Aerospace engineers are at the forefront of the future. Aerospace engineers design and model aircraft, spacecraft, satellites, and missiles to do what engineers do best: chart the unknown and put it to work with rigorous scientific modeling. They are changing the landscape of what is possible, whether that means putting a human on the moon, connecting different parts of the world with satellite communication and air travel, or exploring the far reaches of the solar system.
The BLS (2020) reports that most aerospace engineers specialize in one of two types of engineering: aeronautical or astronautical. Aeronautical engineers design aircraft systems to create lighter and stronger planes. On the other hand, astronautical engineering focuses spacecraft and how devices such as satellites can maneuver inside and outside the Earth’s atmosphere. Both these specializations require in-depth knowledge of physics.
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Automotive engineers design, test, and build land vehicles that operate in a wide variety of environments, which in turn requires an extraordinarily complex and multi-disciplinary approach. Fuel systems, thermodynamics, computer science, and industrial logistics all intersect in automotive engineering to build smarter, more efficient, and safer land transportation systems that, to the end-user, feel effortless. What’s more, with the advent of autonomous vehicles, automotive engineers today benefit from an in-depth understanding of cybersecurity.
The International Federation of Automotive Engineering Societies (FISITA) says that automotive engineering work can be divided into three areas: design, research and development, and production. Notably, automotive engineers are tasked with designing the interior and exterior of new cars, testing vehicle prototypes for safety, and ensuring the consumer preferences are adhered to as well as meeting environmental and safety standards for future vehicles.
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Biomedical engineers apply an engineering skillset to the biological sphere. They design technology that interacts with the living body, whether this is designing and developing advanced prosthetics, artificial internal organs, complex diagnostic devices, or new drug treatments, biomedical engineers explore, enhance, and extend life beyond its original limits.
While the BLS shows that most biomedical engineers work in research and development or quality assurance, the multidisciplinary nature of this type of engineering provides specialization in areas such as biomaterials (naturally-derived or laboratory-created materials), clinical engineering (medical technology for healthcare delivery), and rehabilitation engineering (development of devices that help people recover from or adapt to physical or cognitive injuries) among others.
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Chemical engineers attack global problems at the chemical level. They apply engineering skills to the field of chemistry to help mitigate pollution, optimize waste management, refine fuel products, make energy systems more productive, revolutionize agricultural processes, and work hand-in-hand with manufacturing operations to consider the broader environment.
So how do these skills show up in consumer markets? The BLS shows many chemical engineers are involved in the production of electronic, food, clothing, and paper products. Chemical engineers involved with oxidation (using oxygen to make chemicals) or polymerization (making plastics and resins) are known as process engineers. Other areas of specialization include nanomaterials, the creation of very small substances, and biological engineering.
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Civil engineers design, build, and maintain the physical infrastructure that connects our society. Roads, dams, buildings, airports, bridges, tunnels, water and waste systems—civil engineers build and connect a jigsaw puzzle of moving parts so that they can come together in safe, efficient, and productive ways. Nested underneath civil engineering are three further specializations:
To ensure that renewable energy projects are permitted and implemented effectively, the BLS states that civil engineers prepare permits for solar and wind turbine construction. This includes evaluating the land for increased construction traffic, as well as wind speed and seismic activity.
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Computer engineers design and develop the technical components of computers, such as microprocessors, sensors, circuit boards, memory devices, networks, and routers. As computer engineering continues to grow as a field, four sub-specializations have developed within it:
As computer hardware technology moves beyond home use and into mobile devices, wifi, home appliance, and automotive markets, the BLS shows that computer hardware engineers should be able to keep pace with software development for any Internet-capable device. To this point, the BLS shows the top industries of employment for computer hardware engineers in 2019 were computer systems design services; semiconductor and electronics manufacturing; and research and development in physical, engineering, and life sciences.
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Electrical engineers design and develop all forms of electrical equipment, such as radar systems, GPS, and electric motors, as well as new forms of power generation and transfer. They work in tandem with federal or private entities to streamline today’s systems and build tomorrow’s.
Electrical and computer engineering (ECE) is an emerging subspecialty that explores the interaction of machines with computers, with applications in robotics, autonomous vehicles, power systems, lasers, medical equipment, and electromagnetics. The BLS shows that electrical engineers who work for the federal government are often tasked with researching and developing electronic devices for telecommunications, aviation, and radar and sonar systems.
Another subspecialty, nanoengineering, focuses on applications in computer science and biomedical engineering that operate at one billionth of a meter—another impossibility made possible by the engineering mindset.
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Engineering management is the link between the engineering world and the world of business. Engineering managers act as translators between the two worlds by interfacing with both sides and streamlining the processes and organizational structures of engineering teams and departments. Whether managing projects, products, or people, engineering managers apply the engineering mindset—i.e., developing processes that allow each element of a structure to work, in tandem—for optimal efficiency.
Because of their innate knowledge of the overall vision of product or project development and design, the BLS shows that architectural and engineering managers (which are combined in the same occupational category) spend the majority of their time coordinating and overseeing production teams. While engineering managers work across several industries, the top employers in 2019 were manufacturing and architectural, engineering, and related services (BLS 2020).
