Accepted to get my Ph D!

[joe7987]

w00t! I got accepted to get my Ph D in Simulation at the University of Central Florida. I'm so psyched. This basically solidifies the fact that I get to play with simulators for the rest of my life and make a living off of it. I didn't really have any point to making this thread except for the fact that I'm excited as hell!

 

[Deezy]

Congratulations!!!...Can you tell us a little more about what it is you will be doing?....

 

[vjf915]

Awesome man, I'm happy for you!!! Now tell me what that all means.

 

[RonJ]

Nice Joey. What is the average years to graduation to get a PhD in the UCF program that you are entering?

 

[Rich-PMS]

Congrats

 

[AutoFanatik]

Much CC love and congratulations Joe. way to do something with your brains!!

 

[RonJ]

way to do something with your brains!!

Joey has more than one brain? Does he have two heads or two brains in one head?

 

[MistahJuice]

lol^ Awesome man get it done and start getting paid so we can have some more updates in your build thread =D

 

[joe7987]

^^Or actually start a build thread! My civic hasn't seen any changes in far too long with my broke ass.

lol, thanks guys. So my program is called Modeling & Simulation. It deals with the creation of simulations with a bit of 3D modeling too. You get to choose a specific focus area and I'll be focusing on artificial intelligence and interactive simulation. As an example of something I do, I'm currently creating a flight simulator in one of my classes. We just finished creating the terrain... we'll now be creating the scenario (getting all of the virtual characters/vehicles or agents to do what they need to be doing when they need to be doing it.) The program is really versatile though.

When I finish, I could be doing flight simulators, military simulators, working for a video game company, working for NASA or other government agencies, working at theme parks, etc etc. Even then, I could be working on live simulators (basically like training scenarios) computer monitor based simulators (think sim city), Virtual reality (hell yes), or a whole lot of other things.

The best part is - Central Florida, where I live, is the city with the most simulation job opportunities in the world, and I go to one of two (maybe 3?) schools in the world that offer a Ph D in Simulation.

Ron - To answer your question about how long it will take to complete - Typically it takes 3.5 years +/- time to complete the dissertation. I managed to get lucky and get a Graduate Research Assistant position (AKA, they pay for my school so long as I go full time every semester, including summer). Since I'll be going to school full time every summer, I'll probably finish in 2.5-3 years +/- time to complete the dissertation.

I was informed by my boss yesterday that she has plans for my dissertation. Most people write a paper, or do some small study for their dissertation. My boss has a LOT of military connections considering we do a lot of work for the military. One of our big projects right now is creating futuristic robot teammates for the Army. Anyway, she's thinking of having me do my dissertation on a robot simulation topic, and then going out to the base at Fort Benning, GA to test it on real soldiers. How f**king cool is that!?

Well, that's basically what I do / will be doing in academia. Like I said, I'm psyched. I've been excited non-stop for days now. lol

 

[Chris.]

not to get too nosy.... but whats the pay start out for someone in your field? with the PH D?

 

[knightxrider1]

congrats man!!!! let me know how clubferrari.com is after you join their site lol. thumbsup for PHd status.

 

[joe7987]

^^lol, I wish.

Chris - It's tough to say, because my degree type is nearly non-existent.. so there aren't a lot of figures online for me to look at. What I do know is that people who earn a graduate degree in Modeling & Simulation from UCF typically make around 70K off the bat. The figures I've heard haven't made a discrimination between the Ph D and masters programs though. It also largely depends on what field I go into - Research vs. Industry.

The thing I do know is that AT MINIMUM, the pay is decent to great and almost everybody gets offered a job by the time they graduate. Compare this to my undergraduate degree in psych where I couldn't find a job anywhere, and when I finally did, I was lucky enough to make one extra dollar an hour for my degree.

 

[emerican]

Congrats man glad to hear it.

 

[Kswest]

Damn Joe, grats man. I totally thought I was on pace to finish my degrees about the same time as you. I haven't even finished my Masters up yet! I still have 6 months left before I'm allowed to dive into my PhD!

 

[vjf915]

So since you will be busy.....who's gonna be our blue man?

 

[Puma]

Congratulations!

 

[joe7987]

Thanks guys.

Ks- I think you're ahead of me actually. lol. I don't have my master's either. It's not a pre-requisite for my Ph D. program. It helps get you in, but it's not necessary.

Victor - Psh, I'm a man of many talents, one of them happens to be multitasking. Think a little thing like a Ph D is going to keep me from CC? You can't get rid of me that easy

 

[Kswest]

Thanks guys.

Ks- I think you're ahead of me actually. lol. I don't have my master's either. It's not a pre-requisite for my Ph D. program. It helps get you in, but it's not necessary.

Victor - Psh, I'm a man of many talents, one of them happens to be multitasking. Think a little thing like a Ph D is going to keep me from CC? You can't get rid of me that easy

Ah. Makes sense.

I look at the PhD as more of a job than it is schooling. You have to set aside 8-10 hours a day to do your 'job' of learning and building and exploring. That way you can still troll CC at night too.

 

[Lopez619]

Congrats man! and Good Luck!

 

[joe7987]

^^ Thanks!

Ah. Makes sense.

I look at the PhD as more of a job than it is schooling. You have to set aside 8-10 hours a day to do your 'job' of learning and building and exploring. That way you can still troll CC at night too.

Yea it kind of is like a job. The difference is: most of the time, I love it, so it's a job that I enjoy. It's funny.. I used to be one of those people who hated school. Now I can't seem to get enough. It's funny how college can turn you around once you find your niche.