College of Engineeringwww.egr.msu.edu

CAREERS IN ENGINEERING

What do engineers do?Percy A. Pierre

Michigan State University

College of Engineeringwww.egr.msu.edu

History of Engineering• Trial and error engineering used to produce ancient

monuments: e.g. Egyptian pyramids, great wall of China, gothic cathedrals.

• Military engineering used advanced technologies: e.g. Leonardo da Vinci earned more money designing war machines than art.

• In the early 1800’s, the French developed the first curriculum for military engineers (e.g. castle building) and civil engineers (e.g. road building) and gave us the word “engineer”.

College of Engineeringwww.egr.msu.edu

History of Engineering in America• In 1802, Thomas Jefferson established the U.S.

Military Academy at West Point and appointed Colonel Sylvanus Thayer as Superintendent.

• Thayer adopted the French engineering curriculum, bringing science and math to the profession and leading to the establishment of the Army Corps of Engineers.

• In 1867, Dartmouth College established the Thayer School of civil engineering.

College of Engineeringwww.egr.msu.edu

The Fields of Engineering• As technologies emerged and evolved, out of civil

engineering came the other fields.• Mechanical engineering during the industrial revolution,

steam engine.• Electrical engineering in the late 1800’s for electric

power.• Chemical engineering for the petroleum industry.• Industrial engineering for manufacturing.• Environmental engineering in the 1970’s.• Computer engineering.

College of Engineeringwww.egr.msu.edu

What is Engineering?• The profession in which a knowledge of the

mathematical and natural sciences gained by study, experience, and practice is applied with judgment to develop ways to use economically the materials and forces of nature for the benefit of mankind.

• Engineers design, produce, and support useful things.

College of Engineeringwww.egr.msu.edu

Engineering: A Team Sport with Different Roles for Different Players• Education: Preserve and transmit the body of

engineering knowledge and art to students.• Engineering Research: Translate math and science into

useful models for engineering design.• Advanced development: Develop new technologies for

potential application.• Engineering design: Design and test useful products.• Manufacturing: design the facilities for the mass

production of useful and economically viable things: e.g Intel.

College of Engineeringwww.egr.msu.edu

Education: Teaching Only• Today, there are very few places where you would

teach and not do research.

• Most professions want those established in the profession to do the teaching: e.g. medicine, law.

• Community colleges use teachers but have a very limited engineering curriculum.

• Almost all universities require their faculty to do some research.

College of Engineeringwww.egr.msu.edu

Education and Research• Research intensive universities select faculty

primarily on their research potential. Teaching load of one to two courses per semester.

• Most basic research is done at research intensive universities.

• Comprehensive universities select faculty for both teaching and research. Teaching load of up to four courses a semester.

• Only 20% of engineering Ph.D.’s go into teaching.

College of Engineeringwww.egr.msu.edu

Academe: A Competitive Environment:

• At MSU, 45% research, 45% teaching, 10% public service.

• Research measures include publications, Ph.D. graduates, and grant support.

• Teaching is evaluated using student evaluations.• Research is usually the critical variable.• National recognition counts for a lot.

College of Engineeringwww.egr.msu.edu

Sloan Students at Universities• University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez (7

students)• University of Arkansas at Fayetteville (1 student)• University of Louisiana at Lafayette (1 student)• North Carolina A&T State Univ. (1 student)• Polytechnic of Puerto Rico (1 part-time)• Xavier University and Prairie View A&M

College of Engineeringwww.egr.msu.edu

Research• Government Labs:

Support mainly applied research. Limited in-house research, manages large portfolio of contract

research done by universities and industry.

• Non-Profit R&D Labs: Primarily Supported by NASA and the Departments of Defense

and Energy. Does applied research.

• Industry: Research focused on product development.

College of Engineeringwww.egr.msu.edu

Government Labs And Pierre/Sloan Affiliations

• Air Force Research Labs, Dayton Ohio: (2 Ph.D.’s and 1 MS Sloan students employed)

• Army Research Labs, Md. (Pierre Managed as ASARDA)

• Naval Research Labs, Md.• Los Alamos Laboratory (Served on Advisory Committee)• Fermi (Served on their visiting committee)• NASA (Served on Advisory Committee)• NSA (1 Ph.D. Sloan student)• NIST (2 Ph.D. Sloan students)

College of Engineeringwww.egr.msu.edu

Non-Profit Labs and Sloan/Pierre Affiliations

• MIT Lincoln Lab does advanced development (served on their Visiting Committee, 2 Sloan Ph.D. students)

• Aerospace Corporation does system engineering (Served on Board of Trustees, one Ph.D. Sloan student)

• MITRE does systems and communications (one Sloan Ph.D. student)

• CNA does operational analysis (Served on Board of Trustees)

• Johns Hopkins APL (1 MS Sloan Student)

College of Engineeringwww.egr.msu.edu

Industry/Sloan

• Sandia (1 MS Sloan student)• Texas Instruments (1 MS Sloan Student)• Raytheon Missile Systems (1 MS Sloan student)• 3M Corp. (1 MS Sloan Student)• Microsoft (1 MS Sloan Student)• Intel (2 Ph.D. and 1 MS Sloan Student)

College of Engineeringwww.egr.msu.edu

Industry/Sloan• Corning Inc. (1 Ph.D. Sloan Student)• GE Laboratories (1 Ph.D. Sloan student)• ExxonMobil (1 Ph.D. Sloan student• Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems (1 Ph.D.

Sloan Student• Lockheed Martin (2 MS Sloan students)• Northrop Grumman (1 MS Sloan student)• Boeing (1 MS Sloan student)

College of Engineeringwww.egr.msu.edu

MSU SLOAN NETWORK

• Over 120 students have graduated from the Sloan program with MS and Ph.D. degrees

• We have a list serve of those graduates.• sloanalumni@egr.msu.edu• Your message will be sent to me for my

approval

College of Engineeringwww.egr.msu.edu

Summary• As with any profession, you need to enjoy

engineering in order to excel.• There are many different roles you can play in

the profession.• These roles can be in academe, government,

the non-profit sector, or industry.• The rewards will be commensurate with your

contributions.