Testimonial

Michael W. Woodmansee

[M.S.M.E. 1999, Ph.D. ME 2003]
Senior Mechanical Engineer
Oilfield Services Tech and Field Program
Schlumberger, Ltd.

While I had been accepted by a number of other graduate schools — many quite prestigious in mechanical engineering — none actively recruited me as aggressively as the Woodruff School at Georgia Tech. When I was accepted into the George W. Woodruff School's graduate program, the School's Associate Chair of Graduate Studies called to congratulate me personally, to inform me that my research assistantship was assured, and to express his hopes that I would choose to pursue my graduate education at Georgia Tech.

The School then brought me down to see the campus for myself and to meet some of the faculty face to face. I picked my advisor during the flight home, and accepted the School's offer the next day.

The Woodruff School offers a superior mix of academic and industry — driven research, compared to many other engineering graduate programs. The School's affiliations with the Manufacturing Research Center, the Georgia Tech Research Institute, and Engineering Computing Services provide it with a broad range of industry-specific knowledge, equipment, software, and other resources, while the School's faculty blends cutting-edge knowledge with teaching competency to give students ample opportunities to broaden their academic horizons. So, the question is not whether the School prepares its students for their careers, but rather, are the students taking advantage of the School's multitude of resources?

The Woodruff School has solid footing in its faculty, its facilities, and its finances. It also offers a terrific study-abroad program in conjunction with Georgia tech Lorraine, in Metz France. Existing at the Northwest corner of Atlanta, Georgia Tech is a gateway between the city of Atlanta and its North metro area, offering access to both worlds, while preserving the geographic integrity of its main campus.

Today's mechanical engineering graduate programs balance between teaching a broad spectrum fundamentals and focusing on growing body of industry-specific knowledge and skills. I found George W. Woodruff School to offer ample opportunities in both areas. Likewise, the School's has utilized its vast "Coke money" resources to endow itself with technical facilities that few graduate schools can compete with. If I needed a certain piece of equipment for my research, chances were that there was one already in use somewhere in the Woodruff School. Yet I found the graduate student body in the Woodruff School to be somewhat of a work-in-progress. I met a number of students with mind-boggling intelligence and many others with razor-sharp focus and dedication to their studies, but I encountered few who had both qualities. This caliber of student is essential for the growth of a graduate program because such a student is a role-model and inspires the rest of us to reach for higher goals. Once the School attracts these driven geniuses — even if it needs to triple their stipend and provide career placement services to entice them — the phrase "Georgia Tech of the North" will become ubiquitous nationwide.