Dear friends, colleagues, and confused Googlers,
Welcome to my site. Its purpose is to share with you my interest in the world where life sciences intersect with more traditional forms of engineering (chemical, electrical, mechanical, computer science, and materials). You might ask “why don’t you just save time and say you’re interested in biomedical engineering?” Well, from my experience as a student of that field, almost all research, fanfare, and funding goes to projects that promise improved therapeutic treatments, drug formulations, or medical devices. And with good reason – there is no more admirable pursuit than to cure human disease. That said, these crossroads can lead to some amazing innovations in other areas, both in and out of healthcare, but not directly related to treating a medical disease or disorder. The purpose of this site is to consider those other possibilities.
“Bioengineering for Other Stuff” – a BioRebellion. That’s the big idea. Other than that, you can expect to see the following themes:
- Business: A major focus of our discussions will be placed on products that actually have the potential to make it to market and impact your life. We’ll aim to understand why those products can succeed and the disruptive impact they can have in their respective industry. That said, I reserve the right to occassionally bring up interesting science experiments that are totally irreverent (Such as this one that determined a monkey addicted to cocaine will push a button over 12,000 times to obtain another hit of the drug. In other words, a really nice way of putting advanced degrees and thousands of dollars to work, along with a monkey through hell, to teach us that cocaine is ridiculously addictive – a scientific fact that has been known since Coca Cola pulled it out of their soda bottles back in 1903).
- The Great Recession – We’re living in historic times. While capital expense and R&D budgets may take a hit, some experts claim that these conditions are ripe for innovation. We’ll try our best to figure out how the economic conditions are helping or hurting the technologies profiled, and if the markets discussed may ultimately provide some of the first salvoes toward reestablishing our economy in a new and sustainable way. (Ironically, some claim a lack of innovation in recent years may have caused the current economic meltdown. I personally think it was individuals like Jim Cramer and idiotic policies that encouraged people who couldn’t afford homes to think they could. Something tells me I’m in the majority, BusinessWeek.)
- Unbridled optimism: Despite the above point, we’re going to keep it positive. I’m an optimistic guy and am hoping to build mutual respect among all readers (and given there will likely end up being only about three of us, it’ll be important to maintain happy feelings). In any case: absolutely no cyber bullying. Seriously though, we’re talking about cutting-edge technology that has the potential to positively improve the way we enjoy life, and introduce new and exciting jobs into the global workforce. What’s not to be happy about?
- Irrelevant topics: I enjoy a lot of stupid TV shows, movies and websites. Please excuse what’s surely to be a multitude of idiotic references. And don’t call me Shirley.
All right. Treat this as the first day of class – a class taught by a chilled out professor. You just got the syllabus and the big picture overview. No lesson to absorb or homework to get done prior to our next session. Just show up for that lesson ready to learn and contribute. Until then: http://www.hulu.com
