James E. Moore, Jr.

[BME 1987, MSME 1989, Ph.D. ME 1991]
Associate Professor
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Texas A&M University College Station, Texas

I was already a Georgia Tech student as an undergraduate, and was aware of the research capabilities of the outstanding faculty there. It made sense for me to stay where I was and take advantage of the opportunities in the program. My prior knowledge of the professors and the attention they paid to graduate students was very reassuring. One advantage of my path was the efficiency with which I finished graduate school (a little over three years total).

One of the main strengths of a GT education (whether at the undergraduate or graduate) level is that it prepares you very well for the "real world." My graduate experience included extensive experience teaching at the undergraduate and graduate level, writing publications and grants, plus exposure to a wide range of research in my specialty area (biomedical). These experiences gave me a head start in my academic career. I also had very good interactions with the other graduate students in the program. The quality of the students was very high. The Woodruff School is clearly top five in the country.

Anecdote

How I was guided into my research area: At the beginning of my senior year, I took the undergraduate fluids course from a new, young professor who was basically unknown to all of the students. I found the class interesting, but my grade was running along the B/C line at the end of the quarter. I studied very hard the whole weekend before the final, and managed a nearly perfect score - far above the next highest score. When I got the A on my grade report, I avoided seeing this professor in fear that he had made a grading mistake. One day, I ran into him in the hallway, and he pulled me into his office to tell me what a great job I did on the exam. He offered me a job working in his lab, which of course was just getting started up. The professor was Dr. David Ku, who has become very well known in the field. At the top of the exam, which I still have to this day, he wrote a note, "Any interest in graduate school?" I stayed on working in that lab through my PhD.