Mechanical
engineering is a diverse subject that derives its breadth from the need to
design and manufacture everything from small individual parts and devices
(e.g., microscale sensors and inkjet printer nozzles) to large systems (e.g.,
spacecraft and machine tools). The role of a mechanical engineer is to take a
product from an idea to the marketplace. In order to accomplish this, a broad
range of skills are needed. The mechanical engineer needs to acquire particular
skills and knowledge. He/she needs to understand the forces and the thermal
environment that a product, its parts, or its subsystems will encounter; to
design them for functionality, aesthetics, and the ability to withstand the
forces and the thermal environment they will be subjected to; and to determine
the best way to manufacture them and ensure they will operate without failure.
Perhaps the one skill that is the mechanical engineer’s exclusive domain is the
ability to analyze and design objects and systems with motion.
Since these skills are required for virtually everything that is
made, mechanical engineering is perhaps the broadest and most diverse of
engineering disciplines. Mechanical engineers play a central role in such
industries as automotive (from the car chassis to its every subsystem—engine,
transmission, sensors); aerospace (airplanes, aircraft engines, control systems
for airplanes and spacecraft); biotechnology (implants, prosthetic devices,
fluidic systems for pharmaceutical industries); computers and electronics (disk
drives, printers, cooling systems, semiconductor tools); microelectromechanical
systems, or MEMS (sensors, actuators, micropower generation); energy conversion
(gas turbines, wind turbines, solar energy, fuel cells); environmental control
(HVAC, air-conditioning, refrigeration, compressors); automation (robots, data
and image acquisition, recognition, control); manufacturing (machining, machine
tools, prototyping, microfabrication).
To put it simply, mechanical engineering deals with anything that
moves, including the human body, a very complex machine. Mechanical engineers
learn about materials, solid and fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, heat
transfer, control, instrumentation, design, and manufacturing to understand
mechanical systems. Specialized mechanical engineering subjects include
biomechanics, cartilage-tissue engineering, energy conversion, laser-assisted
materials processing, combustion, MEMS, microfluidic devices, fracture
mechanics, nanomechanics, mechanisms, micropower generation, tribology
(friction and wear), and vibrations. The American Society of Mechanical
Engineers (ASME) currently lists 36 technical divisions, from advanced energy
systems and aerospace engineering to solid-waste engineering and textile
engineering.
The breadth of the mechanical engineering discipline allows
students a variety of career options beyond some of the industries listed
above. Regardless of the particular path they envision for themselves after
they graduate, their education will have provided them with the creative
thinking that allows them to design an exciting product or system, the
analytical tools to achieve their design goals, the ability to overcome all
constraints, and the teamwork needed to design, market, and produce a system.
These valuable skills could also launch a career in medicine, law, consulting,
management, banking, finance, and so on.
For those interested in applied scientific and mathematical
aspects of the discipline, graduate study in mechanical engineering can lead to
a career of research and teaching.
http://me.columbia.edu/
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