Firstly…hello all! I haven’t been here in awhile.
I am interested in taking a Computer Science through correspondence. I am curious as to what a masters in the area could lead to. Is it possible to use the degree as an entryway into biomedical engineering?
I want to combine it with a science of some kind. Likely physiology or biology, but physics interests me as well as I like math.
Going back to school is exciting for me!
Biology is much more complex then computers. What skills do you have in biology, and what do you have any details on the correspondence course?
There are computer science departments that are conducting research related to biomedical engineering. For example, back in the 90’s when I got my masters at UNC Chapel Hill, a major research focus of the department was medical imaging.
But it really will vary from school to school. A masters in computer science will only be a gateway to biomedical engineering if you go to a school where the professors are working on that sort of research.
Computer science has nothing to do with computers. If you like biology, then bioinformatics applies things like machine learning, algorithm design and database theory to massive datasets. Systems biology has a strong trend of applying techniques from theoretical computer science to the study of cells etc. and an associated trend of importing biological insights into theoretical computer science (for example, brane calculi).
Another emerging field at the boundary between information technology and biological processes is neuroinformatics (wikipedia)
He was talking about Computer Science. I challenge you to take some courses in cryptology, computational complexity and combinatorics and then reiterate that statement =)
+1. This is a truism that needs to be shouted from the rooftops.
Do you have a cite for the definition of computer science that supports this?
I counter build an artificial liver, or an artificial brain. Common parts we’re born with yet represent huge engineering challenges, because they’re a rat’s nest of undocumented hacks on top of other undocumented hacks all the way back to whatever the common ancestor came from.
It s true that computer science and biology do intersect, but the question is does the OP’s program have that path as an option. We’d actually need to see some details to know that. That the OP would open a thread here seem indicative such a path isn’t clear.
Solve the P?=NP problem, or the myriad other open problems in computer science.
Where would I get a cite from? The Computer Science Licensing Agency? Ask any working computer scientist (I am one) how much computer science has to do with computers, and you’ll uniformly get the answer “not a lot”. Or, in the words of Dijkstra:
There were people thousands of years before the invention of computer investigating efficient algorithms for all sorts of tasks (e.g. Euclid’s algorithm). They’d be classed as computer scientists today.
Just for fun, I looked it up on Wikipedia, and found the definition
It may be a little bit of an overstatement to say that computer science has nothing to do with computers. But it is possible to “do computer science” without touching a computer. And it’s very possible for someone to be “good at computers” or have extensive experience working with them, but to have zero talent for or knowledge of computer science.
It’s a little too strong a statement, but the basic idea is correct. Computer science is the study of computation, not computers, and as such pretty much all of the theory is independent of any particular implementation. Most of the classes I took for my master’s had little to no programming, and those that did used the programming assignments to explore the ideas being discussed in the class.
The boundary between computer science and biology (particularly systems biology and bioinformatics) is still mostly in the domain of academia, and not something with lots of private sctor jobs waiting for somebody with the right degree. If you want to work in those sorts of fields, the best way is to go to grad school and do a PhD or Master’s thesis project on a relevant topic. There aren’t correspondence courses in cutting edge sciences.
Now, I think there’s an over-representation of academic types around here, so on the software engineering side of things there’s probably a number of opportunities with medical device manufacturers. I don’t know much about this area, but there might be programming jobs available for someone with a standard software engineering or computer science degree.
Chill. It was a request for verification. Not me kicking your dog.
When I looked at various degree programs listed under “computer science” a god awful lot of them seemed to focus on computers like it was a big focus or something so you can understand the confusion.
For example:
http://www.utm.utoronto.ca/7926.0.html
Although it’s not The Computer Science Licensing Agency.
So mistake is of stem changing compute with “ers” vs “ing” at the end of compute, and computers are just part of the tools for the computing. Like studying Turing complete systems vs just the subset of those that have been implemented. That makes a lot more sense. Ignorance fought. Thanks:)
Which has what to do with biology? Let’s say it is just complex as a fully functional organism. I think I’m being a bit generous there, but how will that be relevant to biotech? If you want to work in biotech you need some biological knowledge. Even if you’re a Ph.D from research on the P?=NP problem. Which is my biggest point.
