We naturally develop an incredible ability to sense our surroundings and then communicate via those senses. We ask our engineering tools to do the same, and the Sensing and Exploration thread is all about making that happen. How do radars detect raindrops 100 miles away and distinguish them from snow or a flock of birds? How do we still receive messages from a satellite that has escaped the solar system? How are driverless cars and robots able to “see” their surroundings? What can medical sensors observe about the state of a person? How do we navigate known spaces and explore new spaces with these sensors? This thread explores the intellectual challenges that underlie this critical engineering need.

Sample of related career paths:

• The space industry (SpaceX, JPL, NASA, etc.)
• Sensor development for driverless cars (Waymo, Uber, etc.)
• 5G and 6G development (Verizon, Qualcomm, etc.)
• Government labs (USGS, FCC, NIST, NOAA, and NWS, plus DoD and other classified national security work)
• Robotics including medical robotics (Boston Dynamics, iRobot, Raytheon, Amazon Robotics, Accuray)
• Energy sector (Geophysical prospecting, SmartGrid sensing)
• Smart cities (Huge number of smaller companies in this area)
• Scientific remote sensing (Woods Hole, Oceaneering, many environmental monitoring companies)
• Satellite sensing and imagery (DigitalGlobe, for example, but many others)
• Drone and aircraft development (Boeing, for example, but many others)

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