PhD Talk among Top 100 Thesis and Dissertation references on the web

I have some lovely news to share with you, my awesome readers... PhD Talk is featured in Online PhD Program's list of Top 100 Thesis and Dissertation references on the web.

Even better, the blog has earned a badge for that (I totally dig badges, ribbons and other rewards).

Last but not least - this blog wouldn't be what it is today without all your support, insightful comments, and Twitter/Facebook interaction. I've learned so much from the online PhD community, and I hope all current and aspiring PhD candidates will find that the internet can be a true source of inspiration (and not just a time suck).

Breaking News: The Dissertation

I'm breaking my regular stream of posts to let you know that my dissertation is now available online through the TU Delft Repository. The printed copies should be ready on Thursday - 250 books in total are coming my way.

Even though I still need to defend the thesis, on June 14th, in Delft the thesis gets printed and published before the actual date of the defense, which also serves as commencement ceremony.

 

Here's the metadata of my dissertation, which you can access here:

Author: Lantsoght, E.O.L.
Promotor: Walraven, J.C.
Faculty: Civil Engineering and Geosciences
Department: Structural Engineering
Type: Dissertation
Date: 2013-06-14
ISBN: 9789088916328
Keywords: reinforced concrete · slabs · effective width · shear · experiments · assessment of bridges
Rights: (c) 2013 Lantsoght, E.O.L. · Creative Commons BY NC SA

The capacity of existing solid slab bridges in the Netherlands is under discussion for two reasons: 1) the increased traffic loads and volumes and 2) the fact that the majority of the existing bridges were built before 1976, and are thus reaching the end of their original life span. Upon assessment according to the governing codes, a large number of slab bridges are found to be shear-critical. However, the shear capacity as prescribed by the codes is based on experiments on beams in shear. Slabs subjected to concentrated loads (such as truck wheel load) are assumed to have additional capacity as a result of transverse load redistribution. This thesis studies the capacity of slabs under concentrated loads close to supports. A literature review, resulting in a slab shear database with 215 experiments from the literature, is used to study the mechanisms at work in one-way and two-way shear. For this research, 156 experiments were carried out on 38 half-scale bridge deck specimens. The experimental results are studied by means of a parameter analysis. To determine the capacity of slabs in shear subjected to concentrated loads, two methods are proposed in the thesis: 1) the Modified Bond Model, a new theory to determine the capacity of slabs subjected to concentrated loads; and 2) by using a code extension proposal that results from probabilistic calculations following the safety philosophy of the Eurocodes. Finally, the link to the assessment practice is made by formulating recommendations, improving the Quick Scan assessment tool of the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, and then applying this to cases of existing solid slab bridges.

Silver Linings: Podcasts and the Love of Learning

One of the things I enjoy most as an academician is the ability to learn all the time. As I read new publications and get acquainted with new test results or new theories, or try to read about a related field that I haven't explored in depth yet, I feel it very rewarding to see how knowledge grows in the mind.

But besides my field of study, I find it important to keep learning continuously about other aspects of our world.
One of the challenges I imposed on myself for 2013 is to learn something new every single day.

There are several ways to learn something new. I enjoy reading books, ebooks, blogs and follow online courses. But one of my favorite ways of learning is by listening to podcasts while I am cutting vegetables or having dinner.

My absolutely favorite podcast is 15 minute history from UT Austin. I am interested in history, but I have only taken an elective in music history during my engineering studies in Brussels. My barriers for entry to understanding the work of historians are fairly high.

The podcasts from 15 minute history are accessible, thought-provoking and a noob like me is able to follow the contents and actually learn from it. After every episode, I think to myself: "Now that is interesting, I really learned something in these past 15 minutes."

If you want to spark your joy for learning and go outside of your field of study, I recommend you listen to the episodes of "15 minute history."

Five Best Practices for Getting Started with Research

A little while ago, I got this question from a reader as a comment to the Silver Linings introduction.

Also, could you write about starting with a research? I am actually afraid to start with it, to just do it and ask for some tasks at the professor...while I want to. I think it's too difficult for me, and I don't know where to begin in proving myself wrong.

Before burying the idea in my ever-growing list of blog post ideas, I had already quickly chipped in:

As for your question - I'll make sure to write a post on that, but as for now, be sure to realize that research is a process that is built upon the lessons we learn from our failures. So, don't be afraid to jump into the playground - you'll get your knees chafed along the way, but that's all part of growing up to become a fully fledged researcher :)

But let's take a look at this question again. I wrote a post about getting started in a PhD course or in graduate school, but getting started with research is a different topic. You can start on a new research project as a post-doc as well, for exampled.

In my opinion, there are five essential pieces of knowledge to keep in mind when you get started on a research project:

1. Play with your papers

After reading a paper, don't just simply archive it, but apply your new insights. You can try to carry out some calculations with the method that is proposed in a paper, check experimental results from another paper with the proposed method, explore the boundaries of the formula and the validity of its assumptions - the list of options goes on and on.

