Until recently, work opportunities—particularly for STEM-related positions—were scattered thinly over every sector. Thankfully, the number of engineering jobs increased last...
Engineering has long been a competitive discipline with places at universities and colleges being snapped up rapidly. It's also been one of the most profitable disciplines....
Landing an engineering job can be a daunting task. Before you can even be considered, you have to invest significant time and money in getting qualified, so you'll have a lot...
Studies show that only around half of America's science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduates pursue careers in engineering. Unfortunately, this means that...
In an ever-changing job marketplace, obtaining an engineering degree is as close to a guarantee of a job as anyone can hope to get. The engineering trade has a much lower...
Professional engineers are frequently in demand; they are required for all types of product design and development. As US companies focus on bringing manufacturing back to the...
Rural communities are renowned for their quiet living and close-knit nature. While some may find these qualities idyllic, these rural communities face some challenges that...
James Dyson, the billionaire known primarily for the Dyson line of vacuum cleaners, has made a real investment in education and jobs for engineers in the United Kingdom. Dyson...
Climate engineering is perhaps one of the most unfairly maligned geophysicist jobs in science. Although it could offer solutions to climate change, it is also fraught with...
Engineering has always been a hard concept to teach young children, but it doesn't have to be. The use of demonstrations and special tools or toys can make engineering for kids...
The last year was a tough one for electrical engineering workers. While the field has seen its ups and downs in the past, 2013 had several factors converge to make the...
If you're looking out for brand-new engineer jobs in 2014, you may be in luck. STEM in general—and engineering in particular—is a diverse employment field: while the number of...
Engineering experts have a variety of different specializations available. Many different types of engineering exist, beckoning those with extensive backgrounds in science,...
The 2014 Consumer Electronics Show attracted people from all over the world for three days of demonstrations and information about new products. The CES showcases some of the...
When it comes to advanced engineering careers, space travel is one of the most exciting fields. In the postshuttle era, both government and private entities are researching and...
Reports from across the world over the last three years seem to indicate a lack of employees to fill important engineering jobs. A shortage of engineers could very well be a...
If you are ready for a new challenge in the engineering field, it might be time to start searching for another job. Fortunately, engineering is one of the fastest growing...
Automotive careers used to be the backbone of the Midwest and, to a great extent, the entire US industrial base. That position has declined in recent decades, to the point that...
There's an unfortunate tendency in the engineering field to specialize beyond the necessary minimum point. Of course, your engineering skills will be discipline specific, so...
Engineering jobs can be hard to come by. That's why it's so important to put your best foot forward in meeting with engineering recruiters and hiring managers. Given the...
Many engineers reach a point in their careers where they are inspired to give back to the industry and the wider engineering community. By finding ways to engage with current...
Developments in oil extraction continue to create some of the fastest-growing periods of economic growth in America's history in areas where hydraulic fracturing can draw out...
Throughout 2013, a lot of debate has taken place over whether or not the United States is actually experiencing an engineering shortage. According to an article on the New York...
Female engineers are in short supply. Engineering is all about finding solutions to problems, and the diversity female engineers bring to this profession can enhance the...
Hiring managers in the engineering industry are often looking for skill and experience along with education when they bring on new engineers. Your engineering resume should...
In many professions, aging has a positive impact on a person's career. The experience and contacts the individual gains opens doors to better opportunities. In the engineering...
If you are ready to seek new opportunities in the engineering field, you must understand how to use online job search engines to identify the best opportunities. If you have...
An engineering degree is one of the most valuable college assets that you can pursue, but a recent survey by an assistant professor at Rice University seems to indicate that...
With each new technological advance, the possibilities for engineering research and development are becoming more exciting and innovating. For professionals who are looking for...
In an unsure economy, job security is a chief concern among workers, particularly those with a very specific skillset, like some engineers. Thankfully, recent polls suggest...
When it comes to stable careers, engineers have long held an enviable position. Due to the recent recession, however, many engineers are finding that, even with excellent...
In what most people would describe as a positive turn of events, the number of engineering students who are enrolled in undergraduate programs worldwide has increased...
Cars have changed a lot over the past two decades, but the general principles of making a car remain the same. You create a metal box, stick four wheels near the ends, add an...
