There are two main reasons behind this goal. I think of engineering as building useful things. While that has been satisfying, I would like to try science, which I think of as learning new things about the way the world works. And being a scientist had been my original goal, back as far as I can remember as a kid, up until college. Second, I have always been fascinated by intelligence, whether it is natural, artificial, or extraterrestrial.
Cognitive science seems like an ideal career.
I have a two-part plan. I am currently a software engineer specializing in programming languages and software development tools. Because of my personal life situation as a father of 2, if my career change requires additional classes or training, I would only take Internet classes or other types of classes that do not meet on a fixed schedule, until all of my kids have graduated from high school. It is important to me to spend as much time with my kids as I can while they are growing up. In other words, I m patient.