List of engineering branches
![]() | This article may require copy editing for the level of detail and tone in the descriptions of various fields.. (July 2023) |
Engineering is the discipline and profession that applies scientific theories, mathematical methods, and empirical evidence to design, create, and analyze technological solutions cognizant of safety, human factors, physical laws, regulations, practicality, and cost. In the contemporary era, engineering is generally considered to consist of the major primary branches of chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering.[1] There are numerous other engineering sub-disciplines and interdisciplinary subjects that may or may not be part of these major engineering branches.
Chemical engineering
Chemical engineering is the application of chemical, physical, and biological sciences to the process of converting raw materials or chemicals into more useful or valuable forms.
Subdiscipline | Scope | Major specialties |
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Biomolecular engineering | The application of engineering principles to study and manipulate biological systems at the molecular level. |
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Materials engineering | The selection, synthesis, and design of materials used in chemical processes and the study of properties of various materials and their interactions with different chemicals. |
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Process engineering | Focuses on the design, operation, control, and optimization of chemical processes, including natural and man-made materials, the interaction of materials with machines, safety and health, energy conservation, and waste and pollution control. |
Civil engineering
Civil engineering comprises the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and natural built environments.
Subdiscipline | Scope | Major specialties |
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Environmental engineering | The application of engineering to the improvement and protection of the environment. |
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Municipal or urban engineering | Deals with municipal issues such as water and waste management, transportation networks, subdivisions, communications, hydrology, hydraulics, etc. | |
Geotechnical engineering | Concerned with the behavior of earth materials and soil and rock mechanics at the site of a civil engineering project. |
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Structural engineering | The engineering of structures that support or resist structural loads. |
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Transport engineering | The use of engineering to ensure the safe and efficient transportation of people and goods. |
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Water resources engineering | Prediction, planning, development, and management of water resources. |
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Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering comprises the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism.
Subdiscipline | Scope | Major specialties |
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Electronic engineering | Design and manufacture of devices related to low-power electrical circuits (electronic circuits) making use of active components such as semiconductor devices. |
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Computer engineering | The design and control of computing devices with the application of electrical systems. It involves the study of hardware and software systems that can process information, as well as digital logic design, computer architecture, and programming languages. |
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Power engineering | The generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity and the design and maintenance of devices such as transformers, switchgear, electric generators, electric motors, high-voltage engineering, and power electronics. |
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Optical engineering | The design of instruments and systems that utilize the properties of electromagnetic radiation. | |
Renewable energy engineering | The design and maintenance of renewable energy devices such as those involved in solar, wind, and hydroelectric power. |
Mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering comprises the design and analysis of heat and mechanical power for the operation of machines and mechanical systems.[3]
Subdiscipline | Scope | Major specialties |
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Acoustics engineering | Concerns the manipulation and control of vibration, especially vibration isolation and the reduction of unwanted sounds. | |
Manufacturing engineering | Concerns dealing with different manufacturing practices and the research and development of systems, processes, machines, tools and equipment. |
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Optomechanical engineering | Field-specific to the mechanical aspects of optical systems. Includes design, packaging, mounting and alignment mechanisms specific to optical systems.[4] | |
Thermal engineering | Concerns heating or cooling of processes, equipment, or enclosed environments. | |
Sports engineering | Is a field of engineering that involves the design, development, and testing of sports equipment. The equipment used by athletes has always gone through technological design and development based on current knowledge and understanding. | |
Vehicle engineering | The design, manufacture, and operation of the systems and equipment that propel and control vehicles. |
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Power plant engineering |
Field of engineering that designs, constructs, and maintains different types of power plants. Serves as the prime mover to produce electricity. |
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Industrial plant engineering |
Field of engineering that designs, constructs, and maintains different types of Industrial Machines and Equipment. |
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Energy engineering | Energy efficiency, energy services, facility management, plant engineering, environmental compliance, and energy production. Energy efficiency of buildings and manufacturing processes, employing advances in lighting, insulation, and heating/cooling properties. |
Interdisciplinary
Discipline | Scope | Major specialties |
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Agricultural engineering | Farm power and machinery, biological material processes, bioenergy, farm structures, and agricultural natural resources. |
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Applied engineering | Systems integration, manufacturing and management.[5] |
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Biomedical engineering, Biomedical nanoengineering | Medicine and healthcare biology, biocompatible prostheses, diagnostic and therapeutic devices ranging from clinical equipment to micro-implants, imaging equipment such as MRIs and EEGs, tissue regeneration, and pharmaceuticals. The increased utilization of nanotechnology across the existing areas of this branch has led to the specialization Biomedical nanoengineering. |
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Biological engineering | The application of principles of biology and the tools of engineering to create usable, tangible, economically viable products. |
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Building services engineering | The design, installation, operation, and monitoring of the technical services in buildings in order to ensure the safe, comfortable, and environmentally friendly operation. |
