Email signature, multiple engineering disciplines

Question

I am a PhD student in environmental engineering, but I received a masters in Mechanical. Within engineering, the two fields are very different, and I feel my value-add is my multidisciplinary approach and ability to communicate between. However, I don't want to appear pretentious or boastful.

I intend to go back into industry when I am finished, and I continue to have a lot of communication outside of academia. I wondered if anyone has a diverse background and/or experience dealing with others who list multiple disciplines in their signature?

Many thanks!

I think the question is "What do I put in my email signature". In which case my answer is that I wouldn't try to use an email signature to replace my CV ;-) If you have a formal job title, maybe include that. — Flyto, Jun 20 '19 at 17:37
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/90241/how-should-degrees-be-listed-in-an-e-mail-signature https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/8984/what-should-a-proper-email-signature-look-like-for-graduate-students — henning, Jun 22 '19 at 07:49

score 3 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 10 '20 at 14:12

In my experience, email signatures present only your A) Current position, and in some cases B) Highest degree (for both academics and industry), along with additional contact information like an address or phone number.

E.g.,

Ag Tech, PhD

Senior Engineer

Very Green Company

1234 Long Forest Road

or

Ag Tech, PhD

Asst Professor

Tree State University

1234 University Ave

For fields where technical qualifications or certifications are particularly important, you might list out all those qualifications as additional letters after your name (for example, in medical fields, perhaps also in trades).

One would not typically list either "environmental" nor "mechanical" in your email signature. It could be appropriate to list both in a CV though, something like

Ag Tech

Environmental/Mechanical Engineer

...

PhD Environmental Engineering, 2019

MS Mechanical Engineering, 2016

but you wouldn't present it like that in an email signature.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 22 '19 at 02:12

Name
Job title (optional)
Phone number
E-mail (optional, helps with some systems where address is not shown)
Website (optional)

That's pretty much the norm for the working world. I wouldn't list your discipline. Personally, I wouldn't even use the "comma Ph.D.". (The people who emphasize having the union cards tend to be the weakest ones...it's eerie how common you see that correlation.) But in any case, don't tell us the field. Your signature is not your CV.

FWIW, I just do name and number.

If you just feel like you HAVE to advertise, then put your personal website in the signature. But don't link to the CV, link to home page.

score -1 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 20 '19 at 14:23

Stating your qualifications isn't boastful, IMO. There is no reason that an email signature needs to be short. Mine is quite long, but for other reasons.

Probably overdoing it to put your entire CV there, of course.

It is only boastful if you list things for which you are only marginally qualified. And most people will ignore the signature after the first email.

And, if your mailer is at all competent, you can have different signatures for different purposes.

Email signature, multiple engineering disciplines

3 Answers3