|
| The main purpose of grad school, especially at the master's level is to teach you by experience how to learn on your own. How to find out without being spoon fed the way education is before that from day care through the BS. In doing the thesis you learn to find information in the library, and by asking questions, and to organize that information. For practice you do it for a very narrow area, but that practice opens up the world. You learn how to find out. That's the major benefit of grad school.
As for "worthwhile" research topics, there are questions asked daily on this forum that aren't yet answered in the theses and published literature. Such as: How much N can be mixed into a strip till strip in the spring? How much N does a corn crop really need and is that affected by plant breeding, variety, or placement? Why is there a strip in Story County Iowa where beans never do better than 50 bushel yields while the SW parts of the county and nearby parts of Boone county do 70 with the same seed? Is molybdenum needed in Iowa now? Is molybdenum needed in some parts of Iowa now? Should Iowa tissue tests check for a molybdenum need? What are the relative effectiveness of the various liquid replacements for AMS in the glyphosate spray? How much is that effectiveness affected by water hardness and pH? Should sugar or citric acid be a common glyphosate spray additive?
Just a few ideas.
I did my MS in electrical engineering in 5 quarter (and three induction notices). After that (army hitch) I became a professional student.
Gerald J. | |
|
IA State Agronomy masters program
