Career forks
PhD, industry R&D, regulatory and quality, clinical, patent law, founding. What each path looks like day to day, what it requires by graduation, and the one thing to do this year for each: talk to one person on it.
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Most people pick a career by default: the path their lab, their friends, or their first internship put them on. Picking on purpose is the multiplier, and picking on purpose requires having seen the options. You do not have to decide until senior year. You do have to talk to one person on each path by the end of sophomore year, and here is what to ask about.
PhD and research
What it is. Five to six years of funded research toward a dissertation, then postdoctoral work or a research position in industry. The path into faculty jobs, into research scientist roles at BCI companies, and into the parts of the field where the questions are still open.
What it needs by graduation. The research ladder climbed to a poster and ideally a publication; strong letters from two research mentors; a clear statement of what you want to study and why this lab. Grades matter less than research experience.
The person to talk to. A graduate student in a lab you like, about what their week actually contains, and a postdoc about what came after.
Industry R&D
What it is. Engineering at a device company: owning a board, a decoder, a test system, a material. Fast, collaborative, constrained by regulation and manufacturing, and the place where the most devices reach the most patients.
What it needs. A spine, demonstrated: the characterized board, the reproduced decoder, the fabricated electrode. An internship or co-op. Fluency in design controls so you can start on day one.
The person. An engineer at a Salt Lake device company, via BioUtah or alumni, about what they build and what they wish new graduates knew.
Regulatory, quality, and clinical affairs
What it is. The people who get devices approved and keep them safe: writing submissions, running risk management, auditing quality systems, designing and running clinical trials. Underpopulated by engineers who understand the technology, well paid, and the path to leadership at device companies more often than R&D is.
What it needs. The Phase 5 documents: a mock DHF, an FMEA, a human factors observation, and the ability to talk about three real submissions. An internship in a quality or regulatory group, which are easier to get than R&D internships.
The person. A regulatory affairs or quality engineer, about a submission they worked on.
Clinical
What it is. Medicine, with the engineering as a foundation: neurology, neurosurgery, rehabilitation medicine, or the allied fields (audiology, prosthetics and orthotics, clinical neurophysiology). Or clinical engineering inside a hospital, running the technology.
What it needs. For medical school, the premedical coursework alongside the BME degree, clinical hours (the clinic thread), and the MCAT. For allied fields, their specific graduate programs. For clinical engineering, the BME degree and hospital experience.
The person. A physician-engineer (they exist and they are the most sought-after people in the field) or a clinical engineer at the university hospital.
Patent law
What it is. A law degree after the engineering one, then work as a patent attorney or agent writing and prosecuting patents for device companies. Uncrowded, lucrative, and dependent on exactly the technical understanding this site builds. The patent agent route (an exam, no law degree) is faster.
What it needs. The engineering degree, good writing, and an interest in the boundary between what is new and what is not. Reading a few neurotech patents and their claims is the way to find out whether this appeals.
The person. A patent attorney at a firm that represents device companies; they exist in Salt Lake and they take coffee meetings.
Founding
What it is. Starting a device company. Utah is a good place to do it: the corridor, the university’s Center for Medical Innovation, the entrepreneurship programs at Lassonde, and a culture of small device companies. Most founders in this field have done one of the other paths first, and the ones who start out of Bench to Bedside are the exception that shows it can work.
What it needs. A validated need (Phase 5), a team, and the willingness to spend years on regulation and fundraising before a patient is helped. The Biodesign textbook’s second half is about this.
The person. A founder of a small device company, about what they wish they had known.
The one thing to do this year
Six conversations, thirty minutes each, over two years. Ask each person what their week looks like, what they wish they had done as a student, and who else you should talk to. Write five lines after each, as with a paper. By the end of sophomore year you will know which fork is yours, or you will know which two, and either is enough.
- This semester: talk to a graduate student and an industry engineer.
- Next semester: a regulatory or quality engineer and a clinician or clinical engineer.
- Sophomore year: a patent attorney and a founder.
- After each: five lines in the notebook, and one action.