Question for all you scientists.

[MelchyBeau]

I've noticed alot of people here work in the sciences, or are getting degrees in them. I am curious to hear what each of you research on.

I'll start

I have a B.S. in Physics and plan on going for my masters in a few years. (I want to make sure optics is really what I want to do)

I will start working in the field of Holography in a few weeks.

In college I worked on a project for TJ nat'l accelerator dealing with the quark structure of nucleons.

Melch

[AZK]

I'm getting a BS in Biochemistry, currently working in an organic chem. lab trying to attach sugar residues to certain drugs in order to make them more easily metabolized by the body. I might continue doing research in organic as I really enjoy it but next year I'm planning on going to medical school.

[Alobar]

jesus, how many people here are phsyics majors? Its gotta be like the most popular major on this forum. I majored in phsyics, but I dropped out so I dont think that really counts.

[Sweaburg]

I've got a B.Sc. in physics and I'm currently doing my Masters in medical physics.

My thesis is doing Monte Carlo calculations of dose (energy deposited) distributions in brachytherapy radiation treatment (widely used in prostate cancer).

I also spent a summer working on simulating the E-M fields of transmit/recieve coils used in magnetic resonance imaging.

~RT

[slickpoppa]

I was a physics major as an undergrad. i did some work with Bose Einstein Condensation.

[Brain]

I have a B.A. in Chemistry (I don't know why it's a B.A. either, I did two semesters of research on a cholesterol-reducing drug) and I'll be done with my master's in December.

I don't do intense chemistry every day though. I work with surfactants and organic dyes helping your wives and girlfriends look younger and better.

[daryn]

i have a BS in physics and i currently am destroying the party 10/20.

[Paluka]

I have a BS in Applied Physics and don't remember any of it, and I'm only 30.

[cold_cash]

Social sciences don't count?

[Josh W]

I have a BS in applied Physics and work in Optics...design and stray-light analysis.

I can't wait to stop using my degree....

J

[scrub]

I got a Bachelor's in Molecular Biology.

I worked in labs studying hypoxia-induced neuronal damage in high school and early in college.

I did my thesis in an Electrical Engineering lab that was trying to build synthetic genetic circuits in eukaryotes. I was really sick of lab work though and ended up just doing a computer model of one of the circuits the lab was building.

I do not plan on working in science.

scrub

[EliteNinja]

You guys >> Me

Still working on my B.A.Sc. in Materials Engineering.
I'm in my 2nd last semester.

[ethan]

Finishing off a master's in CS, probably going to skip the PhD. Really, though, it's closer to applied math/physics.

[fimbulwinter]

Coming in June:
B.S. in Biochemistry
B.S. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
Minor in Women's Studies

what?

fim

[eric5148]

I have a BS in BS.

[codewarrior]

I was a Physics/Chemistry double with a minor in Math, concentration in Polymer Physical Chemistry.

Now I'm VP of a mold making company.

Go figure. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[wacki]

[ QUOTE ]
I do not plan on working in science.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why?? And what do you intend to do?? If you don't stay in poker I mean.

[wacki]

Too lazy to list what I do,

MS. Bioinformatics

[Zeno]

MS Geology.

.

[peachy]

[ QUOTE ]
I have a B.A. in Chemistry (I don't know why it's a B.A. either, I did two semesters of research on a cholesterol-reducing drug) and I'll be done with my master's in December.

I don't do intense chemistry every day though. I work with surfactants and organic dyes helping your wives and girlfriends look younger and better.

[/ QUOTE ]

its a BA b/c u did ur "extra" classes in like english or another language, etc = ARTS, if u take extra classes like math or any science it = Science

[scrub]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I do not plan on working in science.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why?? And what do you intend to do?? If you don't stay in poker I mean.

[/ QUOTE ]

I worked in research labs on and off for about 5 years, and I'm almost positive that I don't want to be in academic science.

As much as anything else, the way your job changes if you're succesful doesn't make any sense to me. You start out as someone whose day-to-day focus is on research and end up as a cross between a salesperson and a manager, but without being trained to be either. Most PIs I've known have worked upwards of 90 hours per week, rarely seen their families, traveled to meetings constantly, and lived in perpetual worry about their next grant application. They have also had to try to figure out how to manage an underpaid workforce of PhD students and postdocs who rarely have the language skills to communicate with each other, and who are also under a great deal of stress which makes it difficult to know whether they are being honest about their work.

I don't think you can live that kind of lifestyle without being passionate about what you're doing or getting paid a ton of money. I'm not passionate about research, and PIs don't get paid a ton of money.

Also, the academic system--at least in the field I worked in--has weird incentives. People who do mediocre work in a "sexy" field are usually much more succesful than people who do excellent work in a less exciting area. Tenure and grant committees care about how many publications a PI has as much, if not more, than they care about the quality of the publications, so successful PIs tend to carve out a tiny niche for themselves, trying to squeeze as many papers as possible out of the one big idea that they had while they were a grad student.

Anyway, I don't think I would be happy doing it. The biggest reason I'm still playing poker is that I'm not sure what I want to do. When I moved out here, I was planning on working for a non-profit science journal that a friend of mine worked for. The opportunity that they were going to have ended up not sounding like a great job, though, so I kept playing poker instead.

I think I'm going to start applying to unpaid internships that are part-time or volunteer somewhere just so that I can get a feel for what I might be qualified to do and what I might enjoy. If anyone has suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

scrub

[wacki]

Ya, this sucks scrub. I'm in the same kind of dilemma. I am lucky that I've had really cool jobs, but the payscale sucks. You simply can't raise a family off of grant money. I haven't gone into private industry yet, but I will sometime soon. If I don't find my spot in a year or two I'll probably get an MBA. Boring job, but easier work, more freetime, and more pay. QLC's suck.

[turnipmonster]

I don't have any advice on what you should do, but do have advice on how to figure it out. a few years back my best friend and I really felt frustrated with working so we took 3 months and traveled around europe with another friend playing jazz in the streets and staying in hostels. we spent a lot of time playing music, and a lot of time just thinking. it sounds corny, but I discovered a lot about myself and my relationship to the activities that occupy my time by taking time to think about them.

my experience is that it's very hard to figure out things about your life when you're in the trenches, i.e. working/playing cards/dealing with the stuff you deal with. I think it can be really important to take a break from your everyday life to gain some kind of perspective and figure out where you're at. traveling without an agenda is a great way to do this. by "without an agenda", I mean going places not with the intention of trying to absorb all the culture and sightsee and all that stuff, but just going, no expectations. whenever I'm on the road, I always volunteer to drive the early morning shift when everyone else is asleep for this same reason.

--turnipmonster

[Zeno]

That was a fair and pretty good post Scrub. True, unless you are passionate and a somewhat non-standard person it is tough to take an academic track. Much of what you outlined is true to some extent and the reason many leave or quit this type of work. Now some do work in government or business type of research institutions where pay and stress are, in my opinion, much less and the working conditions better. This is a viable option to the academic road, that and also entrepreneurial enterprises.

Anyway, the reason I responded to your post is you gave a good synopsis of why I did not go on and get a PhD, though I was strongly urged to and a research project was offered to me. That and some other personal reasons that are my own and will stay that way.

Good luck on whatever path you decide to take especially if it is ‘no path’ at all.

-Zeno