Dear Colleagues,
I have recently graduated with a BSc in Mechanical Engineering. During my BSc, I assisted research and projects on a variety of fields ranging from nanomechanics of advanced materials (experimental), predictive analysis of stochastics data input for control (MATLAB), human balance control (theoretical), dynamical modeling of fluid/solid coupling problems, and corresponding CFD in OpenFOAM, computational aerodynamics with HPC. Upon my graduation, I joined a research team at ETH Zurich as a scientific assistant to work on vortex kinematics (theoretical and computational).
My main interest areas are:
- Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos, Stochastic Systems, Machine Learning of Dynamical Systems and Fluid Dynamics, Prediction, Nonlinear Control
- Computational Finance, Financial Analytics
- Numerical Methods, Computing and Algorithm Development
Clearly, all of the fields mentioned above require a decent knowledge of mathematical modeling, analysis, and computation (mostly by parallel computing over HPCs). One can also argue that these areas are not really far from each other as they can be all classified into an umbrella field of Dynamical Systems Theory.
I will soon start my MSc in Computational Science and Engineering at ETH Zurich. However, I am struggling to decide which specialization area I should choose.
As a part of the program I have to enroll at least in two of the following CORE SUBJECTS:
- Advanced Numerical Methods for CSE
- Optimization for Data Science
- Computational Statistics
- Advanced Systems Lab (Fast Numerical Codes)
Of this, I am planning to take all as they are rich in content, relevant to my multidisciplinary taste, and beneficial for my future plans. They are also fairly complementary to one another.
I will also have to take two mandatory subjects as a part of the admission requirement:
- Numerical Methods for CSE
- High-Performance Computing Lab for CSE
*The program requires me to take 5 courses in my selected specialization area. The rest of the credits necessary to graduate can be chosen freely from any department.
ETH is a top-notch institute for education and research in all three of Control & Robotics, Fluid Dynamics, and Applied/Computational Mathematics. This at least ensures that whatever I choose I will still get a quality education and have a chance to do quality research.
As we all know, modern areas such as robotics, data science, software engineering, neuroscience, computational biology and etc. have rather well-defined career paths. These people would not have as many troubles as a multidisciplinary guy (e.g. my MSc program) to decide what subjects to take and what to focus on.
Now, I lost 2 lost years between the high school and university and I believe this has eliminated some of my flexibility in this kind of decision, especially given that I am in a distance relationship of which I have to also take care of. It is likely that I will prefer to stay at ETH for my Ph.D. or work some time here before my Ph.D. I may also choose to do my Ph.D. in one of the other top schools.
I really appreciate your opinions and advice!
Thank you for your time and patience!
Kind Regards
CFD is applied to a wide range of research and engineering problems in many fields of study and industries, including aerodynamics and aerospace analysis, weather simulation, natural science and environmental engineering, industrial system design and analysis, biological engineering, fluid flows and heat transfer. You can get the full list by doing google with “CFD meshing software”. Make sure that you are learning the software which is getting used in the company you want to work for. When you learn meshing, it's better to understand fundamentals of grid generation.
Dear Mirlan,
You have asked some deep and interesting questions; questions that only you can truly answer!
One thing that I have learnt is that ones interests wax and wane over the years, as such don't fix yourself in one direction. In my experience, a career path is not predefined route, as you seem to indicate, but rather it is a set of decisions that one makes when new opportunities arise (and some "decisions" are thrust on us, whether or not we like them!).
As you say, the topics are quite closely linked and certainly all can be considered under the Dynamical Systems Theory banner. My question back to you is "What do you enjoy doing?". Since a majority of ones waking time is spent on work, I'd recommend working on something you enjoy!
Milan, all these subjects are 'great fun i have really enjoyed them with my work mainly in monte carlo simulation and I developed the perturbation theory in mc and applied it in optimization for nuclear reactor design where lots and lots of computation is required I owe my knowledge to three Late professors via Herbert Rief JRC Ispra Milan Jeffery Lewins Cambridge, Charlie Maynard UW Madison USA. I've also applied some of these to robotics
Do here's my advice:
Do all the above BUT also develop an understanding into Stochastic Optimization using Monte Carlo methods which apply over a large domain as you mentioned Data Science, CFD, Fluids as well as Robitics (probabilistic robotics) I feel you might make a great contribution there and demonstrate this area in HPC which is the strength of all simulation and forecasting
With best wishes
Mirlan, sorry for typo mistake in your name in my previous reply
MC optimization great direction ahead
Dear Mirlan,
My congratulations on your graduation. Regarding your question about future studies at ETH, I have looked at the outline of the courses mentioned in your question.
You are probably familiar with these sites but I have included the links just for the documentation:
Advanced numerical methods
https://metaphor.ethz.ch/x/2019/hs/401-4671-00L/
Optimization for data science
https://www.ti.inf.ethz.ch/ew/courses/ODS20/index.html
Computational statistics
http://www.vvz.ethz.ch/lerneinheitPre.do?semkez=2017S&lerneinheitId=113082&lang=en
Advanced systems lab
https://acl.inf.ethz.ch/teaching/fastcode/2020/slides/01-overview-organization.pdf
https://acl.inf.ethz.ch/teaching/
Based on the analysis of the above, I will probably choose the Advanced Numerical Methods and the Advanced Systems Lab. (I really like these courses and I think they are very useful regardless of the future specialization).
I wonder how the current situation (related to Covid-19) with online courses is evolving at ETH? Will this constraint change schedules and plans?
In any case, my best wishes for the success of your program.
Kind Regards
Sanjiv Sharma
Thank you for your opinions. I would say I really enjoy dynamical systems theory, all parts of it (unless it becomes too theoretical). I would like to apply my knowledge in as many domains as I can. For example, I am really into complex adaptive systems for it is a core of many existing and emerging problems to be solved. Likewise, chaos theory. Both of them are ubiquitous in nature, and mathematically understanding them brings lots of satisfaction. I think one of the best ways to get my hands on chaos theory is to start with mixing in fluids. I believe it is a good choice to learn it by intuition.
Zafar Koreshi
Good points. I am really into optimization in systems with uncertainty and complexity. I will consider your suggestions. Thank you!
Janusz Pudykiewicz
Dear Prof, I appreciate the time you took to look into my subject choices. I can't agree more with your points.
Well, ETH went completely online last term but this term only one or two of my classes are online. ETH is employing a mixed strategy for this term. A university responsible mentioned "ETH is not a distance learning school" so they are doing their best to make the studies as interactive as possible.
Dear Mirlan,
With your track record and clear ambition, I will recommend you consider a combination of Control & Robotics and Numerical Methods and Computing.
In as much as every area of specialization is unique and interesting, these areas appear to be more promising and cut across many other specializations
Meanwhile, congratulations on your graduation. Don't let any challenges deter you from pursuing your ambition. Life is full of challenges, however.
CFD is applied to a wide range of research and engineering problems in many fields of study and industries, including aerodynamics and aerospace analysis, weather simulation, natural science and environmental engineering, industrial system design and analysis, biological engineering, fluid flows and heat transfer. You can get the full list by doing google with “CFD meshing software”. Make sure that you are learning the software which is getting used in the company you want to work for. When you learn meshing, it's better to understand fundamentals of grid generation.
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