Eyebrows furrowed in confusion, shoulders shrugging, exasperated sighs -- often times, undergraduate students remain without an answer to the inescapable question, "So, what are you going to do after you graduate?"
For William Walker, associate professor of biomedical engineering (BME) and electrical and computer engineering, the answer came before his fourth year as an undergraduate at Duke University.
"Between my junior and senior years, I got a research fellowship to do work at Duke," Walker said. "I just absolutely loved it. If ever there was something I was supposed to do with my life, this was it."
At this point, he decided to go to graduate school and then went on to complete his doctorate, after which he debated going into industry.
"But I wanted to work on my own problems," Walker said. "I didn't want to work on someone else's. And unless you're independently wealthy, you have to go into academia to do that. That makes it sound terrible, but I think teaching is very important, and it's a responsibility I take seriously."
Walker currently teaches a graduate class in ultrasound imaging and "Biomedical Engineering Design and Discovery," the introduction class for BME majors.
"I really enjoy getting to know the students and helping them find their path in life," Walker said. "And [the introductory class] is fun because it's the first BME class for the students. It's so focused on being a real engineer -- the creative aspects and the project management aspects."
Outside of work, Walker said he enjoys spending time with his three young daughters.
"If there's overlap between my waking hours and their waking hours, they're in it," Walker said. "It's sad, but usually when they go to bed at night, I'm working."
Yet this work is usually not related to teaching.
"It's funny because people think of professors as teaching [mainly], but most of my job revolves around research," Walker said. "My lab is focused on developing better algorithms and systems for ultrasound imaging in the body."
Walker said he spends a lot of his time meeting with students, analyzing data, designing systems, writing papers and writing grants.
"That's the part of my job that gets taken home," Walker said. "The research is what consumes me."
It was a combination of the research and teaching opportunities and several other factors which brought Walker to the University in 1997.
"A big part of it was Charlottesville," Walker said. "It really fit the kind of place I wanted to live in. And the University has really good students, and that's a really important thing if you're going to teach."
In addition, he said biomedical engineering at the University had a good opportunity to grow and has grown a lot since he has been here.
"There are a lot of really bright people -- faculty and students -- here," Walker said. "We're very enthusiastic and very energetic, and we're trying to have a real impact on the world."
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