What to study

[Zholl]

So now that I'm about to enter college, I'm not entirely sure what exactly I should study considering what I want to go into. I ultimately want to design robotic prosthetics, and figure that I'll study electrical and mechanical engineering with an additional focus on neuroscience and biology or physiology, but I'm not sure if this is the best way to go. I'm also not sure of what schools would be the best for this type of study, so my current plans are looking like an engineering degree followed by graduate work.

Also, I'm currently going into UCCS, at least to start off, and plan on transferring later anyway, so that's not a huge concern in the long run

[Peter Matteson]

It sounds to me like what you really want to study is biomedical engineering.

[Chris Hibner]

I would decide on which part of the robotic prosthetic you want to work on - that would be a good first step.

Let's face it - no one person designs a robotic prosthetic. It's going to be a large team of people, and each individual will have a highly specialized task (just like (most likely) no one person designed your FIRST robot: you had someone for the drive system, someone for the appendage, someone for subsystem X, someone for the wiring, someone for the software, etc.).

Do you want to do electrical, mechanical, software, control algorithms, etc.?

Once you decide on that, that will dictate your major and concentration.

Once you decide on a major and concentration, focus your elective credits on the other subjects that will help you land a job in robotic prosthtics. Let's say you decide to focus on the mechanical side. Since there will be a lot of dynamics and automatic control in a robotic prosthesis- it would be a good idea to take some elective classes in those areas. If you decide on electrical, it would probably be a good idea to have some knowledge of mechanical dynamic systems. Etc.

[Zholl]

Thank you both for the quick and helpful replies. I had forgotten about biomed, and the only other similar major I could think of was biotech, which as far as I can tell is quite different from what I'd like to do.

Chris, what I most want to deal with is the interfacing aspect of the prosthetics, specifically neural interfacing, thus my specific interest in studying neuroscience. Thinking about this, I'd say something along the lines of a computer or electrical aspect with the biomed would make the most sense? Or am I still a bit off base here? I've been having a bit of trouble finding information on getting into this field, so I'm still guessing a bit at what I would need

[Brandon Holley]

From your quick descriptions, it seems like you have a solid idea, you just need to look at the scope. A biomedical engineering degree will be a full and challenging course load. Adding some kind of concentration in there as well will present even more of a challenge. It's still a ways off for you, but are you considering grad school?

-Brando

[Zholl]

My initial plan before posting this thread had actually included a graduate degree, most likely getting a bachelors in engineering followed by graduate work in physiology and neuroscience. This might not be how I actually end up doing it in the long run, but yes, I am considering grad school

[kwotremb]

I would say also look at what options a degree could give you in the future. Sometimes if you get yourself too specific you can specialize yourself out of a job, or make it much harder to get a job. Then again, if you are specialized and the only one who can do a certain task you could have a more secure job. Also, how much schooling do you want, or plan on taking. If you plan on going to a masters or further it could lead to a different path then if you are just going for a bachelors. If you are planning on going to get a Masters I would say a more general degree is better for your bachelors, and then get a more specific Masters. Also most colleges should be more than happy to give you a list of classes that you would be required to take over the course of your studies. Look them over and see which one will have more classes related to what you want to do in the future. In the end it’s going to come down to what you want to do.

Biomechanical could be a good option, but in a way its Mechanical Engineering just specialized to the body. Mechanical Engineering is the broadest engineering degree and can help you get your foot into the door in a lot of places, but it doesn’t give you a more specialized abilities. So it’s a good/bad relationship. I would recommend a Mechanical or Electrical if you plan on continuing your education. It not it depends on how specialized you want to be.

[Chris Hibner]

Originally Posted by Zholl

Chris, what I most want to deal with is the interfacing aspect of the prosthetics, specifically neural interfacing, thus my specific interest in studying neuroscience. Thinking about this, I'd say something along the lines of a computer or electrical aspect with the biomed would make the most sense? Or am I still a bit off base here? I've been having a bit of trouble finding information on getting into this field, so I'm still guessing a bit at what I would need

In this case, I would suggest you look into signal processing, which is typically studied in the computer engineering/electrical engineering area. Good knowledge of linear algebra and differential equations are a must in this area.

Signal processing, in a nutshell, is the study of how you process electrical and/or digital signals to either a) encode and transmit them, or b) extract useful information out of them. Part (b) would probably be pretty useful to you (part a as well) - with good signal processing techniques you can figure out how to find that needle of information among the haystack of other stuff. If you want to make things act based upon neurological signals, it will require a lot of signal processing.

Given what you said, I would look into CE/EE with a concentration in signal processing. Take your electives in biology/biomed. (Disclaimer: I am NOT a career or school counselor - I'm just giving you something to look into.)

