what would you pick out of all these to do research on and why?
>room temp superconductors
>ultrapacitors
>machine learning
>NPDEs and Spectral Theory
>rotaxanes
>thermoplastic elastomers
>amorphus inconel sintering
>multijunction photovoltaics
>magnetic refrigeration
>electroactive polymers with subfocus on dielectric elastomers
>telemorase synthesis
>reciprocal quantum logic
>physically based rendering
>>7940571
Depending on how old I was, I would pick something.
If I was an undergrad or masters, I would pick the topic I was least familiar with so as to gain both a broader understanding and to help grow as a scientist.
If I was a phd or new postdoc, I would pick something that I loved and was very familiar with.
If i was getting tired/bored as a postdoc/professor, I would take some time off from my favorite subject and spend some time looking at some other material, learn something and come back to my original field.
>>7940604
does it ever matter what your masters was on when you pick a thesis? or are all these fair game?
You have little to no choice in what you do research on in the real world. Because funsing lol
How about wholly synthetic molecular machines?
>>7940678
>go to a research institute with funding
>???
>profit muhammed
>>7940618
people keep telling me it matters for employment
>>7940751
Hahahaha no, that's not how it works. You have to research what they want you to research.
>>7940571
I would pick ML because this is the buzzword the industry will drown in money in the next years.
>>7940678
Not entirely true. As an undergrad, you can become a "researcher" (loosely) in basically any lab you want, assuming they accept students and you've got the credentials. Of course, you're mainly a code monkey, pencil pusher, or lab assistant -- but you can still get published and it's pretty fulfilling. I'm a third year student, waiting on an acceptance to study spontaneous silicon pillar formation under femtosecond laser pulses this summer. Done research in other areas too.
>>7940814
How about this, machine learning with one of those other things.
I am funded as fuck doing essentially that but much cooler.
>>7940571
For national interests and deciding funding, probably photovoltaics. Payback is good and there will be much interesting work.
For my own PhD it would be Superconductivity. A long shot that could pay off a lot.
Definitely a combination of ML with any of those, welcome to funland.
>>7940571
Ultracapaitors because battery chemistry is about tapped out and they're still kinda shit.
Electric vehicles are the future but the crappy expensive batteries they use limit their utility.
Also such capacitors could be used to make all kinds of energy based death-rays and the defense industry will always be in high demand.
>>7940796
>You have to research what they want you to research.
which would be what you want to research if you...did your research.
would it be possible to integrate all of this into one R&D project/thesis on robotics? the superconductor for motors, the ultracapactor for batteries, the machine learning/NPDEs, the elastomers for facial shit, the inconel sintering for product processing, the photovoltaics for charging, magnetic refrigeration for the superconductors, and RQL for the CPU.
could you wrap it all into one thing like that if you could actually do the work of researching each area individually then integrate it for one dissertation? how would a faculty take such an endeavor? it's hard just to pick one.
>>7944528
bumpin
>>7944528
Possible but unlikely.
Research is specialized. You do not want to put everything into the project. Also you want to focus by building on existing knowledge in the group.
Multi disiplinary research is mainly a political beast.
Where you actually DO integration is later stages in development and prototyping, possibly applied research which is very close to development.
There's a physics professor at my uni who does work on cellular morphogenesis that's really cool. I dunno, I'm partial to biophysics stuff because it tends to throw the assumption of the possibility of rigor out the window and instead focuses on the actually interesting part of physics as a discipline, i.e. making cool models.
>>7945518
i don't get what you're saying. if the institute can't get funding for an area you do research for why would you join it? how would you join it?
