go to the graduate school,
[00:05:15.400]now because you are going to narrow your area of the study,
[00:05:19.581]you can study just on the structures.
[00:05:22.293]Then you are going to be called a structural engineer,
[00:05:24.477]or a traffic engineer, or the safety engineer,
[00:05:26.316]something like that.
[00:05:27.379]So you become the expert of certain area
[00:05:30.466]within the area which you are going to study on.
[00:05:34.910]You will become known as the person who wrote certain paper
[00:05:38.312]because when you do a research, you publish it,
[00:05:40.225]and somebody is going to like it.
[00:05:41.947]So let's say you are doing the study
[00:05:45.225]on the crashes at the intersection,
[00:05:49.285]and then you found that most of the crashes
[00:05:51.054]are caused by the left turns.
[00:05:52.680]And then the left turns,
[00:05:53.638]you find that most of them involve senior people.
[00:05:56.943]So that is your findings, so you are going to publish.
[00:05:59.081]Somebody is going to see your work.
[00:06:00.674]And then somebody maybe will read your paper
[00:06:02.799]and say, you know what,
[00:06:04.050]this is this because Dr. Smith somewhere did the research
[00:06:09.282]and found that most of the crashes
[00:06:11.295]at the intersection are caused by senior people.
[00:06:15.621]So master's level are mainly designed
[00:06:17.928]to give a solid education in a specialized field.
[00:06:21.438]But the PhD is more than master's.
[00:06:25.964]Let me tell you about the PhD.
[00:06:27.376]The PhD you are supposed to come out
[00:06:29.142]with something nobody's found in this world.
[00:06:31.536]Should be contribution.
[00:06:32.990]You are going to contribute to the knowledge.
[00:06:35.320]So in the PhD program, let's say somebody,
[00:06:39.499]maybe Chimba came with a formula
[00:06:42.487]crash is equal to two x plus one.
[00:06:45.715]But you can do a PhD to challenge me.
[00:06:48.234]Actually, it's not two x.
[00:06:50.453]Chimba, you are wrong.
[00:06:51.286]It is four x.
[00:06:52.978]So you contribute to the knowledge.
[00:06:54.687]Or maybe, what are the causes
[00:06:56.375]of accident at the intersection?
[00:06:58.112]Somebody say it was a left turn crashes.
[00:07:01.664]But you come with the idea not left turn crashes.
[00:07:04.302]Actually, it's the angle crashes that's the problem.
[00:07:06.661]So you come with something which nobody has done.
[00:07:09.198]Or you going to challenge somebody maybe from the findings.
[00:07:13.454]So both master and PhD,
[00:07:14.998]I think you already talk about this in another session,
[00:07:17.743]can be a full-time, can be a part-time,
[00:07:20.078]can be evening program, can be online,
[00:07:22.468]depending on what program you are going to take.
[00:07:24.611]And also depend on where you are.
[00:07:29.206]On the master degree, most master candidates spent one
[00:07:32.406]to two years, even three years depending where you are,
[00:07:35.754]which university you are.
[00:07:37.071]So that will depend on other factors.
[00:07:39.850]But what we know that master's student take courses
[00:07:42.594]to fulfill degree requirement just like undergrads.
[00:07:45.357]So you have to take some courses.
[00:07:47.994]You have to take classes, and those classes differ
[00:07:50.478]from one university to another.
[00:07:51.738]Some of them you can take 18 credit hours,
[00:07:54.113]24 credit hours, 36 credit hours,
[00:07:55.940]depending on the university,
[00:07:57.560]but you have to take some coursework.
[00:08:00.069]But what you are going to find out,
[00:08:01.335]the coursework for the master's is heavier
[00:08:04.259]because you are going much, much deeper
[00:08:05.705]to the theoretical source of that.
[00:08:08.724]The formula which you are using now
[00:08:10.144]in civil engineering you might know
[00:08:12.479]where the source of this particular formula
[00:08:16.056]which you are using when you go to the graduate school.
[00:08:19.193]At the beginning of the master program,
[00:08:20.745]you choose, or you're assigned an advisor.
[00:08:24.514]And this advisor may be from this program
[00:08:27.418]which you are having now.
[00:08:28.768]After the program, so you talk with Dr. Chimba.
