Engineering Disciplines
Which ENGINEER(S) do YOU want to be?
NOTE: some of these overlap so you can’t go wrong in choosing any field of engineering!
□Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineers:
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Design & develop technology for airplanes & space exploration (think space crafts and satellites!)
Improve sports equipment – such as to design better snowboards & tennis racquets!
Develop materials that can withstand extreme temperatures & investigate survival of astronauts
□Agricultural & Biological Engineers
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Ensure that we have basic life necessities: safe food & water supplies
Protect the environment, especially as the world population continues to increase
Collaborate with farmers to design better farms for food production and animal care
□Biomedical Engineers
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Enhance health care for humans and animals by solving complex medical problems
Collaborate with doctors to make better equipment to save lives & some biomedical engineers become
doctors or veterinarians themselves!
□Chemical Engineers
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Create products in so many different areas: discover new medicines for people and animals, improve
the food we eat (including candy, cookies, and potato chips we all love!), help provide clean water for
drinking, & create make-up – just to name a few!
Some chemical engineers become doctors or veterinarians
□Civil/Structural Engineers
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Design things we could not get around in cars without: roads, bridges, dams, & tunnels (as well as
buildings)
Design safe solutions to population growth: new & better wastewater treatment plants, solutions for
highway congestion, & special tracks for the magnetic levitation trains of the future
□Computer Engineers
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Design software that runs computer games, computer programs (like Microsoft Word) and phone apps
that we use
Designs, computer chips & computer hardware (the parts of the computer you see – like the monitor
and hard drive)
Create helpful robots of the future!
□Electrical Engineers
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Solve problems related to communications, such as radio, television, & telephones
Create ways to use renewable energy – wind, solar and water power instead of gasoline and coal
Collaborate with biomedical engineers to make hearing aids and prosthetic arms and legs which can
move - for people who are missing these abilities from accidents or birth defects
□Environmental & Ecological Engineers
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Protect the fragile resources of our planet with green technology that improves the environment:
water, air & land
Clean up water and soil pollution (such as oil spills) to protect people and animals from harm
□Industrial Engineers
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Figure out how to improve everything by saving money and time (who doesn’t want to save $$$?)
Work in postal/package delivery services (think UPS and FedEx and how fast they deliver), airlines,
space programs, hospitals, banks, & even amusement parks (heard of the Fast Pass at amusement
parks? – Industrial Engineers developed that!)
□Materials Engineers
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Design & test materials of all kinds: plastic, wood, ceramic, petroleum, metals or create new ones!
Create artificial knees & elbows using special polymers
Design new materials for the next space shuttle or materials to make lighter and more fuel-efficient
cars
□Mechanical Engineers
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Designs all types of machines that produce or use power (like jet engines, steam engines, power plants,
underwater structures, tractors for food production, hydraulic systems, and transportation systems)
Design medical devices, sports equipment, materials for space travel and roller coasters
□Nuclear Engineers
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Work in three major areas of benefit to people: nuclear medicine, food protection from insects and
germs, & nuclear energy
Develop new ways to fight cancer with radiation therapies, or they may design medical imaging
equipment that helps find & treat diseases (like bone, brain, and heart scans)
For more information & fun activities for engineering:
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www.engineeryourlife.org
www.engineergirl.org
www.braincake.org
www.discoverengineering.org
www.tryengineering.org
www.egfi-k12.org
www.eweek.org
www.pbskids.org/designsquad
Purdue Engineering (www.engineering.purdue.edu/Engr)
Purdue Women in Engineering Program (www.engineering.purdue.edu/WIEP)
Contact the Purdue Women in Engineering Program (WIEP) & sign up for
FREE WIEP events on the Purdue (West Lafayette) campus:
https://engineering.purdue.edu/WIEP
puwie@ecn.purdue.edu
765-494-3889