Tim Peters was accepted as a full-time student into Stanford's Master of Science program in Electrical Engineering, with plans to continue on the Ph.D. track. "All my life I had wanted to be an astronaut. I thought I wanted to go into satellite work and planetary imaging, etc. I came and worked under Professor Tyler at the STAR lab," says Peters. "I had my life pretty well planned."

The master's program at Stanford opened his eyes to a different plan.

"I was exposed to so many more and interesting classes that I found the communications classes drew me more and more," continues Peters. "I liked the idea of working with concepts I might be able to apply to everyday life. Then, six months into the program I changed direction to communications-after I'd gone so far as to print out my application to become an astronaut. The faculty was very supportive of my decision."

Peters changed more than his area of concentration. "I realized I wasn't ready for the Ph.D. track. It was valuable to go in with an intent for the Ph.D., but I needed to make a change," he recalls. "I decided to work fulltime in an area of communications to find out if it's what I really wanted. When I was hired by Agilent in June of 2000, I became a part-time student, taking one class per quarter while I worked."

Peters was accepted into other top-ranked university programs, but felt that Stanford offered unique advantages for him. "The atmosphere is more open to free-thinking. There is a true focus on interdisciplinary relationships. I might not have had the exposure to communications and diverse courses early on that I had at Stanford. Not all schools have such a broad offering coupled with so much depth in each area. It has made all the difference in this MSEE program."

Students are encouraged to explore areas beyond their concentration, and the curriculum does not call for a thesis. "It's excellent that there is not a thesis," says Peters. "That's the value of a Ph.D. more than a master's. You can spend your time learning so much more in a master's degree, rather than taking a whole year to concentrate on just one area. This is exactly why I was able to discover what it was I really wanted."

Like many other MSEE students, Peters found classroom material immediately applicable to industry practice. He found this to be particularly true of the Digital Communications series of courses he took with Professor John Cioffi. "EE379C Advanced Digital Communication was an extremely useful course. Quite literally, I would use the material Professor Cioffi presented in a lecture later in the day while I was speaking in front of my customers. The homework questions were problems I was trying to solve at work."

The Stanford MSEE program demands the same of on-campus and off-campus students. Yet Peters is quick to point out that Stanford faculty understand the conflicting demands of an industry schedule and educational constraints. "The EE faculty is very accessible via e-mail and were extremely flexible about my work schedule. I took a midterm at a Hotel in Seattle. It was faxed to me; I completed it in an hour and had to fax it back. The professor accepted the fax time-stamp. I've even done my work from Scotland, and could watch my classes in Europe!"

Peters has no regrets about changing his course. "Twenty-three years of moving in one direction and then changing course was actually a valuable experience," he says. "I wanted something very technical but I also wanted interaction with people-I like that. I provide technical support for sales engineers, but I also make presentations and demos to clients. I've been given an invention number for one of my ideas with Agilent. This position's right for me, and in a different program, I might not have had the chance to find what was right for me."

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