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Twists, turns, and triumphs: Finding my path in STEM

September 15, 2024 by Zoya Shafique

Today, I met an anthropologist turned biophysics graduate student. Unfortunately, I did not have the chance to ask him why he made the switch between two drastically different fields, but learning this made me reflect on my own academic and career journey. From wanting to be a chemical engineer to majoring in physics as an undergraduate, I now find myself in a Ph.D. program for electrical engineering (EE). Coming into graduate school, I did not realize just how extensive the field of EE is. As a graduate student in EE researching artificial intelligence methods for image processing, I have not looked at or worked with a “traditional” electric system in years. Sometimes, I feel like a fraud calling myself an electrical engineer, but it just takes one look around to see that today’s electrical engineers are at the forefront of many fields that are not traditionally EE. Many electrical engineers have found homes in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and quantum computing.

For more about this article see link below.

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10835197

For the open access PDF link of this article please click here.

Filed Under: Past Columns / Departments Tagged With: Finding my path in STEM

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About the Magazine

IEEE Potentials Magazine is the publication dedicated to undergraduate and graduate students and young professionals. IEEE Potentials explores career strategies, the latest in research, and important technical developments. Through its articles, it also relates theories to practical applications, highlights technology’s global impact, and generates international forums that foster the sharing of diverse ideas about the profession.

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