Category Archives: Career

Information on jobs and careers in science and engineering.

Programming Ruby

Why I Program In Ruby (And Maybe Why You Shouldn’t):

Harmony and balance make you feel good. American Rubyists frequently take up all the points of Ruby’s power, expressiveness, and efficiency, but they don’t seem to register the point that Ruby was designed to make you feel good. Even Rubyists who want to explain why Ruby makes them feel good often fail to mention that it was expressly designed for that exact purpose.
…
Don’t program in Ruby because you want power or efficiency. Don’t program in Ruby because you think you “should”, either. Program in Ruby because you like it. And if you don’t like it, don’t program in it.

Very nice article discussing the importance of joy in work. I enjoy programming in Ruby on Rails.

2nd Annual Science Blogging Conference

2nd Annual Science Blogging Conference will be held in North Carolina on January 19th (there are also pre-conference activities on the 18th). I unfortunately won’t make it but take a look and see if it is something you would enjoy. The program includes:

Open Science: how the Web is changing the way science is done, written and published with Dr.Hemai Parthasarathy
Blogging about the Social Sciences and Humanities with Martin Rundkvist and John McKay
Changing Minds through Science Communication: a panel on Framing Science with Chris Mooney , Jennifer Jacquet and Sheril Kirshenbaum

Open Laboratory 2007, an anthology of science blog posts will be published, as it was last year. Posts need to have been posted between 20 Dec 2006 and 20 Dec 2007 to be eligible. Submit your suggestions.

Smart Young Minds – Summer Jobs

At Janelia Farm (located in Northern Virginia and part of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute) each undergraduate research scholar will spend his or her summer conducting research under the guidance and direction of a Janelia Farm lab head. The undergraduate research scholars program will run from June 9-August 15, 2008. On-campus housing will be provided to undergraduate research scholars. Each scholar will also receive a $4,500 stipend and reimbursement for travel to and from Janelia Farm. Apply. Article on the first year of the program – 2007.

Jeanelia Farm also offers research campus fellows – We invite applications for fellows from biologists, chemists, computer scientists, engineers, mathematicians, neurobiologists and physicists who are passionate in their pursuit of important problems in basic scientific and technical research. JFRC Fellows are independent scientists, with labs of up to two additional members. Appointments are for a term of five years. We welcome applications from individuals at all career stages, as well as coordinated applications from groups of individuals.

We invite applications for group leader positions from biologists, chemists, computer scientists, engineers, mathematicians, neurobiologists and physicists who are passionate in their pursuit of important problems in basic scientific and technical research. JFRC group leaders will be independent scientists, similar to the HHMI investigators based at universities and independent research institutes, with labs of up to six additional members and an initial appointment of six years. We welcome applications from individuals at all career stages, as well as coordinated applications from groups of individuals.

Google Offers $10 Million in Awards for Google Phone Development

Android is the new Google Phone platform. The Android Developers Blog has announced Google has offered $10 million in the Android Developer Challenge:

One of our goals in releasing the Android SDK is to unleash the creativity of application developers on the platform. We’d also like to get feedback early enough that we can make changes before the first Android-powered devices are available to the public. We plan to release updates to the SDK regularly which means that there will be additions and changes to the APIs and user experience — subscribe to this blog to stay up to date.

We’re really looking forward to seeing all the amazing applications that developers will create on an open mobile phone platform. In fact, you may even want to enter your application into the Android Developer Challenge — a USD$10 million challenge sponsored by Google to support and recognize developers who build great applications for the Android platform.

The award money will be distributed equally between two Android Developer Challenges:

Android Developer Challenge I: Submissions from January 2 through March 3, 2008
Android Developer Challenge II: This part will launch after the first handsets built on the platform become available in the second half of 2008

In the Android Developer Challenge I, the 50 most promising entries received by March 3 will each receive a $25,000 award to fund further development. Those selected will then be eligible for even greater recognition via ten $275,000 awards and ten $100,000 awards. Once again Google is showing they understand how to manage in the new world.

Engineering Innovation in Manufacturing and the Economy

Editorial: Engineering Innovation, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

They are the invisible heroes in business, the men and women who make innovation possible. They are people like Mary Ann Wright at Johnson Controls in Milwaukee, the former chief engineer for the Ford Escape hybrid who is leading a team bent on establishing world leadership in hybrid battery systems.

Or Werner Zobel, a Modine Manufacturing engineer working in Germany who hatched the idea for a new cooling system that the Racine-based company believes could be revolutionary. The system uses ultra-thin layers of aluminum to dissipate heat, a breakthrough that has potential for car and truck radiators and air conditioning condensers.

Intellectual candlepower will fire the regional economy, the Milwaukee 7 regional economic development group believes. Its strategic plan relies on innovation-driven manufacturers that are heavy with engineers. But across the region, those companies say they can’t recruit enough engineers, and they worry that shortages will worsen as baby boomers retire. Complicating the picture is a shortage of visas for foreign-born engineers and increased competition from rapidly developing economies in China and India for those students even when they complete their studies in the United States.

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Marquette University and the Milwaukee School of Engineering are racing to fill the pipeline. Marquette and UWM are promising expansive new buildings and increased enrollment of both undergraduate and graduate students.

