WHAT IS ENGINEERING?
Engineering is an occupation with extremely wide reach. The term 'engineering' covers many fields and, by extension, many skills. The term engineering is derived from the Latin “ingenium”, meaning "cleverness" and “ingeniare”, meaning "to contrive, devise" Engineers are scientists, inventors, designers, builders and great thinkers. They improve the state of the world, amplify human capability and make people's lives safer and easier.
Engineering skills include: the scientific method; social, cultural and economic awareness; mathematics; biology; chemistry; physics and other areas of science
Engineers design, evaluate, develop, test, modify, install, inspect and maintain a wide variety of products and systems. They also recommend and specify materials and processes, supervise manufacturing and construction, conduct failure analysis, provide consulting services and teach engineering courses in colleges and universities.
The field of engineering is divided into a large number of specialty areas:
Mechanical engineering involves design, manufacturing, inspection and maintenance of machinery, equipment and components as well as control systems and instruments for monitoring their status and performance. This includes vehicles, construction and farm machinery, industrial installations and a wide variety of tools and devices.
Electrical engineering involves design, testing, manufacturing, construction, control, monitoring and inspection of electrical and electronic devices, machinery and systems. These systems vary in scale from microscopic circuits to national power generation and transmission systems.
Civil engineering involves design, construction, maintenance and inspection of large infrastructure projects such as highways, railroads, bridges, tunnels, dams and airports.
Electronic engineering is an electrical engineering discipline which utilizes nonlinear and active electrical components to design electronic circuits, devices, integrated circuits and their systems.
Aerospace engineering involves design, manufacturing and testing of aircraft and spacecraft as well as parts and components such as airframes, power plants, control and guidance systems, electrical and electronic systems, and communication and navigation systems.