To start off, say a little about yourself, your interests, undergraduate degree, and what you are doing now.  “A brief background of my preliminary knowledge about electrical engineering would be my father's experiences at work. My father was an employee at Tabriz (My Hometown) power plant for almost 30 years, and he used to speak about his daily activities at work. Besides, on particular days, employees’ children were allowed to visit the power plant and observe how different engineers work together to maintain the power plant stable to generate electricity. At the time, I would enjoy watching engineers while they were fixing and assembling power plant various parts and among them, electrical engineers used to work on a wide range of systems, from tiny microchips to huge power plant generators. Some aspects of my interest in electrical engineering were shaped in this period. Moreover, since I was a child, I aspired to be an innovative person, and creating simple devices with low power DC motors was my favorite entertainment. Thanks to my father’s guides and my own perceptions, I found electrical engineering a versatile major which could fulfill my eagerness to make new things and ideas.  For all these reasons, I chose to study electrical engineering at university, and I was lucky that my undergrad studies were dedicated to controls engineering, an interesting area in electrical engineering.  I am currently a Ph.D. student under the supervision of Dr. Jon Sensinger. In my Ph.D. research, I am trying to solve the problem of gait initiation and termination in bipedal robots. This research includes the study of current bipedal robots walking methods and fast transition between different walking speeds.”

When you were an undergraduate, was there any research being done that really interested you?  “During my undergraduate studies, I was interested in controlling DC-DC power supplies. The fact that I started to read about these converters was an ATX power supply extracted from my PC. I was wondering why these power supplies are so small compared to old fashioned ones. A group of graduate students was working on controlling Flyback converters and I joined their team to learn more about control methods applied to these devices.”

What would be your most impactful experience during your undergraduate degree?  “I personally believe that taking a computer control course was my best experience during my undergraduate degree. In this course, we learned how to use microcontrollers in a closed-loop control system and design peripheral components to achieve better performance. This great experience helped me to start a small business with my friend where we were designing electronic circuits such as a DC motor controller, wireless tariff meter reader, and some other small projects.”

How did you prepare for your Ph.D. entry exam and what would you recommend to undergraduates pursuing the same route? “Most universities located in North America and Europe do not have an entrance exam for graduate programs, however, their application process contains two important sections, preparing the required documents and finding a supervisor in your field.  In order to know what type of documents are necessary for a program, you can easily check a university website. The required documents might differ from one university to another, but in general, they ask for an English proficiency test (if you are an international student), Curriculum Vitae (CV), Statement of Purpose (SOP), two or three letters of recommendation from previous supervisors and professors who you have collaborated with them in some projects.  As an international student, I had to present an English proficiency certificate to apply for Ph.D. programs. Therefore, I started studying for the TOEFL exam about one year ahead of my applications. To prepare a decent CV and SOP, I used some online websites that describe how to write a good CV and SOP along with asking help from my friends who were already Ph.D. students. I also asked my M.Sc. and B.Sc. supervisors to write letters of recommendation for applications.  Preparing all required documents would be meaningless if you could not find a supervisor for your Ph.D. Thus, I was checking different professors’ profiles who were working in one of controls engineering areas to check whether they were accepting new students or not. After listing some of the potential supervisors, I contacted them to receive their feedback and if they were interested in accepting me as a Ph.D. student. I received positive feedback from some professors in Canada and Europe, and after evaluating their academic standing and project, I decided to join Dr. Sensinger's team as a Ph.D. student.  Undergraduate students who are interested in pursuing a master’s or Ph.D. degree should choose their field carefully, and make sure that they are interested in the research topic. Graduate study is a long process of doing research and reading various papers which requires perseverance and passion. Students should also consider that by narrowing down in a specific field, they might lose some job positions which need a more general level of knowledge. After all, if students are certain to do a master’s or Ph.D. program, I can recommend taking undergraduate courses that are closely related to the field in which they want to pursue their studies. This helps students obtain a more detailed view of the field and improve their knowledge base.”

How did you gain experience in the field during undergrad in order to better your chances of being a successful applicant?  “As I mentioned before, taking courses that are closely related to the field in which students would like to pursue their studies forms an important portion of the preparation process. Therefore, during my undergraduate studies, I tried to enroll in most control-related courses and auditing the classes that were offered for graduate students.  Moreover, I had some peripheral activities such as designing and printing PCBs at home, reading textbooks about quantum mechanics which helped me gain a better view of the world and how the universe really works in very large and very small scales.”

What do you love the most about working at the IBME?  “My first day at IBME was really surprising since I received a warm welcome from Kristel which, to be honest, I was not expecting it! I have been to three universities so far and it was the first time I felt the warm relation among staff and students. I really enjoy daily work at IBME because I never feel like a student who is supposed to leave the IBME after finishing his studies. IBME is more like a big family of faculty members, staff, and students who are trying to solve state-of-the-art scientific problems regardless of their positions at the university.”

Zahed can be reached at zahed.dastan@unb.ca for further questions.