Almost since the advent of the first generation of 3D printers, sensible people have been worried about the coming of the 3D printed handgun. Such a weapon, which could...
The overall job outlook for energy engineers has been poor since 2004, so you may be surprised to learn that the energy engineering field is currently primed for a boom....
Engineering universities across the country have programs designed to teach aspiring engineers skills they need to succeed in their future careers. A student in training to be...
Better engineering begins with learning to express yourself. Whether your area of expertise is civil engineering, aeronautical engineering, or software engineering, none of...
Severe skills gaps are affecting industries throughout the world, so the fact that Canada is in need of civil engineers isn't a huge surprise. Recently, various provinces...
A new trend that's becoming popular among wealthy investors is crowdfunding. Science, engineering, and technology are all industries that have benefited from a collective...
Engineering can be a stressful profession, and many professionals experience burnout. After a number of years on the job, many engineers opt to switch careers. By utilizing...
Engineering has long been a male-dominated field, much to the chagrin of female engineers. Recognizing the fact that diversity is beneficial to operations, however, many...
One of the best engineering tips that can be shared with young engineers is to look beyond your engineer education, and learn what you can from other disciplines. Classically...
Whether you're just entering the engineering field or looking for a different job in the market, understanding which positions currently need employees and how the outlook for...
With fewer than 20 percent of engineering graduates being female, women are underrepresented in the engineering workforce. Many modern colleges for engineering have begun...
Three-dimensional printing is changing the way engineers, manufacturing professionals, and architects do their jobs. Although 3-D printing technology became available in 1986,...
College-age engineers have a lot of opportunities to develop their skills, especially if they attend some of the best engineering schools in the world. Many college engineering...
NPR’s Planet Money radio talk show recently did a segment on the most—and least—lucrative college majors, and engineering degrees filled eight of the top ten slots. However, if...
Here’s the bad news: in the future, you won't have a flying car. Jetsons-style engineering projects have always been a little unrealistic, which is part of their charm. As much...
The James Dyson Award was developed to inspire and celebrate talented design engineers. This year's Dyson Awards are coming up on November 7, so the twenty shortlisted...
In their first job out of college, many engineering graduates are overwhelmed by the amount of hands-on work they are required to do. To better prepare students for the demands...
Modern prefabrication has come a long way from the prefab buildings and processes of the past few decades. Advances in prefabrication allow engineers to construct ever larger...
A successful engineering career often precludes extensive periods of international travel. Remote locations have recently opened up a wealth of engineering possibilities, so...
On January 13, 2012, the 114,000-ton cruise ship, Costa Concordia, ran aground on the rocks off the coast of the Italian island of Giglio. The liner was owned and operated by...
One of the most pressing issues in the engineering industry is increasing diversity. Although the number of women and ethnic minorities filling engineering jobs has increased...
Engineering is sometimes referred to as the invisible profession. This is because, if engineering jobs are done right, invisible engineering is never noticed. When ordinary...
A lot of emphasis is put on encouraging university students to graduate with advanced engineering skills. Most political regimes have traditionally encouraged engineering...
Some employers in the STEM field are having trouble finding skilled engineering graduates, so they are teaming up with educators to make careers in science and engineering more...
Traditionally, engineering jobs were the sort of long-term, stable employment that your parents wished you could find. To be an engineer—of whatever stripe—was to enjoy...
Employment used to be a guarantee for STEM graduates. If you managed to get a degree related to science, technology, engineering, or mathematics, you were almost guaranteed a...
Technology advances at a rapid pace, so it's more important than ever for engineers to have access to resources that keep them informed on the latest industry trends....
Engineering is an ever-changing field in which developments happen constantly. Mankind has come a long way since the invention of the wheel—in itself a praiseworthy feat. In...
With his bold aspirations and cutting-edge ventures, Elon Musk is a regular name in engineering tech news. The founder of companies including SpaceX and Tesla Motors, Musk is...
According to a 2013 data report compiled by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, seven of the top 10 highest paying jobs are in the engineering field. However,...
Driverless cars are not a new concept: in fact, they have been a dream for many automobile enthusiasts since the early twentieth century. Many experts initially believed that...
A decade ago, 3D printing technology was the stuff of science fiction; now, however, it has become a reality not only in the lab but also in the production and engineering...
