Difficulties in narrowing down to a topic for my PhD in CFD

vasanth371 · October 1, 2015, 12:28

I am in my senior year, B.tech in Automotive engineering in India. I am very interested in Computational Fluid Dynamics. Although I don't sport a mighty background in the subject, I've had a few encounters with CFD through my courses Fluid Mechanics (FM), Heat transfer, Applied Numerical methods and finally a course directly on Computational Fluid Dynamics. I scored good grades ,especially in CFD and FM: I topped my class. But now I am planning to pursue an MS with PhD in CFD in USA with little or no idea on a firm topic. I know CFD is very very vast. Maybe someone could shed me some insight into some potential research areas, I can help by listing some of the schools I am currently considering to apply for. These are listed in the order of my preference.
1) Ohio State University (OSU)
2) California Institute of technology (Caltech)
3) North Eastern University, Boston
4) George Washington University
5) University of Massachusetts, Amherst
6) Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)
7) IUPUI, Indianapolis
8) University of Virginia, Richmond
9) Oklahoma State University, Stillwater
10) University of Michigan , Dear born (UMD)

I am yet to give my GRE, I am working on it , I can push to a max score of 320/340. I have a reasonable GPA 3.5/4.0. I am currently working on 3 projects of which one is on Truck-trailer aerodynamics. Also if there are any faculties or research people on board working on CFD in any of the above schools, I would really really appreciate your opinion. Some of the application deadlines are as early as November, I am running short of time, I'd really like an expert's opinion by then, also If I could get a review on these schools , It's highly appreciated because I have a hard time choosing the right school. Thanks in advance for the help.

fluid23 · October 1, 2015, 15:37

You should probably ask the faculty at these schools what research areas they actively pursuing. Unless you plan to fund your own research, your advisor will probably want to have some say in the matter.

vasanth371 · October 2, 2015, 09:14

That seems to be a good idea, I just talked to my adviser and we made a list of faculties who we thought I could talk to. I think it should work out. Thanks for the suggestion.

October 1, 2015, 12:28	Difficulties in narrowing down to a topic for my PhD in CFD	#1
vasanth371 New Member Vasanthan Ramakrishnan Join Date: Oct 2015 Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	I am in my senior year, B.tech in Automotive engineering in India. I am very interested in Computational Fluid Dynamics. Although I don't sport a mighty background in the subject, I've had a few encounters with CFD through my courses Fluid Mechanics (FM), Heat transfer, Applied Numerical methods and finally a course directly on Computational Fluid Dynamics. I scored good grades ,especially in CFD and FM: I topped my class. But now I am planning to pursue an MS with PhD in CFD in USA with little or no idea on a firm topic. I know CFD is very very vast. Maybe someone could shed me some insight into some potential research areas, I can help by listing some of the schools I am currently considering to apply for. These are listed in the order of my preference. 1) Ohio State University (OSU) 2) California Institute of technology (Caltech) 3) North Eastern University, Boston 4) George Washington University 5) University of Massachusetts, Amherst 6) Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) 7) IUPUI, Indianapolis 8) University of Virginia, Richmond 9) Oklahoma State University, Stillwater 10) University of Michigan , Dear born (UMD) I am yet to give my GRE, I am working on it , I can push to a max score of 320/340. I have a reasonable GPA 3.5/4.0. I am currently working on 3 projects of which one is on Truck-trailer aerodynamics. Also if there are any faculties or research people on board working on CFD in any of the above schools, I would really really appreciate your opinion. Some of the application deadlines are as early as November, I am running short of time, I'd really like an expert's opinion by then, also If I could get a review on these schools , It's highly appreciated because I have a hard time choosing the right school. Thanks in advance for the help.

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October 1, 2015, 15:37		#2
fluid23 Senior Member Matt Join Date: Aug 2014 Posts: 947 Rep Power: 18	You should probably ask the faculty at these schools what research areas they actively pursuing. Unless you plan to fund your own research, your advisor will probably want to have some say in the matter.

October 2, 2015, 09:14		#3
vasanth371 New Member Vasanthan Ramakrishnan Join Date: Oct 2015 Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	That seems to be a good idea, I just talked to my adviser and we made a list of faculties who we thought I could talk to. I think it should work out. Thanks for the suggestion.