[00:08:30.861]I want to come to Tennessee to do master's over there,
[00:08:32.948]so I have already known what you need.
[00:08:34.718]So when you come there,
[00:08:35.885]I will be just automatically your advisor.
[00:08:37.970]Or you can just join the university,
[00:08:39.700]and then, as a master student,
[00:08:41.394]they just going to assign you the professor depending
[00:08:43.866]on what the area of the study you want to focus on.
[00:08:49.224]This advisor will help you to develop academic focus
[00:08:52.083]and potential topic for your thesis.
[00:08:54.523]Just take like a capstone design.
[00:08:56.862]When you do the capstone design,
[00:08:58.190]you go to the professor and then professor will ask you
[00:09:00.489]do you have a topic you want to work on as a capstone?
[00:09:02.699]You say, I don't have.
[00:09:03.898]Then the professor will choose you a topic.
[00:09:06.236]Or if you have a topic, then you can work on that.
[00:09:08.845]Just the same as for the master level education.
[00:09:13.557]Then you decide on your research focus
[00:09:15.409]and complete your master thesis or final project.
[00:09:18.271]I say final project because sometimes you take something
[00:09:21.917]they call master of engineering.
[00:09:23.334]Master of engineering doesn't need a thesis.
[00:09:24.893]Just need a project.
[00:09:26.068]But there's a master of science which need the thesis.
[00:09:28.870]They kind of the same thing,
[00:09:30.146]but the organization of the report is different
[00:09:33.769]depending on the focus of that.
[00:09:37.864]And sometimes if you show a good promise on the master's,
[00:09:41.759]then you can proceed with the PhD the same school,
[00:09:44.167]or you can go to another school with that.
[00:09:49.408]Let's talk about the PhD a little bit.
[00:09:51.732]So most of the PhD programs are scholarship,
[00:09:54.233]have some scholarship and some funding.
[00:09:56.035]Very, very rare to find somebody paying
[00:09:57.534]for the PhD from their pocket.
[00:09:59.944]Because first of all, those who are taking PhD,
[00:10:02.385]they are not many, but also there's some funding for them.
[00:10:07.011]So most candidate spent three to six years.
[00:10:10.255]I saw some even student taking even eight years
[00:10:12.771]just to finish the PhD.
[00:10:14.943]So let me be honest with you.
[00:10:16.807]If I am the department chair,
[00:10:18.595]and I am trying to hire a PhD and on a faculty,
[00:10:22.124]and then you come to me and say I did my PhD in two years,
[00:10:25.581]I'll be suspicious with you.
[00:10:27.462]Because how much time did you take the coursework
[00:10:29.953]and how did you do the research?
[00:10:31.271]Did you do the publication in two years?
[00:10:35.185]So that means that the more time you spend
[00:10:37.587]doing your research, gives somebody maybe the confidence
[00:10:41.024]that this guy did the job he's supposed to do.
[00:10:44.038]But it can range between three to six years
[00:10:46.442]and even more than that.
[00:10:47.816]And I will tell you why it might take more than six years.
[00:10:51.942]In the first two or three years, you can take your courses.
[00:10:55.188]That's coursework just like math or so, undergraduate.
[00:10:57.960]And then after that, you do something we call a proposal.
[00:11:02.113]So proposal is this, as a PhD student,
[00:11:04.273]you are supposed to give us a new knowledge.
[00:11:08.397]So you come up with what we call a problem statement.
[00:11:10.623]What is the problem?
[00:11:12.273]What's the problem you are seeing there?
[00:11:13.769]So let's say the problem is that there's a lot
[00:11:15.480]of crashes at the intersection.
[00:11:17.124]That's a problem.
[00:11:18.613]Now what is your hypothesis?
[00:11:19.806]What do you think is the cause of this problem?
[00:11:22.150]The hypothesis means that I think there's intersections,
[00:11:29.133]we have a lot of senior peoples
[00:11:31.357]who reaction time is too high.
[00:11:34.498]Maybe they take five seconds, six seconds to turn,
[00:11:37.457]and that causes those accident.
[00:11:40.028]How do you want to do it?
[00:11:41.017]How do you want to prove your hypothesis?
