Why Major in Mechanical Engineering?
What do you need to know to make a smart career choice within engineering? It might help to tell you exactly what mechanical engineering is, or what you would most likely do for a living as a mechanical engineer. But because mechanical engineering is known as "the liberal arts of engineering," there really isn't a good, precise definition of mechanical engineering, and there is no way to know what you will end up doing as a mechanical engineer.
Incidentally, questions like "What do mechanical (and chemical, civil, and electrical) engineers do?" are precisely the kind of questions you should be asking now, and almost certainly aren't. According to tradition, only a few engineering students got there by studying the alternatives and concluding they were born to be engineers; a few more got there because their fathers or somebody else had the idea that they should be; a few more because someone told them that engineers make more money than anyone else; and the vast majority because English and history are a drag, and pure science and math are much too hard. So what else is there?
All right, what do you want to do? You don't know, probably. Let's throw out a few suggestions, then -- call it games mechanical engineers play.
INTERESTED IN THE HUMAN BODY?
The human body is a mechanical system containing fluid flows, and structural and dynamical components. Mechanical engineers are leaders in the solution of biomechanical problems.
EXHILARATED BY AIR AND FLUID FLOW?
Mechanical engineers apply the physics of gases and fluids to design devices like air conditioners, heating systems, respirators, engine cooling systems, aircraft and spacecraft.
HOW ABOUT STIFF, LIGHTWEIGHT COMPOSITES?
Composite structures have become the standard for high performance sporting goods and aerospace vehicles. Mechanical engineers will lead the development of more and better applications.
INTERESTED IN DESIGN?
Science is the study of the natural world. Engineering design is concerned with creating new things; it makes extensive use of science, but it is a quite different activity. A basic capability of ME's is a thorough understanding of design. This is why ME's are in demand in most engineering projects, as well as many non-engineering ones.
CARE ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT?
Mechanical Engineering fundamentals are used to understand atmospheric transport and transformation of pollutants, their thermodynamic and chemical properties, and particle dynamics.
FASCINATED BY MANUFACTURING AND PROCESSING?
Because modern manufacturing employs the machines that ME's design and build, many ME's are happily engaged in the manufacturing world.
HOW ABOUT SMART MATERIALS AND CONTROLS?
New engineering materials are exploited by ME's in novel sensors and actuators, and to provide detection and control for vibration suppression.
ENCHANTED BY STRUCTURES AND HOW THEY FAIL?
ME's must anticipate how things fail in order to design them in the most efficient ways.
MORE INTERESTED IN MANAGEMENT, FINANCE, LAW?
Because mechanical engineers get such a broad exposure to design, technology and its development, they are often drawn into the business, financial, or legal aspects of technology.
LAST, BUT
far from least, you can go to work in one of the many traditional jobs in industry. There are approximately two and a half million engineers working in the United States. EE's are 23%, ME's 20%, CE's 14%, Chem E's 6%, and others make up the remainder. Mechanical engineers enjoy a wide range of opportunities. Typical industries are aerospace, air pollution, automotive, air-conditioning, bioengineering, chemicals, composites, controls, design, and many more.