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Industrial engineers design and maintain industrial and manufacturing processes. This can include the interconnected and optimized storage and distribution of various resources such as time, labor, machines, materials, information, and energy, which increasingly travel across geopolitical borders. Whether streamlining supply chain logistics, developing job evaluation tools, or calibrating manufacturing processes, industrial engineers interact with computer networks, robotics, and organizational structures in the pursuit of efficient, safe, and rapid productivity.
The BLS highlights one of the key responsibilities of industrial engineers as “finding ways to eliminate wastefulness in production processes” (BLS 2020). Also known as manufacturing engineers, the top employers of industrial engineers are transportation equipment manufacturing and computer and electronic product manufacturing meaning they spend much of their time observing factory processes, collecting data, and forming conclusions about how to improve workflow processes (BLS).
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Materials engineers work at the atomic level—developing, processing, and testing raw materials such as ceramics, plastics, composites, and metals. Materials engineers can mold these elements to certain technical specifications, or apply an innovative approach and discover or design or reproduce new materials that, like aluminum, one day become the essential building blocks of the future.
Tasked with creating tactile materials at the atomic level, materials engineers create new materials from known substances. The BLS shows several specializations for materials engineers including ceramic engineers, composites engineers, metallurgical engineers, plastics engineers, and semiconductor processing engineers (BLS 2020). The BLS shows the top two industries that employ materials engineers in 2020 are transportation equipment manufacturing (15 percent) and engineering services (13 percent).
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Mechanical engineering is the development of machines. Such a broad mandate has led to the development of more than 30 technical divisions according to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), making mechanical engineering one of the broadest genres of engineering. Often incorporating thermodynamics and materials science, mechanical engineers design and develop products as diverse as inkjet printer nozzles, elevators, factory equipment, and thermal sensors. Mechanical engineers interact with nearly every other facet of engineering.
Being one of the broadest engineering fields, mechanical engineers can be found anywhere machines are made. The BLS lists three examples of mechanical engineers: auto research engineers (improving automotive performance); heating and cooling systems engineers (designing climate control systems); and robotic engineers (designing and building robotics).
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Nuclear engineers harness, study, and manage the power of the atom, primarily through nuclear power and radiation. Not limited to developing reactor cores, radiation shields, and power plant instrumentation, nuclear engineering also applies to medical diagnosis and treatment. Acutely trained in the tremendous power and complexity of an invisible-to-the-eye world, nuclear engineers find ways to prevent or correct nuclear power plant emergencies, to safely dispose of nuclear waste, and to locate and irradiate a tumor in a human body.
Most nuclear engineers work in research and development firms or for the federal government in the case of nuclear power plants (BLS 2020). Often working in tandem with mechanical and electrical engineers, nuclear engineers bring their knowledge of energy and radiation to the table when designing tools for energy infrastructure or healthcare facilities.
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Robotics engineers create robotic devices and the applications that run them. While manufacturing is still the primary employer in this area, robotics has moved out of the factory floor and into various industries, such as agriculture, aerospace, automotive, biomechanical, and power systems management—with new applications in new arenas being tested every day. Robotics engineers must not only learn to collaborate with many different fields of research but also learn to anticipate and envision how robotics may play a role in society.
Due to the controversial nature of robotics technology, members of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), a professional society for robotics engineers, holds its members to a code of ethics and professional conduct. The code is intended for: “anyone who uses AI technology in an impactful way and is particularly intended to act as a standard of ethical and professional conduct for all AAAI members”, providing protection for the organization’s members and the people their designs serve.
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Safety engineering prevents accidents and reduces opportunities for human error in engineered environments, which means that this type of engineering applies to almost every discipline. Safety engineers ensure that buildings are structurally sound, that advanced factory systems are designed with safety at the forefront, and that workers have best-in-class clothing and equipment that protects them in specialized and hazardous environments. Whether with medical equipment, airplanes, power plants, or handheld devices, safety engineers are making sure that the priority is protecting the humans interacting with engineered technology.
While the potential for harm is universal, the BLS provides three examples of safety engineers: fire prevention and protection engineers; product safety or product compliance engineers; and systems safety engineers.
In effect, safety engineers are tasked with preventing and investigating incidents involving injury, death, or property damage. The BLS shows that in 2019, 27 percent of health and safety engineers worked in manufacturing with construction being the second-highest employer at 15 percent (BLS 2020).
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Closely related to engineering management, systems engineering focuses on issues surrounding the design and implementation of complex systems. Systems engineers look at the big picture and take into account the entire life cycle and the surrounding ecology of a specific system, including operations, performance, test, manufacture, cost, schedule, training, support, and disposal. Applicable to nearly any discipline, systems engineers consider both the business and technical needs of stakeholders to optimize design processes.
Nearly all industries have a systems engineer or equivalent person who’s in charge of seeing the overall project perspective and liaising with leadership and regulatory professionals. The International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) describes the systems engineers as “responsible for the system concept, architecture, and design. They analyze and manage complexity and risk. They decide how to measure whether the deployed system actually works as intended.” These include groups that serve the needs of people, build products, create services, and provide information.
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Matt Zbrog is a writer and researcher from Southern California. Since 2018, he’s written extensively about a wide range of engineering disciplines, with a particular focus on the potential impacts of major technological breakthroughs. His work largely centers around conversations with engineeri...
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