[00:11:43.639]I want to go to the intersection,
[00:11:45.080]collect the data for six months.
[00:11:47.220]I want to analyze those data and then create the train,
[00:11:49.779]so that is what we call a proposal.
[00:11:52.276]That proposal can be 10, 20 pages, 30 pages.
[00:11:55.446]And then you are going to present it
[00:11:56.651]to your professor and the committee.
[00:11:58.254]There going to be committee, maybe five people,
[00:11:59.834]six people from different areas.
[00:12:03.333]So maybe you spent three years preparing this proposal,
[00:12:06.797]and believe me, sometime they can throw your proposal away
[00:12:09.186]and say this is not a PhD level proposal.
[00:12:11.775]You have to start again.
[00:12:13.084]And that's why we say that it sometimes can even go
[00:12:15.647]to seven years, eight years,
[00:12:17.020]depending on what you are going to present.
[00:12:19.330]But if they agree with your proposal,
[00:12:24.028]then, you also required to do what we call oral exam.
[00:12:28.147]They are going to give you exam.
[00:12:29.838]It can be one exam or two exam from the committee,
[00:12:32.260]and then you have to pass that exam.
[00:12:35.184]So most doctoral student also work as a teaching assistant,
[00:12:38.584]and sometimes they are research assistants.
[00:12:41.870]At the end of the second and third year of your PhD,
[00:12:44.806]you complete a comprehensive exam as I said.
[00:12:47.209]And then the thesis
[00:12:48.166]and the exam demonstrate your qualification.
[00:12:50.433]And then after that, then you can graduate
[00:12:53.153]with your degree in PhD.
[00:12:55.946]So you can see that PhD is too demanding,
[00:12:58.281]but for you guys, I think the first step
[00:12:59.742]is to go to the master's and then after that,
[00:13:02.050]you can think about going for PhD.
[00:13:05.118]Now what challenge you expect?
[00:13:07.890]There's a lot of challenges on this.
[00:13:10.421]The first challenge is quantity of work
[00:13:12.473]which you are supposed to present.
[00:13:14.815]As a graduate student, the amount of work will be there,
[00:13:18.881]especially if you are serious student.
[00:13:20.881]Even right now as an undergrad student, if you are serious,
[00:13:23.008]actually you will find that time is not there
[00:13:24.867]because most of us are working and then going to school
[00:13:27.441]or something like that.
[00:13:28.274]So most of the time, the quantity of work shall be
[00:13:31.865]too much for graduate level studies.
[00:13:35.550]And also we expect you to have a good quality
[00:13:38.006]of work you're going to produce.
[00:13:39.491]If it's a paper, it should be a good quality.
[00:13:41.524]If it's a project, it should be a good quality.
[00:13:43.851]Even if you're taking courseworks,
[00:13:45.962]you should expect you to get A and B.
[00:13:48.750]Actually, in some universities as a graduate student,
[00:13:50.595]you are not supposed to get C.
[00:13:51.999]If you get C, you lose the funding.
[00:13:55.252]That's the requirement, even in my university.
[00:13:57.158]If you have master student,
[00:13:58.026]if you get C, you lose the funding.
[00:14:00.157]So you see, the work you expect, especially very high.
[00:14:03.763]And then you need to be consistence.
[00:14:05.602]It mean that your work, somebody can follow your work
[00:14:08.579]and know what you are trying to do.
[00:14:11.036]Believe me, as a professor,
[00:14:12.528]sometimes I get the project from the student.
[00:14:14.412]If I read it, I don't know what they are doing.
[00:14:16.340]It's not consistent.
[00:14:17.536]But as a graduate student,
[00:14:18.758]you are supposed to be consistent.
[00:14:20.690]It mean that your work should show continuity
[00:14:24.577]of the excellence in that case.
[00:14:28.488]Time won't be enough for you if you are a graduate student.
[00:14:31.633]You'll find that, oh, I need to do this.
[00:14:33.322]I need to write this.
[00:14:34.155]So the time management will be some challenges
[00:14:36.785]which you are going to face.
[00:14:39.035]Attending classes, studying, working part-time,
[00:14:41.779]participating in other activities,
[00:14:43.839]finding time for friend, family, and so forth
[00:14:45.958]is going to be a little bit challenging for you
[00:14:47.932]when you go for graduate school.
