My Experience as an International Student

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Editor’s note: Palash Vyas is a recent doctoral graduate from Auburn University, and a past president of the IPC Student Chapter at Auburn. This is the first installment of a three-part series.

In the summer of 2017, after finishing my bachelor’s, I decided to leave India to pursue my ambitions. I had grown up around engineering: My dad was a mechanical engineer, which fueled my interest in engineering as I always saw him working on complex HVAC projects. After high school, I took competitive exams and was admitted to the University of NMIMS in Mumbai to pursue mechanical engineering. After graduating with my bachelor's degree, I felt a strong desire to delve deeper into the field. Pursuing a master's degree abroad seemed like the perfect way to gain this in-depth knowledge, so I decided to apply to U.S. universities because I saw them as world leaders at the forefront of technology and research.

To apply to universities in the U.S., I took the GRE and TOEFL exams. I scored well on those exams and, after thorough research, applied to seven universities as an industrial engineering major. I chose industrial engineering as it combines the mechanical aspect with the analytical skills needed for management, making it very interdisciplinary in nature.

Of those seven universities I applied to, I was admitted to SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Binghamton, and Auburn University. To narrow it down, I looked at the university’s ranking, the courses provided, and the location, particularly the weather. Auburn was my choice based on all three criteria: It was ranked among the top 30 schools in the U.S. for engineering; the courses provided in the Industrial Engineering department were more manufacturing-focused, which is what I was looking for; and the weather conditions were not too extreme compared to the other two universities in New York. I would be headed to Auburn University to pursue a master’s in industrial and systems engineering.

I immigrated to the U.S. from India in Fall 2018. I was the first member of my family to immigrate to the U.S. I still remember my mom had tears in her eyes as she bid farewell to me at the airport. It was a very tough decision for me to leave the country and move to a completely new location across the globe. When I landed at the Atlanta airport after the 28-hour flight, I found the shuttle for Auburn University, which had come to pick up the arriving international students. When we arrived at Auburn, we were presented with a welcome hamper from the university with the basic stuff to start our new lives.

I had arrived a couple of weeks before the semester began, and the first few days, I would roam around, exploring the city of Auburn and the university. I still remember thinking in the early days that everything here was so different; the food, culture, cars, and even the trees looked different. All of this fascinated me as suddenly, all my preconceived notions about life itself were dismantled. When I started exploring Auburn University, its vastness and architecture left me in awe. I learned that it is spread across more than 1,800 acres and has 30,000+ students.

As the semester began, I kept my complete focus on doing well academically. In my coursework, I gained knowledge on a variety of topics, such as Lean manufacturing, safety engineering, operations research, project management, etc. After a semester of getting comfortable with the new place and the curriculum, I started looking for a part-time job. I was interviewed at the university’s RFID lab and selected as a research assistant. The work at the RFID lab was very fascinating as we were working on making the new technology more widespread in the industry by conducting workshops, testing RFID on customers’ products, performing quality assurance on RFID tags, etc.

Near the end of my master’s program, I took a course on electronics manufacturing, where I learned about the various aspects of PCB manufacturing. I found this course particularly intriguing. When I started researching the topic, I was fascinated by its depth, as it involved knowledge from various engineering fields: electrical, mechanical, industrial, material science, and even physics. I was aware of the ongoing research in this field at Auburn, and decided to join the electronics reliability research group. I emailed my advisor regarding my interest, and luckily, he had an opening in his group. This was how I decided to join the Ph.D. program under Dr. Sa’d Hamasha in the summer of 2021. He is very knowledgeable in the field and supportive in nature, and I was fortunate to have him as my advisor. During the first few months, I absorbed as much knowledge as possible from my advisor and other seniors. Later, I was assigned to be in charge of drop shock testing.

I was aware that having strong soft skills apart from engineering skills would help me have a successful career in the future. This inspired me to volunteer with various associations, such as IPC and SMTA. Shortly after joining IPC, I was elected as the Auburn chapter president. My soft skills, such as communication, organization, and leadership, improved vastly during my tenure with the IPC Auburn Chapter. We conducted successful events, and our efforts were recognized when we received gold status from IPC. None of this would have been possible without my incredible team of chapter officers. As I gained more experience as a Ph.D. student, I started publishing research papers. However, I was still looking for a research topic within the drop test of PCBs, something that is very unique and useful to the industry. One day, my advisor and I came up with the idea of conducting a drop shock test at elevated temperatures. This idea was particularly unique as hardly any research was done in this area. I built a heating chamber to create an elevated temperature environment. It took me a few months and many destroyed prototypes before my design for the chamber was finalized. I presented my research on drop shock test of PCBs at elevated temperatures at IPC APEX EXPO 2024 and was fortunate to win the Best Poster Award. My journal paper on this topic has been accepted as well.

When I look back at my journey from a young boy with a fascination for engineering to becoming a Ph.D. graduate in the U.S., I see that it has been nothing less than a thrilling roller coaster ride. I have learned a lot, made great friends, researched extensively, and grown personally. I enjoyed every aspect of this journey. Now, I'm eager to contribute my expertise to the U.S. industry. It’s my opportunity to give back.

Find Palash Vyas on LinkedIn.