Exclusive Excerpt - Third Edition! Chapter 1 Surf’s Up in Engineering You’re a progressive thinker, right? You’ve let go of the stereotypes about women not doing traditional “male” jobs and math geniuses breaking the fashion rules with pocket protectors. Now, you need to let go of the idea that engineering is all about building bridges and skyscrapers. Today’s engineering majors might find themselves in any of the following scenarios: A test engineer crashing expensive sports cars into walls to make them safer. A forensic engineer evaluating crime scene evidence to narrow down the search for a criminal. A design engineer creating a robot that can save people from burning buildings. A pharmaceutical engineer designing or synthesizing a cure for a disease that has killed millions. A financial engineer analyzing Wall Street’s patterns to try to predict future trends and so much more! Engineering is one of the most progressive, challenging, and rewarding fields that can be studied today. Many people want to be engineers. Almost everyone has the ability, but few possess the drive and perseverance. How do you get the drive and perseverance? Simply stated, you have to be willing to make the effort, take responsibility for your education and not let anything stand in your way. You have to know what you are getting into and have a clear idea about what you want. The word “engineer” literally means ‘one who practices ingenuity’. There are droves of people who practice ingenuity – with or without a degree. But the degreed engineers will tell you that an engineering education teaches you how to think through any problem—and that is valuable to all professions. Individuals with a bachelor’s degree in engineering enjoy some of the highest paychecks of all baccalaureate graduates. Just look in the classified ads of just about any newspaper and you’ll find several ads or even whole columns or pages of fabulous job opportunities for engineers. Engineering is the second largest profession in the nation; there are more than 2.3 million engineers in the workforce. With more than 30 major branches of engineering and 100 specialties, there is something for everyone who pursues a career in the field. Your personal goals, skills, and personality will determine which branch or specialty of engineering is right for you. So, what is engineering? According to Jeff Lenard of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), the role of the engineer is perhaps one of the least understood in society. In any poll asking what engineers do, the responses invariably include “fix cars” and “drive trains.” We see doctors, lawyers, and police on television, but where are the engineers? Even though we don’t see them, people have always held engineers in high regard; after all, engineers make the world go around. Engineering is all around us; as a career it may be the best way to make the biggest contribution to society. Engineers work to improve the quality of life and to make life more efficient or comfortable. They strive for constant improvement by applying scientific principles to solve everyday or specialized problems in practical ways. Engineers may design products such as cell phones or design systems such as the satellites, towers and routers that the phones need to connect anyone around the world. Engineers also have prestige because of the knowledge they have acquired through their commitment to finishing college. A common misconception about studying engineering is that engineering is only for the intellectual elite or that it’s only for students getting A’s in math and science in high school. However, there is no standard of intelligence needed to complete a degree in engineering, and there is no limit on the amount of time it takes to complete a degree. Some students take it slowly because of part-time jobs, family responsibilities, or simply the desire to excel in their class-work. An engineering student who is willing and work hard, to develop the necessary math and science skills, to keep at it when things get tough, can expect a nice paycheck as well as a challenging and stimulating career. A degree in engineering can open many doors. Anyone who is up to the challenge and has a genuine interest in taking things apart, solving puzzles and problems, or understanding nature can succeed. The skills necessary to succeed in engineering school are attained by determination, perseverance, effort, and creative problem-solving – the same skills necessary to be a competent engineer. Excellent grades in math and science through high school, although nice to have, are not prerequisites to becoming a good engineer. Many students do not apply themselves in high school but find out that when they try to work on a stimulating problem, they enjoy the problem-solving process and the solution comes easily. If you feel you have the aptitude and you make the commitment, you can and will succeed in engineering school. Engineers apply math and science to solve problems. Suppose you are a B student in math and science, but you are a good team leader and excel at communicating. Traditionally, people would have steered you away from engineering. But if you have the drive and motivation to get through those math and science courses, you could become one of the most valuable types of engineers; not many people can communicate the language of engineering to other nontechnical persons. According to George D. Peterson, the executive director of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), “Employers claim that engineering success today requires more than up-to-the-minute technical capability; it requires the ability to communicate, work in teams, think creatively, learn quickly, and value diversity.” There is a tremendous need for engineers who have excellent verbal and written skills. Scan the job descriptions of most engineering positions and you’ll see what I mean. With the solid foundation provided by an engineering degree, a career in engineering can take you anywhere you want to go. What Do They Do? Engineers are modern day superheroes and as such, must be ready for anything in an increasingly technology-dependent world. Using math, science, knowledge, and ingenuity in practical ways, they design, invent, create and concoct the most remarkable physical achievements and significant advancements in quality of life known to humanity. They are some of the most creative people on earth. Engineers make the stuff of our lives better, easier, cheaper, more efficient and more fun by solving everyday problems. Think of them as practical inventors. Through the work of engineers, we are able to have camera phones, wireless computers, satellite TV, airplanes, wind farms, digital music, underwater robots, air conditioning, indoor plumbing, cosmetics, titanium knee and hip replacements. The list goes on and on. Engineers have enabled us to explore the galaxy, break the