To get it back back on track. In my opinion Computer Science could be a great way to get into biotech. There’s some really interesting stuff like, DNA based computing, However just as medical school makes doctors, but not lawyers, **Quasimodal ** need to be sure he/she is developing the right skill sets in that correspondence program, or already has the relevant biology knowledge. Without knowing program it’s hard to say.
With any degree in Computers remember to ask yourself, “Can this job be done via telephone.” If it can you can bet eventually it will be sent overseas to India or Ireland or other countries where the cost of highly educated computer people is much less.
Start with jobs that interest you now. Then go to the companies that employ them and look at their online job sites. They will tell you what they are looking for. These requirements are ideally what they are looking for, in normal times they usually will take a bit less.
Then find out what it will take to get this degree.
Then you really need to think about the future of any computer job, not as it is today
There’s a little bit more to it than that. The process that takes your browser’s request for this page and displays it on your monitor is a computation, but so is the process that takes the photons hitting your eyes and results in your understanding the meaning of my sentences. Same with the process that transcribes RNA, or the process that causes prices to reach equilibrium, or the process that lets elevators learn where to wait at different times of the day to minimize average passenger delays, or any of a hundred other things. Computers are just one means of implementing computations. Undergrad programs focus on computers because that’s helpful for finding jobs, and because we all have to have some common reference point to draw analogies with when we’re off studying all of these other things.
Getting back to the OP, it’s possible to do computer science in addition to some other science. It’ll take longer, and the jobs vary by your exact concentration, but you’ll be able to find something with a master’s in CS that you wouldn’t be able to get now (barring exceptional circumstances of course). It’s not a good way to get into biomedical engineering; if you want to do that, take courses in biomedical engineering.
Oh boy! A Compsci vs. Biology battle. This one should have a conclusive ending.
I think it’s way too strong a statement. Almost all Computer Science is expected to eventually make it to a computer. I recently finished my Masters in CS at U Washington and only two classes didn’t directly involve working on a computer: History of Computers and Quantum Computing. UW is an engineering-oriented school so perhaps my experience is atypical but even theoretical problems like P=NP are important because they directly effect how they run on computers.
This is about as true as the notion thermodynamics has nothing to do with engines, or aerodynamics has nothing to do with aircraft: It’s true in a very limited, theoretical sense, which has no relevance outside universities.
Bah, biology was the first implementation of comp sci on the planet. Lets see, DNA is digital (base 4) and is used to contain information. Living systems store this information in a region where it can be accessed as need, replicated as need. When replication is required small working pieces of code are made which are then sometimes (but not always) executed to get a result. (Protein in biology, raw data in Compsci.) In more complex versions of this the data is kept in a protected state to prevent too many errors occuring during the storage process. (Ok, I’ve done CS and I took a biology course and it amazed me how many things in CS have direct analogs in biology. You know a codon is basically a byte just to name one.)
to OP:
uber-nerd flame wars are not a useful source of info for serious career-related decision making. What really matters is not what computer science “is” and “is not” but rather “are you going to get a job and what sort of job it’s going to be”.
WRT to what computer science “is”, how about this. It is a big and complex discipline. One in which you will, even in the best case, professionally master only a small area (which probably will not include the above mentioned P and NP complexity topic). Also, you have to understand that regardless of the names of the “final destination” areas of computer science, e.g. cryptography, bioinformatics or AI, you will not get there without learning to do programming. Just like you cannot repair cars, air conditioners and houses without first learning to use basic mechanical tools and use them well. This point may seem non-obvious to people who find programming very easy (either because they are great at it or because they never had to program anything really complex so far) but it is very pertinent to the beginner such as yourself.
In your OP I find the word “through correspondence” raising some red flags. What sort of school is it? What degree are they offering? You have to realize that if you want to do academic type research work like bioinformatics, formal qualifications and personal connections really matter. If you know how to do web programming then you can find gigs on Craigslist, but if you know how to do bioinformatics, you need to somehow convince the people doing the hiring to hire you. The spots are not very plentiful, the management type people doing the hiring are not necessarily knowledgeable in the field. So getting your diplomas and resumes and references in great order will be a must. Can you reasonably expect to get all that from whichever institution you are planning to attend?