The USA continues to be by far the largest manufacturing in the world. And one important reason is the contributions provided by science and engineering (fed by strong science and engineering schools). In addition to other smart economic policies (The World Bank’s annual report on the easiest countries to do business in ranks the USA 3rd – after Singapore and New Zealand).

Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers

The Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, established in 1996, honors the most promising researchers in the Nation within their fields. Nine federal departments and agencies annually nominate scientists and engineers who are at the start of their independent careers and whose work shows exceptional promise for leadership at the frontiers of scientific knowledge. Participating agencies award these talented scientists and engineers with up to five years of funding to further their research in support of critical government missions.

Awards were announced today – links to some of the awardees:

Jelena Vuckovic, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University
Matthew Rodell, Physical Scientist, NASA
Katerina Akassoglou, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology, University of California, San Diego
Carlos Rinaldi, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering University of Puerto Rico at MayagÃ¼ez
Ahna Skop, Assistant Professor of Genetics, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Krystyn J. Van Vliet, Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, MIT
Odest Chadwicke Jenkins, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, Brown University

The Importance of Science Education

The Science Education Myth by Vivek Wadhwa:

The authors of the report, the Urban Institute’s Hal Salzman and Georgetown University professor Lindsay Lowell, show that math, science, and reading test scores at the primary and secondary level have increased over the past two decades, and U.S. students are now close to the top of international rankings. Perhaps just as surprising, the report finds that our education system actually produces more science and engineering graduates than the market demands.

The study certainly sounds interesting. I can’t find it (update Vivek Wadhwa provided the link – which will work Monday, also see his comment below), but found an article (which wasn’t easy) by the authors of the report: The Real Technology Challenge. The main point of the article, The Real Technology Challenge, seems to be that the USA should focus on globalization (and focus on educating scientists and engineers to work in a global world).

As I have said before I disagree with those that believe the USA is producing more science and engineering graduates than the market demands. Smart leaders know the huge positive impacts of a large, well educated science and engineering workforce.

Countries that succeed in producing more quality graduates while creating the best economic environment to take advantage of technology innovation (follow this link – it is one of the most important posts about what makes silicon valley so powerful a force at doing just that) are going to benefit greatly. My guess is the USA will be one of those countries; not by reducing the focus on science and engineering education but by increasing it. If not, other countries will, and the USA will suffer economically. The USA also needs to continue to push the economic and entrepreneurship advantages – doing that well is very difficult to achieve and the USA maintains a stronger advantage in that realm – but I will be very surprised if other countries don’t continue to make gains in this area. Even so doing so is much more challenging than just improving education (which is difficult itself just not nearly as difficult) and the USA can continue to benefit from this combination with the right policies.

The IT Job Market

The CS/IT job market quotes 3 articles from looking at the IT and computer science job markets in the USA, United Kingdom and Canada. IT Job Prospects and Salaries on the Rise (USA):

CRA reported that computer science graduates were among the highest paid of any major – an average offer of $53,051, which is about a 4.5 percent increase over 2007.
…
Network World released a survey… The data shows that pay raises and bonuses for 2006 showed an 11.6% jump on average. Further, the average base salary grew by 5.6% to $86,700. Interestingly the survey noted that experts in security, storage and networking are wanted but hard to find.

See more posts on science and engineering careers and: What Graduates Should Know About an IT Career – Programming Grads Meet a Skills Gap in the Real World – High Pay for Computer Science Graduates (2007) – A Career in Computer Programming – S&P 500 CEOs – Again Engineering Graduates Lead – Science, Engineering and Technology Graduates Paid Well (Ireland)

Robotics Engineering Degree

Robotics Engineering Degree at Worcester Polytechnic Institute:

WPI has established the nation’s first undergraduate Robotics Engineering degree program to teach people like you. This unique, innovative program was built from the ground-up with future Robotics professionals in mind. In this program, you’ll develop a proficiency for mechanical, electrical and computer engineering which will teach you to build the robot’s body. You’ll also become proficient in computer science, which will help you control the robot’s behavior.

In this program, you will be building robots during your first year of study. You will not find this hands-on approach to Robotics anywhere else but WPI.
…
Students graduating from the Robotics Engineering program will have many options for future employment across a wide range of industries including national defense and security, elder care, automation of household tasks, customized manufacturing, and interactive entertainment. New England is home to a strong and growing Robotics industry. Massachusetts alone boasts over 150 companies, institutions and research labs in the Robotics sector, employing more than 1,500 people.

Interesting. via: eContent. Related: Toyota Robots – Tour the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Lab – Applied Engineering Education – Best Research University Rankings – 2007

Internships Pair Students with Executives

photo of Zhen Xia Florence Hudson

Preparing to Lead: Internships pair students with executives

Mechanical and aerospace engineering major Zhen Xia is accustomed to solving problems that have cut-and-dried solutions, but an internship at IBM this past summer taught him how to approach problems that don’t have one right answer.

As part of a new internship program, Xia spent three months working with senior marketing executives at the IBM corporate offices in Somers, N.Y. From analyzing the brand’s image to establishing a business case for a new product launch, he found himself in the midst of the complicated intricacies of the business world.

“Unlike technical problem-solving where everything is black and white, problem-solving in business deals heavily with people and customers who have many different viewpoints,” Xia said. “In business, there are various shades of gray, which make things exciting and interesting.”