<p>I'm hoping some of you out there can help me with my little delimma. I'm a freshman at Virginia Tech and am majoring in Chemical Engineering. Over the past few years i have taken a vast interest in stem cell research and the like. Does anyone know of ChE is the way to go for this field?</p>
<p>Secondly, I'm thinking about biomedical engineering. I have an interest in the medical profession as well. I've longed to be an oncologist or a pathologist, but I know my mind may change over the next 3 years. I'm looking for a major that will give me options if I decided med school isn't for me. So I'm wondering if I should do a ChE major, Biomedical engineering major, double in both, or do yet a Chemistry major with Biomedcial engineering. I've thought about making pharmaceutiacal products, as this is what a chemical engineer does, but I'm wondering if, since stem cell research seems the best to me right now, if I shouldn't major in something else.</p>
<p>And yes, I will be seeing an advisor about this :) And also, yes, making money to support a familiy is a necessity hehe</p>
<p>Just looking for extra opinions. Take care!</p>
<p>ChemE or biochem or etc. depends a lot on where you want to be---on the continuum from theory/research side to the production side. As an example: insulin production using yeast cells depended originally on a lot of research on how to get the genes in the cells (genetic engineering, i.e. molecular bio), then on how to grow massive amts of yeast (bioengineering), and how to extract and process the insulin (Chem E). This same sort of thing will happen with stem cells and other methods used in medical research. </p>
<p>I don't know if your advisor will have much specific information--you might want to try looking at the web sites for a few of the genetic engineering companies (Amgen, IDEC Pharmaceutical, Genentech, etc.) and see what kind of people they hire. You might even call human resources at those companies and ask.</p>
<p>I suggest learning French and or German.
Not only do/did grad schools require a lang, but I really doubt the govt of the US is going forward on stem cell research. You may want to look over seas.
Seriously. :(</p>
<p>Or at least plan on going to grad school in Calif. where we just voted in a huge stem cell research bill that will be funding research for years to come. :)</p>
<p>Hi crazyandy, I'm a pathologist, and I'm excited to hear you are interested in this type of work. I do not share Ekitty's pessimism about stem cell research because there are still many problems to be worked out, both using embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. We see the future in genomics. Anyway,,, looking at the websites is a great idea. Check out Celera and Affymetrix - that is the future of laboratory medicine.</p>
<p>Another good place to look is on the Davidson College website, search for "genomics", they have a great new concentration that helps you to understand the intersection of sciences in this field. Also Haverford College's molecular biology program. I don't associate chemical engineering with pharmeuticals or lab testing particularly, but that's just becuase I don't think about it from the production standpoint.</p>
<p>You can certainly go to med school from engineering - I know a couple of engineering majors, one is a general surgeon who decided he didn't like engineering. But, it is a little tougher tha some other majors because it is difficult to maintain a high GPA in engineering - it is a professional program, think of it that way. Good luck</p>
<p>oh don't mind me. I am just snarky cause my daughter is going to have to pass a major state acheivment test to graduate even though less than half the kids pass it now and no extra funds have been allocated to help kids pass it.</p>
<p>I would study what you are interested in. even if the government is not putting a lot of money into biotech, private industry still is.</p>
<p>Ekity, Gov Arnold needs to do what they did in AL - if you design an exit exam that seniors can't pass, then just don't count all the sections(in our case they just ignored science and math for the first few years) and don't set the bar for a passing grade until after everyone's taken the test and you know what everyone made!</p>
<p>Actually the exit exam in AL hasn't been a total flop (I'm speaking from hubby's experiences, private school students don't have to take it - a mistake I think). There is teaching to the test, but the kids are graduating with some knowledge vs graduation with NO knowledge which I think happened before. ALso they are looking at this as a very long term improvement - gradually over about 10 years, raising the grade level of the test content, requiring a pass on more sections, raising the percent for a pass - which has allowed some validation of the test, preventing any major lawsuits so far. They will eventually hit a wall where improvement may mean more money, or where kids won't graduate because they simply aren't capable of doing the work required to pass the test, but the state hasn't quite gotten there - even in DH's average high school, most kids have passed most sections by the junior year.</p>
<p>I think if you can pass the GED or take the SATs with a 1100 score you shouldn't need an exit exam. ( plus it would save us $$ The WASL is
$30 each test to administer, and the state solution to those who don't pass is to allow mulitple retakes)
My problem with the WASL ( I am in WA) is that the questions are written so that even those with a PHd have difficulty ascertaining what it is that they are asking.
My daughter has great difficulty with tests especially those that are very subjective, and to grade a math answer wrong if your work is right but you can't explain how you did it seems wrong to me.</p>
<p>Private schools don't need an exit exam, because if they are part of a regional consortium for example like my older daughters school they regularly go through an extensive self review process of the curriculum, and if students are passing the classes they should be doing very well.
The WASL originally was designed to evaluate how schools were teaching but it has devolved into something that takes away from teaching anything else in effort to raise test scores and even for students who are doing well it is an enormous stress.</p>
<p>I don't mean to hijack the thread, I think you can go into biotech from different angles, my daughter has been told she can even do this with a plain ol' biology degree :)</p>
<p>I agree about SATs (it would be ACT for us), I think the GED is what kids take if they completely strike out on the exit exam, they get a diploma, but don't get to "walk". Many college bound kids, though, pass enough of the test to graduate when they are sophomores (here they take the test every year until they pass), I think it goes through geometry. The asinine thing about it in AL is that the test is not timed at all, basically you've got all day to take it. Since there is little guidance and few barriers to taking classes, this means that the entire school misses 3 days of school for the tests, even if the class (for example, seniors) only has a handful of students that need to pass a section. What happens is that they do 1/2 day testing, 1/2 day class, but if kids aren't finished at the end of the morning, they can go to the library and work on the test as long as they need to, so if you are the teacher having a class in the afternoon, you can't go forward with that class because 2-3 kids are out being tested (you can't penalize for being in the test). Since its block schedule, that's like missing 5 days of class rather than 3!