[00:14:49.703]That one you shall expect.
[00:14:51.751]And then sometimes your thesis or dissertation
[00:14:54.045]can drag you down and research suggest
[00:14:56.529]that student often postpone studies
[00:14:58.372]when they pre-perceive the thesis
[00:15:00.808]or dissertation is overwhelming for them.
[00:15:04.126]So you do something, and as I said that,
[00:15:05.905]after six month you present,
[00:15:07.087]it doesn't make sense, you have to start again.
[00:15:09.083]And some student even think
[00:15:10.877]of dropping some of their studies.
[00:15:15.099]Some other challenges you expect
[00:15:17.096]to experience is intellectual challenge.
[00:15:19.711]The bar at graduate school is higher
[00:15:21.903]than it has ever been before.
[00:15:24.000]So the mental requirement for you
[00:15:26.788]as a graduate student is also going to change.
[00:15:28.674]You need to think as a graduate student,
[00:15:30.812]not as an undergraduate student.
[00:15:32.295]So this is a challenge
[00:15:33.938]if you are not well-prepared for that.
[00:15:36.524]And also we have emotional challenges.
[00:15:38.845]Graduate school will take a long time sometimes.
[00:15:43.337]So once you have achieved a candidacy, especially for PhD,
[00:15:46.331]the research and writing the report
[00:15:48.620]and thesis will consume you much.
[00:15:50.740]So those are some challenges
[00:15:51.921]which you should expect in that case.
[00:15:55.111]And also, another challenge is test of character.
[00:15:58.211]Graduate school test not only your knowledge
[00:16:00.877]and skill for your subject, but also your determination.
[00:16:04.581]Are you determined to produce a good work
[00:16:07.149]as a graduate student?
[00:16:11.653]Also another challenge you're going to come up with,
[00:16:14.473]experience, is commitment.
[00:16:15.935]Sometimes it might require you to study
[00:16:19.314]and research during breaks, during Thanksgiving,
[00:16:22.848]during Spring Break, during Christmas
[00:16:24.949]because you need to achieve something.
[00:16:26.680]Maybe your professor wants something in one week,
[00:16:29.425]or you need to publish a paper.
[00:16:30.758]And then while other people are celebrating
[00:16:34.195]or partying, then you are in the lab,
[00:16:36.429]or you are in your cubical writing report
[00:16:39.061]or crunching the number and so forth.
[00:16:41.695]That can be a challenge sometimes which you should expect.
[00:16:46.967]How about the research?
[00:16:48.224]The challenge from the research is
[00:16:50.282]research in graduate school represent
[00:16:51.829]a focused personal research effort
[00:16:54.484]where you take the lead of your own.
[00:16:56.930]That's your own research.
[00:16:57.794]It's not your professor's research.
[00:16:58.984]It's your own research.
[00:17:00.297]So you need to know what is missing on it.
[00:17:02.525]Do I need more data samples?
[00:17:03.832]You have a very, very small samples of data,
[00:17:06.064]you need to validate it.
[00:17:07.471]Say, okay, I just have maybe two or three interviews.
[00:17:10.949]I need to do more.
[00:17:12.224]So it is not your advisor who is going to hold your arms
[00:17:15.492]and tell you what to do, but is on your side.
[00:17:18.519]You are the one who need to lead
[00:17:19.917]and find what you're supposed to do.
[00:17:23.334]So nobody finishes graduate school without being tenacious.
[00:17:27.546]Meaning that, you are sticking with the same thing again
[00:17:30.296]and again, writing the report again and again,
[00:17:32.368]and maybe when you present it to your professor,
[00:17:34.205]he say no, this is not good.
[00:17:35.776]So you become upset sometimes.
[00:17:38.490]But that is always part of the experience.
[00:17:42.413]You will encounter unexpected problem
[00:17:44.354]and obstacles that can add months or years
[00:17:47.325]of your graduate project, and some people might decide no,
[00:17:51.333]I will take maybe one semester off
[00:17:52.927]and then come back next semester.
[00:17:54.788]But those are some challenges which you expect.
[00:17:58.365]You need to be flexible, meaning that
[00:18:02.162]taking advantage of opportunities.
