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It seems like you're definitely going to get a good experience if you go with this lab. I'm currently enrolled in a grad program myself - this may bias my persp

It seems like you're definitely going to get a good experience if you go with this lab. I'm currently enrolled in a grad program myself - this may bias my perspective. The great part about where you're coming from is that you might already have a great sense about how the 'real world' works. I'm sure you've done some form of research before - however, the process of getting through a PhD program makes you work harder to understand what you think you know - and hones your ability to create new academic value. Although a Master's in stats does prove useful, you're generally rehashing the same old techniques. You seem like you wanted more creativity in your job. I feel like value begets value - the academic value you create because you're curious can, if leveraged properly, become a company for you. I'm sure you already knew all this - but regardless if you're thinking of doing a program, why not consider doing the PhD program? Just make sure to get the Master's on the way, and you haven't lost any time - you were going to do the Master's, anyways. In that time, you'll get a lot of research done and find more opportunities. Furthermore, you'll probably find it easier to be paid - most schools are better funded for PhD candidates than Master's candidates. Why not take a 'free' degree, then, if you're going to put in the time? Quite honestly - the stuff you're doing is specialized, to some extent, but you can also link it to other imaging modalities. I presume you're correlating 'what am I thinking' to 'what do we see on fMRI?' - it's a classic multidimensional problem with a ton of potential solutions and a crazy number of permutations to handle. That's already some pretty useful stuff - you can take it, rinse, and reuse in another format - say, EEG, or applying new diagnostic fusion modalities to diagnosing various diseases automagically. Things appear different every time in different people - essentially a similar problem. In addition, you've got a huge area for HCI (human computer interaction). Jobs already has a ton of people contemplating moving to the tablet for everyday usage. What if we end up going a step further to wearable computing - how will we have interfaces? Turn your stuff slick and sexy, and you've got a huge potential market. You're landing a great research job in a great university. You're on Hacker News - wouldn't you consider starting your own company with all the crazy stuff you've discovered?

ToPhDorNotToPhd 16y ago
I have considered just going and seeing how it turns out (some people have given me the advice to go .... no better way to find out if I'll like it than to try). I think you're right about the stuff coming up on the horizon. From what I know, some of the HCI stuff is problematic (I just talked to an EEG guy that was lamenting how problematic his machine learning/EEG research has been, given the noisiness of the data), but people are really starting to think about this stuff. There are also individuals using fMRI as a neurofeedback device (Chris DeCharms of Omneuron has started down that path: http://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_decharms_scans_the_brain_in_real_time.html http://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_decharms_scans_the_brai...). Relatedly, some researchers have started to throw in classifiers such that one can focus on distributed brain states, as opposed to specific regions (which is what DeCharms does). I read about this stuff and I'm fairly convinced that eventually the HCI, neurotraining, neurotech industries will take off, but for me it's a question of when. Will the growth of those industries happen in 5 years or 25 years? If it happens in 5 or 6 years, I'd be golden. If 25, then I'd be looking for a job when I come out. As for the startup idea, I really have thought about that. The issue would be age again .... I'd be 37 with limited funds trying to crawl through the startup "Valley of Death." It wouldn't totally be off the table, but a lot would depend on the state of the industry. So, all in all, I look at this PhD opportunity and think that there's definitely exciting work to be done, and the potential for really interesting jobs in the future. But it seems very high risk considering that I'd need to get the timing just right.

ToPhDorNotToPhd 16y ago

I have considered just going and seeing how it turns out (some people have given me the advice to go .... no better way to find out if I'll like it than to try). I think you're right about the stuff coming up on the horizon. From what I know, some of the HCI stuff is problematic (I just talked to an EEG guy that was lamenting how problematic his machine learning/EEG research has been, given the noisiness of the data), but people are really starting to think about this stuff. There are also individuals using fMRI as a neurofeedback device (Chris DeCharms of Omneuron has started down that path: http://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_decharms_scans_the_brain_in_real_time.html http://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_decharms_scans_the_brai...). Relatedly, some researchers have started to throw in classifiers such that one can focus on distributed brain states, as opposed to specific regions (which is what DeCharms does). I read about this stuff and I'm fairly convinced that eventually the HCI, neurotraining, neurotech industries will take off, but for me it's a question of when. Will the growth of those industries happen in 5 years or 25 years? If it happens in 5 or 6 years, I'd be golden. If 25, then I'd be looking for a job when I come out. As for the startup idea, I really have thought about that. The issue would be age again .... I'd be 37 with limited funds trying to crawl through the startup "Valley of Death." It wouldn't totally be off the table, but a lot would depend on the state of the industry. So, all in all, I look at this PhD opportunity and think that there's definitely exciting work to be done, and the potential for really interesting jobs in the future. But it seems very high risk considering that I'd need to get the timing just right.