Dream Big, Start and Do Small - TOP -
By Wenqiao Yuan
(From IMPACT Volume 5, Issue 2, December 2005)
When I was offered the ASAE Research Award, AOC Scholarly Achievement Award and AOC Paper Award in ASAE 2005 Annual International Meeting, I was requested by some friends to share my “success” experience. If I do have something worthwhile sharing with my fellow Chinese students, I would say Dream Big, Start and Do Small.
I believe we all remember those days we were applying for admissions to the universities in the United States. We prepared for TOEFL and GRE, we studied the universities, we wrote personal statements, we talked to the professors, and we collected materials for the application. If I asked you what supported us to go through this long process, I believe most of us would say it is the dream of coming to study in the U.S., whether you realized it or not. Because of this dream, we had the passion to do everything looked trivial, and we could overcome numerous obstacles instead of being overwhelmed.
After we came to the U.S., we still could not relax. We had to struggle in burdensome coursework, we had to learn how to work as a team in numerous projects, we had to keep communicating with our advisors about research progress, we had to improve our English and study American culture, and we had to balance life and work. My dream during this period of studying was to finish my Ph.D. in 3.5 years and find a faculty position in the U.S. Although I was not offered an assistant professor job after graduation, the dream of being a professor did motivate me to complete 11 journal articles, to present 12 papers in technical meetings, and to practice applying for 4 funding grants. I am not showing off anything here. What I want to tell everyone is the importance of having a big dream and doing small things. I have seen some students who lose their directions and passions without having a dream and finally give up. I have also seen some students not willing to do small things and finally could not achieve anything.
Early in 2005, I was lucky to find a good full time job before graduation. To those who are still hunting in this undesirable job market, I would say: Don’t give up. With a dream that you will be offered a job sooner or later, do every small thing as best as you can, such as perfect your resume, extend your network, and improve your interview skills. To those who are still in schools and do not have a dream or do not know what to do, I would suggest to close communicate with your advisors and other successful professors. They are always the most valuable resource for us to learn from. At this point, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to my former advisor, Dr. Alan C. Hansen, and Professors Qin Zhang, Yuanhui Zhang, K.C. Ting and Xinlei Wang at UIUC for their mentoring. Also, I would like to extend my appreciation to Dr. Zhongchao Tan at University of Calgary. He was my role model to form my “dream”.
Finally, special thanks to AOC. I have attended every year’s AOC meeting since 2002. It is a wonderful place for students to network and learn. It also offers us a valuable stage to show up on. Thank those who contributed or are still contributing to this organization.
by Wenqiao Yuan, International Truck and Engine Corporation, wenqiao.yuan@gmail.com
My Ph.D. Study Experience - TOP -
By Tun Ge
(From IMPACT Volume 3, Issue 4, July 2004)
In 1998, I was enrolled in the Ph.D. program in Agricultural Engineering at the University of Manitoba and carried out my research under the supervision of Dr. Qiang Zhang. I completed my Ph.D. in the beginning of 2003. Throughout my Ph.D. program, I focused my research on the Behavior of Bulk Solids Under Vibration, which was a brand-new research subject. During the research, I applied my learned knowledge, such as vibration theory and the assumption of layered material, to my research work. Remarkably, I established a new theory and method to estimate the consolidation of bulk solids under vertical vibration and its corresponding lateral pressure. Also I developed a new technique of applying a vibration method to solve the arching problem of cohesive materials, an industry concern in the handling and conveying of these materials. My whole doctorial research received great help from my supervisor Dr. Qiang Zhang both academically and financially. And I had the support of NSERC and my work was well received at both national & international scientific conferences. One of my authored papers ha been published in the internationally renowned scientific journal, Transactions of ASAE, receiving the ASAE Honorary mention Award.
Until present, whenever I look back to those days in UM, what makes me feel always comfortable is, as a doctoral student, I definitely dedicated my whole time & energy to my Ph. D program without any distraction. So in recognition of my exceptional accomplishment, U of M honored me with an award of Distinguished Dissertation in April 2004.
Currently, I am working as a high-tech engineer for the Sukup Manufacturing Company in the US--- a famous Grain Bin manufacturing company in the world. The knowledge I learned before & after from UM and my personal practical experience truly laid down a solid foundation for my present Structural Engineer position. My deep-felt feeling keeps arising: I am very proud to be an expert on grain bin theory and designing. Every now and then, I take great enjoyment in words as follow: The possession of one is knowledge & versatile abilities cannot be too much, i.e., one can never be crushed down with huge amount of knowledge whatsoever. To help my fellow folks to navigate, here are my best recommendations:
• To stick to what you had planed to do.
• To do you best to cumulate your practical experience & widen your knowledge at Every Moment, while you are still engaging in your master or doctoral program, or your other major study.
• To always remember a proverb like this No Pains, No Gains.
To take this opportunity, I would like to give my gratitude to Prof. Qiang Zhang for his precious guidance throughout my whole research program. To conclude, I wish sincerely each fellow folk success in the coming future.
A Short Story of a Reckless Man! - TOP -
By Z. C. Tan
(From IMPACT Volume 4, Issue 3, April 2005)
“Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans” (John Lennon)
Six years ago in 1999, I was admitted to the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Delaware . I still remember that day was April 1, and my story started here. I was so happy that I grabbed the offer and ran without giving other universities a chance. At that time, I was a hundred and one percent sure that I would come back with a Ph.D. degree from the University of Delaware and return to China, the greatest country in the world, to make a big deal out of it. I packed light with 500 hundred dollars in my pocket and left.
I never planned not to finish my Ph.D. at the University of Delaware . But life was troubled, and my advisor left the east coast to the west coast, specifically the UC-Davis. Wondering where my next stop would be, I typed “particle” into Google---I found Dr. Yuanhui Zhang at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. That is how thing started.
But things are not always like they are supposed to be. I proudly told my friend that I was admitted to the Department of Agricultural Engineering at the UIUC. Sadly, UIUC did not ring a bell to him, but the key word of Agricultural was quite shocking to him: “What? You were a farmer boy, and you are from Tsinghua University . Now you are really back to your old business, feeding the pigs and grow the corns!” Things even got “worse”! I was assigned to work on cyclone---a technology that cannot be any mature. “Agriculture and cyclone? Where would I go after I get my PhD”?! I was grateful to my wife, who is always there to make my life easier. “Well, this is actually not bad for you. Agriculture cannot be any easier for you a farmer boy. Seriously, if you can really make a big deal out of something other people thought hopeless, then you are a real Tsinghua student. Stop complaining and go to prove yourself!”
I stopped worrying about the future and focused on my research. I believed that life was fare. If I work hard, there should always be something for me somewhere sometime. Looking back to the journey, I found that I was lucky not to worry about it. The last year of my tenure at UIUC became an award time. First, ASAE opened a new award for the graduate students and my degree work was ranked top in the PhD category. Later, three months before my graduation, I had a professorship job that I always dreamed of in Calgary , a city I never heard of before I started job hunting.
With enough blah and blah about myself, I have to say I cannot be here talking about me without my advisor, Dr. Yuanhui Zhang, a teacher, a mentor, and a friend. He started our first meeting with these words: “It is not about what you are doing here, it is how you are going to do it. If you do a good job today, you can do a better job tomorrow, and you will get a job later”. Now, I always quote these words during my first meeting with my students.
(About myself: Z. C. Tan, a former AOC student member, is currently an Assistant Professor of Environmental Engineering at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Calgary, Canada. Email: tanz@ucalgary.ca).
