{"692947":{"#nid":"692947","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Academia or Industry? Recent Graduate Says Internships Can Help Ph.D. Students Make the Right Choice","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhile many doctoral students know from the start whether they want to go into academia or industry, some don\u2019t make that decision until closer to the end of their journey.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESichen Jin, who graduated in the spring with a Ph.D. in computer science from Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Interactive Computing, said students in this situation should make good use of their internships.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJin speaks from experience because she wasn\u2019t sure which path to take when she started her Ph.D.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI think that was always an open question to me,\u201d she said. \u201cI was debating between them a lot. I know my first two or three years, I wanted to make sure I got to know what research was like and then try the industry experience.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EKnowing she would complete at least two internships at Georgia Tech, she decided to base her decision on those experiences.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn 2024, Jin interned at the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.pnnl.gov\/\u0022\u003EPacific Northwest National Laboratory\u003C\/a\u003E (PNNL).\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/ai-visualization-tool-provides-power-grid-operators-data-monitoring-and-analysis\u0022\u003EShe helped design a large-scale visual analytics tool powered by artificial intelligence (AI)\u003C\/a\u003E to help power grid operators make quick, informed decisions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe work I did at PNNL was more aligned with the work I was doing in my Ph.D.,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was very exploratory. I had free reign to go whatever direction I wanted.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJin said her next internship was nothing like her internship at PNNL. She interned at Cisco over the summer and said the main difference was that the work focused on producing research to enhance a product.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShe helped Cisco build new pipelines that allowed its products to automate visualizations with AI.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI think industry\u2019s goal is so different from what academia is looking for,\u201d she said. \u201cUsually, academia wants a novel idea and a demo, but industry wants something reliable, something that is tested repeatedly. There are so many steps before you can release a product. They are driven by results.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJin said she gravitated toward that, which pushed her to apply for industry jobs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShe is now a research scientist at Meta.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI like that the work is straightforward,\u201d she said. \u201cYou get a task with a concrete goal, and you aim for it, and you get it solved. There\u2019s tangible output. You get to see what you build be used by users, and your work reaches a lot broader audience. Every decision you make will affect them and whether they are happy with the product.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELooking back on her experience, Jin said she wouldn\u2019t change how she approached her Ph.D. Whether a doctoral student wants to pursue academia, industry, or is unsure, she said laying a foundation for their research is paramount.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cYou need some concrete research outcomes that people know you for, and you need some publications under your belt. Those are the years when you\u2019re still exploring your topic or research. Most of the time, your advisor can\u2019t tell you what the topic of your dissertation, so you need to figure it out. Doing a research-oriented internship can help you do that.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJin added that all students should experience both sides to ensure they make the best choice.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cYou might find that you are doing research that is aligned with the industry\u2019s needs. Then you might want to get a sense of what that looks like; you can do an engineering or product-driven internship. You can make fair comparisons and not regret your decision.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhile many doctoral students know from the start whether they want to go into academia or industry, some don\u2019t make that decision until closer to the end of their journey.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"While many doctoral students know from the start whether they want to go into academia or industry, some don\u2019t make that decision until closer to the end of their journey."}],"uid":"36530","created_gmt":"2026-09-30 17:27:25","changed_gmt":"2026-09-30 17:29:17","author":"Nathan Deen","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-09-30T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-09-30T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"681312":{"id":"681312","type":"image","title":"04_Sichen-Jin_P9A7594-Enhanced-NR.jpg","body":null,"created":"1790789259","gmt_created":"2026-09-30 17:27:39","changed":"1790789259","gmt_changed":"2026-09-30 17:27:39","alt":"Sichen Jin leans over her laptop as she works","file":{"fid":"265684","name":"04_Sichen-Jin_P9A7594-Enhanced-NR.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/09\/30\/04_Sichen-Jin_P9A7594-Enhanced-NR.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/09\/30\/04_Sichen-Jin_P9A7594-Enhanced-NR.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":101749,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/09\/30\/04_Sichen-Jin_P9A7594-Enhanced-NR.jpg?itok=E69vtd6Z"}}},"media_ids":["681312"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"50876","name":"School of Interactive Computing"}],"categories":[{"id":"130","name":"Alumni"},{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"}],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}