MAIN BRANCHES OF ENGINEERING
Engineering, much like other
science, is a broad discipline which is often broken down into several
sub-disciplines. These disciplines concern themselves with differing areas of
engineering work. Although initially an engineer will usually be trained in a
specific discipline, throughout an engineer’s career the engineer may become multi-disciplined,
having worked in several of the outlined areas. Engineering is often
characterized as having four main branches:
Chemical engineering — the
exploitation of both engineering and chemical principles in order to carry out
large scale chemical process.
Civil engineering — the design
and construction of public and private works, such as infrastructure (airports,
roads, railways, water supply and treatment etc.), bridges, dams, and
buildings.
Electrical engineering — a
very broad area that may encompass the design and study of various electrical
and electronic systems, such as electrical circuits, generators, motors,
electromagnetic/electromechanical devices, electronic devices, electronic
circuits, optical fibers, optoelectronic devices, computer systems, telecommunications
and electronics.
Mechanical engineering — the
design of physical or mechanical systems, such as power and energy systems,
aerospace/aircraft products, weapon systems, transportation products engines,
compressors, power trains, kinematic chains, vacuum technology, and vibration
isolation equipment.
Beyond these four, sources
vary on other main branches. Historically, naval engineering and mining
engineering were major branches. Modern fields sometimes included as major
branches include aerospace, architectural, biomedical, industrial, materials
science and nuclear engineering.
New specialties sometimes
combine with the traditional fields and form new branches. A new or emerging
area of application will commonly be defined temporarily as a permutation or
subset of existing disciplines; there is often gray area as to when a given
sub-field becomes large and/or prominent enough to warrant classification as a
new «branch». One key indicator of such emergence is when major universities
start establishing departments and programs in the new field.
For each of these fields there
exists considerable overlap, especially in the areas of the application of
sciences to their disciplines such as physics, chemistry and mathematics.