[Dmentor]

From a quick scanning of IEEE papers on robotics prosthetic interfacing, I'd suggest electrical engineering focus in signal processing and control theory. Be prepared for lots of graduate work since EE starts very broad as an undergraduate before you start to specialize. This broad scope will actually serve you well though as you touch on a lot of fields you'll need to be aware of. Build in electives from the biomedical, mechanical, materials and artificial intelligence domains. As Chris pointed out, these systems require a lot of complexity and it is very difficult to be both deep and wide.

Oddly enough this is a very similar path to the one I took although I wound up hunting submarines for a living instead. I will tell you that if you have a EE background and can also develop software you'll have a lot of employment options.

[moojoe]

Have you tried contacting any companies in this field? while it will be hit or miss, if you can get an email to one of the designers/engineers in a company, they'll often help you with decisions. Generally speaking, people love the idea of youth following in their footsteps, and can be extremely receptive to college students or soon to be college students. I would first look for companies in your general area, since then you can also meet the person, but if there arnt any in your area, dont be afraid to email people wherever they may be.
You may get shot down, or you may get lucky and find someone who will help you a bit. Or, you may develop a lasting friendship and mentor, who will not only teach you, but can help you with job placement when you graduate.
In the end though, the worst that can happen is you dont get a reply.

[DonRotolo]

Along the same lines, speak with college professors, particularly the department heads. Make appointments and visit (or phone) them. Trust me, they'll be happy to speak to you. Pick a local school (even if you're not planning on going there) so it's easy to visit, or pick a school where you think you might apply. The admissions office can get you the contact info for the folks who will help the most.

MechE is the broadest degree. If you're more focused on the input controls (neuro interface) then I agree, EE with a focus on signals is where you need to go. These are two radically different courses of study...after the first year. Until then, EVERYone takes calc, physics, chem, etc. and it's almost identical for all engineering disciplines. So you have time for that decision.

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

Along the same lines, speak with college professors, particularly the department heads. Make appointments and visit (or phone) them. Trust me, they'll be happy to speak to you. Pick a local school (even if you're not planning on going there) so it's easy to visit, or pick a school where you think you might apply. The admissions office can get you the contact info for the folks who will help the most.

I'm sure department heads would love to speak to prospective undergrads... but in my experience it's extremely difficult to schedule anything with them. They'll probably be at prospective student days, but outside of that good luck. When we get funded every year we speak to a couple of department heads and its several weeks between first contact and our meeting, and we basically work around them.

I think the best people to talk to are juniors/seniors who are actively in the job search/internship process. I've found that professors can lag behind the real world occasionally, but undergrads are the ones that slog through career fair after career fair and application after application.

As others have said, freshman engineers (assuming no AP credits) basically take exactly the same classes. Use that time to join engineering clubs like Formula Hybrid, AeroDesign, Solar Car, etc and see what upperclassman are actually doing. Pick something that has both an ME and EE side you can see what you like best.

[lcoreyl]

Use your CO Spgs resource! You are looking for inspiration from a group that is all here because of the word INNOVATION? GET A BACHELOR OF INNOVATION!! How many other applicants to masters or phd programs will have that on their resumes?

[Chris is me]

Do you need to decide during your first year? I imagine most engineers take core classes for at the very least the first semester and a half, so you have plenty of time to figure out what you want to do. It took me about a semester to commit to being a pure mechanical engineering major.

That said, it sounds like you want to be biomed, if you're interested in neural interfaces.

[JamesBrown]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Do you need to decide during your first year? I imagine most engineers take core classes for at the very least the first semester and a half, so you have plenty of time to figure out what you want to do. It took me about a semester to commit to being a pure mechanical engineering major.

That said, it sounds like you want to be biomed, if you're interested in neural interfaces.

I agree with Chris, Biomed sounds like what you are looking for. I have two friends who are doing work simmilar to what you want to do both with Biomed degrees.

The issue with Biomed is that it encompassses a huge range of applications, at some of the big engineering schools they offer enough concentrations to find exactly what you want (both of my friends working in this field Majored in Biomed at RPI with a concentration in "Bioinstrumentation") When I went to look up the curriculum I expected to see a Biomed curriculum with some extra EE courses but it looks like there is more EE than BioMed. Here is a link to the curriculum, while the school you choose may not offer this exact program you could probably build the equivalent with some sort of Dual BioMed/EE Major or Major/Minor combination.

http://www.bme.rpi.edu/index.php?opt...27&It emid=39


I would reccomend EE and BioMed together, take as many classes in each as possible and then pick whichever department gives better research opportunities for grad school. The nice thing about an advanced degree is that typically once you get it companies care less abut what the degree is in and more about what your research was, many (most?) projects bridge multiple disciplines.