Testimonial

Peter Kottke

[M.S.M.E. 2002, Ph.D. ME 2004]
Postdoctoral Fellow, Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology

e-mail: peter.kottke@me.gatech.edu

I am currently involved in postdoctoral research and my goal is to obtain a faculty position. Obviously, the skills and knowledge that I obtained through doctoral research and graduate classes are prerequisites for such a career. As a result, I have seen many different styles of research. In particular, I have learned that the most successful and excited researchers usually are those who aren't satisfied with becoming experts in a small area and exhaustively developing their niche. Instead, they are at the boundaries of several disciplines, and always willing to enter new fields. It would be a mistake to think that faculty members are the only people who make the Woodruff school as good as it is. Discussions, study groups, and joint research with my fellow students were some of my most valuable experiences. The number of graduate students who started in mechanical engineering at Tech at the same time as I did was more than the number of mechanical engineers that graduated with me from Duke. The diversity and size of the graduate school is a big reason that I was able to have so many positive interactions with other students. In addition to the faculty and students, a third important group is the support staff, and the facilities and resources they make possible.