After experiencing a slump at the beginning of the twenty-first century, engineering jobs are back on the employment roster. Well, certain jobs in certain areas, that is. As a...
Pay inequality in engineering jobs is a big issue that has serious consequences for workers and employers. The exact cause of the gender wage gap remains under much debate. In...
Electric cars are nothing new—indeed some of the earliest cars were electric ones, relying on a series of batteries for power. Of course, the advantage of gasoline meant they...
NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) probe launched from its Cape Canaveral platform on Nov. 26, 2011, bound for the red planet. The spacecraft's onboard rover, Curiosity,...
To put it mildly, the US economy has had a rough ride over the last half decade. The global recession hit America hard, causing a particularly pronounced downturn in 2008,...
Engineering jobs often spring up around cities with exceptional levels of engineering capacity. The cities with the greatest engineering capacity are likely to play a major...
The battle for the title of the world's tallest building has been constant over the past few decades as tall buildings erupted across the world in an attempt to claim the...
The number of engineering jobs available fluctuates with demand and market conditions, so it is important to keep up with trends in the field. Several areas of engineering...
During the past few years, there has been a concerted effort to get more girls interested in engineering jobs and other careers involving technology, science, and mathematics....
Engineering positions commonly require years of study at accredited universities as well as experience in the field. Engineering jobs abound for the right candidates, and many...
For some engineering professionals, technical jobs hold minimal appeal. If you're educated in engineering but looking for a career in another field, it's a good idea to...
The engineering industry is thriving around the world, so it's not a huge surprise that some private investors may be interested in investing in infrastructure projects. While...
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the first quarter of 2013 saw an increase in oil and gas jobs; it was the thirteenth straight quarter of job growth in that...
Whether you have been in the engineering field for one year or twenty years, there will probably come a time when you decide to apply for a job with another company. Before...
As with historical apprenticeships, modern internships are traditionally used to benefit both the novice employee and the employer. The novice gets valuable on-the-job training...
Video interviews are becoming more common in the engineering industry because they save employers money without taking away a recruiter's ability to conduct face-to-face...
If you're looking for engineering jobs so that you can build a successful career, it's important to consider the type of work you do and the area you live in. There are areas...
The United States is currently facing a shortage of skilled workers to fill open STEM jobs with engineering firms, laboratories, colleges and universities, and other employers....
STEM jobs—jobs in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields—are especially desirable for recent graduates. College grads have the skills needed to excel in...
The best resume tips for experienced engineers are not the same resume tips that work for people seeking entry-level positions. When recruiters review resumes for engineers,...
In addition to cultural and religious diversity, companies are struggling with another type of issue: multigenerational teams. Engineering jobs are as likely to be held by...
The past few decades have seen steady growth in science, technology, engineering, and medical jobs. Because they're fueled by innovations, population growth and the need for...
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, engineering jobs in the United States have an expected growth rate of 11 percent from 2010 through 2020. With the national average...
These days, many engineers consider themselves lucky if they have a job. But being complacent even in the most erratic economy can cost you a much needed promotion. If you’ve...
You’ve been working as an engineer for three years now and you’re pondering the big question: Do I need an MBA to move up the ladder? It’s a big decision. Getting an MBA these...
It’s your first engineering job. Your interview is a few days away and you’re getting all sorts of advice. But what you really need is some help in negotiating your salary. The...
With an unemployment rate as low as 2 percent (March of 2012), job prospects are especially good for today’s crop of young engineers. This demand pretty much covers the...
According to recent reports, the manufacturing field in some sectors has seen a jump in numbers when it comes to jobs and the number of enrollees in the trade schools. They say...
You’re a recent grad with a degree in Architectural Engineering and you’re ready to pound the streets for that first real job. You’ve fined tuned your resume to include every...
An architecture intern position can serve as a key career stepping stone. It can equip you with the tools and on-the-job training you’ll need to get a job in both small and...
Do you feel like you’ve looked for a job everywhere on earth without any luck? Don’t worry there’s still hope… on Mars. A Dutch upstart called Mars-One is launching a project...
It’s tough out there in today’s job market. Even engineering grads are having a hard time finding work. But there are some engineering areas where jobs are plentiful—water...
