Four tips for successfully earning a Ph.D. from a recent SDSU grad

Mohammed Mehdi Hasan Akash recently earned his doctorate from South Dakota State University's Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering. 

Five years is the average time it takes a doctoral candidate to earn a Ph.D.

Mohammed Mehdi Hasan Akash took just four years to earn his doctorate from South Dakota State University's Department of Mechanical Engineering in the Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering. A mechanical engineering undergraduate alumnus of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology — one of the top research universities in Asia — Akash also completed a master's degree from the Lohr College of Engineering during his four years based on a subsidiary project.

Under the supervision of Saikat Basu, assistant professor in SDSU's Department of Mechanical Engineering, Akash has focused his research on computational modeling of transport phenomena inside complex biomedical systems, such as respiratory physiology and cancerous tumors. The topic of his master’s thesis was related to respiratory flows, while for his Ph.D. dissertation, Akash shifted his attention to cancer. He has four peer-reviewed journal publications to date and is expected to have at least four more published based on his work at SDSU.

"Akash's doctoral research revolves around figuring out the flow patterns in and around the tiny blood channels passing through dense tumors," Basu explained. "In addition to his cancer-related research, Akash has meaningfully contributed to other projects in the Basu Lab focused on respiratory drug delivery and modeling airborne infection onset in the upper airway."

Before Akash heads off to Florida State University as a postdoctoral research fellow this spring, he shared a few helpful tips for current and aspiring doctoral candidates.

1. Manage time effectively

Akash credits his time management skills as the No. 1 key to his success. Specifically, he keeps his email calendar up to date with events, meetings and any other things of note. He even carves out specific time that he will dedicate to for different types of work. For example, he might schedule a two-hour window dedicated solely to reading. 
Each Sunday, he plans out his week and notes any key events or dates. This may include an outline of what needs to be done and what will be required to do the task. He also notes what he did, or didn't, get done the week before. If he missed an hour or two of writing time, for example, he would find time the following week to add it to his schedule.

He says the email calendar can be especially helpful as it will send out alerts for his schedule ahead of time. 
"I always maintain the Outlook calendar," Akash said. "Then I can get a notification when events or meetings come up."

He also keeps a physical planner that helps him stay organized while offline.

Time management, as Akash explains, is crucial to success as a doctoral candidate because it helps him stay on top of everything he needs to get done, allowing him more time in the lab for his research.

"You need to manage the lab work, family life and personal life, and you are also doing coursework," Akash said. "So, you need to manage your time very efficiently."

While pursuing his Ph.D., Akash balanced time between his academic work, his personal life and other activities on campus. He was president of SDSU's Bangladeshi Student Association during the 2022-23 academic year and was involved with the SDSU Biomedical Engineering Society Student Chapter. He also mentored two undergraduate students and taught a class, Vibrations (Mechanical Engineering 323), in fall 2022 and spring 2023.

"One goal of a meaningful Ph.D. experience is to nurture one’s intellectual maturity through training and guiding other students. Akash can already do this. He has directly mentored two undergraduates and one high school graduate and has done a commendable job mentoring these students," Basu said. "I also heard some very positive in-person comments about his teaching style from the undergraduate students in his classes. Akash managed his teaching responsibilities well while actively meeting the research expectations of a highly productive graduate student."

2. Work hard

It may sound obvious, but hard work really is crucial to earning a doctorate, Akash said.

"Focus on what you are doing and work hard," Akash said. "Push yourself — there are no boundaries."

Akash is motivated to work hard for his desire to find and create new knowledge. He says there is so much out there that isn't known, and that keeps him hungry to work in the lab, sometimes late into the night.

"Working hard is the main key," Akash said. "When I see results from my research, I get inspired to work hard because I found or did something that hasn't been done before."

A big inspiration for Akash is his supervisor, Basu. One of the top researchers in the field of fluid dynamics, Basu is constantly working hard, Akash says, which motivates him to work even harder.

"Whenever I see him working late in the lab, giving more time than he was supposed to, I get inspired," Akash said. "If he can do it, I can do it. He's a great mentor." 

3. Attend conferences

Between 2021 and 2024, Akash attended various conferences and made podium presentations on his research at four of them. These included the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics annual meetings in Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Indianapolis and Washington, D.C., the American Physical Society April Meeting in New York City (2022) and the SDSU Data Science Symposium (2023), among others.

Akash says attending these meetings has been crucial to his development, both as a graduate student and an aspiring faculty-level researcher. These conferences allow time to network with others in the field and to learn about the research that is currently happening. They also give him a chance to hone his presentation and public speaking skills.

"As a graduate student, you should attend as many conferences as you can," Akash said. "It helps a lot."

4. Read research

In the same vein as attending conferences, Akash says reading research in the field you are studying is crucial to success as a research-intensive doctoral student. Whether it be academic journals or popular science articles, staying current with research is important.

"You need to know what other people are doing in your sector," Akash said, "as much as you can. If you know what other people are doing, you can figure out where the research gaps are and where research is needed."

Reading other research helps Akash generate ideas and has even helped him get unstuck from a problem.