Engineering Disciplines
The term engineering is a broad term. Engineering is the application of the theories and
principles of science and mathematics to the economical solution of practical technical
problems. It can be broken down into different fields, each with a different focus relating
to engineering.
The Wayne State College of Engineering has ten departments, with 5 B.S. degreed and 7
B.S. Engineering Technology degrees offered.
Chemical Engineering and Material Science
Chemical engineering is the degree field that primarily deals with the analysis of
substances at the atomic level. They use the science to transform raw materials of nature
to useful products. They identify and analyze substances as they undergo state changes,
energy changes and compositional changes.
Chemical engineers with a Bachelor's degree usually find work in or related to chemical,
pharmaceutical, or biotech operations. Some young engineers work for contracting firms
and may be involved in plant design, start-up, troubleshooting or validation.
Chemical engineers participate in the most important aspects of a company's operations.
Typical assignments may be the start-up, operation, and analysis of a process unit within
a larger facility.
Many chemical engineers are offered opportunities to participate in other areas within a
company, such as, business or marketing functions. Others choose to stay involved in the
more technical aspects of the company's operations. They find they can advance in their
careers by staying technical or by moving into business or management. Some companies
have a formal two-track career path available to engineers.
The American Institute of Chemical Engineers is a professional chemical engineering
society that offers its members many benefits. It can help members find employment as
well as keep members informed of new concepts.
http://www.aiche.org/ webpage is very resourceful.
Although hard to navigate, the
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Civil engineers work in the public interest on projects impacting public health and safety.
Specialties include environmental engineering, focusing on protecting the water supply,
life systems and creating new, safer ways to process human and chemical waste. Others
civil engineering work in construction, or in designing roads, bridges, airports and urban
transit systems.
Many civil engineers are teamed up with senior engineers on projects. These projects
might include the development and construction of bridges, tunnels, roads, railways,
dams, pipelines and major buildings.
Many civil engineers pursue a master’s degree. The need for continuous education is
great with the level of responsibility placed on civil engineers. Their products affect
many people’s lives and are very important to our quality of life. As they mature in their
positions their workload may increase, with more important projects that can exhibit their
experience.
The American Society of Civil Engineers is the civil engineering professional society.
They have many resources on their site, http://www.asce.org/.
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Electrical engineering is the branch of engineering that deals with electricity, mainly in
the design and application of circuitry and machinery for power distribution machine
control and communications. Electrical engineers deal with different power level
applications. They may be high power such as utility and industrial power systems, or
low-power systems such as computers and communications. Electrical engineering
makes use of knowledge of both electronics (low-power) and electrical (high-power)
engineering.
Young engineers in this field may start in product development, design or testing. With
the variety of areas including power, control, electronics, microelectronics, signal
processing, telecommunications, instrumentation engineering and computers, a young
engineer may go in any number of directions in this field.
Senior engineers typically manage larger teams of engineers on larger projects, and the
link between upper management and their technical staff.
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. is the electrical engineering
professional society. They have a membership of 365,000 engineers in over 150
countries. Their site, www.ieee.org, is a great link for electrical engineers to find more
about their field and new developments.
Mechanical Engineering
The broadest of all engineering disciplines, mechanical engineering is branch of
engineering that design, production and use of heat and mechanical power. Their
applications reach into every area of technology using the transfer of mechanical or
thermal energy.
Similar to electrical engineers, young mechanical engineers have a vast choice of areas to
pursue in mechanical engineering. Subdisciplines include continuum mechanics,
structural failure, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, and drafting. Also, senior engineers
may work as team leaders, and may move into management positions.
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers is the professional society for
mechanical engineers. Like many other fields’ sites, the ASME’s website,
http://www.asme.org/ has many links to job postings, new developments in the field, and
member benefits
Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
Industrial and manufacturing engineers is the branch of engineering that is concerned
with efficient production methods. Sharing many common elements with management,
industrial and manufacturing engineers analyze and plan workers jobs, design plant
layouts, and deal with the economic handling of materials and labor.
Young industrial engineers may chose to become management engineers, ergonomist,
operations analysts, or quality engineers. As they become senior engineers, many move
into management positions.
The Institute of Industrial Engineers is the professional society of industrial and
manufacturing engineers. IIE’s website, http://www.iienet.org/, is a very useful, and has
the most information for a student looking to pursue this field.
Biomedical Engineering
Biomedical engineering is the branch of engineering that uses traditional engineering
expertise to analyze and solve problems in biology and medicine, providing an overall
enhancement of health care. Although not a degree program at Wayne State, there are
interdisciplinary studies in this field in the College of Engineering.
Biomedical engineering has many concentrations. Young engineers may pursue
bioinstrumentation, biomaterials, biomechanics, cellular, tissue and genetic engineering,
clinical engineering, medical imaging, orthopedic bioengineering, rehabilitation
engineering, and systems physiology.
The Biomedical Engineering Society is the professional society for biomedical engineers.
The BMES’s site, http://www.bmes.org/, is a very descriptive site for this discipline.
I should mention that for all of these branches, Masters and PhD studies are always
options to entering the workforce. Careers in academia can be very rewarding, and my
interviewee has chosen that route.
Dr. Yong Xu
I interviewed Dr. Yong Xu, associate professor at Wayne State University. Dr. Xu’s is
an Electrical Engineering professor with his concentration in Micro Electro Mechanical
Systems or MEMS. Dr. Xu’s field is an interdisciplinary study at Wayne State. He
described MEMS as the fabrication of microsystems for applications other than electronic
circuits. He says that MEMS technology is used for many applications, including microsensors, micro-actuators, and other micro-mechanical applications.
A gear produced with MEMS technology, next to a mite.
Dr. Xu has been involved in MEMS technology research for nine years. He began his
work with MEMS as a grad student and pursued it as his concentration in his PhD
research.
MEMS technology is available in many everyday applications. The automotive industry
uses accelerometers used in airbags and pressure sensors in tires with MEMS technology.
The DLP technology, used in High Definition Televisions, is incorporated by Texas
Instruments. This is also used in Biomedical research.
Many young engineers begin with research in this field. With the many applications for
this technology, MEMS promises to revolutionize many engineering applications. A
senior engineer in this field mainly deals with the commercializing on the MEMS
technology.