[NT] High impact on society, reality tested, and heavy use of logic and symbolic math

[ygolo]

I posted this on the Physics Forums Career Guidance section. It's gotten 25 views and no replies. PF tends to be a lot less prone to brainstorming than here. Maybe it is more "serious." But as they say, "Some things are too important to take seriously."

So, I am cross-posting here to see if get more ideas. (Also, more people know me here)

I am looking to make a career shift.

I am looking for a career track with the following characteristics:

1) Heavy use (and need to learn) advanced mathematical concepts (especially symbolic in nature). I want to be working with equations and logic in a symbolic manner on a daily basis.

2) A career in which the theories are readily tested/testable. I may or may not want to do the testing, depending on how tedious it is. If it is tedious to test, I would rather not. If the testing is easy or fun, I like having the immediate feedback.

3) A career where the work will be of great significance to humanity. --The potential for ground breaking discoveries or inventions that move society forward.

4) A field in which people are mainly there due to their passion, curiosity, etc.

Any suggestions?


Also, what credentials would I need to obtain to enter these fields?

So far, I have:
A B.S. in Computer Engineering
A B.S. in Applied Discrete Mathematics
An M.S. in Electrical Engineering
8+ years in Integrated Circuits industry

 

[Colors]

NASA! Rocket ships!

Actually they do lots of other things there too. Especially in their accompanying complex. There's even a giant windtunnel.

<-- brainstorming

 

[Darjur]

I posted this on the Physics Forums Career Guidance section. It's gotten 25 views and no replies. PF tends to be a lot less prone to brainstorming than here. Maybe it is more "serious." But as they say, "Some things are too important to take seriously."

So, I am cross-posting here to see if get more ideas. (Also, more people know me here)

I am looking to make a career shift.

I am looking for a career track with the following characteristics:

1) Heavy use (and need to learn) advanced mathematical concepts (especially symbolic in nature). I want to be working with equations and logic in a symbolic manner on a daily basis.

2) A career in which the theories are readily tested/testable. I may or may not want to do the testing, depending on how tedious it is. If it is tedious to test, I would rather not. If the testing is easy or fun, I like having the immediate feedback.

3) A career where the work will be of great significance to humanity. --The potential for ground breaking discoveries or inventions that move society forward.

Any suggestions?


Also, what credentials would I need to obtain to enter these fields?

So far, I have:
A B.S. in Computer Engineering
A B.S. in Applied Discrete Mathematics
An M.S. in Electrical Engineering
8+ years in Integrated Circuits industry

From your criteria, I'd suggest robotics research and development. Both the electronical and AI field.

 

[ygolo]

NASA! Rocket ships!

Actually they do lots of other things there too. Especially in their accompanying complex. There's even a giant windtunnel.

<-- brainstorming

This was along the likes I was thinking about. I may go in to high-energy physics actually.

From your criteria, I'd suggest robotics research and development. Both the electronical and AI field.

Robotics is interesting. However, the use of symbolic math (especially advanced math) is rather limited. The tendency is for a "cookbook" approach to the use of math--which really isn't using math, but rather button pushing.

I don't mind going back to school for new credentials. Perhaps, I shouldn't have mentioned what I already have.

Thanks for the input guys. The physics forum is now up to 47 views and 0 replies.

 

[fleurdujour]

Health and public safety or environmental work/statistics (a job relating to those that would also give you the potential to analyze those statistics and make recommendations for action based upon them)? Heavy math, significant to humanity, and tested and testable mathematics.

 

[FDG]

I am not sure if you deem this to be significant to humanity (I do, given the impact its diffusion might have), but with your credentials I think you might be easily hired by the developers of the software Mathematica. The founder of the company seems to be an INTP, and I think that their general philosophy fits your requests.

 

[ygolo]

Health and public safety or environmental work/statistics (a job relating to those that would also give you the potential to analyze those statistics and make recommendations for action based upon them)? Heavy math, significant to humanity, and tested and testable mathematics.

Thanks for the input. I like the fact that people are brain storming.

I had considered this sort of activity also...as well as operations research for non-profits or health systems. There is definitely an impact to humanity assuming what I come-up with works.

However, public policy is notoriously difficult to test and measure for effectiveness (unless the effects are dramatic).

Also, the type of math tends to involve more use of software packages and spreadsheets (IOW, number crunching). Advanced math (e.g. non-commutative algebras, specialized integration techniques, topos) is not something I see much use for here.

I am not sure if you deem this to be significant to humanity (I do, given the impact its diffusion might have), but with your credentials I think you might be easily hired by the developers of the software Mathematica. The founder of the company seems to be an INTP, and I think that their general philosophy fits your requests.

Well, work here would definitely have the type of math I want. Working for Wolfram Research was something I considered when I just finished my B.S. in Math.

But I don't know about the reality testing or the impact on society. I'll have to see what they have available.

Thanks for the suggestion, FDG.

EDIThysics forum at 55 views and still 0 replies. Hooray for non-seriousness.
Please keep trying. The ideas so far have been helpful in defining what it is I actually want.

 

[redacted]

I posted this on the Physics Forums Career Guidance section. It's gotten 25 views and no replies. PF tends to be a lot less prone to brainstorming than here. Maybe it is more "serious." But as they say, "Some things are too important to take seriously."

