Re: New members introductions - New members Introduce yourselves
I don't think he really knows what he wants to do, after graduating from engineering this year,He's on a scholarship which ties him to this country for the next 2yrs after graduating.
That sounds so familiar. I was in the same boat when I came out of college. I had no idea what I wanted to do. My major was chemistry, but I didn't think there was a future. I even took GMAT, the entry test for business school, along with GRE, just in case. I chose biochemistry because I worked in a Genetic lab for a year and loved what I did. I felt that this was something that I could love to do everyday.
I think he's feeling like another poster "TUP", some of the stuff you have to put up with in relation to assignments, and this year alot of the professors are on sabitical leave, with the remaining ones, a little bit dubious in their teaching ability, thus very frustrating.
My feeling is that doesn't matter what you do, you will eventually have to face the tedious grind. In my case, I absolutely love what I do (membrane biphysics), but some of the day-to-day stuff just drives me nuts, especially the experiments not working. One example would be the technique I used for my Ph.D. thesis. It's SOOOOOO hard that it took me a year and half to get publishable data. Everyday coming to the lab, spending half a day to prepare the experiment and later half actually doing it in a dark room isolated from all things moving (I wanted to measure mechanical force of cell membrane, which is on the level of pica newtons. Anything like talking or even walking nearby might screw up my experiment) and then at the end of the day, the data looks crap. And this would continue day after day for a year and half. Can you imagine the kind of frusttration? One of my labmates actually quit graduate school because he can't stand the frustration. I was actually the lucky one. My mentor used to tell me that when he was in graduate school, the technique he was using was so hard (similar but even harder than the one I used), it only worked for 2 weeks out of 6 years he was in graduate school. In those 2 weeks, he didn't even go home. he camped in the lab and churned out enough data to finish his thesis (I think he once said he worked 2 days straight without having any sleep). I guess what I'm trying to say is that you will have to face the grind if you want to be good at anything. I'm sure no navy SEAL loves hell week, but they have to face it and pass it to get to the part that they love to do.
What is bio engineering exactly?, Is it taught as a sub branch of engineering , or is it a science degree qualification?.
I know we have /medical engineering taught here as a engineering sub branch,( with a requirement in a high biology pass mark) but once again very few job opportunities.
Well, BioE can be biological engineering, or biomedical engineering. It mainly is composed of two parts: using engineering techniques to understand biology (much like in the same sense of biochemistry, i.e. using chemical techniques to study biology); and apply what we know about biology to "make" substances that mimic biological systems (like tissue/organ engineering). most of the BioE professors came from various engineering background, EE, mechanical E chemical E and even aerospace E. In the US, BioE is usually an independent department parallel to any other engineering depts. because of its emphasis on biology, most BioE people actually interact with natural science people lot more than with their engineering colleagues although it still belongs to the college of engineering.
Typically a general engineering background is enough to start. however, like anything in the science discipline, you need to have an advanced degree to have a chance. I think this is a major drawback for science in general. Since it has been so well-developed, 4 years of studying in college cannot get you anywhere. In fact, many people now are getting M.D., Ph.D. combo. That's also why the postdoctoral fellowship is getting longer and longer. It used to 2 years, but now the standard is 4-5 year
I know we have /medical engineering taught here as a engineering sub branch,( with a requirement in a high biology pass mark) but once again very few job opportunities.
IF you have a biotech industry nearby, that would help.