sound barrier in a car, replace broken body parts such as heart valves, knees and hips and so much more. Almost everything you touch has been influenced or designed by an engineer directly or indirectly. It is impossible to think of a major technical development that hasn’t included the work of engineers. Many internationally famous companies such as Hewlett Packard, Intel and Apple Computers wouldn’t exist if one or more practical inventors (engineers!) hadn’t gotten together and made it happen. Solidly rooted in engineering, these companies have grown into giants. Engineering is a way to make life better. Many problems are solved by applying math principles, but math is just one tool in the engineer’s toolbox. Inspiration, experimentation, vision, analytical ability, creativity, imagination, energy, passion and communication skills are also extremely important. If you want to reduce pollution, end world hunger, become president of the United States (three presidents were engineers), improve the environment, invent exciting technology, become an astronaut, design race cars, solve complex problems, or be on the cutting edge in a dynamic career, then engineering may be an excellent fit. Engineers are Creative? Most people don’t describe engineers as creative – in fact, only 3 percent of U.S. adults perceive engineering as a creative career (Harris Interactive, 2004). When you think about engineers being creative, think about it from the standpoint of creative applications. Many people equate the word “creative” with being an artist or writer. Engineers are just like an artist except with a practical twist. They see a problem and apply creativity to find a solution. For example, millions of people all over the world dislike housework. The majority of people would rather be spending time with their friends or family instead of cleaning house. Engineers are the concept people and often the idea people too that have addressed and fixed or at least alleviated, with a little creativity, some of the more time consuming chores such as vacuuming. Because consumers decided vacuuming was a problem, now we have the Roomba robot vacuum cleaner that automatically vacuums or mops floors while you do something more enjoyable. New homes often have vacuuming systems already installed in the walls or self vacuuming kitchens and Dyson engineers are always trying to design a better vacuum cleaner. In fact, a look at the advanced cleaning systems over the last 10 years further indicate just how frequently engineers are employed to find better cleaning solutions. Scrubbing Bubbles self-cleans your bathtub daily, the Swifter wants to mop your kitchen, and portable power-washers allow the average consumer to clean the exterior of their home and property without any other special equipment. Without engineers, so many day-to-day chores would be much harder. On other technology fronts, engineers are the ones who figure out how to make a roller coaster careen forward at 120 M.P.H. in four seconds without killing you. They are the ones who figure out how to make cars that can run on electricity or fuel cell technology to keep our atmosphere cleaner. They also create medical equipment used by doctors to keep us healthy, and even work in the food industry to make foods such as chocolate and cereal taste better. Engineers have given us music, email and communications that fit into our pocket, are hard at work to help save endangered animals from extinction and improve our environment. Problem-solving has been the path by which some of the most amazing inventions and technologies have arrived in the market today. These inventions exist because one engineer had an idea. Look back at old pictures of the bicycle. People wanted the bicycle to go faster, to go up and down mountains and be more comfortable. The difference now is due to engineering. So that bikes could go off-road and through trails, engineers designed lightweight and stronger frames, along with forks and wheels to take the punishment of off-road riding. When the cost of gas rose so much that more people wanted to ride bikes to work or school, engineers created a lightweight folding bicycle that could be carried into an office and unobtrusively stored away or put into a school locker. When Lance Armstrong needed a faster bike to win the Tour de France, engineers designed that too. Each year, engineers have gone back to the drawing board and made bicycles better. What will bicycles look like in another ten years? It’s up to you and your imagination to tell us. You have the capacity to make the world a better place where people are safer, have more fun and can do more. What Does an Engineer Look Like? Engineering is slowly becoming more mainstream on TV. The cable networks are showing programs such as “American Chopper”, “Myth Busters”, “Design Squad”, “Smash Lab”, “How It’s Made”, “Extreme Engineering”, “Megastructures” and “Build it Bigger”. As television and cable networks start to catch on to the appeal and significance of engineers’ roles in society, everyone will suddenly be wiser to the work of engineers. The engineers will be viewed for the pioneering problem-solvers that they are, preventing devastation from hurricanes, exploring other galaxies, and preventing catastrophic illnesses. It will be a world in which people will say, “the engineer saved those people’s lives” or “Thank god for the engineer!” One of the problems with knowing what an engineer looks like is that the field of engineering has become larger and more encompassing over time. Engineers come in all forms. One size does not fit all. Biomedical engineering and alternative energy engineering are relatively new. There are currently 2.3 million engineers, engaged in everything from design to sales to testing, manufacturing, training, and marketing. You can find engineers working in the field, behind a desk, in a production plant, at a customer site, or even on an airplane. Engineers design, manufacture, build, research, write, investigate and present their findings. It’s easy to think of engineers designing rides at Disney or crawling around inside of a bridge to check for stress cracks. We know what that looks like but many engineers don’t design our modern icons. These engineers may be found checking air quality or researching new and safer ways to dispose of compact fluorescent light bulbs. They may be trying to find ways to save animals on the brink of extinction or working on developing safer foods, less hazardous farming techniques or ways to cut down on crime. Who Chooses Engineering and Why The engineering field includes men and women from every culture in the world. One element that all engineers have in common is their desire to help solve the world’s problems and make the world a better place. Engineers can be married or single, they can have disabilities, and they often have different perspectives. But they share a