My thesis topic searching trail to finish in 2 year in Industrial Ecology program

My thesis topic searching trail
- Life will find their way.


I started to think about thesis topic before I started the IE program. At that time, the thesis topic in my mind was about increasing water efficiency in agriculture or industrial field.

After one year study in the Netherlands, in May 2011 I started to search my topic and planned for the graduation in summer in 2012. Last time I did my thesis topic research is in the beginning of the program, and I asked the director of the program about thesis preparation. I still remembered he recommended me to finish the first year courses first, and not think about too much for the graduation. In June 2011 it was the time Professor Pong rose the food production issue in Taiwan. I was really enthusiastic about this topic and thought some ideas about how to increase the Taiwan food and energy dependency, such as creating some scenarios by using material flow analysis or agent based modeling. These scenarios can help me to find the key points in the food and energy issues. It is important to make sure how to set up the model and find a high quality data for modeling. Another idea is about how to use agriculture waste. This topic may link back to my chemistry back ground. Some crazy ideas, like using algae produce fuel or gasification the agriculture waste, started to full in my mind. However, after discussing with some friends, I realized it is difficult to get sufficient data from Taiwan if I did my research in the Netherlands. To do systematic analysis or modeling in Taiwan, it will be too time consuming on collecting data. Especially, I don't want the collection data will not be my main point of research.

Before the summer break, professors were not be available in the universities. I found it was also difficult to find some one is knowledgable to discuss with. I spent lots of time reading relative materials, but the topic was still not clear. The purpose to contact with experts was to know their opinions about your idea. They knew what is going on in their field, and capable to guide me to find a suitable detail direction. I felt this thesis guide support in the IE program was not so clear for me in the second semester. However, in the end of May 2011 the thesis issues pup out was more or less like “The is the time to decide your topic, try to make it clear before summer break...”

There are some main difficulties to contact with experts.
They are busy so they may not reply your email or your call in time.
They don’t know who you are so they don’t know how to respond.

Therefore, until the thesis finding pressure is big enough. The pressure can lead the lives will find their way. My solution was came out.

• Exposure to the thesis contact network, such as attend some conferences may help network building.
• Don’t be afraid to express thesis ideas with friends and professors, although they may sound naive.

After the summer break, I started again and dived in the thesis topic preparation is in the beginning of October. Arranging appointments with experts will take around one week, it is very important to bear in mind. I tried my best to arrange several discussions to find my thesis direction. It was really tough process because I spent lots of time but there was still no suitable projects. Sometimes I didn’t feel energetic because I knew if it could be a day to do literature researches but change the direction in the end. Or I may spend lots of time on writing emails but didn't get any responses.

However, I really want to graduate in time and be depressed cannot help anything. I set up the end of October was a deadline for thesis topic research.

Professor Hemmes gave me a big shock. His message was I still didn’t decide my topic yet from May to October. I needed to decide it soon if I really want to graduate in time. He advised me try to find some direction is related to my chemistry background since industrial ecology was a broad training and difficult to decide a direction.

The first two weeks of November was a key period. There were three possibilities of thesis topics: a LCA research in a tape company, a bioplastic project in a green chemistry lab and a green campus design. They were interested, so I had to figure out which one was suit for me. I checked my thesis topic criteria and my experiences. After talking with key project person, I decided to do a lab thesis because I wanted to have a solid research and it also linked to my chemistry background. Most of the programs in Industrial Ecology give a very nice overview of the solutions in the field of technology, urban design, social science and policy. I found the final conclusion or advise is usually too broad to be practiced. Therefore, it is hard to really give feedbacks to the original problem. For example, we all know industrial symbiosis is a good practice to optimize the industrial cluster, but if I decide to do industrial symbiosis in a company, I don’t have knowledge to design a heat exchange system or logistic to exchange materials. Therefore, I wanted to go deeper in the green chemistry field and linked it back to the systematic thinking in IE.

Suggestions - my rule to find a topic

• Before find a professor, think how and what you can do this this expert and how realistic it is. Take into account everything, such as working environment (work alone or in a group), what the expectation of the result is, what kind of knowledge you may gain, what kind of job it will be after the thesis work, what kinds of methods it will be, how much knowledge you have in this topic. Keep in mind thesis is only your responsibility to solve.
• Set up a deadline for the topic since there are always nice topics. If the topic is more or less on the track, give it a try. Wondering around too long is not good.
• Contact with professors and knowledge people as earlier as possible. Prepare some proposals before talking with them. Then they will have some ideas how to guide you.
• Deal with negative Emotion. 
The negative emotion makes me feel depress if I cannot find a topic. Find your way to solve it. Talk with other IE people or sport.
• If you want to go deeper in one field, prepare the topic earlier. Otherwise, it is easy to get lost during the topic research.

Create an expectation for your self.
Do a good research and finish it in time!

Wish everyone find their coolest and brilliant ideas.