Sabri Cetinkut

[MSME 1984, Ph.D. ME 1987]
Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Manufacturing Research Center
University of Illinois at Chicago

E-mail: scetin@uic.edu

I won a government scholarship as a result of a national competition after undergraduate school. They sent me to an English language school in Atlanta. While going to language school, I researched, applied and admitted to all schools I applied, including Georgia Tech and Stanford. It was a hard decision to choose one over the other. But, since I was already in Atlanta, I was able to start Georgia Tech for the summer semesters while keeping the option of going to Stanford in the fall. But, after I started at Tech, I decided to stay because I was convinced that it was a very good place.

There was an aura of quality in the environment at Georgia Tech. Professors were world class. International students like myself were welcome and were treated equally with U.S. students, which was a surprise to me back then. There were many good students from top universities from around the world. I quickly realized I was not the smartest kid anymore. I had to study hard to keep competitive, let alone being the best. Also, I listed to a talk given by Jimmy Carter at Tech in early 1983. I was able to shake his hand in line with other students. It inspired me. He has been an ideal of mine and he still is today (I read every book he wrote since then).

My graduate research advisor, Prof. Wayne Book, who is not only one of the nicest persons one can ever meet but also a well known researcher in robotics. He sent us to conferences, sponsor meetings, pushed us to publish, encouraged us to work hard and be independent thinkers, and showed us how to be a self-learner instead of waiting to be taught. I learned the concept of "sponsored research" and "self-learning". As soon as I started my career as Assistant Professor at University of Illinois at Chicago, I was ready and knew what I needed to do in a modern research university professor position. Later, I discovered that not all graduate programs prepare their students for the real world. I further observed later that it was not my personal quality (to my disappointment), but the result of the Graduate Program at Woodruff School. Now, as a senior faculty, I am often involved in hiring young faculty. As we hired new faculty members over the years, the people we hired from Georgia Tech were consistently more successful than the people we hired from other places.

There seems to be a good balance between theory and practice at Georgia Tech programs compared to others. I feel that helped me a lot in my career. I was able to design things that work and demonstrate that it works. I was never quite satisfied with just analysis. This really served my career well. I have started a successful company on campus which now employs thirteen people (Servo Tech Inc). As I interview engineers to hire, I consider Georgia Tech graduates as some of the most desirable candidates.

The strengths of the Woodruff School are world class faculty, a graduate student body that comes from all over the world and from the best universities, and a positive atmosphere. As I visited Georgia Tech in later years, I observed that the current graduate student body is even better than my years at Tech. Programs have a good balance between theory and practice, and I hope in time this balance is maintained. I would add to the program some formal training in intellectual property, and basic socializing and presentation skills, which are very important in the long run. I think the faculty and the graduate student body are world class. Simply put, it is the best or one of the very best. The facilities at the time were good, but not the best. I believe it is the people who are most important. Facilities can and will always need improvement. Let me put it this way-- it is not the facilities that differentiates Tech, it is the faculty first, then the student body, then the positive environment created.

I think Georgia Tech's graduate program in mechanical engineering is the best program in the U.S. today. I did not think so while I was at Georgia Tech. I thought MIT or Stanford were better. But, after graduation, I traveled around the U.S. and around the world extensively. Based on my experience, I believe Georgia Tech's programs are the best or one of the very best. You can think of a Georgia Tech degree like a great stock which seems to keep going up, and keeps paying great dividends. In all, I can never repay my debt to Georgia Tech, and to my professors such as Wayne Book, Steve Dickerson, Jerry Ginsberg, and David McDowell. Georgia Tech is a place that I will love forever. It is the institution that made the biggest difference in my life and instilled values that guide me today — that is — in America, all you need to reach your dreams is competence in your field, hard work, and honesty.