Hello everyone,
I have been, and still am doing some research on all fields of engineering during the summer. But, unfortunately, I cannot find an engineering stream that best fits me till now. So, you guys who are in upper years, can you tell if the stream that you are on covers stuffs/topics like:

i) Nano-technology
ii) atoms/electrons research
iii) Quantum World

Based on the information, what field:

i) Chemical Engineering
ii) Materials Engineering
iii) Engineering Physics

Do you guys feel best suits me? Am I missing any fields?

I have found computer, electrical and software engineering as fields that are not for me, completely based on my own knowledge and research. I feel that these fields consist of all man-made ideas and logics, and are too abstract. I mean, these are not the ideas that study and explore raw nature like other engineering fields do, but rather are developed by imperfect beings like humans(Myself included). I mean to say that, about a 100 years ago, the world ran perfectly normally without Computer Engineering or Software Engineering. No offense to elec/soft/comp engineers out there. Just wanted to throw it out for anyone to acknowledge or correct me.Correct me if I am wrong.

Thanks

Ugh I had replied to your other thread, and then you erased that so my reply made no sense so I erased my reply. I didn't realize that you had an identical thread that you were leaving open.

Well, I'm not going to re-type the whole thing again, so basically, all of engineering is man-made and based on human logic - that's part of the definition of engineering. If you want to study the natural world, you're probably not in the best program.

And the world existed fine 100 years ago without nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is also very man-made.

Computer, electrical and software engineering aren't abstract - certainly not more abstract than eng phys. Electrical engineering also probably existed in some form or another 100 years ago.

You should wait until you actually get a taste for the courses and see what you're good at before making any decisions, since you seem kind of confused (based on your contradictory statements).

Hey, thanks for the response.. I didnot know that hitting back key just after making a post to edit would create it as a new post.. Sorry about that..

Sounds like you would like Engineering Physics

to be honest from your description you might be better off going into the natural sciences themselves instead of just engineering (especially if you want to do nuclear physics research).

talk to your profs or who ever you want, but make sure engineering is for you.

good luck!

The running joke of the eng & science departments (all of the ones you listed) is if you like materials you go into eng phys, and if you like chem you go into materials.

What i'm trying to get at is there is a lot of overlap. However for those topics you listed you wanted to learn about, you would touch on them the least in chem eng. Chem eng is about designing chemical systems, reactors, and understanding fluid flow and whatnot. There is microfluidics, but nanofluidics is still in its infancy and probably not something an undergrad will remotely touch on.


With specializations in either eng phys or matls, you will learn all of those topics you want to learn about. The question is if you will enjoy your other courses. Remember you end up taking 10+ courses per year, you sure as shit will not be learning about those nano/QM stuff for every single course. Make sure you're fond of the other core courses as well.

I can only speak for matls, but although you can take a lot of nanomaterials, electron microscopy or even QM courses, there are tooonnnsssssss of thermodynamics courses and material processing (like how to make steel and whatnot) you are required to take. Don't quote me on this, but i believe eng phys does indeed have some electromagnetism type courses (programming as well probably since its important) and more elec related courses as well besides QM/nanomaterials courses. Look up the course calenders and take a peak at the courses.

feel free to message me if you have any questions about matls

Ya, thats a downer, having to do other subjects that I really might not have interest on to study a few I like.. Cuz I really want to get into nano-research(I donot know if I am using the correct term here), if not now then at least in MBA.
What I really like to study is Quantum Mechanics and atoms in extreme depth.. I had narrowed down to the three, and at Mac, I think Matls might be the one for me, but I actually have no idea what Matls actually is!
For eg:
http://engphys.mcmaster.ca/undergrad...eng-phys-2qm3/
This is a quantum mechanics course that I can do being in Matls Eng, and pursue other quantum courses after having this as pre-requisite. Likely:
ENG PHYS 3F03 Advanced Applications of Quantum Mechanics which has 2QM3 as pre-requisite.
I can do some quantum mechanics courses with Matls, and study atoms in some depth I guess, but I really dont know what we actually study in materials.
For example, we are studying atoms basics like:
Photo-electric effect
Heisenberg Uncertainty Principles
Molecular orbital theory etc. in Chemistry 1e03, which is somewhat of a field that I am interested on.
I have not yet done 1M03, so I cannot speak of the content on it, but I can do a little bit of atomic stuff with Matls too, and am really unsure about Eng physics.. Does Matls Eng go in depth about the atomic stuff?
HELP!!!!!

CAN ANYONE IN CHEM ENG OR IN ENGINEERING IN GENERAL TELL IF I WANT TO TAKE SUBJECTS FROM ANOTHER ENGINEERING DESCIPLINE THAT I CANNOT STRAIGHT FROM MY SPECIFIC STREAM, CAN I DO THAT WITH PERMISSION FROM SOMEONE?

Again, you have three types of courses, core courses (mandatory), complementary electives (electives from that list you must have seen, eg, econ, geography, languages etc), and technical electives. In terms of core courses, you will learn quantum processes in eng phys. You will not learn about quantum stuff in core matls courses. However that is where technical electives come in, you can take nanomaterials courses in matls, even QM if you really want to. Keep in mind most eng phys applications in nanomaterials are related to electronics. In general matls is about nanomaterial thermodynamics. There is overlap as i was saying before, so you could take semi-conductor or solar cell courses in matls, or thermodynamics/synthesis of nanomaterials in eng phys if you really wanted to.

You can also go into an Eng & Society minor (5 year program) and further minor in a topic of your choosing like chemistry. You'll learn a heck of a lot of quantum in pure chem courses.

