<p>I'm about to start pursuing my BE in ChE and I'm just curious as to where the field is going and what opportunities will be available to me when I graduate. Also, I figure it might help me choose what electives I'd like to take. So, regardless of what branch of engineering are you in, how do you find out about the latest happenings?</p>
<p>IEEE publications?</p>
<p>I’m an EE that does a fair amount of software work (and other stuff too) and I don’t stay on top of EE because, quite honestly, I don’t care. Knowing what’s going on in the field will be of extremely little to no use to me and if I need specific information about a subject I may look it up then. Also, if I’m going to spend time reading I’d rather read a book I’m interested in or random other stuff I find on social news sites.</p>
<p>Tom, why would he read IEEE publications as a ChemE? Whatever the equivalent organization that publishes papers in his field would be more appropriate. As PurdueEE said, staying up-to-date by reading papers is not always necessary, though.</p>
<p>I read papers and occasionally new textbooks, and attend conferences and seminars. Not arbitrarily… just when I think there is something I am missing. It is never a good idea to reinvent the wheel if you don’t have to. I know some more senior people who go take classes here and there, but I am still working grad school so that part is just a fact of life right now.</p>
<p>It depends on your intended goal: research or practice. If you intend to work in research, you want to meet with some professors and ask them their opinion. You’ll want to identify the “A” journals, which will depend on your area of interest. Once you’ve identified them, subscribe to the journals via Google Reader directed to your school’s library feed for those journals. That will give you the abstract of every paper published in those journals. Until you actually get into research, just reading abstracts and understanding what’s out there is probably enough. When you get into research, you’ll need to read entire papers and do forward and reverse citation searches.</p>
<p>If your interest is industry, what you can do is join AICHE for your school and your area. Then attend industry meetings and conferences. Also, subscribe to the chemical industry feed at news sites like the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and New York Times. After you start working, you can also attend courses offered by professional societies and your company, and you can also look at pursuing an advanced degree at night or on line (some top schools offer MS engineering degrees online now).</p>
<p>When I received my BS in ET my school crammed to join IEEE down our throats. Ive looked at the site but havent decided if I want to join or not. I think its like around $35 a year for a student to join. Im about to start the application process for a BS in EE and later on MS in CS for a career in robotics. When you are at the MS point in your career doesnt having memberships to IEEE, BMES or going to conferences/seminars look good on your application? Because my career goal is in robotics would it be a good idea to go to those science fairs/contests with a project and have that on my MS application?</p>
<p>Well, he did say “your field,” not “my field.” So there.</p>
<p>I read magazines from the professional engineering societies that I’m apart of.</p>
<p>It differs from state to state, but most PEs are required to get continuing education credits each year. We do that by going to seminars offered by engineering societies. New York is a difficult state to be licensed in, though, because the presentations have to be approved by them in order to count. Half the hours, though, can be earned online, so that helps.</p>