Beyond the computer industry, electrical engineers may be found in the communications industry, designing and testing line amplifiers, transmitters, receivers, modems, and wide area network components. (Note the crossover in engineering applications from the computer industry into communications.) In addition, communication industry electrical engineers may specialize in radio frequency technology such as antenna design, radio and radar applications, or even satellite communications.
Another area that employs many electrical engineers is the power industry. Here, the emphasis is on the generation and distribution of electrical power— power used by industry and the private sectors. In this case, the engineers are trained in AC power generation and distribution, and frequently have more training in the design and use of electric motors and generators. One industry that uses motor designers is the petroleum industry, where motors are designed as submersible units to provide the power needed to lift the crude oil from the well to the surface. Of course, submersible motors are not the only motors used in the petroleum industry, nor are they the only application found in motors across many industries. As part of the power industry sector, the engineer may also have additional training in the development of solar cell technology and wind turbines.
The electrical engineer may also pick up programming experience along the way, experience used to support the mechanical engineer in the design of automated manufacturing tools. The programming may be on devices used to control machine automation, like a programmable logic controller (PLC), where the programming language may be a special application language like LabView® for control of the device, or it may be assembler language, BASIC, or C++ in the event a PC is used as the controlling device.
Controls Engineers, sometimes called Control Systems Engineers, are most frequently concerned with the cause and effect of a system. The system most frequently uses sensors coupled with feedback to cause changes in the system operation. The system can range from something as simple as the cruise control on an automobile, to a complex algorithm used to control automated manufacturing processes, or the operation of a robot articulator movement. In many cases, the Controls Engineer may combine studies from Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Computer Engineering to understand the component interactions, the feedback mechanisms, and the programs needed to implement the controls.
Mechanical engineering is as diverse as electrical engineering and may be concerned with structural engineering, i.e., buildings, bridges, roads, where the concern is in loading and structural integrity. The relevant courses will be strength of materials and physics of forces acting on structures.
Mechanical engineers are also heavily involved in the petroleum industry, designing the pumps that provide the lift needed to bring the crude oil from the well to the surface. Not only do the pumps have to provide lift, the materials and surface treatments must be selected by the engineer to survive in a very hostile environment — heat, pressure, and corrosive liquids. For that, the mechanical engineer must be trained in the reaction of metals to corrosive liquids, a crossover into the chemical industry.
Factory automation depends heavily on the mechanical engineer, where the machines to build components, sub-assemblies, and final assembly are typically designed by the mechanical engineer (with help from the electrical engineer and programmer). The relevant classes typically found in the mechanical engineering curriculum will be computer-aided drawing, or CAD, offered in either two dimensional programs or the newer three dimensional modeling techniques such as SolidWorks®.
The power industry also relies heavily on the mechanical engineer, where transmission line towers must be designed to support the power lines in all types of weather and other adverse conditions, such as icing, high winds, and large temperature ranges. In addition, physical structures such as dams, spillways, and generator housings are all within the purview of the mechanical and civil engineer.
Besides mathematics and physics, chemical engineers should also do well at both organic and inorganic chemistry. If they do best in organic chemistry, typical jobs will be found in the oil industry as a petroleum engineer, applications engineer, corrosive engineer, and similar job titles. They may also find themselves employed within the chemical industry, involved in the development and manufacture of such products as rubber, tires, carbon black, and fuel oils and gases.
If the student’s interests lean more to inorganic chemistry, the job opportunities can include employment in the chemical industry involved in the development of new materials, additives, and exotic chemical mixtures, for example, soaps, cleaning materials and other similar products. The inorganic chemical engineer may also find interesting work in the development of new metal mixtures, where the new mix may provide longer product life in corrosive environments, have higher temperature characteristics, or increase malleability under certain stress conditions. Many new materials that have been used in the space program are the result of chemical engineering discoveries.
Petroleum Engineers are primarily concerned with the recovery of crude oil and natural gases from under the earth’s surface. They will normally study a cross-section of mechanical engineering, geology, and chemistry. Their knowledge of earth structures is critical in the search for new oil deposits, the means of gathering oil and gas, the effectiveness of the recovery process to maximize the return on investment, and the expected life of a particular field. They may be heavily involved in the design of the down-hole equipment used to bring the crude oil to the surface, the transfer from the wellhead to the processing factory, and even the well drilling process itself. They will also have to have training in sub-surface environments, including sub-sea drilling and transfer.
The manufacturing engineer, sometimes called an industrial engineer, is primarily concerned with the movement of products through the manufacturing floor from raw parts to finished product. The concerns cover the movement of parts from inventory to the proper point on the manufacturing floor, to the generation of operator assembly procedures, to the proper functioning of manufacturing tools, and to the routing of the product as it progresses through the entire manufacturing process (product routing). Specific tools needed by the operator will also be identified and/or designed by the manufacturing engineer. In the process of designing new manufacturing tools or fixtures, the manufacturing engineer will call upon many of the same skills found in a mechanical engineer. Such studies as strength of materials, computer-aided drawing (CAD), fixtures, and precision measurements, are all needed in both fields. Assembly procedures will be studied and time-in-motion studies carried out to ensure the procedures embody the most efficient manner of assembly possible. To quote the old adage, “Time is money”. Human factors, safety, and quality control are all facets of the career of a Manufacturing Engineer.
The field of computer engineering is another one of those careers that may follow one of two very divergent