I do think they've worked hard at validation - I was wrong before, they started with Eng and math, and since it is mutiple choice, it is a little more objective. Then started counting social studies and science after several cycles of testing in the schools.</p>
<p>Sorry, too for hijacking, you can enter biotech in many ways, it depends on your personal bent and the opportunities you have. I find the Davidson program particularly interesting because of intersection of all the sciences and informatics - people who can speak all those "languages" even if only a little, will be in demand, although I'm sure a person going through that program would probably not use it as a terminal degree.</p>
<p>cangel, a fellow alabama doc, notes that engr can be a tough way into med school as a high gpa tends to be tough to maintain....med schools take this into account however....in my med school class we had 6 engineers...mostly chem e.....suggest take what you like and do well in it!! also consider internship for exposure....</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses, everyone. I'm still very confused but you brought up some good points that I didn't seem to consider. (IE theoretical/research or production). If it helps, i'm more interested in research/development than actual production. I'd like to be the one who, from the pharmaceutical drug standpoint, comes up with the ideas for new drugs by doing some testing with chemicals and what not. (does this overlap with research/production??) As for other majors, my parents told me to beware of leaving engineering for paying off debts. I have dug a little bit into biochemistry and molecular biology, but I still don't know what to do. I'm having trouble seeing advisors here. I'll be driving to Pittsburgh over thanksgiving break to talk to the bioengineering department about my interests, hoping they can shed some light on the topic as well.</p>
<p>I will look at those companies websites that you gave me, as well as Davidson College. Hopefully I can get this thing straighened out to see if I'll stay here (VT doesn't offer some ..well most .. of the options I'm considering. Thinking possibly UVA, NC State, Clemson, etc down here)</p>
<p>To be honest with you, I'm not sure anything chemistry-related is for me. I'm finding chemistry very difficult, and don't think I want to continue it as a major. I wouldn't mind taking it for med school requirements, however. </p>
<p>So now I'm very confused. If I'm interested in stem cell research and the like, what majors could I possibly do that aren't plain and that offer good money? I'm aware of molecular bioloy, bioengineering, but what else? I've paid too much attention to engineering as of late to even know what other majors are out there for me to consider. If I stay in engineering, I'll probably do bioengineering with something else.</p>
<p>and in response to an earlier quote, I speak spanish pretty well, so moving overseas won't be a problem for me (highly doubt i'll have to though)</p>
<p>Well my parents are telling me that they would like me to pursue biology and stay here at VA Tech. But I don't know. I have an interest in cell and molecular biology as well as microbiology. What will biology give me that those other majors wont?</p>
<p>Don't assume that biochem won't work for you because you're not enjoying chemistry. It may sound weird, but biochem is such a different and specific area of chem that it really requires a different mindset. I switched from chem to biochem (a million years ago) because I adored biochem---and thought the rest of chem was merely okay.</p>
<p>Bio is an enormous field. If you're interested in research, you can be a tech with a bachelor's degree, or do the grad school/postdoc thing to get to where you're doing original research. If you're planning on doing the grad school thing, you'd better be <em>good</em> because you're going to need scholarships to pay for that.</p>
<p>Crazy, I agree with dmd that biochem and chemistry aren't quite the same thing, although to do graduate work in biochem, I would think you would need the basics - general, organic and pchem. A gentle suggestion for your parents is that biology is not at all what it was when WE were in college. The jobs are in molecular and cell biology - even in the "field study" specialties like marine biology and wildlife study, some of the actual research is based on molecular techniques.
Time to visit the career center, and the bio department. Any classes/ research opportunities that can give you lab technique experience will be invaluable. Many times a researcher will need someone to "mind the gels", and many people have gone on to med school after a year of doing that. Don't forget the allied health specialties either - we are desperate to get med techs, although it is not a career that I would wholeheartedly recommend, there are plenty of jobs available.
Another way to go in your near NoVa area would be forensics and any number of gov't jobs at various agencies doing testing with cell bio or molecular techniques.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the great information. I thought about forensics when I was visiting West VA University last year and it sounded very interesting, but my interest in engineering outshined EVERYTHING back then. When I came to college, my parents made me promise that I would explore other majors so I did and found other interests. VT has biochemistry so I will definately check it out. I have an appointment with the premed advisor to discuss majors as I'm sure he can lend me some good info as well.</p>
<p>So I'm taking it that cell biology, microbio, biochem, molecular biology are all great fields to consider and I plan to do my research on each of them. So I take it all of these majors are great stepping stones for professional and grad school? And i guess theres so much I can do with these majors that all i need to do is do some research to find some other stuff out. Stem cell research for one and other health related stuff. thanks again, everyone!</p>
<p>Chemical engineers are engineers first and foremost. Most of them take a process worked out by chemists and then try to make the chemical on a larger and cheaper scale. Imagine, if you want, the difference between 5 ml and 5000 ml or 5000 L or 5000 kL--at each step, you need to do something different about waste products (like heat and other products of the reaction). Chemical engineers work at the larger-volume end of the scale.</p>
<p>As a comment, I read years ago that sulfuric acid is used in so many chemical engineering processes that the nation's consumption of sulfuric acid has a one-to-one relationship with GDP. I have no idea if this is still true.</p>