problem-solving orientation. Engineering students can be right out of high school, just out of the military, returning to school after several years, or seeking a second degree. Engineers also receive valuable preparation for a host of other careers such as finance, medicine, law, and management. These professions require analytical, integrative, and problem-solving abilities, all of which are part of an engineering education. Thus, engineering offers an ideal undergraduate education for living and working in today’s technologically dependent society. A primary reason people choose to study engineering is personal happiness. On the average, people spend 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year at work. With only 24 hours in a day, the largest amount of time will be spent working, getting to work, and talking or thinking about work. Studies show that the leading cause of unhappiness in the United States is job dissatisfaction. With this in mind, why not beat the odds by finding a career that will keep you happy by providing great financial security, diversity, flexibility, prestige, intellectual development, challenges, and personal satisfaction? People who enjoy working with other people and traveling may become sales or field service engineers. People who enjoy life’s big picture may become the systems engineers who put all the pieces together. Creative people or people who constantly have new ideas about everything may enjoy working as design engineers. People who enjoy conducting experiments or working in laboratories may enjoy working as test engineers. If you choose engineering, you can also pursue a career in medicine or law. According to the American Medical Association, students with bachelor’s degrees in biomedical engineering have a higher acceptance rate into medical school than students with any other undergraduate degree. If you want to become an attorney specializing in environmental law, a good way to start would be with an undergraduate degree in environmental engineering; a mechanical engineering degree would be a good foundation for someone who wants to become a patent attorney. Engineering also lends itself nicely to entrepreneurial types. In fact, more engineers are CEO’s of companies than any other undergraduate degree. Usually this is because they invent something and then form a company to market and sell it. Other engineers may form construction, environmental, or computer consulting firms because their knowledge is in demand. Some become inventors, and some become teachers or writers. Three engineering students even went on to become president of the United States (George Washington, Herbert Hoover and Jimmy Carter)! Many engineers obtain higher degrees in business to become better managers and to receive a broader understanding of the inner workings of engineering companies. Many graduates work for financial companies; they may write software programs or construct financial models to predict Wall Street activities. An engineering education teaches you how to think through a problem in order to solve it. These mental agility skills will help you solve problems for the rest of your life. The fascinating aspect about problem solving in engineering is that there is almost never a “right” answer. You access several different approaches to solve a problem, and then it is up to you to show everyone how your solution meets the needs of the design. A bachelor’s degree in engineering can lead to a multitude of opportunities. Engineers are on the cutting edge in industry, research, consulting, management, teaching, sales, business, and government. Engineering school can require a tremendous amount of time and effort; but, as technology continues to develop, the need for engineers, and the reward of being an engineer, will increase too. Your Success Depends on You Remember that this book is only one source of information to help you decide whether you want to become an engineer. Right now, you need to begin reading everything you can find about engineering and talk to every engineer or engineering student you know about the challenges ahead and how to prepare for them. Attend a summer camp or program pertaining to engineering at your school. Obtaining this information now may save you lots of heartache if you decide later that you are on the wrong path. If you are considering a career in engineering, keep in mind that it will be a lifelong learning experience, and everything you do to prepare for it will help you reach your intended goal. The more you expose yourself to the world of engineering, the more opportunities you may have. It is important to examine the shape and identify what kind of career you really want. Try to picture yourself in that role. Engineers fall into two primary categories: one that focuses on doing engineering, and one that focuses on applying engineering. For example, do you want to be on the engineering team that designs the next rocket to the moon, or do you want to be on the rocket? Do you want to be the engineer who oversees production in an automobile factory, or do you want to be the expert engineer who gives presentations and answers technical questions on the new specialized suspension of that automobile? Innumerable doors open for engineering graduates, you just have to choose which door to go through. You can never begin preparing for this career too soon. Get involved in extracurricular activities that involve math or science such as joining a robotics team. Part-time or summer jobs in engineering or manufacturing companies also show college admissions departments that you are serious. There are numerous science and engineering camps available to motivated students. Academic preparation is also essential to exploring engineering as a career. In high school, classes in algebra I and II, trigonometry, biology, physics, calculus, chemistry, computer programming, computer applications or engineering can tell you if you have the aptitude and determination to study engineering. All of the above courses are not required to get into every engineering school, but early preparation can mean the difference between spending four years in college or six. Some universities also require two to three classes in a foreign language for admission. Check into the programs that interest you and begin to fulfill their requirements. Advance Placement or Honors courses and an ACT score of 20 or SAT of 1000 are recommended. Purchase Options Is There an Engineer Inside You?: A Comprehensive Guide to Career Decisions in Engineering (Third Edition) $24.95 Quantity Discount 10 Copies - $20 each (Bonus - FREE "Engineers Can Do Anything" DVD. (Save 20%) plus FREE shipping for website orders) Quantity Discount 40 Copies (one case) - $12.47 each (Save 50%) (Bonus - FREE "Engineers Can Do Anything" DVD plus FREE shipping for website orders)

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