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Q: I am about to select a major in engineering and would like to know the best major to select in order to excel in Nanotechnology. I hear that Nanotechnology holds enormous promise and can be helpful in areas from cleansing the air to treating bacterial infections. What schools, domestic and international, would you recommend?
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Q: Let me please know the potential of Nanotechnology education, and the list of universities offering Masters and Doctoral degree in Nanotechnology.
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Q: I consider several undergraduate programs available in my country with the intent of doing research (and possibly some graduate work) later in the area of nanotechnology in Japan.
I have two questions:
(1) Would it be better for me to study chemical engineering or electrical engineering as an undergraduate?
(2) What are some of the institutions that do nanotechnology research in Japan?
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Q: I am unable to decide between a degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, and computer science. Please describe the differences?
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Q: I am a senior in high school and I am seriously thinking about majoring in Biomedical Engineering. I wanted to know how much money biomedical engineers make. I also want to know if biomedical engineers do research for cancer because I would really like to be able to do research on diseases and ways to fight/cure them. Where could you get a job in biomedical engineering in Pennsylvania?
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Q: I have just received my Bachelor of Engineering in electronics and communication). I have great interest in Nanotechnology/MEMS. Should I concentrate on MEMS or on Nanotechnology for my Master-level studies? How are job prospects in these areas?
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Q: Can I work on a Master of Science degree in Nanotechnology after getting a Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Engineering degree in chemical engineering?
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Q: Which engineering field should I select for undergraduate studies in order to be able to work later on a Master of Science degree in Nanotechnology?
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Q: I am a second year student in electrical engineering. I have been assigned to write on "the scope of electrical engineering in the 21st century".
Would you please provide me with some guidance?
We think you have been given a very difficult task. Just imagine a student who was given an assignment like yours (to predict the future of electrical engineering) 100 years ago, in December 1906. As talented as this student might have been, there was no way the resulting effort would have been of much predictive value. Could one predict in 1906 the RADAR, transistor, development of electronics, television, laser, digital computer, compact disc and DVD?
Talking about "the 21st century," is, in our opinion, overly pretentious. If you could limit your essay to a shorter horizon (say, 15 years) there may be some rational predictions you can quote.
An interesting list of research topics for the next two decades is covered in this high level meeting of OECD (especially sections 19-24).
The future of broadcasting is discussed in this article. The future of the Internet is discussed here. An interesting article about the future of electronics reminds us of how much electronics have changed in the last decade.
The future of nanotechnology is the subject of two articles by Richard Jones, here and here. Among other matters, Jones reviews the debates on "radical nanotechnology."
Technical challenges in the area of transistor technology are described in this article by a group of engineers from Intel. They discuss fundamental limitations on miniaturization of transistor circuits.
On challenges in software engineering, please see this presentation by Ian Sommerville.
Here is a short summary of energy challenges. See also this document of the US Department of Energy.
An issue of great concern is cyber crime and terrorism. So is biodefense.
Information retrieval is emerging as a grand challenge.
For a collection of articles on the engineering workforce in the US and other developed countries (with direct ramifications to electrical engineering, computer engineering and computer science professionals) see the references of this advocacy article. The references include recent publications of the US National Academy of Engineering.
We hope you have enough here for a good start!
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Q: BACKGROUND: We live in Sierra Vista, AZ, about 70 miles SE of Tucson. My 17 year old son is a high school senior and wants to become an engineer, but is still undecided which engineering sub-category he wants to specialize in. He is interested in robotics and maybe nanotechnology. He has taken Advanced Placement classes in English, Mathematics and Physics. He already has earned some college credit by signing up for Dual-Credit classes. We are split over 2 options: 1) having him attend for the first 2 years a community college which has a 2-year Pre-Engineering Program, and then have him attend a traditional university for the last 2 years of college; or 2) having him start as a freshman in a traditional 4-year institution.
QUESTIONS:
What, if any, are the pros and cons of both options? Is there an industry bias out there when it comes to hiring an applicant who either completed a 4 year program right away or first did a 2 year program and then finished up a 4 year program?
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