Comments on: University of Washington Engineered Biomaterials (UWEB) Transitions Into the 21st Century http://www.xconomy.com/seattle/2008/08/21/university-of-washington-engineered-biomaterials-uweb-transitions-into-the-21st-century/ Business + Technology in the Exponential Economy Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:12:44 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Dr John Michael Nahay http://www.xconomy.com/seattle/2008/08/21/university-of-washington-engineered-biomaterials-uweb-transitions-into-the-21st-century/comment-page-1/#comment-46002 Dr John Michael Nahay Thu, 12 Feb 2009 04:39:38 +0000 http://www.xconomy.com/?p=4440#comment-46002 A truly revolutionary advancement in bioengineering will not take place until we use the full power of modern and old mathematics to apply towards engineering. By "old", I refer to the 19th century drive by mathematicians to explictly solve nonlinear differential equations. Many of us have not give up on that dream. I earned a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering with a minor in Russian from the University of Delaware in 1986. My interest in Russian made me stay connected to research in the Soviet Union at that time. As I neared the completion of my BChE, I realized that the only way to make the quantum leap necessary in the advancement of science and engineering was to pursue higher mathematics. A PhD would be the way to discipline myself for that task. So, I enrolled in graduate school at Rutgers University in 1988 and graduated with a MS in Math in 1991 and a PhD in Math in 2000. However, aside from the short-term math-teaching gigs I had, there are absolutely no jobs, in spite of there being so much work to be done in this world. That will not change unless we force government and employers to hire everyone. I returned to school at a local community college in NJ where I had taken classes back in 1981-1982. I am now working towards an Associate of Science in Biotechnology. Sad to say, everything I have ever said about math and science and engineering is still true. 20 years after my BChE, there have been no fundamental achievements. Certainly, there are lots of new facts and discoveries and such, the Human Genome Project, etc. But, none of these projects gets to the heart of the matter of WHERE consciousness resides in organisms, including microorganisms. Nanotechnology means some CONSCIOUSNESS (i.e. us) moves atoms to where it/we want them to be. We will almost certainly need to make use of laws of physics - who knows? - weak and strong forces? - leptons besides electrons - I don't know yet - aside from electromagnetic forces of chemistry, in order to tackle bionanotechnology and ultimately regenerating tissues, organs, and life itself. However, none of these advances will take place in the United States. Hence, I had to spend a year and a half 2006-2007 learning nothing but French in order to move out of the US. These advances will take place only when someone qualified, such as Ralph Nader, is elected president, massive corporate welfare is ended, and companies are forced by law to hire all qualified people to share a job and without any regard to how old they are. Only the minority of us who support these transformations are truly serious about advancing the practical applied benefits of science and engineering to everybody who deserves them. A truly revolutionary advancement in bioengineering will not take place until we use the full power of modern and old mathematics to apply towards engineering. By “old”, I refer to the 19th century drive by mathematicians to explictly solve nonlinear differential equations. Many of us have not give up on that dream.
I earned a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering with a minor in Russian from the University of Delaware in 1986. My interest in Russian made me stay connected to research in the Soviet Union at that time. As I neared the completion of my BChE, I realized that the only way to make the quantum leap necessary in the advancement of science and engineering was to pursue higher mathematics. A PhD would be the way to discipline myself for that task. So, I enrolled in graduate school at Rutgers University in 1988 and graduated with a MS in Math in 1991 and a PhD in Math in 2000. However, aside from the short-term math-teaching gigs I had, there are absolutely no jobs, in spite of there being so much work to be done in this world. That will not change unless we force government and employers to hire everyone.

I returned to school at a local community college in NJ where I had taken classes back in 1981-1982. I am now working towards an Associate of Science in Biotechnology. Sad to say, everything I have ever said about math and science and engineering is still true. 20 years after my BChE, there have been no fundamental achievements. Certainly, there are lots of new facts and discoveries and such, the Human Genome Project, etc.

But, none of these projects gets to the heart of the matter of WHERE consciousness resides in organisms, including microorganisms. Nanotechnology means some CONSCIOUSNESS (i.e. us) moves atoms to where it/we want them to be. We will almost certainly need to make use of laws of physics – who knows? – weak and strong forces? – leptons besides electrons – I don’t know yet – aside from electromagnetic forces of chemistry, in order to tackle bionanotechnology and ultimately regenerating tissues, organs, and life itself.

However, none of these advances will take place in the United States. Hence, I had to spend a year and a half 2006-2007 learning nothing but French in order to move out of the US. These advances will take place only when someone qualified, such as Ralph Nader, is elected president, massive corporate welfare is ended, and companies are forced by law to hire all qualified people to share a job and without any regard to how old they are. Only the minority of us who support these transformations are truly serious about advancing the practical applied benefits of science and engineering to everybody who deserves them.

]]>