Leader in the Field Interview

On Monday February 22, 2010, I interviewed the Director of School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Dr. Farrokh Mistree. I chose him because my prospected major is Aerospace Engineering and I felt he would know a great deal about how to succeed in this field of study. He is originally from India and had chosen to pursue Naval Architect as his major when he first went to college at the University of California. He soon changed his major to Mechanical Engineering and went to school for ten to twelve years and received his Ph.D. at Berkley University. He now works for the University of Oklahoma and creates strategic plans for the school of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering. He also establishes connections with the University of Oklahoma Alumni to raise money for the school. His favorite thing about his job is interacting with people, students, and other chairmen. His least favorite thing about his job is having to evaluate people. His advice for me becoming an engineering student is to be competitive; I must be able to solve problems and formulate them too. I asked him for advice about internships and he said they would be helpful but that I should diversify my summers and not only spend them with the same internship company. He suggested study abroad along with interning somewhere. He also advised me to double major and not minor in anything. He insisted that I enrich my goal of graduating in four years for a Bachelor's Degree into receiving an Ph.D. He insisted that elongating my goal in school will allow me to strive for a higher degree instead of expecting to graduate in 4 years. His final advice was that being a Professor is the best job to have because of the knowledge learned between the students and the professors. I very much enjoyed my interviewee Dr. Mistree. He made this opportunity challenging and interesting in a way that made me feel as if I had no idea what I really wanted to do because there is so much out there in the real world. I went into the interview confident in my ways and came out having doubts. Not that Dr. Mistree wanted me to change my mind, but he made me think about what things I'm good at and what things I'm not so good at. I really appreciated this experience.

Here is a link to his Director of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at OU website page. http://www.ou.edu/coe/ame/director_s_welcome.html