From engineering to neuroscience?

[Null_]

I've recently (within the past week) become fascinated by neuroscience. I've always been interested in thoughts and what exactly is consciousness, but I've never really thought about studying it as a profession. With my first semester wrapping up, I'm wondering if I should make a switch? Are there many research jobs even available? Could I get into grad school for neuroscience with an undergrad in chemical engineering?

I'm kind of scared that I'm just seeing the glorified image of it. I'm not really interested in the biology of the brain but more the mathematical representation of it.

Bleh..maybe exams are just causing crazy thoughts to pop into my head...

 

[fasterthanjoao]

You could consider applying to a bioengineering programme. I know one chemical engineer, but many engineers working in neuroscience related bioengineering topics. There are lots of things out there, but the stuff I know best is things like EEG electrode measurements (which can be done to pinpoint signals from individual neurons) - and can be used to study how the brain processes information, peaks and flow of activity and deep brain stimulation. This is more on the electrical side of things, so if you could pick a couple of classes in that if you think it might interest you then try that. There is also things like neural prosthetics and signal processing type work, among tonnes of other things.

If you're not too bothered about the biology side of things you should look at bioengineering, some mathematics departments and some electrical engineering departments too. Scope out the ones that have biological interests, and then whittle that down to the ones that work with the brain if that's what you're really interested in. I did my undergrad in physics and most of what I do now is a sort of mathematical modelling of brain networks. It's heavily computational and involves quite a bit of programming but I use real data, and work with biologists to help them get something useful out. I can understand as much or as little about the biology as I choose really, since I work closely with a bunch of biologists to interpret my findings I can always ask their advice, for instance.

 

[fasterthanjoao]

I've recently (within the past week) become fascinated by neuroscience.

Also, just noticed this. A week isn't a long time! Maybe hit google scholar and have a look at some engineering orientated neuroscience projects. You can google around to find the research departments that handle this sort of thing, and then check google scholar for specific author works.

 

[Null_]

Also, just noticed this. A week isn't a long time! Maybe hit google scholar and have a look at some engineering orientated neuroscience projects. You can google around to find the research departments that handle this sort of thing, and then check google scholar for specific author works.

Thanks for all of the info! I'll definitely check it out. All of the engineers have the same first year curriculum at my school anyway. I'd prefer to stay in engineering (good back up plan). I know that a week isn't a long time at all, but I think I will devote my winter break to reading up on the matter. I haven't taken a bio class since the 10th grade, which I really didn't like (just memorizing uninteresting facts about animals), so I may have a skewed view on the matter.

I can get a dual degree pretty easily with chemical and biomolecular engineering (just a few more classes)

 

[Ryker]

I know that a week isn't a long time at all, but I think I will devote my winter break to reading up on the matter.

I think that's a good plan. Don't make a hasty decision, get better acquainted with the subject and let it sink in during your next semester. I'm sure you'll have a better idea after that.

 

[fasterthanjoao]

I know that a week isn't a long time at all, but I think I will devote my winter break to reading up on the matter. I haven't taken a bio class since the 10th grade, which I really didn't like (just memorizing uninteresting facts about animals), so I may have a skewed view on the matter.

Before I started working on biological data analysis, I hadn't worked with or studied anything biology since my first year of high school, and it didn't matter too much to me. If you decide that bioengineering or some equivalent is what you want to go into in the end then of course some bio course background won't hurt. The thing I found most difficult to handle when learning biology is trying to understand how a biologist thinks. They process things differently than I've done all my time, and so it can make developmental processes interesting.

 

[discrete*]

I've recently (within the past week) become fascinated by neuroscience. I've always been interested in thoughts and what exactly is consciousness, but I've never really thought about studying it as a profession. With my first semester wrapping up, I'm wondering if I should make a switch? Are there many research jobs even available? Could I get into grad school for neuroscience with an undergrad in chemical engineering?

I'm kind of scared that I'm just seeing the glorified image of it. I'm not really interested in the biology of the brain but more the mathematical representation of it.

Bleh..maybe exams are just causing crazy thoughts to pop into my head...

Perhaps it's worth looking into programs in computational biology... I know this is becoming quite a popular field of applied mathematics, and I'm sure you could do research in neuroscience as a biomathematician. You may need to do your undergrad in math or applied math though, if you want to get into to a compbio grad program...

 

[fasterthanjoao]

Perhaps it's worth looking into programs in computational biology... I know this is becoming quite a popular field of applied mathematics, and I'm sure you could do research in neuroscience as a biomathematician. You may need to do your undergrad in math or applied math though, if you want to get into to a compbio grad program...

I work on a lot of computational biology projects, and have done work with students in the area as well. The universities I have experience with sometimes aren't *too* bothered about the students background for projects in this - some programming experience is a must, but projects can be as computational or as mathematical as you like, so a lot of math experience isn't necessarily required. No idea about US, but I reckon it's an idea keeping on a burner for now.

 

[Null_]

That's interesting; I had not really considered the computational aspect. Discrete*, I do enjoy math quite a bit, but I don't think majoring in it is what I really want to do.

I know no computer languages other than a bit of Python. I'm starting my second semester...should I take a class on c++ or another language, or just try to learn it on my own?

 

[fasterthanjoao]

I'm starting my second semester...should I take a class on c++ or another language, or just try to learn it on my own?

If you only know a little programming then perhaps you might want to take a look at some things on your own first. Matlab is great - and is useful in almost any engineering/physics/anything position.

As far as languages in the community go, MATLAB and R are probably the ones to start with (I almost exclusively use matlab, and tipple with a few programs in R - things that people have already written that I can't be bothered re-writing for MATLAB ). I don't know what the standard is, but the neuroscientists that I have worked with that do their own analysis tend to use R. It's free to get, and has plenty of toolboxes and programs to download.

 

[fasterthanjoao]

Also, for computational stuff, have a look at:

http://www.springer.com/biomed/neuroscience/journal/10827

and keep your eye on:

http://www.mathematical-neuroscience.com/

which is a free peer-reviewed journal that is launching soon.

And whilst I'm weary of just writing a big advert for the type of work I do, it is what I know best. Computational work doesn't necessarily mean you're away from pen and paper all of the time - for me, devising algorithms mean I use a lot of linear algebra, and some other branches of mathematics. I mess around with things, and see what the math suggests ought to happen - then I try it out on the computer.

 

[Null_]

^Thanks a bunch! I have nothing to do other than cook and eat cookies for the next 3 weeks, so I'll be learning matlab!

Those are interesting sites...I'll check them out to see what's new. It sounds as if you have a really cool job. :)