If you want to be an engineer, you’re going to have stiff competition. This blog is to inform you and to advise you on how to beat your competition. First know that...
Renewable power is becoming more than a mantra of "green" energy advocates. It’s now a career reality for many new science and engineering grads. And among the many areas...
Why aren’t you pursuing an engineering, science or math career? Your job prospects are better if you do. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in less than a...
If you're a civil engineering grad or a wastewater engineer, you might be interested in learning about this novel water treatment technique. New England Biolabs recently...
by Alex A. Kecskes If you majored in engineering or logistics, the Army may put your education to use, setting up and moving a whole new breed of FOBs (Forward Operating...
by Alex A. Kecskes If you’re a utilities engineer (or aspire to be one), large, power hungry companies may employ you to work with power utilities to cut their electric bill....
by Alex A. KecskesIf you’re a young engineer or recent engineering grad, you may want to consider a career in exo-bionics. In something right out of the film "Iron Man," a...
by Alex A. Kecskes You’ve always wanted to work in the utilities sector. And now you have a BS or MS sheepskin and maybe some intern work under your belt. Time to get serious...
by Alex A. KecskesStudies show that engineering graduates who take on internships have a better chance of landing a job. While good grades and a solid engineering degree are...
by Alex A. Kecskes If you’re a young engineering grad and have begun pounding the pavement for work, you know the competition these days is pretty stiff. That means your...
by Alex A. KecskesIf you’re looking for an engineering career in law enforcement, there are some great strides being made in gunshot location systems. A new technology called...
by Alex A. KecskesWho will build the next generation of skyscrapers? Will construction crews rise to the challenge and take materials into lofty stratospheric heights? Or will...
by Alex A. KecskesIBM recently predicted that engineers will soon be working on machines capable of reading minds and identifying whose minds they reading. If you’re a young...
by Alex A. Kecskes What you learned in the dorm or in the frat house about laundry might just help you land a job at NASA. If you’re an engineering grad or junior engineer,...
by Alex A. KecskesIf you’re looking for an engineering career in the automotive industry, the growth will be in hybrids and all-electric vehicles. Take Tesla’s new all-electric...
by Alex A. KecskesRobots that actually mimic human behavior--running, jogging, listening and talking--are becoming a reality. If you’re looking for a challenging career in...
by Alex A. KecskesWhile gas inches upwards toward $4 a gallon and automakers are scrambling to develop “greener” electric cars, there’s still one segment of the auto industry...
According to Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer of Facebook, there is a lot of opportunity for women in Computer Science and Engineering. In a revealing interview on...
by Alex A. KecskesIf you’re a recent engineering grad, you know how tough it is to find a decent job in your field. But there is hope. The President’s Council on Jobs and...
by Alex A. KecskesUntil now, prosthetic hands were usually low-cost mechanical cosmetics with a limited range of motion, or sophisticated electronic devices that offered...
by Alex A. KecskesAs the competition for better electric vehicles grows, automakers are looking to a whole new breed of engineers—young professionals trained and skilled in...
by Alex A. KecskesAre you ready for Big Brother on the road? The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), under guidance from the Department of Transportation,...
by Alex A. KecskesMade popular by the TV series “Person of Interest,” there’s a whole new breed of high IQ surveillance systems that have emerged to combat crime and terrorism....
by Alex A. KecskesIf you’re a software engineer, Apple’s new iPhone 4S will give you plenty of job opportunities and career choices—especially when it comes to unusual and...
by Alex A. KecskesIf you’re a recent engineering grad and you’re not sure exactly what type of engineering job best fits your aspirations and career goals, you might consider...
by Alex A. KecskesIf you’re a young engineer, you'll have to come to grips with one undeniable fact: globalization will affect how and where you work. In 1995, nearly 40...
by Alex A. KecskesIf you’re a recent engineering grad or an out-of-work engineer looking for a job, things may be looking up for you. India's second largest IT giant Infosys...
by Alex A. Kecskes It’s a tight job market right now, especially for engineers. But the jobs are out there. You just have to hustle a bit more. Here are a few tips to turn...
by Alex A. Kecskes If you’re considering a career in engineering, you might be interested in knowing which engineering schools ranked at the top in 2011. In this tight job...
