WPI Physics Alumni and Alumnae
From WPI PhysicsWiki
Quotes
About their experiences at WPI...
"The more I investigated WPI the more impressed I was with their reputation as a good school (being such a small school). I believed being on the East Coast would provide more quality oppurtunities for a future beyond school." - 2nd year graduate student
"I plan to work in industry. I want to work on device applications. I would like to use the physics I have learned towards the creation of new tools and applications. I think ideally I would like to be head of research for a large company at some point. I enjoy managing others and I would eventually like to direct research and determine the direction a company would take towards its research goals. I may eventually get back into academia where I can do this on a smaller scale as well as teach, which is something I love to do, but not immediately. I feel I've been working in academia for quite a few years and a change would be healthy." - 3rd year graduate student
"When I was in Russia and looked through the Peterson's (?) catalog, WPI seemed to have research area I liked most, I also liked location and opportunity to be in a new place." - 5th year graduate student
"I expected to be challenged by the graduate work, although I was not sure what to expect in terms of the quality of instruction. Indeed I was challenged, but I was most impressed with the dedication and skill of the professors. The fine reputation WPI has for excellence in undergraduate education certainly carries over into the graduate program." - '98 alumnus, currently at Los Alamos
"In general, I think WPI is an excellent school and I recommend to anyone serious about an advanced degree in physics that they should consider attending the school. The faculty and staff in the physics department are top notch and so are the graduate students. Physics is an excellent course of study if you are interested in fundamental questions about nature and are not statisfied with pat answers given in other disciplines." - '98 alumnus, currently at Micron Technology
About the relevance of a physics major
"A good Physicist will always make an excellent engineer; but an engineer will never make a good Physicist." -'59 Physics Alumnus
"With a good background in Physics, you can go in a lot of directions." -'78 Physics Alumnus
"A very good course of study would be to get a B.S. in physics and then get a Masters in some other field (e.g. computers, business or law) because this combination makes a very powerful/valuable (not to mention interesting) combination." -'93 Physics Alumnus
"I work in the fixed income division at Morgan Stanley, an investment bank in New York. I have found that the quantitative skills and the problem solving skills of scientists are very useful. However, they are not always evident when applying for the position. Therefore, practical experience or exposure is always a plus." -'92 Physics Alumnus
"I certainly recommend physics as a major because it develops problem-solving skills that are useful in many professions. ... My physics training has helped me to think systematically. In particular, it gave me the ability to simplify and solve seemingly complex problems. It provided me the skill to do quick back-of-the-envelope calculations and the ability to rule out irrelevant issues in attacking problems." -'74 Physics Alumnus
"Physics is superb training for any technical area! Physics teaches the use of abstraction, the interplay between theory and experiment, and the ability to master new mathematics tools quickly." -'77 Physics Alumnus
"My physics major provided a good general scientific background for understanding engineering concepts." -'74 Physics Alumnus
"I think companies are beginning to hire physicists more in lieu of engineers because of a physicist's superior problem solving skills." -'92 Physics Alumnus
"I work for one of the world's largest wireless communications companies... My physics background allows me to understand a vast array of technologies from adaptive antenna to JAVA." -'94 Physics Alumnus
"Major in physics if you are truly interested in understanding how things work." -'98 Physics Alumnus
"Physics training has given me powerful analytic skills and methods for thinking about problems that people from other disciplines are not familiar with." -'87 Physics Alumnus
"My physics education has been quite helpful. The general thinking and mathematics skills have been enormously helpful in most of my jobs. I would highly recommend a physics degree; the education trains one to think clearly, and the experience is applicable to other fields." -'80 Physics Alumnus
"Why not be all you can be -- be a physics major." -'97 Physics Alumnus
"Major in physics if you are truly interested in understanding how things work and if you are interested in creating technology innovations." -'98 Physics Alumnus
"WPI physics yielded sufficient technical smarts to avoid being snowed by technologists who really didn't have answers." -'83 Physics Alumnus
