Spotlight: David Jack, Mizzou Alumnus

David Jack, PhD '06, MS '03 in mechanical and aerospace engineering, MS '06 in applied mathematics, came to Mizzou after earning bachelor's of science degrees in engineering physics and mechanical engineering from the Colorado School of Mines.

On interdisciplinary research:

You have to find the right set of advisers from the two departments. It’s hard to find people who like to move out of their area, but I found that here, and I’m very happy.

On Preparing Future Faculty:

Awesome. That’s my first response. It was great. … Even just talking to the students from other programs, I learned about the differences in cultures between departments on campus. … It opened my eyes to what the world outside my own program is like. As I hopefully become a professor, I won’t have to spend the first four or five years putting my foot in my mouth and trying to figure out why things don’t always work like they did in the program where I got my PhD.

Dr. Benoit brought people in from UM-Rolla so we could see that UM is not just a university, but a whole system. And then she brought people in from other systems and even other states, all the way from the department level, to the college level, to the university level, to the system level, who would just describe what it’s like at other places, which will help me to be more knowledgable when I’m out doing interviews.

(Photo by Jim Yates, journalism master's student)