by Alex A. KecskesToday, over 20 percent of engineering school graduates are women, yet just 11 percent of working engineers are female. What accounts for this "female flight"...
by Alex A. KecskesEngineers are changing how people live and interface with their homes and appliances. There will soon be touch screens in virtually every corner of the home....
by Alex A. Kecskes Forget solar panels, at least for now. They're only fractionally efficient when compared to a Stirling solar dish, which engineers are refining almost on a...
by Alex A. KecskesExtending the life of a battery (typically Li-ion) can significantly impact the performance of everything from smart phones and laptops to internal medical...
by Alex A. KecskesVehicles are getting greener, lighter and more individualized as automotive engineers adapt to the new rules of personal transportation.In the race to go...
by Alex A. KecskesThe search for cheap energy sources has taken center stage. And one of the smartest ways engineers have devised to retool an electric grid is to incorporate...
by Alex A. KecskesBiofuels are becoming the latest rage. Fuel Engineers are leaping over each other in the rush to create efficient bacterial factories to cheaply churn out...
by Alex A. KecskesEngineers, as they move up in their careers, are often asked to write a paper on their work, especially if the work is pioneering or innovative in nature. If...
Although it is easy to feel that those online job applications we engineers send in simply drop into a big black hole due to lack of one-on-one human updates, for most...
by Alex A. KecskesIt's one of the largest gatherings of academic and corporate researchers in the world. It's the sixth IEEE International Conference on Global Software...
by Alex A. KecskesIn this technologically complex world, engineers are increasingly faced with ethical dilemmas. The Gulf Oil spill, the Challenger disaster, and a whole slew...
OK, chill-out. I spelled that correctly. As part of my research for my series “Engineering Graduates Do What?” I ran across a current posting for the Federal Energy Regulatory...
by Alex A. KecskesAlmost half the world still cooks its food with wood and charcoal. The fires they use result in deforestation and black carbon, which contributes to global...
You’ve earned your degree, now how will you use it to dive into the broad field we refer to as “Engineering?” According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are many...
by Alex A. KecskesU.S. Navy engineers at Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific in San Diego, California have developed a system that uses a stream of seawater as a...
by Alex A. KecskesI was blown away by these creations. Dutch kinetic sculptor/engineer Theo Jansen's world famous Strandbeests are truly astounding. The wind-powered automatons...
by Alex A. KecskesEngineers are salivating over the latest sports engineering breakthrough—a water-powered jetpack. Many engineers told inventor Raymond Li that it would be...
The field of engineering is of paramount importance when there is a need to accomplish a task that has never been done before. For example, when the Cape Hatteras lighthouse...
Weather extremes across the United States this month grabbed the attention of Engineers and architects everywhere. Damage from tornadoes, hail, lightning, and floods will...
by Alex A. KecskesWill raising a vehicle's fuel economy reduce its safety? In the rush to boost MPG, the automotive industry has often reduced the weight of its vehicles. After...
I was at an air show this past weekend at a nearby air force base. They had on display numerous aircraft that included those from World War I, World War II, the Korean...
Engineers everywhere are familiar with Green technology requirements. Cars, busses, office buildings, power plants, land fill issues and carbon footprints are all over our...
by Alex A. KecskesThese days, packaging engineers contend with a number of challenges. They must constantly ensure that packaging systems perform such tasks as wrapping,...
Pardon Me? That all sounds like the field of project management, how does a job like that get the name of “Engineering” attached to it?Technically, every engineering discipline...
by Alex A. KecskesResearchers have been struggling with tissue engineering for some time. The ultimate goal is to construct new organs so patients don't have to wait for...
by Alex A. KecskesIt's one of latest engineering breakthroughs in sound transmission--Hypersonic Sound Beam Technology. And what it does is remotely transmit tightly focused...
There are people today learning to build and program robots so small that you can’t even see them! At least you can’t see them without a special microscope. This is a growth...
by Alex A. KecskesYou don't make a top-tier video game overnight. It takes years of work by hundreds of designers and engineers. And it can run into the tens of millions of...
by Alex A. KecskesThe Energizer Inductive Charger recently won CES' Innovations 2011 Design and Engineering Award. The new charger raises the bar for convenient charging of any...