So, I am cross-posting here to see if get more ideas. (Also, more people know me here)

I am looking to make a career shift.

I am looking for a career track with the following characteristics:

1) Heavy use (and need to learn) advanced mathematical concepts (especially symbolic in nature). I want to be working with equations and logic in a symbolic manner on a daily basis.

2) A career in which the theories are readily tested/testable. I may or may not want to do the testing, depending on how tedious it is. If it is tedious to test, I would rather not. If the testing is easy or fun, I like having the immediate feedback.

3) A career where the work will be of great significance to humanity. --The potential for ground breaking discoveries or inventions that move society forward.

Any suggestions?


Also, what credentials would I need to obtain to enter these fields?

So far, I have:
A B.S. in Computer Engineering
A B.S. in Applied Discrete Mathematics
An M.S. in Electrical Engineering
8+ years in Integrated Circuits industry

Professor?

 

[Jack Flak]

Professor?

What.

 

[ygolo]

Professor?

Hehe.

Yeah, becoming a math or physics (or even engineering and other technical fields) professor can have both heavy use of symbolic math and impact on society (through students).

I suppose reality testing could happen in independent research.

Still...

What.

I would need to know what field I would profess?

 

[A Schnitzel]

Do you have quantum mechanics courses?

If you do, you might be able to get a nanotechnology research job.
Theoretical nanotechnology is mostly quantum and they might appreciate your electrical and programming backgrounds.

 

[redacted]

Hehe.

Yeah, becoming a math or physics (or even engineering and other technical fields) professor can have both heavy use of symbolic math and impact on society (through students).

I suppose reality testing could happen in independent research.

Still...

It's the best position to do research and have people under you doing the busy work.

(I'm projecting somewhat, I'll admit. I've recently realized how much I would love to be a professor at a high-power school.)

 

[Jack Flak]

(I'm projecting somewhat, I'll admit. I've recently realized how much I would love to be a professor at a high-power school.)

Like a technical school? They have lots of machinery.

 

[ygolo]

Do you have quantum mechanics courses?

If you do, you might be able to get a nanotechnology research job.
Theoretical nanotechnology is mostly quantum and they might appreciate your electrical and programming backgrounds.

I wouldn't mind going back to school. I do have some QM courses (minor in physics), but I doubt they are enough.

Interesting idea. It's one I'll definitely consider.

Still, I am turned off a little by the hype and commercialization, but it definitely meets the three criteria I laid out.

Perhaps, I should add an other.

4) A field in which people are mainly there due to their passion, curiosity, etc.

Thanks, that further clarified what I want.

 

[ygolo]

It's the best position to do research and have people under you doing the busy work.

(I'm projecting somewhat, I'll admit. I've recently realized how much I would love to be a professor at a high-power school.)

That does sound good for the reasons you mentioned.

Like a technical school? They have lots of machinery.

Please elaborate.

 

[redacted]

That does sound good for the reasons you mentioned.

It just seems so amazing. You have ideas, you publish papers, and then tens of thousands of undergrads cite you in their essays!

 

[ygolo]

It just seems so amazing. You have ideas, you publish papers, and then tens of thousands of undergrads cite you in their essays!

I don't think it is particularly easy, and unless the work is ground breaking, I doubt it would be tens of thousands.

 

[redacted]

I don't think it is particularly easy, and unless the work is ground breaking, I doubt it would be tens of thousands.

Heh, as I said, I'm projecting a bit.

I'm just thinking of it in terms of Cognitive Science. It's such a broad new field, and there really hasn't been enough time for people to really think all of these things through. There's so much work to be done that it's really just a matter of getting to it first.

There have been soooo many times I've thought of theories/arguments that seem to explain certain phenomenon better than the theories I'd learned. Almost all of those times, I'll hear the same theory I'd come up with in lecture the next day -- some of them published less than five years ago.


So yeah, I'm sure it would be a lot different in your field. More thought has been put into all of it, and there's more competition.

 

[ygolo]

Heh, as I said, I'm projecting a bit.

I'm just thinking of it in terms of Cognitive Science. It's such a broad new field, and there really hasn't been enough time for people to really think all of these things through. There's so much work to be done that it's really just a matter of getting to it first.

There have been soooo many times I've thought of theories/arguments that seem to explain certain phenomenon better than the theories I'd learned. Almost all of those times, I'll hear the same theory I'd come up with in lecture the next day -- some of them published less than five years ago.


So yeah, I'm sure it would be a lot different in your field. More thought has been put into all of it, and there's more competition.

Interesting. I hadn't considered cognitive science. It seems like there could be a lot of use of discrete math, and non-linear dynamics in that field.

Perhaps, you've picked up a competitor

What are some good programs in cognitive science, that would make use of mathematics?

 

[redacted]

Interesting. I hadn't considered cognitive science. It seems like there could be a lot of use of discrete math, and non-linear dynamics in that field.

Perhaps, you've picked up a competitor

What are some good programs in cognitive science, that would make use of mathematics?

Neural networks are very math-ey (lots of computer science, too). Also, there's a lot of cool categorization stuff in N-dimensional space.