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Energy engineering | Energy efficiency, energy services, facility management, plant engineering, environmental compliance and energy production. Energy efficiency of buildings and manufacturing processes, employing advances in lighting, insulation and heating/cooling properties. |
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Geological engineering | A discipline of engineering concerned with the application of geological science and engineering principles to fields, such as civil engineering, mining, environmental engineering, and forestry, among others. The work of geological engineers often directs or supports the work of other engineering disciplines such as assessing the suitability of locations for civil engineering, environmental engineering, mining operations, and oil and gas projects by conducting geological, geoenvironmental, geophysical, and geotechnical studies. | |
Geomatics engineering | The design, development, and operation of systems for collecting and analyzing spatial information about the land, the oceans, natural resources, and manmade features. | |
Information engineering | Generation, distribution, analysis, and use of information, data and knowledge in systems. | |
Industrial engineering | Logistical and resource management systems | Manufacturing engineering, tools, equipment, and processes
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Legal engineering | Application of scientific approach and knowledge to solving legal problems. | |
Mechatronics engineering | Mechanical and electrical engineering hybrid | Robotics and Automation
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Engineering management | Management of engineers and engineering processes | |
Military engineering | Military weapons and vehicles, such as artillery and tanks | |
Mining engineering | An engineering discipline that involves the science, technology, and practice of extracting and processing minerals from a naturally occurring environment. | |
Nanoengineering | The introduction of nanotechnology into existing fields of engineering. |
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Quantum engineering | The application of quantum theory to the design of materials and devices. Now gaining recognition as its own branch of engineering, but more traditionally associated with sub-disciplines of electrical and computer engineering, communications engineering, solid-state and semiconductor materials engineering, optical engineering and engineering physics. |
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Nuclear engineering | Terrestrial and marine nuclear power plants |
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Petroleum engineering | A field of engineering concerned with the activities related to the production of Hydrocarbons, which can be either crude oil or natural gas. Petroleum engineers focus on studying subsurface formation properties and design and selection of equipment to maximize economic recovery of hydrocarbons from subsurface reservoirs. Petroleum geology and geophysics focus on the provision of a static description of the hydrocarbon reservoir rock, while petroleum engineering focuses on estimation of the recoverable volume of this resource using a detailed understanding of the physical behavior of oil, water, and gas within porous rock at very high pressure. |
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Project engineering | Project engineering includes all parts of the design of manufacturing or processing facilities, either new or modifications to and expansions of existing facilities. A "project" consists of a coordinated series of activities or tasks performed by engineers and designers. A small project may be under the direction of a project engineer. Large projects are typically under the direction of a project manager or management team. Project tasks typically consist of such things as performing calculations, writing specifications, preparing bids, reviewing equipment proposals and evaluating or selecting equipment, and developing and maintaining various lists (equipment and materials lists) and drawings (electrical, instrument, and piping schematics, physical layouts and other drawings used in construction). Some facilities have in-house staff to handle small projects, while some major companies have a department that does internal project engineering. Large projects are typically contracted out to project engineering companies. Staffing at engineering companies varies according to the workload and duration of employment may only last until an individual's tasks are completed. | |
Railway engineering | Railway systems, including wheeled and maglev systems. Train signaling and automatic train control. | |
Software engineering | Software engineering the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software and the study of these approaches; that is, the application of engineering and computer science to software. |
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Supply chain engineering | Supply chain engineering concerns the planning, design, and operation of supply chains.[6][7] | |
Systems engineering | Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering that focuses on how to design and manage complex engineering projects over their life cycles. Issues, such as reliability, logistics and coordination of different teams, evaluation measurement, and other disciplines become more difficult when dealing with large or complex projects. |
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Textile engineering | Textile engineering courses deal with the application of scientific and engineering principles to the design and control of all aspects of fiber, textile, and apparel processes, products, and machinery. These include natural and man-made materials, interaction of materials with machines, safety and health, energy conservation, and waste and pollution control. Additionally, students are given experience in plant design and layout, machine and wet process design and improvement, and designing and creating textile products. Throughout the textile engineering curriculum, students take classes from other engineering disciplines including mechanical, chemical, materials, and industrial engineering. | |
Cybersecurity Engineering | Cybersecurity engineers identify threats and vulnerabilities in computer systems and software. These professionals are experts who implement secure network solutions to protect organizations' networks and data systems from hackers, cyberattacks and other forms of computer crime. |
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Cloud engineering | Cloud engineers design, build, and manage scalable cloud infrastructure. |
See also
References
- ^ Julie Thompson Klein, Robert Frodeman, Carl Mitcham. The Oxford Handbook of Interdisciplinary. Oxford University Press, 2010. (pp. 149–150)
- ^ Wiebe, A. J.; Chan, C. W. (April 2012). "Ontology driven software engineering". 2012 25th IEEE Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering (CCECE). pp. 1–4. doi:10.1109/CCECE.2012.6334938. ISBN 978-1-4673-1433-6. S2CID 9911741.
- ^ Clifford, Michael. An Introduction to Mechanical Engineering. Taylor & Francis Group LLC, 2006. ISBN 978-1-44411337-2
- ^ University of Arizona OPTI 421/521: Introductory Optomechanical Engineering
- ^ "ATMAE Membership Venn Diagram" Archived 2013-11-13 at the Wayback Machine. atmae.org
- ^ Ravindran, Ravi; Warsing, Donald Jr. (2017). Supply chain engineering : models and applications. CRC Press. ISBN 9781138077720.
- ^ Goetschalckx, Marc (2011-08-11). Supply chain engineering. Springer. ISBN 978-1-4419-6512-7.