In a Nanowerk Spotlight commentary, the website presents an interesting take on the waning interest of American students in engineering careers. Did you know there was actually...
by Alex A. KecskesIf you're an engineer and you've come up with a better "mouse trap," you had better know how to protect your idea. If you don't, it can be taken from you by...
by Alex A. KecskesAccording to the World Health Organization, 314 million people in the world are visually impaired and 45 million are blind. The WHO defines blindness as the...
by Alex A. KecskesAre you an engineering student with plans to work in the nation's space program? Want to get your feet wet with a NASA project? NASA has a number of ways you...
by Alex A. KecskesAre you ready for this? A low-cost and perhaps even disposable e-reader that displays text and color images with clarity and total portability. Magazines,...
by Alex A. Kecskes Women engineers are urged to attend MIT's critically important symposium--Leaders in Science and Engineering: The Women of MIT, scheduled for March 28 and...
The road system in our area of Southeast Michigan seems to require constant re-engineering and repair. New surfaces and installation techniques abound, but still endure the...
by Alex A. Kecskes If you want to bring a new concept to market quickly, you must do one thing—make it inexpensive to produce. Many a worthwhile engineering concept has fallen...
by Alex A. Kecskes Sound engineering has advanced by leaps and bounds in the last decade. Today's sound engineers have access to some truly remarkable technology, courtesy of...
I would like your engineers to design me a brand new 1,100 foot by 134 foot multi-level city that will efficiently house about 6,000 people, required supplies, services,...
by Alex A. Kecskes The nominations are in. ASCE member engineers who are 30 or under and showed the potential for a long and distinguished career in engineering will soon know...
by Alex A. Kecskes The much talked about Chevy Volt will finally be appearing in showrooms in California, New York, Michigan, Washington DC, Connecticut and New Jersey. Roll...
When to Green, and when not to Green, that is the engineer’s question!Many professional engineers recall when “green” represented a color. There was a green crayon, a green...
by Alex A. Kecskes Whatever they design and build, engineers must take into account the Human Factor. In other words, how their end product will ultimately interact with...
When our graduate engineers and junior staffers challenge us with what the best specialty is today, what SHOULD we say? We have encountered specialties, subspecialties, and...
by Alex A. Kecskes The solar growth trend is expected to continue with solar power capacity doubling in 2011. According to a recent Bloomberg report, policy measures such as...
by Alex A. Kecskes Engineers have recently begun to understand the cellular and molecular basis of such diseases as malaria, hereditary blood diseases and cancer. New...
Engineering seeks to solve problems in novel ways, and one of the ways it does that is to look to nature for solutions. Why reinvent the wheel? There are good reasons, sure,...
Most professional engineers would be able to quickly tell you exactly what their favorite toys were when they were growing up. Most baby boomers would mention in our list items...
by Alex A. Kecskes A new research center, known as Emergent Behaviors of Integrated Cellular Systems, or EBICS, will soon set out to engineer complex biological...
Particle accelerators are massive, incredibly powerful machines we use to probe the origins of the universe itself. Right? Maybe not. At the recent MEMS 2011 Conference,...
I promised you that we’d talk about concept thinking for engineering positions and today’s the day. Most of us seasoned professionals (“old guys”) have seen a significant...
by Alex A. Kecskes Like to travel? Want to enrich your engineering education with exposure to studies in another country? Many colleges and universities offer exchange...
by Alex A. Kecskes Inventor, electro-mechanical engineer, recluse, Nikola Tesla was an important contributor to the birth of commercial electricity. Best known for his many...
Last week I said that we needed to talk about “Concept and Overview”! In every discipline of Engineering we are constantly bombarded by the budget. Cost models are so tight...
by Alex A. Kecskes Producing safe and nutritious food for human and animal consumption remains a major challenge for today's food engineers. Food engineering takes in a number...
by Alex A. Kecskes Participants in the annual Automotive X Prize competition have one major goal—build a car that averages 100 miles per gallon. This year, designers on each...
Over the years, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have produced some rather, er, “exceptional” aircraft in the name of research and development, so much...
Imagine walking up to any Engineer’s work station today and taking away the computer.OK, now that your nerves have settled down a little, I’ll tell you why I asked you to think...
by Alex A. Kecskes There's a great line in the film Surrogates about the ethics of human cloning: "Look at yourselves. Unplug from your chairs, get up and look in the mirror....
