I'd google "patent attorney" and/or "patent agent" and look for someone nearby, and then buy an hour of their time for a consultation. You wouldn't need to do anything approaching a full technical disclosure of your idea(s) but you should get a good idea of the steps necessary and the associated costs and timing.
Personally, I'd stay away from the heavily advertised services that claim they'll patent and market your idea for you.

A word of caution: if you're currently employed as an engineer, your current employer may own you and your ideas for the term of your employment, depending on
whatever pre-employemnt agreement you may have signed up for. It may not matter that your ideas are outside of your employers current scope of business. If you choose to talk to a patent professional up front, he could counsel you on this issue, if in fact it is an issue.

Your prof's estimate of costs is reasonable, but could certainly be on the low end, depending on the nature and complexity of your ideas. You could do most of the patent stuff yourself, provided you have the time and inclination. Personally, I'd go with a patent professional from the get-go and concentrate my efforts on the technical stuff. The legal costs of a patent activity would be strung out over a long period––years––and if your arrangement with the patent guy were properly structured, you'd protect yourself from any legal cost runaways.

The first thing to do is get one of those bound record keeping books at the office supply store. This is your inventor's notebook.

IM sent.

Yes, I am on a patent (a process for crystallizing SOP).


Basically you have to hire a patent attorney. They will create a provisional patent application.