Curious about Engineering, what it means to be an Engineer and if this is a possible path for you? Read about a student’s experience to learn more!
What does Engineering mean? Engineering is the application of scientific principles, mathematics, and the engineering design process to solve problems, improve systems, and increase productivity and efficiency.
So how is an engineer different from a scientist? A scientist is someone who wants to understand the nature of how things work. Scientists are trying to understand how the universe works. On the other hand, an engineer wants to use the knowledge to apply it to the real world and build models according to their needs.
An example we can think of is the model of a cow. A mathematician or a physicist would assume that a cow is a cylinder and use that idea to solve a problem. However, an engineer would not do that – an engineer would need to model a cow to be as realistic a model as possible. This would include multiple attempts unless the model is as close to modeling a real cow.
In a sense, we can agree that most people won’t find engineering as hard as one of the sciences, but it is definitely far more tedious. An engineering student does not only need to understand the material in the classroom, but also has to take the liability for building the model that will be used in the real world – and that is something if an engineer is not careful about, could prove to be too costly.
However, an engineer might find his work more rewarding than that of scientists. The buildings, the cars, the models that they design and build are real and play an impact on the lives of a lot of people (an engineer designing a new form of car decides how many people can sit in it, how far can they travel, who all can purchase it, etc.).
So if you’re interested in engineering, who should you approach? Depending on your interested field of engineering, you should try to reach out to the department closely related to that field of engineering (if you’re interested in chemical engineering, reach out to the chemistry department. If you’re interested in computer engineering, you should reach out to the computer science department. If you’re interested in mechanical or electrical engineering, you should reach out to the physics department.). We also have two fantastic professors who can guide you towards the next step towards becoming an engineer – Dr. Bradley Trees of the Physics Department and Dr. Hanliang Guo of the Math Department. Their resources and guidance can be enriching as well as well-directed for you to become an engineer in your intended field of engineering.
If there is a growth in interest among students of engineering, is there a possibility of OWU introducing an engineering major? Well that is an answer only OWU can answer.
Written by: Nilu Deb, Class of ’25, Physics and Computer Science double major, Career Ambassador within the Career Connection Office
