As a student who embarked on the MS by Thesis route in University at Buffalo, I was confused how thesis track worked. How to locate a professor ?How to approach them? What to ask? And when to ask them the questions I had ?
MS education in USA is full of opportunities. Here, students are not tied to the professor or project, which is a common approach elsewhere including many European universities. In the USA, the student is given complete freedom to choose and therefore it is advantageous. Also, it gives an opportunity to speak with multiple professors and get to know their research more, before starting on a rather long, sometimes more than a semester long work with the professor’s research group. Some professors are great in getting together an amazing team of students who work together as a team, just like some startups do. If you are like me, who entered MS in any engineering stream, then it is justified that you get a chance to meet and talk with research team members. Engineering in industry is a group activity. Team work is also a transferable industry skill that can be directly translated into any industry job.
Here are some points I gathered from previous student who did MS by thesis, on their approach. The idea is to find professors and research facilities of interest. There is always an option to do Individual study or project with professors, which can eventually lead to Thesis.
Decide 3 profs who will give you recommendation for future jobs or academic applications
Check their profiles in google scholar – see for citations, h index
Prof could be out of department
Keep in touch with prof, make them remember your face, ask Questions in class, sit in front bench, do good work in class, read their research , tell them that u want to do thesis, ask them how to go about it
Before meeting a prof get an appointment, read about their latest work, ask questions regarding that
Decide if you want PhD
If you decide fast , tell prof, they will give longer projects that have funds, that will make PhD an extension of thesis
Even if you have not taken a course by prof , keep in mind what the prof is teaching in next semester, see if it is interesting. in other departments too. keep interacting
Also, you can ask prof if there is any work that u can do in their lab even without funding this will help in mutual evaluation for the research-professor relation and pave way for further works, networks and research collaborations
