Professional and Career Topics

               

       Impact in Academia ≠ Impact Outside of Academia[1]

                                                                                              By  Elena Hoffer, PhD       

In academia, success is often measured by publications and journal impact factors. But outside of academia, those metrics fade into the background.

What truly matters is the skills you developed along the way such as

- Analyzing complex problems

- Communicating ideas effectively

- Managing projects and collaborations

Your PhD isn't just about research outputs-it's a testament to your grit, creativity, and ability to learn.

These are the traits that drive impact in any field 🙌

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William M. Hayden Jr., Ph.D., P.E., CMQ/OE, F.ASCE
Buffalo, N.Y.

"It is never too late to be what you might have been." -- George Eliot 1819 - 1880
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I fell in LOVE with STEM topics in water resources, and decided early on that I wanted to go back and dig deeper and pursue a doctorate degree. But my colleague at USACE, Joe Evelyn emphasized to me to first get some practical experience. Boy that helped a lot! I'm grateful for USACE and the experience I gained while working for them, and the knowledge I gained at both CSULA, Colorado State and UC Irvine to understand the limitations behind the tools we use yearly to design hydraulic systems, while understanding how to enhance them as well via research grants etc. #Chase down your #STEM goals.   

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Humberto Gallegos Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE
Professor
California Baptist University
Riverside CA
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A former co-worker said the main benefit of his Ph.D. was that when he said something dumb other people just assumed it was too profound for them to understand. There's an uncomfortable truth in that joke.

Bill Mc

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William McAnally Ph.D., P.E., BC.CE, BC.NE, F.ASCE
ENGINEER
Columbus MS
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Bill, Mc – this statement of your former co-worker . . . benefit of his Ph.D. was that when he said something dumb other people just assumed it was too profound for them to understand. . . made me laugh. It made me laugh because, I heard something opposite (well, sort of, not Ph.D. per se) from Ani Choying Drolma (1971 - ). During her 2017 songs concert at Stanford, she said by quoting traditional Tibetan beliefs that . . . when a stupid speaks, the intelligent learns . . . She got great applause and laughter from the packed audience of academia and scholars.

It is interesting, when I was a Ph.D. student, during a lab class a fellow graduate student told in front of the supervising professor that, these professors become empty headed when they learn more . . . I was shocked (in most cultures, except perhaps in North America, a student cannot imagine saying something like this face-to-face) that he managed to say so boldly. Instead of getting angry, the professor just laughed, perhaps thinking he was too harsh on the student.

I read many articles about the usefulness of Ph.D. and shared some of my gathered knowledge on the Collaborate before. I quoted (perhaps it was NYT that cited some statistics) a saying . . . what a waste of Ph.D. talents . . I have seen many employment seekers resorted to hiding their Ph.D. in their resume!

Dilip

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Dr. Dilip K Barua, Ph.D

Website Links and Profile

Original Message:
Sent: 12-19-2024 04:13 PM
From: William McAnally
Subject: Q. What is the value of a Ph.D.?

A former co-worker said the main benefit of his Ph.D. was that when he said something dumb other people just assumed it was too profound for them to understand. There's an uncomfortable truth in that joke.

Bill Mc

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William McAnally Ph.D., P.E., BC.CE, BC.NE, F.ASCE
ENGINEER
Columbus MS
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After my MSc, I planned to pursue a PhD but entered the industry instead. Now, with 15 years of experience, I view a PhD as a chance to apply practical knowledge to research. Does someone with an industry background know how to link theory and practice better, especially in engineering?

After all, this isn't just about advancing a career. It's also about proving one's capacity to learn and make an impact in engineering.

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Tomasz Adach S.M.ASCE
Structural engineer
Strasbourg
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I agree, Tomasz. Like you, I worked for a number of years (27) before returning to get the PhD. The new knowledge and skills would have been useful earlier, but my experience deepened the learning process and enabled me to see connections and applications that would have escaped the younger me. There are tradeoffs plus the risk of never returning to school, but it worked out well for me.

Bill Mc

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William McAnally Ph.D., P.E., BC.CE, BC.NE, F.ASCE
ENGINEER
Columbus MS
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Original Message:
Sent: 12-28-2024 06:14 AM
From: Tomasz Adach
Subject: Q. What is the value of a Ph.D.?

After my MSc, I planned to pursue a PhD but entered the industry instead. Now, with 15 years of experience, I view a PhD as a chance to apply practical knowledge to research. Does someone with an industry background know how to link theory and practice better, especially in engineering?

After all, this isn't just about advancing a career. It's also about proving one's capacity to learn and make an impact in engineering.

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Tomasz Adach S.M.ASCE
Structural engineer
Strasbourg
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I was initially a PhD candidate right after completing my master's degree, but there were no available funds then. As a result, I started working on a construction site and eventually lost track of my thesis. I thought I would continue on this path and become an expert after 20 or 30 years before pursuing a PhD. But our industry has been changing rapidly, especially in the last 10-15 years, and new challenges have appeared, so I think this is the best moment or the last call to do it.

