Hey guys, I'm looking for a civilian perspective on thesis selection. I'm working on my aero MS for the Air Force and am trying to take into consideration the implications if/when I ever get out and work in the civilian sector. I'm currently trying to decide between working with combusting wave rotors, modeling percussive damage in composite structures, fatigue monitoring, ultra-lightweight structure design or a satellite related topic. I'm guessing that the composites focused topics would be most widely applicable but I'm not sure how much, if at all, civilian employers care about what your thesis focused on. It may be a moot point because any knowledge I gain will be at least three years stale by the time I'd have my first opportunity to use it, but I figured that it can't hurt to consider. Thanks.

 

My $0.02....

Composites. The subject is still fairly young.

Depends on your age/experience when you feel it'll be applicable to civilian life/employment. Are you expecting to become a employee/contractor to one of the WP contactors? If so, it'll be considered but kind of secondary to your experience (if they know you anyway).

If you'll be trying for a related engineering but with a civilian (I.E. non-defense) firm like Boeing, Airbus or even an auto company then it'll be considered along with, and maybe a bit higher, than your AF experience.

Good luck!

 

How about integrated composite fatigue monitoring?

 

That's actually another topic I looked at in addition to acoustic damage monitoring.