[00:18:03.958]Sometimes even you can change the project.
[00:18:05.978]You are working on one project for six month
[00:18:07.962]and it's doesn't make sense to you,
[00:18:09.747]you can be flexible to change it
[00:18:11.529]and then do something else.
[00:18:14.993]You need to have interpersonal skills.
[00:18:17.608]Success in graduate school depends a great deal
[00:18:20.439]upon your ability to build and maintain
[00:18:22.417]interpersonal relationship with your advisor.
[00:18:25.325]And believe me, even myself, when I was doing my PhD,
[00:18:28.286]there are some times where we disagreed with my advisor.
[00:18:31.868]And even, he threatened me
[00:18:34.154]that he's going to withdraw to be advisor.
[00:18:37.764]But he was just doing this to make sure
[00:18:39.362]that I am doing a good job.
[00:18:41.278]It's not in a personal way.
[00:18:42.723]So you might work on your research or your thesis
[00:18:46.677]and then you disagree with the advisor, your committee,
[00:18:49.387]but that's just part of the process which you shall expect.
[00:18:53.781]So, let's finish with the advisor.
[00:18:57.048]Remember, when you are doing the master's or PhD,
[00:19:00.703]you are going to be led by advisor as well as a committee.
[00:19:05.184]And this committee is kind of your drivers
[00:19:07.739]who drive you to the final destination.
[00:19:09.899]You need to respect them.
[00:19:11.383]So, these individuals give you direction
[00:19:14.558]and support for the appropriate development
[00:19:16.680]and learning goals for graduate students.
[00:19:19.162]That's your advisor and the committee.
[00:19:21.771]The advisor and the graduate committee
[00:19:23.458]also have the obligation of evaluating what you are doing.
[00:19:27.577]What's the quality of your work.
[00:19:29.711]So you need to respect them in that case.
[00:19:32.705]The graduate student, the advisor,
[00:19:34.381]and the graduate committee constitute the basic of what?
[00:19:37.961]Graduate education.
[00:19:39.600]It's not only you.
[00:19:41.109]You cannot just do that work and then grade yourself.
[00:19:43.692]The advisor and the committee is going to grade your work.
[00:19:47.971]It is the quality, scope, and extent of interaction
[00:19:50.861]in this group, you, advisor, and the committee,
[00:19:54.769]that determine the significance of the graduate experience
[00:19:57.735]which you are going to get at the end.
[00:20:00.988]So what are the expectation from the advisor?
[00:20:04.031]You maintain a good relationship with your advisor.
[00:20:07.245]If your advisor pay you for research
[00:20:09.371]as a TA or as a research assistant, don't talk about money.
[00:20:14.191]Talk about what you achieve.
[00:20:16.434]So though you're supposed to be paid,
[00:20:18.420]but don't put the payment as a focus of what you are doing.
[00:20:22.123]Just put on what you're producing as the focus.
[00:20:25.947]Advisor might certainly have connection
[00:20:28.282]inside and outside the university
[00:20:29.879]which can help you when you graduate to get some jobs.
[00:20:32.813]And the graduate student should behave
[00:20:34.326]in a professional way in all interaction with the advisor
[00:20:37.948]for you to be successful in that case.
[00:20:40.307]And also ask your advisor before you register
[00:20:43.002]for elective classes, meaning that,
[00:20:47.683]don't just go and then find, oh you know,
[00:20:49.103]Dr. Chimba's class was very, very easy.
[00:20:51.182]He always give A, and then just take that class
[00:20:53.577]without knowing this class is contributing
[00:20:55.436]to what you are working on as your research.
[00:20:59.423]Your advisor shall approve any courses
[00:21:01.381]you are going to take if you are going
[00:21:02.648]to go to graduate school.
[00:21:04.316]And most of the time, he's going to pick those courses
[00:21:07.442]which align with your project
[00:21:09.068]which is going to add something into your project.
[00:21:12.607]So again, thank you for listening,
[00:21:14.138]and if you have any question, let me know.
[00:21:18.088](audience applauds)

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Tags:
ntc
matc
nebraska transportation center
mid-america transportation center
matc scholars program
scholars program
graduate school
deo chimba
tennessee state university
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2017 MATC Scholars Program: Dr. Deo Chimba

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