2. Learn a new skill

The beginning of your research is the moment to assess which skills you will need during the process and which parts of your knowledge need deepening. The early research months are a good time to learn programming in a new language, or study a book in a new subject that will be of use to your research. Don't get too side-tracked by learning new things, try to implement them and connect them with your research question early on!

3. Become independent

Don't wait for your supervisor to give you "homework". Research does not work like that. You are expected to get your hands dirty and play around in the garden until you find your treasure. Whenever you find a glimmer of gold, you can go and show this to your supervisor, and he will give you some input and comments to that, and steer you when necessary.

4. Familiarize yourself with the campus and services

This point overlaps with my earlier post on starting a PhD - but once you are fully engrained in your research, you don't want to go and spend a day figuring out how your library system works. Just figure out what services are at your disposition and how you can benefit most from these.

5. Document your journey

Your early scribblings most likely won't make it into your final dissertation, but I'd encourage you to start writing early on. Explain why a certain paper is of particular interest to you, or outline the strategies you used to find the limits of a theory that you studied. These documents make discussions with your supervisor easier, and they help you practice writing.

What would you recommend for someone who is getting started on research?

Writers' Lab: A Quick Hack to Writing with Less Disturbances

Do you recognize yourself in the following description?

You are trying very hard to write a paragraph, and just got into the flow of writing. But then you need to add a table or figure, and you need to start switching between programs. By switching and multitasking, you feel like you lost your momentum again, and you end up slacking around for another 20 minutes, before hitting the keyboard again.

This problem often arises when two programs are both equally important for your work, a situation that can occur when you start writing about results that you have stored in spreadsheets.

You will need to go back and forth between your spreadsheet and your writing, continuously. And this continuous switching might slow you down. In fact, this continuous switching might make you lose your train of thought. You can get tempted to click that internet icon on your task bar and start reading the news or hanging out on social media platforms.

I made huge progress when I applied this super-simple easy trick:

Use two screens

No, seriously, adding a second monitor to my desktop has been one of the best productivity hacks I applied over the course of the past year.

Suddenly, I could place a spreadsheet next to my text document and start discussing my results while looking at the additional screen, showing me the spreadsheet.

For large calculations, I can now easily have two spreadsheets open next to eachother and see if I haven't copy-pasted the wrong column from one sheet into the other (something that has happened to me too often).

When I'm planning out my next week, I have my planning document in the left screen, my Google Calendar in the right screen and my planning on my table.

For me, having two documents available on two screens has been such a lifesaver. Before adding the second screen, I didn't even realize how much friction occurred in my work simply from changing between programs.

Do you use an additional monitor? Do you recognize the benefits I described?

Silver Linings: The PhDcat(s)

If you find yourself procrastinating and watching lolcats or kitty pictures online, it might be time to get yourself your own furry friend.

Petting your cat, walking your dog or playing with your hamster are all incredibly valuable and relaxing activities - the type of activities that you simply should build into your busy daily schedule.

The simple presence of having a pet at home, has some major benefits for your health.

However, you might think the time and cost spent on a pet are too much when you are preoccupied with your PhD research. But then again, if you need to postpone all lovely things in life until after your PhD, you're missing out on too many things, and probably feeling grumpy for that reason.

Another issue you might worry about is the cost of taking care of a pet. If you don't go crazy in the special pet candies and toys, the expenses for food, litter and the annual veterinary checkup are very reasonable. By all accounts, the cost is negligible when compared to the joy of having a sweet little creature around you.

I've written the whole story of me and my beloved Pasha in an earlier post.

Here, again I would like to put things in perspective, and convince you that -if you like pets and have no allergies- it could be very beneficial to take a pet.

Do you have pets, or would you like to wait until after the PhD?

Thinking about STEM

As part of the MIT Medialab Course on Learning Creative Learning, I followed the YouTube lecture on Powerful Ideas.

The interesting idea here comes in around the 27 min mark, in which Alan Kay argues that we shouldn't speak of STEM, but instead of TEMS.

Now, let me take one step back. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math, and while spreading the love for my field, I consider myself a STEM ambassador.

An interesting discussion is why STEM courses of study are not that popular, and certainly not popular among women - but I'll leave that topic to those who research the problem.
By all accounts, I think that every young person should have the liberty to study something he/she finds interesting, and not something that would ensure them of a good job, or because someone has pushed them into that direction.
I also think all fields of study are equally interesting and important in society, and get a little nauseous when the Loud Voices of Industry start yelling that social sciences are unnecessary.

With that said, let's look again at the acronym STEM itself. Alan Kay would like to turn it into TEMS, and I fully understand his reasons for this. Technology should be replaced by Tinkering, and this is the oldest discipline. From Tinkering, mankind rolled into Engineering. You don't need to know all the principles at work to actually do Engineering work. When things get a little more complicated, you need Math. And Science itself has only been around for the last 400 years.

TEMS instead of STEM is thus a more chronological approach of ordering the letters of the field in the acronym, and with its 4 letters, gives us an insight into the history.

You can see Alan Kay's discussion here: