Cool Science Careers

Job Descriptions and Careers, Career and Job Opportunities, Career Search, and Career Choices and Profiles

Artificial Intelligence and the Job Market - Lead Game Designer, Engineer, Engineer Director, A Career With Options, Computer Scientist, Education Programs

If the applications of artificial intelligence fascinate you, then you might want to consider working in this diverse field. But what do you do to prepare for a future career in AI? According to the American Association for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), “There are many types of jobs and careers involving AI, but two of the usual dichotomies are: academic vs. industrial jobs, and research…

1 minute read

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Angle, Colin. “Future Vision: Cheap Robots Change the World.” ExtremeTech.com. September 17, 2002. Retrieved May 2006 (http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,538588,00.asp). Associated Press. “UN Predicts Boom in Robot Labor.” CBSNews.com. October 20, 2004. Retrieved May 2006 (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/10/20/tech/main650274.shtml). Baker, Christopher W. R…

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The Birth of the Internet - The World Wide Web, Web Browsers, Early Search Engines And Directories

Before there were Internet search engines, there had to be an Internet to search. The first way to link computers was to run physical cables between them. The Internet, literally a network of networks, began in the 1960s with the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET). This U.S. Department of Defense linkage of computers used packet switching (as opposed to circuit switching) to shar…

1 minute read

Bright Future, Lingering Controversies - Controversies In Agricultural Biotechnology, Controversies In Health-care Biotechnology

Biotechnology is a rapidly expanding industry. Revenues from health-care biotechnology in the United States increased from $8 billion in 1992 to $39 billion in 2003, according to the Biotechnology Industry Organization. In 2005, 222 million acres in twenty-one countries were planted with biotechnology crops, according to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech …

3 minute read

Building a Working Robot Step-by-Step - Engineering And Mechanics: Teaching A Robot To Walk, Computers, Controllers And Artificial Intelligence, Optics - Materials, Sound and Voice Recognition

A robot is like a jigsaw puzzle with a million pieces, all of which must fit smoothly together if you wish to see the entire picture. The more complex a robot is, the more technology it requires to perform its functions. As mentioned in the previous chapter, some companies are investing in the research and development of humanlike robots. The uses for a fully functioning, autonomous robot capable…

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Desirable Skills, Qualifications, and Experience - Employers' Expectations and Requirements

Because robotics involves disciplines ranging from computer programming to electromechanics and industrial engineering, the future robotics engineer has to possess a broad range of knowledge. An engineer cannot design a mechanical robotic device without a full understanding of how the mechanical parts interact with the electronic and hydraulic parts that are controlled by the computer. Nor can a …

3 minute read

The Evolution of Search Engine Technology - How A Search Engine Works, Filtering Unwanted Data, Keywords, Early Progress, Early Problems

Two approaches to searching the Web developed in the mid-1990s, and both continue to coexist. The first is the directory, sometimes called an Internet index. Human indexers who arrange Web addresses or URLs (uniform resource locators) compile directories by subject. The great advantage, however, is that a genuine human being—generally someone who knows about the subject he or she is compil…

1 minute read

The Future of Computer Gaming - How to Prepare for a Career in Computer Gaming

The future of video games lies not only in advanced graphics technologies and powerful computer engines, but also in innovative gameplay and online community interaction. Gamers today are just as interested in original, exciting game designs as they are in the latest, most impressive graphics and franchise sequels. Nearly all video games today are built with a multiplayer, online component. Game …

2 minute read

The Future of Robots and Robotics

The future for robotics seems unlimited. White it's probably not reasonable to expect a world populated by humans and humanoid robots living and working side-by-side anytime soon, intelligent machines are nonetheless becoming increasingly common in all areas of our life and work. In his 2002 book, Flesh and Machines: How Robots Will Change Us, Rodney A. Brooks, director of the MIT Artifici…

2 minute read

A History of Artificial Intelligence - Teaching Intelligence, Marvin Minsky

In 1956, a group of scientists and computer engineers met at Dartmouth College to better understand where their collective research into a specific style of computing was headed. While there, John McCarthy of the mathematics department called the branch “artificial intelligence,” and the name stuck. “At the 1956 Dartmouth Artificial Intelligence Conference, an audacious, outr…

3 minute read

In Development - Energy And The Environment, Warfare, Taking Nanotechnology Into Outer Space, Nanotechnology And The Distant Future

Within a few years, nanotech products related to information technology and health care will be commercially available. As manufacturers begin to take advantage of the improvements made possible by nanomaterials, they will release more and more products incorporating nanoparticles and utilizing other applications of nanotechnology. In other industries, it will take longer for nanotechnology to re…

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INTRODUCTION

Sometimes without realizing it, people are exposed to artificial intelligence (AI), which is the ability of computers to mimic humanlike thought processes. Now more than ever before, computers employ various forms of AI in the home, in school, and at work. Some basic examples of AI might include the movie suggestions from your digital video recorder based on your previous programming choices, or …

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INTRODUCTION

The word “biotechnology” seems to be cropping up everywhere these days. But what is it? Very simply, biotechnology is the application of technology to the living world. It is the manipulation of living things to create products, processes, and services. Some people have said that the twenty-first century is the century of biotechnology. But humans have been using biotechnology for a…

3 minute read

INTRODUCTION

In late April 2006, students from all around the world gathered at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, for a competition very different from the athletic contests that the stadium usually hosts. This was a contest not about strength, speed, or stamina, but about smarts: the FIRST Robotics Competition. The FIRST Robotics Competition was created by inventor Dean Kamen 16 years ago. Kamen is the c…

5 minute read

INTRODUCTION - The Video Game Industry Today, What It Takes To Work In The Video Game Industry

The first interactive computer game was created in 1961 by an MIT student named Steve Russell. The game was called Spacewar, and it was coded by Russell on a minicomputer known as the Digital PDP-1 (or Programmed Data Processor-1). Unlike most computers today, the Digital PDP-1 did not have an internal hard drive. Instead, it received all of its information from “paper tape,” a long…

1 minute read

INTRODUCTION

Just a few years ago, a career as a Webmaster sounded more like a role in a fantasy game than an actual job. Today, Webmasters—the people who create and maintain Web sites—make up a sizable percentage of the information technology (IT) field. Careers that involve creating, improving, and maintaining Internet search engines are similar to the Webmaster jobs of years past. While few p…

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Jobs Creating Search Engines - Computer Programmers, Beyond Google, Software Engineers, Computer Systems Analysts

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Outlook Handbook publishes America's official breakdown of industries and specific jobs within industries. Each position is profiled detailing the job's specific duties, average working conditions, market conditions, and average salaries. The Department of Labor also publishes the number of workers in each industry and how these num…

less than 1 minute read

Jobs in Biotechnology - Research And Development, Clinical Trials, Computer-related Jobs, Patents, Quality Control, Manufacturing - Teaching

At the end of 2003, there were nearly 1,500 biotechnology companies in the United States, according to the Biotechnology Industry Organization. These companies employed nearly 200,000 people in various positions. Most biotechnology companies are small. Many have fewer than 100 employees. Larger companies may also work in areas other than biotechnology. For example, a pharmaceutical company might …

1 minute read

FOR MORE INFORMATION

ASME Nanotechnology Institute 3 Park Avenue New York, NY 10016 (212) 591-7789 Web site: http://www.nanotechnologyinstitute.org Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies Massachusetts Institute of Technology Building NE47, 4th Floor 77 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139 (617) 324-4700 Web site: http://web.mit.edu/isn International Association of Nanotechnology 2386 Fair Oaks Boulevard Sacrament…

less than 1 minute read

FOR MORE INFORMATION

American Association for Artificial Intelligence 445 Burgess Drive, Suite 100 Menlo Park, CA 94025 (650) 328-3123 Web site: http://www.aaai.org Computer History Museum 1401 N. Shoreline Boulevard Mountain View, CA 94043 (650) 810-1010 Web site: http://www.computerhistory.org Google Headquarters 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043 Web site: http://www.google.com/jobs/students.html In…

less than 1 minute read

FOR MORE INFORMATION

American Chemical Society 1155 16th Street NW Washington, DC 20036 (800) 227-5558 Web site: http://www.chemistry.org BIOTECanada 130 Albert Street, Suite 420 Ottawa, ON K1P 5G4 Canada (613) 230-5585 (416) 979-2652 Web site: http://www.biotech.ca Biotechnology Institute 1840 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 202 Arlington, VA 22201 (703) 248-8687 Web site: http://www.biotechinstitute.org Canadian Biotechnol…

1 minute read

FOR MORE INFORMATION

FIRST Robotics Competition 200 Bedford Street Manchester, NH 03101 (603) 666-3906 Web site: http://www.usfirst.org Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Service Center 445 Hoes Lane Piscataway, NJ 08854-4141 (732) 981-0060 Web site: http://www.ieee.org Institute of Industrial Engineers 3577 Parkway Lane, Suite 200 Norcross, GA 30092 (770) 449-0460 Web site: http://www.iienet.or…

less than 1 minute read

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Computer History Museum 1401 N. Shoreline Boulevard Mountain View, CA 94043 (650) 810-1010 Web site: http://www.computerhistory.org Google Headquarters 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043 Web site: http://www.google.com/jobs/students.html Institute for the Certification of Computer Professionals (ICCP) 2350 East Devon Avenue, Suite 115 Des Plaines, IL 60018-4610 (800) 843-8227 Web s…

less than 1 minute read

The Next Decade - Unparalleled Growth Rate, Everything Will Be Wired

Artificial Intelligence may be half a century old, but it is not a mature or aging field. With every new discovery in science or technology, researchers and scientists find fresh ways to apply computer technology to the discovery. AI will continue to find its way into every facet of life around the globe, attempting to make things more efficient for mankind. SmartMoney magazine named AI careers i…

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Practical Applications of Artificial Intelligence

While scientists, engineers, and computer programmers were excited at the development of artificial intelligence throughout the 1950s, other applications were slow to be employed until the military discovered practical uses for AI. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was founded in 1958 as a response to the Soviet Union launching the first artificial satellite, Sputnik. The miss…

4 minute read

The Range of Robotics Careers - The Field Of Robotics, Engineers, Technicians And Specialists

Science remains decades away from the creation of robots that look, act, and think like human beings, but the goal of robotics has never really been to replicate humans. Rather, the goal is for robots to assist humans in their endeavors. Robotics has evolved into a popular hobby that has spawned shelves of how-to books and aisles of home kits that allow anyone to build robots – ranging fro…

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Research and Development of Future AI Technology - Anticipating Consumer Needs, Academics

American companies are spending more and more time and money on the study of artificial intelligence for future applications. One such company that is paving the way in AI research and development is Microsoft. Eric Horvitz is a principal researcher at Microsoft Research's Adaptive Systems & Interaction Group. Horvitz is also the president of the AI trade group the American Associat…

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The Rise of Google - Internet Advertising, Search Engine Optimization, New Methods

In 1996, Larry Page, Google's cofounder, discovered that using a new search engine called AltaVista produced not just a list of Web sites but a list of highlighted links. Those same hyperlinks had make the World Wide Web into a web that Tim Berners-Lee had decided to highlight and that crawlers now crawl to produce an index. He and Sergey Brin, both Ph.D. students at the University of Stan…

2 minute read

Robots at Work - Planetary Rovers And Space Probes, Roboguards, Exploration And Innovation, Surgery And Prosthetics, Service Robots

Robots that once existed only in the fertile imaginations of science fiction writers are today becoming more and more a part of everyday life. From assembling cars on the factory floor to vacuuming our living room carpets, the demand for robots is on the rise. So, too, are the opportunities for the robotics engineers who create and build them. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and …

2 minute read

Search Engines of the Future - Vertical Search Engines, Other Search Methods, User Preferences And Artificial Intelligence, The Intelligent Web

One major obstacle that remains in place when writing about the future of the Internet is that it is a technology that is always changing. A librarian at the New York Public Library of Science and Business said, “You can't write about the future of search engines; anything you'd write has either happened this morning and we don't know it yet, or else it's …

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The World of Computer Gaming - The Initial Concept, Preproduction, Production, The Different Genres Of Video Games, Strategy And Real-time Strategy

The two main divisions involved in creating a video game are the development and production teams. The functions of the development team are to design the game and move it from an initial concept into a fully realized, playable, and entertaining video game. Development jobs are usually more creative and artistic than production jobs. The role of the production team is to oversee the development t…

1 minute read

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