My hands are dirty,so to speak... i am one project old (as part of our curriulum for final year of engineering for Bachelors in Instrumentation and Control)

We were trying to control a highly specialized pneumatic motor using a loudspeaker(!!!!) The two of us used an AT89c51 microcontroller with flash, and although there wasn't much else of a circuit (a schmitt trigger, DAC + power op-amp, LCD + keypad) we had one hell of a time getting it to work... especially since both, the process and the actuator was rather...er... unique :))

And the specs of the project changed drastically towards the end, so it was as good as two different projects :D
Turned out a 16-bit device would have made life much easier...So then I had to implement a number of 32-bit and 16-bit divisions using 8-bit operations and blah blah blah...
However, it is a working unit in an internationally respected research institute, and we plan to get an international publication out of it

Someday I'll get a homepage on 8052.com and put up the project details...

Anyway it was during the development of this unit that my interest in Embedded systems increased. I always did have an interest in chips and stuff, and have done a lot of other things(interfacing, serial communication, stepper/induction motor control etc.) at the micro-level (8051, 8086, some on PIC etc.)as well

I am now working in a software company (what else!! :D) but at a very high level (VB, Java, C at the lowest) and miss the days of fiddling with chips and wires and poring over assembly mnemonics..:D

I just thought it was time I went for the next level of studies... and thought Embedded would be a nice field for me.
BTW would any of my experience help in getting an admit/aid? How about a job? :D

What sort of research goes on in embedded systems in Universities anyway?

Thanks ;)
Kundi