When the Eiffel tower opened to the public in 1889, many said that the structure was unsound, and would never be able to bear its own weight, let alone remain safely in...
Last week we walked through a small portion of the maze that may contain the answer to that question. Engineering jobs can be very finite and concentrated in a rare niche of...
by Alex A. Kecskes We need more women in civil engineering. Only 10 percent of working civil engineers are women. They add diversity and a fresh viewpoint to the job. They're...
by Alex A. Kecskes “If you win the N.C.A.A. championships, you come to the White House," exclaimed President Obama. "Well, if you’re a young person and you’ve produced the best...
Engineering researchers at the University of Toronto have completed full-scale destructive testing of their Yielding Seismic Brace (YSB), and have announced that the product is...
In our last post I welcomed you to the 2011 Free Agent Movement! What I didn’t say was The Free Agency Movement is not limited to the year 2011. It’s probably best to think of...
by Alex A. Kecskes President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus plan is expected to create a number of high-paying engineering jobs. You'll need at least a four-year college degree...
by Alex A. Kecskes In segueing from student to professional engineer, there are a few things you need to know and practice. For one thing, you need to shift from your college...
Honda’s website for the aircraft does a good job of explaining the technologies that have gone into the construction of the airframe. It’s all-composite body structure is not...
As engineers we all appreciate structure and reason. Now let’s begin to design the structure of our career with strategies to bridge the gap from JOB to “income strategies”! If...
by Alex A. KecskesThe last thing engineers want to hear in this bad economy is that their jobs are going overseas. But the fact remains that the unemployment rate for computer...
by Alex A. Kecskes The need to be a "star," to be recognized as the person behind a project is built into most engineers. This need seems to be strongest in young engineering...
A team of Virginia Tech researchers, lead by Finley Charney and Mahindra Singh, are developing new guidelines for the performance of structures during earthquake events of all...
A team of students from the University of Washington have been awarded US$40 thousand by the Rockefeller Foundation for their work on a method for testing water to ensure it...
by Alex A. Kecskes Like other professions, engineers must conduct themselves in an ethical manner, observing rules designed to prevent the things they design and build from...
by Alex A. Kecskes Founded in 1950, the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is a not-for-profit educational and service organization. SWE empowers women to succeed, advance and be...
Lately, I’ve been watching Let’s Go Design, a webcast made up of monthly episodes hosted by Jeremy Luchini that covers in-depth the design process of some very interesting...
Stratasys, purveyors of high-quality Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) machines, are touting the use of their machines to make accurate moulds for injected plastic for low-run...
by Alex A. Kecskes Studies have shown that women and minorities who start their engineering education, drop out of school or switch to other fields—far more so than white male...
by Alex A. Kecskes We've all seen sci-fi movies where scientists try to reverse engineer a UFO to understand how it defies gravity or navigates in space. In its simplest form,...
There’s been something of a revolution in aviation over the last hundred years or so, but the one question you can never get away from is this: What will aircraft look like in...
For 80 years now, the Teck II valve has been the go-to flush valve for flush urinals. Masco Canada, makers of the valve, wanted to update its design with an eco-conscious...
by Alex A. Kecskes Engineers at UC-Berkeley have created an electronic skin material from nanowires that can sense touch and pressure, much like human skin. Known as e-skin,...
by Alex A. Kecskes The hundreds of millions of cars on the world's roads need billions of pounds of steel and glass. This puts a strain on steel and glass manufacturers. And on...
by Alex A. Kecskes Many engineers put off applying for the Professional Engineer (PE) license. They know that the Fundamentals of Engineering exam (FE exam) is not easy and...
by Alex A. Kecskes To succeed in today's increasingly tough global economy, engineers must learn to work and network in the new multi-cultural and multi-national environment....
by Alex A. Kecskes An overwhelming majority of software projects don't come in on schedule and fail to deliver the level of quality initially promised. So say dozens of studies...
by Alex A. Kecskes Until now, the neural processing required to visually recognize even simple objects has been extremely difficult to recreate. That may be changing. Harvard...
Oregon State University (OSU) is developing new technology that would allow a single technician to more accurately assess the structural soundness of a bridge in far less time...
