Engineering
Making a Difference
You’ve known it since you we’re a kid—you were meant to be an engineer.
Maybe you used Lego pieces to build a robot, got your hands dirty rebuilding an engine, or used parts from an old clock and transistor radio to create a stereo sound system. You were a problem solver... and budding engineer.
Engineers take math and science from paper and the lab to invent, design, and build things that matter. They are team players with independent minds who ask, “How can we make things better?” By dreaming up creative and practical solutions, engineers are constantly changing the world.
Students interested in engineering careers should prepare themselves for studying engineering in college by taking a rigorous high school academic coursework that includes four years of mathematics (algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and pre-calculus) and two years of science (chemistry and physics). Completion of the SAT-1 or ACT is required. If English is not your native language, an official copy of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) report or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is also required.
Now, all you have to do is find out which engineering field best fits your skills and interests. Exploratory pre-engineering programs are offered at many high schools. Colleges also offer summer educational programs in engineering and science, and many companies offer internships or summer jobs for students interested in learning more about engineering. Experiences like these will be invaluable in your career search.
Following is a breakdown of a few areas of engineering:
Environmental Engineers
Environmental Engineering is the study of ways to protect the environment. Most of us care deeply about stopping pollution and protecting our natural resources. Imagine yourself having more than just a passion for saving our environment, but also possessing the actual know-how to do something about these alarming problems! As an environmental engineer, you’ll make a real difference in the survival of our planet by finding ways of cleaning up our oceans, rivers and drinking water, developing air pollution equipment, designing more effective recycling systems, or discovering safe ways to dispose of toxic waste.
Geological and Geophysical Engineers
Geological and Geophysical Engineering draws on the science of geology to study the earth. This field uses engineering principles to seek and develop deposits of natural resources and design foundations for large buildings, bridges, and other structures.
Aerospace Engineers
Aerospace Engineers design, analyze, model, simulate, and test aircraft, spacecraft, satellites, missiles, and rockets. Aerospace technology also extends to many other applications of objects moving within gases or liquids. Examples are golf balls, high-speed trains, hydrofoil ships, or tall buildings in the wind.
Agricultural Engineers
Agriculutural Engineers apply knowledge of engineering technology and science to agriculture and the efficient use of biological resources. In addition to creating advances in farming and agriculture, agricultural engineers apply engineering design and analysis to protecting natural resources, develop power systems to support agriculture, and provide environmental controls.
Bioengineers
Bioengineers study living systems and apply that knowledge to solve various problems. They study the safety of food supplies, keep desirable organisms alive in fermentation processes, and design biologically based sensors. Bioengineering is widely used to destroy wastes and clean up contaminated soil and water.
Ceramic and Material Engineers
Ceramic and Material Engineers solve problems by relying on their creative and technical skills—making useful products in many forms from common as well as exotic materials. Each time we talk on the phone, use a computer, or heat food in a microwave oven, we use products made possible by the inventions and designs of engineers working with ceramics and other materials.
Chemical Engineers
Chemical Engineers discover and manufacture better plastics, paints, fuels, fibers, medicines, fertilizers, semiconductors, paper, and all other kinds of chemicals. Chemical Engineers also play an important role in protecting the environment, inventing cleaner technologies, calculating environmental impacts, and studying the fate of chemicals in the environment.
Civil Engineers
Civil Engineers oversee the construction of the buildings and infrastructure that make up our world: highways, skyscrapers, railways, bridges, and water reservoirs, as well as some of the most spectacular and high profile of all engineering feats.
Computer Engineers
Computer Engineering is the design, construction, implementation, and maintenance of computers and computer controlled equipment for the benefit of humankind. Most universities offer computer engineering as either a degree program of its own or as a sub-discipline of electrical engineering.
Electrical Engineers
Electrical Engineers develop components for some of the most fun things in our lives (MP3 players, digital cameras, or roller coasters) as well as the most essential (medical tests or communications systems). This largest field of engineering encompasses the macro as well as the micro. As an electrical engineer, you might work on robotics, computer networks, wireless communications, or medical imaging—areas that are at the very forefront of technological innovation.
Industrial Engineers
Industrial Engineers determine the most effective ways to use people, machines, materials, information, and energy to make a product or to provide a service. Although most industrial engineers work in manufacturing industries, they may also work in consulting services, healthcare, and communications.
Manufacturing Engineers
Manufacturing Engineers direct and coordinate the processes for making things—from the beginning to the end. As businesses try to make products better and at less cost, they turn to manufacturing engineers to find out how. Machine vision and robotics are some of the more advanced technologies in the manufacturing engineer’s toolkit.
Mechanical Engineers
Mechanical Engineers are often referred to as the general practitioners of the engineering profession, since they work in nearly every area of technology, from aerospace and automotive to computers and biotechnology.
Nuclear Engineers
Nuclear Engineers harness the power of the atom to benefit humankind. They search for efficient ways to capture and put to beneficial use those tiny natural bursts of energy resulting from sub-atomic particles that break apart molecules.
Petroleum Engineers
Petroleum Engineers study the earth to find oil and gas reservoirs. They design oil wells, storage tanks, and transportation systems. They supervise the construction and operation of oil and gas fields. Petroleum engineers help supply the world’s need for energy and chemical raw materials.