Nanotechnology is a interdisciplinary field. Scientists and Engineers in physics, chemistry, material science, mechanical, electrical, chemical, and biomedical engineering are working together in this field. Some schools, such as UCSD are starting NanoEngineering majors. In other places, going into any of the above majors can lead to a potential career in nanotechnology. Engineering math is taught in any of these engineering majors and is a useful tool. A profound understanding of physics and chemistry will be important too. Physics, mechanical, and electrical engineering may emphasize more on physics, where as chemistry, chemical, and biomedical engineering will give you more training on chemistry. Material science is probably a little of both. Based on your other interests, you can choose any of these majors.

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Ying-Ja

A good biomedical engineer should be interested in solving biological or medical problems. Some people think of new prosthesis devices or therapeutic delivery agents as examples, but you should not limit yourself to what you have seen. You are only limited by your imagination. There are several skills that you will need to become a true engineer with the ability to solve those questions. You will need to use a lot of math, and understand the fundamentals of physics and chemistry very well. Those subjects teach you design principles an engineer needs. And of course, you need to understand the biology of the problem you are trying to solve. Some well-renowned biomedical engineering programs in the country include these: Johns Hopkins, UCSD, Georgia Tech, MIT, UW (Seattle). After 4 years of college training, you would have many job options as a biomedical engineer. One or 2 more years of masters training might start you at a higher salary. These job functions can be engineers in a medical device company or research associates in biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies. You may work in research and development, manufacturing, or quality assurance departments. Some people prefer to go to medical school or graduate school after college. Those will take another 5 years before you become a medical doctor, or a Ph.D. who can become a professor or work as senior engineers/research scientists in the companies mentioned above.

An engineering degree provides you with the basic training in a technical field. It doesn't mean you will always go on to be an engineer that only faces machines all day. I see the engineering degree as a ticket to the technical world in the highly professional and high-paying industry. In industry that sells technology products, there are many job functions that interacts with people on a daily basis including technical support, technical sales, product marketing, and project management. In these positions, you need to provide service or try to sell technical products using your technical background combined with interpersonal skills. An engineering degree can be combined with MD, MBA, or JD for more other specialties that are often higher positions in the technical industry. MDs and MBAs with engineering background often allows you to be in a higher management position in medical device, biotechnology, or other high-tech industries performing job functions such as clinical or business development. In these decision-making positions, your engineering background provides you the necessary technical understanding to make the best decision. Many engineers with or without a JD become patent lawyers or patent officers. Although these positions may not interact with people as much as you like, these are other possibilities that require engineering degrees. I hope this gives you a broad overview of the technical industry and possibilities.