Anand Ramesh

[Ph.D. ME 2002]
Senior Engineer
Caterpillar Technical Center
Mossville, Illinois

I was interested in working in the general area of manufacturing science. After reading about the Precision Machining Research Consortium (PMRC) on the web, and speaking to some students and professors who were part of this research group, I came away very impressed with the type of work being done. It seemed to be quite "hands-on", and applicable in a real-world scenario. This was very important to me, as I was very keen on pursuing an industry career even at that stage. The reputation of the Woodruff School and Georgia Tech also influenced my decision. After interning with General Motors and working at Caterpillar, I came to realize how strong Georgia Tech's reputation is in industry.

The Woodruff School definitely prepared me for a career, especially the quality of students. Tech professors push the students pretty hard, and I gained a lot of confidence from the fact that I competed pretty effectively with these extremely sharp people. I am never fazed when I walk into a meeting to make a presentation in front of senior managers, each of whom is an expert in some particular engineering field. I think the graduate program goes a long way in reinforcing your fundamentals.

The quality of students I think is the biggest asset of the program. Other strengths are of course the quality of the professors and the research budget of the school. Graduate students are often entrusted with a lot of responsibility, which was very helpful in teaching me the basics of managing large projects - something I do on a daily basis at work.

I never found the task of getting a job very difficult at Tech. The career center is excellent. In addition, faculty members have extensive networks in industry and academia. In fact, to my recollection, none of my colleagues at the PMRC had any difficulty in getting jobs - in industry or in academia. The Woodruff School can compete with the best (such as MIT, Illinois, Berkeley, Michigan, Purdue), because it is right amongst them.