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Some Common Engineering Disciplines
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Aerospace and Aeronautical Engineering
Aerospace engineering is concerned with the physical understanding, related
analyses, and creative processes required to design aerospace vehicles
operating within and beyond planetary atmospheres. Such vehicles range from
helicopters and other vertical takeoff aircraft at the low speed end of the
flight spectrum to spacecraft operating at thousands of miles per hour during
entry into the atmospheres of the earth and other planets. In between are
general aviation and commercial transports flying at speeds well below and
close to the speed of sound. Although each speed regime and each vehicle type
poses its own special research, analysis and design problems, each can be
addressed by a common set of technical specialties or disciplines.
These include aerodynamics, the study of how airflow produces effects on
temperature, forces, and moments; flight dynamics, the study of the motion and
flight path of vehicles; flight structures, the study of the mechanical
behavior of materials, stresses and strains, deflection, and vibration; flight
propulsion, the study of the physical fundamentals of how engines work; and the
synthesis of all these principals into one system with a specific application
such as a complete transport aircraft, a missile, or a space vehicle through
the discipline of aerospace vehicle design.
Major Employers:
 
Links
to Industry Associations
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Architectural Engineering
Architectural Engineering is the application of engineering principles to the
design of technical systems of buildings. The profession of architectural
engineering includes practicing engineers designing, managing, and constructing
mechanical, electrical, or structural systems for buildings. The profession
also includes engineers educated as mechanical, electrical, or civil engineers
who practice the application of engineering principles to the design of
building systems. Some of the great architectural engineers of past and present
are Gustave Eiffel, Buckminster Fuller, Ove Arup, and Santiago Calatrava.
National Society
of Architectural Engineers
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Biological and Agricultural Engineering
Biological and agricultural engineering, two closely integrated disciplines
often called biological systems (biosystems), bioresources, and natural
resources engineering, are concerned with finding solutions for life on a small
planet. Our swelling world population places great demands on our limited
natural resources, and biological and agricultural engineers work to ensure
that we have the necessities of life: safe and plentiful food to eat, pure
water to drink, clean fuel and energy sources, and a safe, healthy environment
in which to live.
Biological engineers devise practical, efficient solutions for producing,
storing, transporting, processing, and packaging agricultural products. They
solve problems related to systems, processes, and machines that interact with
humans, plants, animals, microorganisms, and biological materials. They develop
solutions for responsible, innovative uses of agricultural products, byproducts
and wastes and of our natural resources-soil, water, air, and energy. And they
do all this with a constant eye toward improved protection of people, animals,
and the environment.
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Biomedical Engineering
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Chemical Engineering
Chemical Engineers apply the principles of chemistry and engineering to solve
problems involving the production or use of a plethora of products. Most work
involves the production of chemicals and chemical products. Typical
responsibilities of a chemical engineer involve developing chemical processes,
designing process equipment, planning and testing methods of manufacturing
products, and supervising production activities and personnel. Because the
knowledge and duties of chemical engineers cut across many fields, the engineer
applies principles of chemistry, physics, mathematics, and mechanical and
electrical engineering in their work. Major types of industries include
refining petroleum, pulp and paper, pharmaceuticals, synthetic fibers, and
polymers.
Major Employers:
E. I. duPont de Nemours and Co.,
Amoco,
Bayer, Georgia-Pacific,
Union Camp
  
American Institute of Chemical
Engineers.
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Civil Engineering
What do Civil Engineers do?
Civil engineering is a people-serving profession, concerned with the planning,
design, construction and operation of large, complex systems such as buildings,
dams, roads, water purification and treatment systems, highways, rapid transit
and rail systems, bridges, ports and harbors, airports, tunnels, power
generating systems, and structural components of aircraft and ships. Civil
Engineers understand the structure of materials such as concrete and soil, and
need to understand the codes associated with building large structures. Civil
engineers work closely with architects and land surveyors in thier work, and
rely heavily on mechanics and materials science.
American Society of Civil Engineers
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Electrical Engineering
Electrical engineers
Institute for Electrical and
Electronics Engineers
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Environmental Engineering
What do Environmental Engineers do?
Environmental engineers are primarily concerned with cleaning up waste. The
waste may be soil contamination, air pollution, or water pollution.
Environmental engineers are faced with understanding the laws associated with
environmental standards, and heavily rely on chemistry and geology in thier
work. Environmental engineering uses many disciplines from both chemical and
civil engineering. Some schools offer environmental engineering courses as a
part of a civil or chemical engineering program.
Where do Environmental Engineers Work?
Env. Engineers may be found at hazardous waste sites, taking soil samples, in a
laboratory evaluating samples, they may be in an office developing plans for
cleaning a site, or designing a treatment facility.
American Academy of
Environmental Engineers
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Fire Protection Engineering
Fire protection engineering professionals (FPE's) are a valuable, and often
necessary, part of any building construction team. Society demands that the
buildings it occupies be free of threat from fire. As a result, a significant
portion of the cost of modern building construction is devoted to fire
protection features. These features may include structural fire resistance,
detection and suppression systems, egress systems, alerting systems, and
limitation of combustibles. The fire protection engineer ensures that these
features all work together as a system to combat the single phenomenon - fire.
Society of Fire Protection Engineers
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Industrial Engineering
Industrial engineers focus on the management and controls aspect of engineering.
For example, Industrial engineers may design and develop manufacturing systems.
Industrial engineers rely heavily on statistics and operations management in
their work.
Institute of Industrial Engineers
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Mechanical Engineering
Mechanical engineering is a broad curriculum that focuses on the design of
mechanical and thermo-mechanical devices. Mechanical engineers may design cars,
airplanes, heating and cooling systems. They may work with vibrations and
earthquake engineering, power plant design. Aeronautical and aerospace
engineering, materials engineering, nuclear engineering, and manufacturing
engineering are all specialties that derive from mechanical engineering.
Mechanical engineers rely heavily on mecanics and thermodynamics in thier work.
Mechanical engineers work for a wide array of manufacturing and design firms.
Almost every large technical or manufacturing company has a need for mechanical
engineers. Manufacturers, utilities, and consulting firms large and small hire
mechanical engineers.
American Society of Mechanical Engineers
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Nuclear Engineering
Nuclear Engineering deals with the practical use of nuclear energy from nuclear
fission, fusion, and radioisotope sources. The major use of nuclear energy is
in electric power generation. Other uses are in the areas of chemical
processing, medicine, instrumentation, and isotope trace analysis. The nuclear
engineer is primarily concerned with the design and operation of energy
conversion devices ranging from very large reactors to miniature nuclear
batteries, and with the use of nuclear reactions in many environmental,
biological and chemical processes.
Because of the wide range of uses for nuclear systems, the nuclear engineer
finds interesting and diverse career opportunities in a variety of companies
and laboratories. Nuclear engineers are found in the nuclear utilities, nuclear
equipment suppliers, fuel manufacturers, architect/engineering firms, federal
and state regulatory agencies, national laboratories, in the medical field, and
in the US Navy Nuclear Power Program
.
Major Employers:
Northeast Utilities, Tennessee Valley
Authority, U.S. Navy , U.S. Department of Defense,
U.S. Department of Energy
American Nuclear Society
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