What is required of a research student for my research projects?

I not actually doing research in "computational physics". I am merely using computational tools to investigate physics. In computational physics research the core business is on the physics, not the 'computation'. One begins with a very well-defined physics problem to solve. Computational tools such as programming language or numerical packages are merely tools. if one  knows the tools well it help a lot in the process. However, knowing only the tool does not lead you anywhere. At the end of the day what one really needs is the physics. Familiarity with all the computational tools is only a necessary condition but not the sufficient one. The computational tools are merely the means. But if you can't master the means there is no point to talk about the physics.


Nevertheless, the familiarity knowledge in computational tools is a relatively advanced skill to pick up. For example, you need to know to command and use the language (e.g., fortran), software packages (e.g., mathematica), graphical packages e.g., gnuplot, and the physics packages e.g., ABINIT, WIEN2k, LAMMPS etc. at your finger tips. Usually undergraduates don't learn all these sort of tool as they are mainly meant for people who are diving deep into the research field. So i don't expect a generic Malaysia undergraduate in physics to know very much such specialised technical knowledges. i guess a basic training in numerical methods could serve a good foundation for more advanced computational techniques which could be picked up when she/he begins the research. 


For most fresh Malaysian students graduated from local undergraduate physics schools which normally run a 3-year course, the physics and mathematics training is simply insufficient. Personally I am reluctant to believe that an excellent undergraduate result in a local Malaysian university infers an excellent physics training. Good academic score on paper merely says one is excellent in scoring exams, not necessarily means knowing sufficient physics. That is the Malaysian undergraduate system I know. So if you wish to do a PhD I reckon you really got to do a lot of reading and re-training in basic physics and its methodology. Be expected to spend a lot of time and effort to brush up fundamental before embark on a Ph.D-level research program.

Many people have talked with me for the possibility to do a PhD or master research study. So far only two persons stay, the rest are all scared away for various reasons, one being that my research program looks too scary. If you are thinking of taking up the challenge, please be prepared for a intellectually challenging life ahead. There is no free lunch in the academic world. You have to earn it yourself. 

Should you take up physics?

It is always good to know that there are students wanting to become a physicist,especially those with a brilliant brain. As the way I see it, in overseas, the most gifted student will normally end up in their countries' best physics school. After graduation, they become the most versatile problem solvers in most technical jobs.

But for young enthusiasts in Malaysia, the job prospects of a physics degree is always an issue. I wish to offer my opinion on this.

One should consider to further his postgraduate after a basic physics degree, because only by doing so will one sees the best benefit to be a physicist. A B.Sc (with or without Hons.) does not qualify one to be a physicist, so a B.Sc in physics is comparatively less competitive in terms of job market value. A M.Sc (by research) or PhD in physics is in a much different category than a mere bachelor degree. With a postgraduate degree one can do much more. The level of competition is also very much different from those who only hold a B.Sc. In general people who are very much into physics will go for a higher degree else it would be of not much use. So if one is considering physics as a career in the long run, she/he should prepare for a further study to higher level. If one only wants to get a mundane job after a B.Sc then engineering or other applied science field may be more practical.

So my advice to those who want to do a physics course depends very much on the motivation of that individual. In most cases, Malaysian students, being influenced by the survival mentality and shortsightedness of their parents and society, only want a mundane live and having a mundane job after their bachelor degree. For these people, who lack the necessarily motivation to become a physicist, a physics degree is probably not the best choice as it offers a much lower job market value compared to other professional fields of specialisation (engineering, for example). Further, if he/she has only a mundane talent or a very weak mind for physics, it's better for him/her to do something else (computer engineering, mechanical engineering, chemistry, direct sales, sale engineers...). But for those minds which are quite above average and truly with really strong motivation to become a physicist, who are willing to sacrifice years of hard life to earn his/her M.Sc or Ph.D, then I strongly encourage him/her to take up physics.

For those who are exceptionally good in everything, of course then he/she will do excellently in whatever fields he/she choose to hope in.

Experiece of sabbatical leave application

The process is easy. Just download the form from the website and wait. The form is very simple to fill, only 1 or two page.

Then think of a suitable research title and some decent research proposal (maybe this is not even required). Fill in tentatively any overseas hosts you have in mind. It is not necessarily for you to obtain their prior consent or approval when you put down your candidate hosts' names and institutes in the form. The host(s) can be changed anytime two months before your actual leave begins. Of course the best is to already have a definite confirmed research proposal and host at the time you fill up the form. But as already said, this is not necessary at the early stage. It's advised that you should contact any potential hosts as early as possible (but sometimes too early is also not convenient for the hosts). I suggest 6 months ahead before your actual date of sabbatical leave.

If you have no definite research proposal, then make one up yourself. USM only needs your research title and is not going to ask you for any detailed proposal. So I reckon that research proposal and research title in the form is only for cosmetic purposes.

