<p>The title of this thread lists some things I am interested in. I am trying to decide on a major.</p>
<p>Some considerations are Computer Science (strong) but also statistics, mathematics, and various fields of engineering (mechanical, electrical, materials). I will not double major (though I will minor in French Literature).</p>
<p>Cryptography / Ecryption / Computer Security
Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision
Data Mining, Game Theory... etc etc</p>
<p>I am also interested in the future of robotics. So the things listed above would fulfill the "brains" of my vision for working in advanced ai/robotics (asimo--->ironman). But I'm concerned that without a background in engineering, I'll only be a code monkey.</p>
<p>I don't find as much interest in STUDYING engineering, but mechanical, electrical, and material engineering would all be extremely relevant to what I am interested in the future. Do I need to suck it up and study engineering, if I want to be involved with future robotics? Or can I focus in CS and simply collaborate closely with engineers in the future?
I ask this, because I am not extremely familiar with the real-world of CS/robotics/engineering, nor with the academic material itself. If I don't study engineering, I'm worried that I'll never be involved with the hardware/robotics side of projects. But I would never want to be fully involved with the hardware side, and would rather focus on the AI/software side while still being involved with all kinds of hardware.</p>
<p>also, should I be taking multivariable calculus? the CS program here doesn’t require it, and it would be a hassle taking it. how important is that course</p>
<ol>
<li>My school has a B.A. Computer Science program which is flexible, but also a B.S. EECS program which is not flexible and I wouldn’t be able to study abroad or study French Literature, which are both very important to me.</li>
</ol>
<p>EECS is much more prestigious than CS, and some people give me weird/arrogant reactions when they hear I’m “only” doing CS., which isn’t in the engineering school.</p>
<ol>
<li>I think majoring in CS would be a better specialization, since it seems that much of the innovation needs to come from there, whereas the engineering side of things is less dependent on <em>as much</em> imagination. Innovation is especially what I’m interested in. I just don’t want to make rash judgments.</li>
</ol>
<p>I have heard all those are CS topics. I have some similar ambitions in life. I plan on double majoring in EE and Comp Sci. I really hope to see the quantum computing make leaps during my lifetime.</p>
<p>I’m not the expert on this, but I think CS would be the way to go here. Not only does it contain all the relevant courses you need, but it has that flexibility you want. CS degrees have extremely high value right now and its a great way to go. Anybody scoffing at that choice of major is quite plainly an idiot.</p>
<p>Computer Science is a good major for those, but they also seem like math intensive fields so maybe try for a dual CS/Applied Math or CS/Statistics. Either that or just do CS, but take some extra math courses.</p>
<p>EECS more closely aligns with your interests than just computer science. With only a CS degree you will probably wind up as a code monkey, rather than someone working on designing those projects, unless you get an advanced degree.</p>
<p>Take as many math intensive courses as you can. If you want to work across disciplines you need to be comfortable with the math.</p>
<p>Lastly, I would really advise you to rethink entering artificial intelligence. While AI sound really interesting (and promising), you’ll find that the state of the field (overall knowledge, speed of advancement, etc.) is really disappointing. Artificial intelligence is not going anywhere fast. Everyone seems to think that AI is the next big “thing”, but after getting deep into AI, everyone changes their opinion. A prominent researcher in AI famously said: “A year in artificial intelligence is enough to convince anyone of the existence of God.”</p>
<p>about AI’s stagnation: that’s unfortunate, but manageable. I’m still interested in the other aspects of CS.</p>
<p>Switching to EECS would be a huge problem, and pretty much impossible. If I take heavy math and CS classes, would that be enough?</p>
<p>pseudoghost: “unless you get an advanced degree” do you mean a degree which combines CS and aspects of engineering? is that even possible, if i major in CS?</p>
<p>You must go to Berkeley, based on the description of majors you give.</p>
<p>Don’t bother trying to switch to EECS unless you want to do mainly EE with fewer than six upper division CS courses that the L&S CS major requires.</p>
<p>Consider taking CS 170, CS 169, CS 162, EE 122, CS 186, CS 161 in order to get most of the concepts most frequently used in industry software jobs. If you have space for technical and/or free electives, consider courses in math (e.g. 113, 115, and/or 116 if you have an interest in cryptography), statistics, economics (e.g. 104 or C110 for game theory), and engineering (e.g. EE C125 / BioE C125, EE C128 / ME C134, EE 192, ME 135 for robotics interest).</p>
<p>I work in the robotics field, and our engineers come from a wide range of majors (CS, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering). Major in what you like (your stated interests seem to be most aligned with CS), take relevant electives, and get involved with robotics related internships/research and you should be fine. Feel free to PM me if you have more questions.</p>
<p>This is not true at all. I say that not just because I work in AI, but because it’s patently wrong and outdated.</p>
<p>Yes, there have been times when AI was moving very slowly and people were dissatisfied with its direction. It led to several AI winters. But that was because the approach was wrong and solutions would not be found until computers increased in speed and memory. Since they have, AI research has exploded, and it’s made a great many strides. Here’s something I posted recently:</p>
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<p>It’s absurd to suggest that the state of the field of AI is “disappointing” when every day, you are surrounded by the fruits of AI. The only ones who are “disappointed” by AI are those who come into the field expecting everything to be figured out, wrapped into a neat little package, etc. but they don’t have that same expectation when they go into, say, physics. I think that’s probably because of movies and TV shows, which have for decades shown the public technologies which were not available (2001: A Space Odyssey, Short Circuit, Terminator, etc.). So when people discover that actually the problems in AI are much harder than that, they feel disappointed–but no other field has such high demands on it or has been expected to deliver on extremely difficult tasks so quickly. That is not a reason to leave the field; in fact, that’s why AI needs to have more people in it! We won’t get to those solutions without more people working on the problems.</p>
<p>The point is that AI is hard, but we’ve made tons of advances: that’s why there are hundreds of millions of dollars spent every year on AI research, hundreds of journals and conferences, faculty positions, labs, etc. in addition to the companies and research centers that focus on it. It’s also an extremely lucrative field (if you didn’t get that from the above quote).</p>
<p>To the OP: if you have more questions about AI, let me know–I’m starting my PhD in it soon, so I know a bit more about it than others do.</p>
<p>MIT is celebrating its 150th anniversary and recently had a symposium on AI.</p>
<p>Caltanner writes “Do I need to suck it up and study engineering, if I want to be involved with future robotics? Or can I focus in CS and simply collaborate closely with engineers in the future?”</p>
<p>Probably. Most of the robotics brainstorming is done in ME and EE. Of course, the engineers really want to have advances in robotic vision and AI but I’ve asked at some research universities and the CS participation is not that significant. I know someone in robotics research with degrees in ME, EE and CS (can’t recall whether the CS was a masters or the PHD).</p>