In the third year of Engineering Science, I had to make plans for graduate school. The program was divided into a number of options (now called “majors”, which is basically what they are), and I chose Computer Engineering. Unfortunately, it would be two years before the Nanoengineering option became available, although there was a lot of buzz about it at the time. If it had been available, I might have chosen it, as it would have allowed me to study some topics closely related to the construction of quantum computers.
But since that option was not yet available, I turned my attention to control systems. This allowed me to learn more about finite state automata and computational complexity, as well as certain topics in mathematics and physics, in a context which was acceptable to my parents. I was concerned that if they realised I was going to study some of the subjects which they had previously dismissed as “worthless” and “irrelevant” to my future, they would continually distract me with their criticisms and prevent me from continuing my studies. Fortunately, that did not happen — at least for a while.
– davinci