Opportunities in the field?

I am in my last year of the Materials Science and Engineering program
at Columbia University and i am planning on attending graduate school.
 My current research interests lay in advanced ceramics.  While
discussing the various directions i could explore post-graduation my
professor asked me an interesting question, "who do you want to be in
10 years?"  I was kind of stumped, so i thought i'd post here and find
out where people in the field are 10 years after graduation and what
they did to get there.  If anyone would like to share their
experiences i would very much appreciate their input.

Many thanks in advance, 
   Arthur