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Tomasz Adach S.M.ASCE
Structural engineer
Strasbourg
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Original Message:
Sent: 12-30-2024 09:21 AM
From: William McAnally
Subject: Q. What is the value of a Ph.D.?

I agree, Tomasz. Like you, I worked for a number of years (27) before returning to get the PhD. The new knowledge and skills would have been useful earlier, but my experience deepened the learning process and enabled me to see connections and applications that would have escaped the younger me. There are tradeoffs plus the risk of never returning to school, but it worked out well for me.

Bill Mc

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William McAnally Ph.D., P.E., BC.CE, BC.NE, F.ASCE
ENGINEER
Columbus MS
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Original Message:
Sent: 12-28-2024 06:14 AM
From: Tomasz Adach
Subject: Q. What is the value of a Ph.D.?

After my MSc, I planned to pursue a PhD but entered the industry instead. Now, with 15 years of experience, I view a PhD as a chance to apply practical knowledge to research. Does someone with an industry background know how to link theory and practice better, especially in engineering?

After all, this isn't just about advancing a career. It's also about proving one's capacity to learn and make an impact in engineering.

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Tomasz Adach S.M.ASCE
Structural engineer
Strasbourg

Really depends how well you were trained during your masters program. Was it thesis or non-thesis? This is because of the skill set to publish and defend the work. And, with so many years of practical experience, one can then gain access to invaluable resources to being your dissertation research. I was blessed with 5 years of practical experience before I started my dissertation work and this helped a lot given that most of my work was linked to these sources. I had such an amazing time and had the pleasure of working with amazing advisors. 

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Humberto Gallegos Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE
Professor
California Baptist University
Riverside CA
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Original Message:
Sent: 12-28-2024 06:14 AM
From: Tomasz Adach
Subject: Q. What is the value of a Ph.D.?

After my MSc, I planned to pursue a PhD but entered the industry instead. Now, with 15 years of experience, I view a PhD as a chance to apply practical knowledge to research. Does someone with an industry background know how to link theory and practice better, especially in engineering?

After all, this isn't just about advancing a career. It's also about proving one's capacity to learn and make an impact in engineering.

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Tomasz Adach S.M.ASCE
Structural engineer
Strasbourg
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Thanks Tomasz.

Re: " how to link theory and practice better, especially in engineering?"

Project work involves the integration of people, process, technology, and leadership.

Majority of engr. education programs are invested in helping understand tech.

Research informs that 60% of projects fail to meet their requirements.

Not due initially to tech, but instead because engineers were not educated

"How to play nice with others."

Some have the nerve to label such missing knowledge as "Soft Skills"

Not even close.

Nothing is "Soft" for engineers to collaborate, cooperate and communicate with those

from different programs.

• Suggestion:

Start by asking yourself what your experiences have made you wonder about;

consider asking past clients what and how their engineers let them down.

Cheers,

Bill

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William M. Hayden Jr., Ph.D., P.E., CMQ/OE, F.ASCE
Buffalo, N.Y.

"It is never too late to be what you might have been." -- George Eliot 1819 - 1880
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Original Message:
Sent: 12-28-2024 06:14 AM
From: Tomasz Adach
Subject: Q. What is the value of a Ph.D.?

After my MSc, I planned to pursue a PhD but entered the industry instead. Now, with 15 years of experience, I view a PhD as a chance to apply practical knowledge to research. Does someone with an industry background know how to link theory and practice better, especially in engineering?

After all, this isn't just about advancing a career. It's also about proving one's capacity to learn and make an impact in engineering.

------------------------------
Tomasz Adach S.M.ASCE
Structural engineer
Strasbourg
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Dear William, perhaps we should distinguish personal reward from career advancement?

Before my PhD I had worked for 2 years in a design office, and I did not return to my Alma Mater but used the research assistant position to broaden my horizon by moving to ETH Zurich (the most prestigious technical university in continental Europe and no.10 in the world ranking). My private benefit was the step from concrete mechanics to rock mechanics, gving me access to many fellow researchers in the world, incl. presentation trips to MIT, the Univ. Colorado in Boulder, and UC Berkeley and Stanford. If I had done my PhD faster, this would have been a great opportunity to stay in academia, but I preferred going back to professional pracise.

In the meantime, however, I had become too old for a project management career and worked (with satisfaction) as specialist -- without defined career path in our mid-size consultancy (100-200 employees). As "Dr." I had the chance to be come involved in the "behind the scene" management, i.e. quality and organisational developement, besides my proper speciality in numerical geotechnics. People interested in a PhD may need to chose either a quick and shallow PhD to be still young enough for a hierarchical career in engineering practise (or a post doc to stay in academia), or to seek satisfaction as specialist with the opportunity of publishing, perhaps expert opinions, and the chance of staying involved subject expert well beyond retirement.

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Joerg-Martin Hohberg D.I.C., MSc, Ph.D., Aff.M.ASCE
Senior Consultant
Bremgarten B. Bern
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