Why Major in Engineering

1. Why Major in Engineering Magdalena Balazinska Assistant Professor Computer Science & Engineering July 20, 2006

2. Raise your hand if… • You are thinking about majoring in engineering • You already decided to major in engineering • You already selected a concentration • You are considering computer engineering • You are considering computer science • All the above are great ideas!

3. Outline • What engineering is about • Difference between science and engineering • Why engineering is an exciting career • Impacts of engineering on our world • Impacts of computer science and engineering • Opportunities in computer science and engineering • Why engineering is a welcoming career • Ack: Parts of material in this talk graciously provided by Prof. Ed Lazowska

4. Science vs. engineering • Science • Understand, describe, explain • Engineering • Design and build • “An engineer can do for a nickel what any fool can do for a dollar” (H. Ford) • Computer science (at least the part that I do) is mostly engineering

5. “Engineering research”: oxymoron? • “Fundamental research” and “application-motivated research” are compatible

6. Niels Bohr Thomas Edison Traditional view Fundamental research Applied research

7. Alternate view Pasteur; much of biomedical and engineering research Edison X Concern with use Bohr Concern with fundamentals

8. Outline • What engineering is about • Difference between science and engineering • Why engineering is an exciting career • Impacts of engineering on our world • Impacts of computer science and engineering • Opportunities in computer science and engineering • Why engineering is a welcoming career

13. Engineering Impacts All Aspects of Society… Take Your Pick! • Academic departments at UW • Aeronautics and astronautics • Bioengineering • Chemical engineering • Civil and environmental engineering • Computer science and engineering • Electrical engineering • Industrial engineering • Material science and engineering • Mechanical engineering

14. Why computer science & engineering? • Impact • Advances in computing drive advances in all other fields • Advances in computing power the economy • Not just through the growth of the computing industry – through Multi Factor Productivity Growth throughout the economy • Advances in computing change the way we live, the way we work, the way we learn, the way we communicate • Unbelievably cool intellectual opportunities

15. Exponential progress

16. Exponential progress

17. Exponential progress

18. Exponential progress

19. Exponential progress

20. Exponential progress

21. Makes many predictions look foolish • “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers” -- Thomas J. Watson, founder and Chairman of IBM, 1943

22. Makes many predictions look foolish • “Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons” -- Popular Science, 1949

23. Makes many predictions look foolish • “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home” -- Ken Olsen, founder and President of Digital Equipment Corporation, 1977

24. Makes many predictions look foolish • “640K ought to be enough for anybody” -- Bill Gates, founder, Chairman, and CEO of Microsoft, 1981 [disclaimed]

25. Intellectual opportunity • “… the software industry is going to make more breakthroughs in these next 10 years than it's made in the last 30 … software is really going to transform not just what we think about as the computer industry, but the way that everything is done …” Re-architecting the Internet Quantum computing Harnessing parallelism Transforming all fields of science and engineering

26. Email alert. “Urgent, temp in chair's office is 1°F too low!” Sensor-based environment monitoring Temperature in room 101 Temp on first floor Third floor Second floor

27. RFID-based equipment tracking

28. RFID-based equipment tracking

29. Intellectual opportunity Prosthetics / augmentation / access Wreckless driving A teacher for every learner Personalized Health care Flattening the world Computing, innovation, and creativity

30. Intellectual opportunity Computational biology and medicine The end of business travel Synthetic biology The personal Memex Transforming the nation’s defense

31. 81%

34. Outline • What engineering is about • Difference between science and engineering • Why engineering is an exciting career • Impacts of engineering on our world • Impacts of computer science and engineering • Opportunities in computer science and engineering • Why engineering is a welcoming career

35. Engineering is a Welcoming Career • Most work is team work • You get to work with people every day • The people you work with are really nice people • But you can also work with customers, lawyers, etc. • In computer science and engineering • Most jobs offer flexible schedules • You may never have to wake up early in the morning • You may never have to dress up • You can work from home and be productive • No one cares if you speak with an accent

36. Engineering Opens Many Doors • Engineers learn highly portable skills • Solve problems, build systems, understand principles • Many different types of jobs • Can change your type of work throughout life! • Can couple CSE with business or domain expertise • Especially in CSE • Amazing number of different opportunities • You get to shop around! You should shop around! • Engineering is an international profession • Working abroad easier than for other professions

37. Summary • Good work in engineering in “Pasteur’s quadrant” • Advances transformed our nation and our world • Computer science is the fairest one of all • Predicting the future is hard • “To predict the future build the future” • But it’s pretty clear the best is yet to come • Tons of intellectual opportunities • Tons of jobs too! • Tons of open doors! • Even more opportunities than before!