Are your relatives engineers or scientists

[chiro]

My mum only did school up until year 10 and my natural father has done some tertiary studies in drafting, hospitality (qualified chef), and frontline management.

I'm the first to go into a tertiary environment like university.

 

[Cinitiator]

My dad is an artist and an architect.
My uncle (dad's side) is a thermal engineer.
My grandfather (dad's side) is a philosopher.
My great-grandfather (dad's side) was a gold mine owner.

My mom is also an artist and a civil engineer.
My grandmother (mom's side) is a medical worker.

Both of my parents always (literally) had perfect GPA, in the primary school, middle school, high school and university - I've checked their report cards.

 

[turbo]

My mother was the first person in her family to graduate from High School. (first in her class, BTW). She was living with an aunt and uncle, since her mother had died of TB and her father had moved away in pursuit of carpentry work. He spoke only a few words of English - when I was a kid, my mother had to take care of all of his correspondence, pay his bills, etc, and explain what the letters and notices meant.

My father was living with a a family that took him in when he left home as a kid (proprietors of a local grocery store), and gave him room and board in exchange for his work stocking shelves, cleaning up, etc, as long as he would stay in school. He left school to join Airborne and fight in WWII, though he was too young to have joined up legally. He still speaks of them with a love that is certainly not featured in his memories of his biological parents. Many years later, he was given a diploma by his HS.

I was the first person in either of my parents' families to attended college. My younger cousin on my mother's side followed a few years later. He was Lockheed Martin's lead project engineer on the last Hubble upgrade mission.

 

[nocturne-e]

My dad is a EE and I will be too in a couple of years. He's the only one in my close family that is an engineer. My brother with probably go into the medical field but he still has quite a few years to figure that stuff out for himself.

I live in an area where if feels like everyone is a freaking engineer. It's a huge aerospace/petrochem community so I know many people who are going to college for engineering. I know quite a few EE guys but I have yet to meet another girl my age that plans to go into power. Oh well. Less competition for me in the long run I guess. :D

 

[Arbite]

Dad: Software Engineer
Uncle: Electrical Engineer
Aunt: High school science teacher

Think that's it.

 

[Lacy33]

yes. both. not me, I am the white sheep of the family.

 

[Dale]

How typical is it that an engineering or science student also has other relatives in their family who are also engineers or scientists ?

My dad: chem E, my grandpa: mining E, great grandpa: mechanical E, great-great grandpa: civil E. My maternal grandpa was a geologist specializing in hydrology, plus 3 engineery brothers in law.

 

[arildno]

Dad: Biologist
Mom: Actuarian
Brother: Software engineer
Maternal uncles: Engineers
Maternal grandfather: Actuarian
Maternal grandmother: Studied anatomy
Paternal grandfather: Engineer
Great-uncle: Meteorologist

 

[Topher925]

I think I was adopted. Everyone in my family works in business related fields.

 

[mugaliens]

Nope. Dad wanted to be both, but never made it. He's still one hell of an incredible thing dude.

 

[cronanster]

On my mom's side:
GRandfather was a field engineer for Burrows and later Unisys, working on mainframes.
My uncle is a electronic engineer.
His son is a Chemical Engineer for Caterpillar
Second son is in school for Mechanical Engineering
Third is also in school for Electrical Engineering.

On my dad's side:
An uncle was a Civil Engineer, and a cousin that is an Engineering Manager.
Alot of businessmen and nurses.
Grandfather was a police officer, but was a very big tinker. He rebuilt cars, repaired tv's, built all kind of things.

In my immediate family, my mom never went to college, dad never finished.
I am a mechanical engineer and my sister is working on her master's for psychology.

 

[FrancisZ]

I guess it's safe to say: both of my parents were scientifically inclined, to some degree. My dad graduated from Pratt with an Architectural degree; and my mother studied Nursing.

 

[physics girl phd]

My dad (the oldest of eight) and his next closest brother were both electrical engineers at Bell Labs. I don't think there are any scientist/engineering types on my mother's side (also one of eight) except through marriage... though she comes from an agricultural family, which certainly requires some mechanical aptitude, accounting skill, and understanding of nature. A fair number of aunts entered the medical professions (some in the pathology labs of hospitals), and my sister has her MD/PhD and is a pathologist. My mother and father were the first in their respective families to attend college.

I keep wondering what's next on the polls... do you wear glasses or corrective lenses of some sort; does your immediate family? I.e., what's the chances your genes would have made it through if their wasn't either some smart gene or some extra care taken in your background / upbringing... (For the record, I have a great picture of my mother, father, brother, sister and I in the eighties in which all of us have on those big-lensed eighties glasses -- though my mother has rather good vision and only needed slight correction for one eye).

 

[lisab]

My dad (the oldest of eight) and his next closest brother were both electrical engineers at Bell Labs. I don't think there are any scientist/engineering types on my mother's side (also one of eight) except through marriage... though she comes from an agricultural family, which certainly requires some mechanical aptitude, accounting skill, and understanding of nature. A fair number of aunts entered the medical professions (some in the pathology labs of hospitals), and my sister has her MD/PhD and is a pathologist. My mother and father were the first in their respective families to attend college.

I keep wondering what's next on the polls... do you wear glasses or corrective lenses of some sort; does your immediate family? I.e., what's the chances your genes would have made it through if their wasn't either some smart gene or some extra care taken in your background / upbringing... (For the record, I have a great picture of my mother, father, brother, sister and I in the eighties in which all of us have on those big-lensed eighties glasses -- though my mother has rather good vision and only needed slight correction for one eye).

Oooo, great idea for a poll topic: "What will be the next poll topic?"

 

[wild999711]

On my father's side my grandfather has a degree in forestry from UCB, and my Uncle has a Phd in Mech engineering from UCSB. Of the two my Uncle was the one who pushed me to study Physics.

On my mothers side the closest my family came to science or engineering is a muffler shop they own, and construction. My grandfather on my mother's side was great at fixing old cars, bikes, or engines in general. According to the family he could fix anything with "toothpicks and rubberbands".

 

[chiro]

My grandfather on my mother's side was great at fixing old cars, bikes, or engines in general. According to the family he could fix anything with "toothpicks and rubberbands".

Is your uncle by any chance Macgyver? ;)

 

[wild999711]

Is your uncle by any chance Macgyver? ;)

No but they loved that show.

 

[jobyts]

Me and my younger sister are engineers. My older sister is a doctor. All three of us have engineer spouses. All our engineer spouses have all their siblings engineers or doctors. All our engineer spouses' siblings' spouses are engineers or doctors.

This may sound like a funny trivia, but it's true. A total of 11 engineers and 4 doctors.

 

[Norman]

Interesting thread.

On my Mom's side of the family, I was the first person to go to college and graduate. All the men on my Mom's side of the family work in the paper mills around where I grew up.

My Dad has a BS in Ecology, but works for a paper mill as the R&D and Quality Assurance Manager. He says he is fairly bored with his job. Though every 5-10 years he gets to work on a new process for a new product. He was the first person on his side of the family to get a college degree also.

In all my family, I am the only person to get a postgraduate degree. I am the oldest in my generation of the family. Though, out of the 6 in my generation (first cousins) only one other has a Bachelors, my brother has an associates, and my youngest cousin in enrolled in college right now.

My father nudged me towards engineering. Fool that I was, I got a PhD in physics instead. In fact, I turned down a scholarship to play soccer because the school did not have a full physics program. I could have got a chem eng. or mech eng. degree, worked for a paper mill and probably made a lot more money, starting at a younger age. But, I would probably be bored out of my mind too...