What Exactly Is a Doctorate?

What Exactly Is a Doctorate?

Reproduced from: http://gizmodo.com/5613794/what-is-exactly-a-doctorate

Ever wondered what getting a doctorate really means? Matt Might, professor of Computer Science at the University of Utah, explains it perfectly in this graphic presentation that starts with a simple circle:

Every fall, I explain to a fresh batch of Ph.D. students what a Ph.D. is.

It's hard to describe it in words.

So, I use pictures.

Read below for the illustrated guide to a Ph.D.

Imagine a circle that contains all of human knowledge:

SEXPAND

By the time you finish elementary school, you know a little:

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By the time you finish high school, you know a bit more:

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With a bachelor's degree, you gain a specialty:

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A master's degree deepens that specialty:

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Reading research papers takes you to the edge of human knowledge:

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Once you're at the boundary, you focus:

SEXPAND

You push at the boundary for a few years:

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Until one day, the boundary gives way:

SEXPAND

And, that dent you've made is called a Ph.D.:

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Of course, the world looks different to you now:

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So, don't forget the bigger picture:

SEXPAND

Matt Might is a professor of Computer Science at the University of Utah. He finished his dent at Georgia Tech in 2007, and now enjoys advising his own Ph.D. students on how to make theirs. He tweets from @mattmight and blogs atblog.might.net.

Today in Engineering history. December 1

On December 1, 1913, Henry Ford introduced the assembly line concept to the process of manufacturing automobiles, it had has revolutionized the automobile industry and the concept of manufacturing worldwide.
Henry Ford built his first car, the “Quadricyle,” in 1896. In 1903, he officially opened the Ford Motor Company and five years later released the first Model T. Although the Model T was the ninth automobile model Ford created, it would be the first model which would achieve wide popularity. Even today, the Model T remains an icon for the still-existing Ford Motor Company.   

In 1910, with the aim of increasing manufacturing capacity for the Model T, Ford built a new plant in Highland Park, Michigan. He created a building that would be easily expanded as new methods of production were incorporated.  Ford had previously observed the assembly line concept in slaughterhouses in the Midwest and was also inspired by the conveyor belt system that was common in many grain warehouses in that region; he wished to incorporate these ideas to implement a new system in his own factory.

One of the first innovations in production that Ford implemented was the installation of gravity slides that facilitated the movement of parts from one work area to the next. Within the next three years, additional innovative techniques were incorporated and, on December 1, 1913, the first large-scale assembly line was officially in working order.

 

The moving assembly line appeared to the onlooker to be an endless contraption of chains and links that allowed Model T parts to swim through the sea of the assembly process. In total, the manufacturing of the car could be broken down into 84 steps. The key to the process, however, was having interchangeable parts.

Unlike other cars of the time, the Model T featured interchangeable parts, which meant that every Model T produced on that line used the exact same valves, gas tanks, tires, etc. so that they could be assembled in a speedy and organized fashion. Parts were created in mass quantities and then brought directly to the workers who were trained to work at that specific assembly station.

The chassis of the car was pulled down the 150-foot line by a chain conveyor and then 140 workers applied their assigned parts to the chassis. Other workers brought additional parts to the assemblers to keep them stocked; this reduced the amount of time workers spent away from their stations to retrieve parts. The assembly line significantly decreased the assembly time per vehicle and increased the profit margin.