The advice is to fill in a host in a most expensive country. Also state the date to stay there for the maximum period, 9 months usually. This is to ensure that USM management people allocate the maximum amount of money for your sabbatical leave when they prepare their budget. Doing so may save you some unnecessary trouble later (e.g if you were to ask for a lesser allocation now but to change it to a more expansive ones, bureaucrates upstair may find trouble with you later). There is a list of the amount of allowence paid based on the countries you spend your leave. Either you obtain this list from the human resource webpage or ask the human resource personnel in your school to provide you with this list. As far I know western and northern European and Japanese cities got a higher allowence. For Holland my allowence is around euro 1150 per month, which is sufficient for a single person, where my accommodation is 630 euro per month. I think they allowence is higher a bit in London or Paris or New York.

I only confirm my host in the very last moment, e.g. about 3.5 months before my leave. The easier way to get a host is normally to ask the research institute you were associated with or have visited. Before I come to Delft for my sabbatical leave, I have no contact or known any of the people here. I simply wrote to a researcher here and he just agree to host me. That's my good kamma.

Application for a P.hD position in the US: My experience

For US graduate school normally an applicant does not need to apply for the scholarship, as they will consider it at the time an applicant submit his application for a PhD position. This is normally the case but individual graduate school may have their own arrangement. So the best way to not to miss any possible scholarship is to browse through the web pages of the graduate schools one is applying to see if the applicant needs to submit a separate application for scholarship. If an applicant is in doubt, it's best to write to the person in charge directly, informing he/she that you are lodging an application for a PhD with their university, and request them if you would need to submit a separate application specifically for the scholarship. However, as I mentioned earlier, normally the applicants don't need to submit a separate application for scholarship. Once a graduate school accepts you, they will also take into account your eligibility of a scholarship. If they think you are qualify their offer of PhD position will come with a scholarship. In other words, the offer of scholarship is automatically. If they think an applicant is not eligible for a scholarship but only a P.hD position, they will just offer you the position without a scholarship. In most cases if an applicant is not offered a scholarship the university will usually offer some forms of financial arrangement e.g. in the form of teaching assistantship (TA), which should be enough to cover the applicant's living expenses.

I have no explicit knowledge of scholarship for a Ph.D in US by Malaysian institutions. The only thing i have heard of is the Maxis scholarship. Recently I have met with a few students from Cambridge University in UK who studied PhD with the maxis scholarship. I also heard of Shell scholarship but the details I am not very sure. Another possibility is the local Malaysian universities who offer academic staff training scheme (I think it is called RLKA or something like that). In cambridge for example I met with a few Malaysian Chinese lecturers who are sponsored by UTM and the newly established Melaka University. These students were taken by these universities on a lecturer training scheme. The Universities sponsor them to study Ph.D in Cambrige, and after the graduation they will go back to their respective universities as lecturers.

As I am not in the scholarship business my information about the scholarship information for Ph.D is very much limited. But i do believe that there are many such scholarships available from within Malaysia or in US itself. The problem is how to find out these resources. Unfortunately I don't have much info on this. It is the applicant's job to find out these scholarships resources from either the internet, or posing questions to the web pages maintained by Malaysian students society or organisation who may provide further info on this. My best advice is still the same: find the scholarship resources yourself in the internet. An Malaysian applicant have to learn this trick as it is utmost important for his/her survival in the future. An ambitious applicant has no choice but to learn up how to find his/her own information resources to realise his/her ambition. Our Malaysian students may score good grades in the exam. But real life requires more soft skill than just scoring exams.

When I did my US application for a P.hD position some years ago, I had no one to ask for help, not did I any idea where to apply for scholarships or financial assistance. However I was able to manage the application process until I obtained around 5 offers from US universities, of which one even offered me a full scholarship. I remembered that I spend a few months of time (during my job as a full time lecturer in KDU Penang) to search for all relevant information on the web when the internet was really slow (in year 1998). Then I was also very ignorant about where to find my financial resource, and I also faced huge obstacles during the process of application. Indeed, the current applicants who seek my advice are luckier than me as they got someone to guild them along the application (I had no one to guild me at all). But still I was 'successful' in getting a few P.hD position offers at the end. I attribute my success to my initiative to search the net, to ask, to write and to do many trials and error. During the process I used my intelligence and analytical skill to think hard of how I should handle this task. So, despite my lack of advices from experienced people (well, actually I did receive some not-so intensive advices from my UM senior who were studying in Notre Dame then), I gathered much first-hand experience on how to handle the application procedure. I don't have much resource, but still I manage to generate it myself without much assistance from others.

IF an applicant were to exercise more independent initiative to handle this task him/herself, he/she too can generate his/her own resource. If one does, then success will finally be his/hers.