Grad School

[nathanielbuildsatesseract]

Had my advising meeting with Dr K this morning. I'd say it went fairly well, though it looks like I'll be doing my first three credit hours of thesis work in the fall rather than this summer. Dr K also recommended that I take a math class; generally master's students satisfy their math credit in the first year but I had my eyes on more interesting classes. Beyond that, I can take a graduate-level engineering class, which is more-or-less up to me based on interest, availability, and what I think I'd do well at.

I'm still trying to decide between a propulsion or spacecraft design focus for my thesis. Both advanced propulsion—particularly nuclear thermal propulsion—and mission engineering appeal to me. In both cases, there's a logical connection to some relatively straightforward astrodynamics for interplanetary flights. The question is which area is most relevant to me based on where my enthusiasm and aptitudes lie, as well as which would better advance my career prospects. This latter presents another question: do I want to focus on the prospect of forming my own company, or should I be looking for jobs with existing aerospace companies.

On the one hand, I'm kind of excited to have a summer just to work on this stuff (and start the post-grad job search, gonna need to hop on that one early with the labor market the way it is) but I'm also worried it will be hard to focus given that current events have warranted more of my attention in the last three months than the last three years.