Haha dude calm down, you got a year to decide.

Lol, thanks for the info adaptation..

I dont get it, why is Matls more like what Chemical Engineering should be? I mean, what do people do in Chem Eng? Process Designs and some crap? That is preposterous! The thing is, I really want to keep my B Eng "degree" general, I mean to say I would prefer getting a degree in Mech Eng than mechatronics, or Elec Eng than Computer(I MEAN I WOULD LIKE A GENERAL DEGREE, NOT A CHANCE THAT I WOULD DO THIS DEGREE)(Just saying, seriously, no offense to Elec/Comp/Soft Engs), but still be able to do all the fun courses I like.. I want to pursue Masters Degree and further, so I believe that it is easier to get into a specific research stream from a Chem Eng degree than Matls. Well, seems like I am pretty lost..

CAN ANYONE IN CHEM ENG OR IN ENGINEERING IN GENERAL TELL IF I WANT TO TAKE SUBJECTS FROM ANOTHER ENGINEERING DESCIPLINE THAT I CANNOT STRAIGHT FROM MY SPECIFIC STREAM, CAN I DO THAT WITH PERMISSION FROM SOMEONE?

Why do you need a course you learn what you want? Unfortunate as it is, no matter what stream you choose to take you're going to end up having to take classes you don't like. But that shouldn't stop you from learning what you want. There are literally thousands of resources that you can take advantage of and keep learning. Find a book on the topic or watch videos. Theres video lectures from MIT available online for f sakes. Get involved in clubs and teams that focus on what you like. Do a co-op at a company that's in the industry. If you're expecting to be spoon fed all the opportunities you want, then good luck.

Clearly there's nothing interesting you at Mac then go to Waterloo. They have nanotechnology engineering, that's exactly what you want.

And honestly it doesn't matter what degree you go for. You're saying oh no not mechatronics its better to get a mechanical. No it's not. Do you what interests you, there is no golden degree that will open every door for you. People with degree way out of there interests or current field still become successful in what they want to do, it's because of the person not a piece of paper.

And just to further my point look at Stephen Elop. Has a degree in computer engineering not electrical. Yet he was CEO of Nokia and now vp of Microsoft. So really, it has nothing to do with the degree. You have to apply yourself beyond what the degree requirements are.

What? Do you think that plainly learning some stuff and theory is good enough? That is against the idea of coming to the university as a whole! Tell me why the hell are you here when you can learn everything or even earn a degree online from sites like coursera? Lol man, seriously? MIT open courseware? That is the first thing I did.. I finished all the lectures on solid state chemistry and bullshit, but that didnot mean much at all..
Why on earth will I be going to waterloo now? Stop advertising other schools in a Mac forum, you Mac hater...
Well giving an example of Bill Gates as a high school dropout who became billionaire doesn't mean that all high school dropout will be a billionaire, and it was a joke for f shake, all are good majors.


CAN ANYONE IN CHEM ENG OR IN ENGINEERING IN GENERAL TELL IF I WANT TO TAKE SUBJECTS FROM ANOTHER ENGINEERING DESCIPLINE THAT I CANNOT STRAIGHT FROM MY SPECIFIC STREAM, CAN I DO THAT WITH PERMISSION FROM SOMEONE?

Originally Posted by ralts40

CAN ANYONE IN CHEM ENG OR IN ENGINEERING IN GENERAL TELL IF I WANT TO TAKE SUBJECTS FROM ANOTHER ENGINEERING DESCIPLINE THAT I CANNOT STRAIGHT FROM MY SPECIFIC STREAM, CAN I DO THAT WITH PERMISSION FROM SOMEONE?

Holy shit lay off the caps

In theory you can take any course you want with a permission. Whether the permission is granted or not is another question and no one except the person who teaches the course for that specific year knows.

Originally Posted by ralts40

I have found computer, electrical and software engineering as fields that are not for me, completely based on my own knowledge and research. I feel that these fields consist of all man-made ideas and logics, and are too abstract. I mean, these are not the ideas that study and explore raw nature like other engineering fields do, but rather are developed by imperfect beings like humans(Myself included). I mean to say that, about a 100 years ago, the world ran perfectly normally without Computer Engineering or Software Engineering. No offense to elec/soft/comp engineers out there. Just wanted to throw it out for anyone to acknowledge or correct me.Correct me if I am wrong.

Thanks

wow.. just wow. Why are you on the internet?

Originally Posted by ralts40

Ya, thats a downer, having to do other subjects that I really might not have interest on to study a few I like..

Originally Posted by ralts40

The thing is, I really want to keep my B Eng "degree" general

This doesn't add up.

Oh, now all of a sudden, I am the one being attacked on, huh? I just want a oaking answer piatch..
Well, I never said it is a worthless field(Believe me, when I say something is worthless, it actually becomes worthless in reality, so I choose my words carefully), I said, "It is a field not for me", because I donot want to study ideas that came up from an imperfect beings like us, but rather study Chem Eng or something, where we study atoms and chemicals(PURE RAW NATURE), that were the creation of a perfect being..
What do you expect? After having said that 5 times, nobody responds, so how on earth am I not supposed to cap it so that, wiggly eyes like yours will at least get the question seen and answer?(Not in an offensive way, and trust me, I am greatful that you answered, I even thanked you!)

Originally Posted by ralts40

but rather study Chem Eng or something, where we study atoms and chemicals(PURE RAW NATURE), that were the creation of a perfect being..

I am not in chem eng, but I can confidently tell you that is not remotely close to what chem eng is about.

And that is saying something... I hope you really SERIOUSLY do more research before you do anything you may regret in the future.