r/ChemicalEngineering • u/APerplexedQuanta O&G and Energy/3 years • 4d ago

Career Advice Polymers vs. electronic materials for grad school?

Howdy people, long story short I'm planning to go back to school for my master's. I've got a bachelor's in chemE and as part of that I did polymers and soft materials research. Now I work at a small EPC in a project/process engineering role mainly working on petrochemical and energy projects.

For grad school I'm going back and forth between sticking with polymers or going to semiconductor/electronic materials. And this is all US-based, but I am not a citizen so that is another factor.

Polymers

  • Familiar and interesting, and my lab work/experience will lend to a better application
  • Using previous work experiences this will land me with a solid resumé for working in the battery industry
  • I like working on multidisciplinary problems so with knowledge of materials, petrochemicals, and previous mechanical/prototyping experience I have a good tool set for finding a job that itches that spot.

Semiconductor/electronic materials

  • Job security and higher pay (think Samsung, Applied Materials, etc.)
  • Still a cool and interesting field I can dig my teeth into
  • Slightly more limited as to where I can work in the US if I stick to manufacturing facilities, but if it is with a large company that gives me scope to move around the world

So my questions are

  1. Do these sound reasonable or am I missing something?
  2. Any specific school recommendations or parts of the country where I should focus for better industry connections?
  3. Anything I should focus on in terms of my current job before jumping off to grad school?
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u/TryAggressive9338 4d ago

Why don’t you want to stick with energy?

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u/APerplexedQuanta O&G and Energy/3 years 4d ago

I'd be open to given the right role, it's just that I'm not feeling very fulfilled/interested in stuff I've done so far.

Plus I'm planning this grad school thing as a hedge against visa problems so I figured if I'm going anyways, I would move to something I know I like more.