Neal A. Hall

[M.S.M.E. 2002, Ph.D. ME 2004]
Assistant Professor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Texas
Austin, Texas

I initially decided to attend Georgia Tech due to the school's reputation, available facilities, and range of research projects available. I found the research projects being pursued at Georgia Tech to be application driven, with funding coming from both the private sector and the national government, both looking for enabling technologies and solutions to real problems.

The major strengths are the size of the engineering program, the first-rate facilities, the diverse range of expertise available among the faculty, and the broad spectrum of research goals being pursued. Combined these enable a powerful holistic approach to the development of new technology. For example, the development of an optical MEMS microphone in the MiST laboratory under Dr. Degertekin requires knowledge and experimentation in the fields of acoustics, optics, microfabrication, integrated circuit design, and system packaging. We were able to assemble a cross-disciplinary team of mechanical and electrical engineering students and faculty to design, fabricate, and test prototypes for this new state-of-the-art technology. Each of us, as students, became much more well-rounded as we learned from each other about areas outside our own fields of study. The expertise encompassed in the acoustics faculty at Georgia Tech and the extensive acoustic testing facilities available enabled us to rigorously characterize the performance of the new technology. The ability to encompass this full scope of development at a single university is rare and specific to just a few nationally ranked engineering programs such as Georgia Tech.

My graduate experience at Georgia Tech honed both my communication and technical skills in several ways. Working in cross disciplinary research teams requires continuously updating your colleagues as well as your research supervisors on testing results and new developments. In addition, Georgia Tech recognizes the importance of networking with the broader research community through international scientific conferences. I had the opportunity to travel and present my thesis work to over ten such conferences in three different countries while attending graduate school at Georgia Tech. In addition to improving my communication skills, attending these conferences provided me with valuable contacts.

The Woodruff School is a first rate institution for its programs, faculty, students, and facilities.