Senior majoring in computer engineering

[superweirdo]

i am a rising senior majoring in computer engineering.
i fell extremely sick, and I just recovered from my sickness. I lost the internship that I had, because it took me 5 weeks to get better.
I still have more than two months of summer left! is it too late to apply for internships/research opportunities yet?? what should i do?

also, i have no absolutely no clue how CE undergrads do research as compared to someone majoring in BME/medicine, because isn't the stuff too complicated/detailed for an undergrad majoring in CE to tackle? what are the topics a CE undergrad could do research on? I am for example very much interested in AI, but that's such a broad topic! if i narrow it down to sensation or vision, then i don't even know ABC of the field ... do you see what I am saying?

if you could take some time out to asnwer my two questions, it would be great.

 

[superweirdo]

maybe i asked my questions in a really confusing way
i tend to do that a lot
if there is any sort of confusion, please let me know ...

 

[jbusc]

Well, I would contact all your friends who have internships and ask them for contact information for the person handling internships at their companies. Also see if the career center at your university has advice. Perhaps it is not too late, but you should be very persistent in your search.

It is difficult to just "jump in" to a research project cold. First step is to decide which classes you did well in and impressed/had interaction with the professor, and go ask them if you could perform research with them

 

[superweirdo]

Well, I would contact all your friends who have internships and ask them for contact information for the person handling internships at their companies. Also see if the career center at your university has advice. Perhaps it is not too late, but you should be very persistent in your search.

It is difficult to just "jump in" to a research project cold. First step is to decide which classes you did well in and impressed/had interaction with the professor, and go ask them if you could perform research with them

i agree with you on what you said about research ... but in order for me to talk to my professors about it, i at least want to have a basic idea of how it goes just so that i don't end up sounding really dumb to my prof.
i mean ... for example ... my prof might ask me ... "oh so you want to do research? ... what are you interested in?" and then i will be like "mmm umm well i like AI, but it's such broad topic... like maybe vision or sensation ... oh wait i have no idea what i just said"
you see what i am saying? but then ... i think profs may not expect me to know too many details anyway...
i don't know ...

as for friends, none of my friends are majoring in CE

 

[Disar]

I am sorry to hear about your sickness. I am sure it is frustrating to have had work and now find yourself in the position to look for work again.

I recently was searching some job postings and found that companies are still searching for interns in all parts of the country. I would NOT limit my search to proximity. You are in a rough position and need to be open to any options. Plus you get to see more of this beautiful country.

I would also consider doing a Co-Op/internship in the fall. You could even go part time to your University. The longer you work the more experience you get. It can only help you. You may need to stay in school one more semester but there is no shame in that at all. Hell, I've been in school since '99 (Very indecisve on majors!).

Also, check all the Temp agencies in your area. They may have work for you. Have them do a Nation Wide search for you, they have got to have something to fit your interest.

And definitely use whatever contacts you have. Even contact the company that was supposed to hire you.

The main thing is no matter what your GPA is if you have no technical experience coming out of school you will be at a disadvantage when it comes to looking for a job.

Good luck!

 

[0rthodontist]

The professors of the classes you liked might not do the subject of the class in real life, but maybe you could talk to them as a starting board so they can point you in the direction of other faculty.

I watched a couple research presentations by seniors--one was a variant on an ant algorithm where the Earth contains most of the intelligence instead of the ant, and the other was about optimal scheduling of distributed computation tasks. They didn't look really complicated: moderately simple simulations with some of the main ideas coming from faculty instead of the students.

If you don't know anything about AI then I think you should do some reading on the subject, e.g. wikipedia and google, to get an overview and an idea of what you might want (or be able) to do. It wouldn't take a lot of time.

I am interested in doing undergraduate research, though I expect to have two more years to do it in. I have been offered to do research in the fall in an area I am not especially interested in, about the same level of interest as I have in an average class. Should I take this opportunity and wind up taking one or two fewer classes this fall, or skip it and only do what I'm interested in, which would mean waiting one or two more semesters if I can do it at all?