Engineering Fundamentals: Core Concepts, Profession, Roles, and Disciplines

Basic Concepts in Engineering

  • Etymology: Latin "Ingeniare" means to design, devise, and create; engineering is design under constraints.
  • Constraint: a limitation or restriction (typical: time, cost, materials).
  • Criteria: requirements that must be met; a design succeeds only if all criteria are met.
  • ABET definition: engineering is the application of scientific, economic, social, and practical knowledge to invent, design, build, maintain, and improve structures, machines, devices, systems, materials, and processes.
  • Perspectives on engineering:
    • Count Rumford (1799): application of science to the common purpose of life.
    • Samuel C. Florman (1976): the art or science of making practical.
  • Technology: modification of the natural or designed world to fulfill human needs; outcome of engineering.
  • Philosophies of Technology (Keane, 2009):
    • Technological Anarchy
    • Technophilia
    • Technophobia
    • Appropriate Technology (considers environmental, ethical, cultural, social, economic aspects)
  • Common Engineering Aspects (Myers & Marquis, 1969): Innovation, Judgment, Mechanization, Discretion.
  • What does an Engineer do?
    • Apply physical and chemical laws, principles, and mathematics to design products and services used daily (cars, computers, tools, machines).
    • Design decisions consider:
    • Cost
    • Efficiency
    • Reliability
    • Sustainability
    • Safety
  • Materials development: engineers develop new materials to make products lighter and stronger.
  • Common Traits of Good Engineers (Moaveni, 2019):
    • Problem solvers
    • Grasp of fundamental engineering principles
    • Analytical, detail-oriented, and creative
    • Lifelong learners; ongoing education and training
    • Core knowledge applicable across areas
    • Written and oral communication skills
    • Time-management
    • People skills; working well with others
    • Report writing and technical documentation
    • Proficiency with computer modeling and analysis
    • Active participation in discipline-specific organizations
    • Strong team players

The Engineering Profession and Professional Attributes

  • Good engineers work with safety, reliability, and cost-effectiveness across products, processes, systems, or services.
  • Profession (Elmadany, 2012):
    • Knowledge: formal education, judgment, and discretion beyond routine/machinable tasks.
    • Organization: standards for admission, conduct, and ethics.
    • Public Good: service and welfare of the public.
    • Professional: practitioner of the craft within a field.
  • Attributes of a Profession (Schinzinger & Martin, 2000):
    1) Work requiring sophisticated skills, judgment, and discretion. Judgment = sensible decisions after careful consideration; Discretion = freedom to decide in a situation.
    2) Extensive formal education required for membership, not just apprenticeship.
    3) Standards set and enforced by professional societies; admission and conduct standards.
    4) Significant public good results from the practice of the profession.
  • Elements of Professionalism (Elmadany, 2012):
    • Competence: up-to-date knowledge; non-technical skills (communication, business, leadership, management); broad experience; continuing development.
    • Integrity: commitment to an ethics code recognized by the profession.
    • Responsibility and Accountability: personal obligations; accountability independent of employer.
    • Public Obligation: regard for public good; safeguarding public interests; social responsibility; contribute to the professional community.

Engineering Functions and Roles (Oakes & Leone, 2018)

  • Problem-solving is central to all engineering work; can be quantitative/qualitative, physical/economic, abstract or practical.
  • Core functions:
    • Research: extend knowledge via investigations and experiments; design/interpret results.
    • Development: bridge lab research and full-scale production; apply knowledge to products.
    • Testing: design/execute tests to verify integrity, reliability, and quality; simulate life conditions; evaluate prototypes with development.
    • Design: provide detailed specifications for products and systems.
    • Analysis: use mathematical models and computational tools to inform design/development/research.
    • Systems: ensure components interface and function as a complete unit.
    • Manufacturing & Construction: turn design into tangible products; develop production processes.
    • Operations & Maintenance: maintain production lines; coordinate maintenance; minimize downtime.
    • Technical Support: liaison between customer and product; installation and troubleshooting.
    • Customer Support: similar to technical support; leverage engineering knowledge for customer problems.
    • Sales: provide technical guidance to identify suitable products and applications.
    • Consulting: evaluate organizations and propose process improvements.
    • Management: progress to project management or executive roles; oversee teams/operations.
    • Education: share engineering knowledge through teaching or guest lectures.

Engineering Disciplines & Fields (NACME)

  • Discipline vs. Field definitions: discipline = area of knowledge; field = subject or activity.
  • Aerospace: design, analysis, modeling, simulation, testing of aircraft, spacecraft, satellites, missiles, rockets; extends to moving objects in gases/liquids.
  • Agricultural and Biological: apply engineering to agriculture and biological resources.
  • Audio: careers in audio engineering; electronics, sound, entertainment.
  • Bioengineering and Biochemical: study living systems; food safety; fermentation; sensors.
  • Biomedical: biology and medicine to develop healthcare technologies (diagnostic machines, instruments, prosthetics).
  • Ceramic and Materials: solve problems using materials science and processing.
  • Chemical: plastics, paints, fuels, fibers, medicines, fertilizers, semiconductors, etc.
  • Civil: design and construction of infrastructure (highways, buildings, railways, bridges, water reservoirs).
  • Computer: design and maintenance of computers and computer-controlled equipment; formerly a sub-discipline of electrical.
  • Electrical: development of components for communications, power, and control; macro to micro scale.
  • Environmental: protect the environment; water/air quality, recycling, waste disposal.
  • Geological and Geophysical: geology-informed engineering for resource extraction and foundations.
  • Industrial/Manufacturing: optimize use of people, machines, materials, information, and energy; manufacturing processes.
  • Marine and Ocean: design of ocean vehicles and structures; propulsion and offshore systems.
  • Mechanical: broad, generalist engineers across many technology areas.
  • Mining: extraction of minerals; mine design and operation.
  • Nuclear: harness atomic energy; energy capture and application.
  • Petroleum: locate oil/gas reservoirs; design wells and fields; supervise operations.