As part of their special report on Water and Energy, IEEE Spectrum has a video and transcript up on their website outlining steps that are being taken to help energy planners...
R&D Magazine magazine publishes a yearly list of the 100 greatest technological innovations of the previous year, handed out continuously since 1963, called the R&D 100 Awards....
by Alex A. Kecskes Food packaging and other disposable plastic trash may soon be composted with your organic waste. The oxygen-rich sugars in new polymer-based packaging absorb...
by Alex A. Kecskes If you're old enough to remember the animated sit-com, The Jetsons, you'll be delighted to learn that flying cars are just around the corner. Terrafugia, a...
by Alex A. Kecskes Cars of the future will have almost as much electronics as today's Learjets. Some estimates suggest that by the end of the decade, over 40 percent of an...
by Alex A. Kecskes One of the key challenges facing today's engineers is how to make fusion a viable power source. Fusion energy is virtually limitless, but it must be made...
One of the biggest buzzwords of the past 10 years has been “multitasking,” the idea that our new technologies will enable us to be always on, always productive, always...
by Alex A. Kecskes You may soon be able to power your iPod or Blackberry by boogying in your t-shirt or jeans. A UC Berkeley research team has recently developed fiber...
by Alex A. Kecskes If you've never worked for a public entity as an engineer, an interview with a governmental organization may catch you off guard. The interview style and...
At the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), they’re developing some novel technology to reduce the takeoff and landing requirements of modern commercial jets, and at the...
The weekend of the 23rd of October marked the end of the USA Science and Engineering Festival with a grand Expo on the National Mall in Washing, DC. The festival, hosted by...
by Alex A. Kecskes With emission standards and fuel economy spearheading many automotive designs, particularly, in lower priced cars, engineers have begun turning to more...
IEEE Spectrum, the IEEE’s professional publication, has an article up about renewable energy, and what it means for the future of the engineering profession. They make the case...
by Alex A. Kecskes While it doesn't speak hundreds of alien languages and lacks the attitude of C3PO, R2 or Robonaut2 is one of the best friends today's astronauts will ever...
With over $3 Billion (USD) already invested into the program, the cancellation of the General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 engine project for the Armed Forces’ new Joint Strike...
by Alex A. Kecskes Most engineering firms will have you team up with other engineers to solve a particular problem. Much like team sports, if you don't work together, you...
by Alex A. Kecskes Many EE, ME and CE grads eagerly accept their first job to start paying back college loans, buy a new car, and upgrade their pauper lifestyle to professional...
Photo provided by Tradewind Scientific, exclusive North American providers for the SFT.Interesting problems come in all shapes and sizes, but rarely do you get questions like,...
by Alex A. Kecskes Back in the pioneering days of rocketry, spacecraft were fired from the ground straight up into the heavens. It was and still is an expensive way to launch...
by Alex A. Kecskes It's a fact: The engineers with the broadest range of talents move up the ladder faster than those who simply maintain their technical prowess. To move up to...
Last month in Cumbria, England, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) named 'Demon' demonstrated the ability to maneuver without moving physical control surfaces. This is a first...
Google recently released the newest iteration of its SketchUp solid modeling package, SketchUp 8 is rich in features, and the Pro edition adds a lot of value to the...
by Alex A. Kecskes If you're a recent EE, ME or CE grad, and you're considering what type of company to work for, there are a few things you should look into before you send...
by Alex A. Kecskes If you saw the film Surrogates, you witnessed a futuristic application of haptic technology, wherein people lived out most of their lives via the haptic or...
I'm a little behind on this, but Cpt. Robert Collins Truax (USN, Retired), rocket scientist, died on the 17th of September, at the age of 93.Truax was an advocate of using...
Image courtesy Flickr user bloomsberries,licensed under CC 2.0 Attrib/NoDerivsWe all live in the real world (last I checked, anyway), and for the most part, it doesn't exactly...
by Alex A. Kecskes Responses to a Design News 2010 salary survey revealed upbeat attitudes and stats for today's design engineers. Surprisingly, 40 percent of respondents...
by Alex A. Kecskes Researchers at the University of Idaho are engineering a brave new world of artificial neurons that mimic human biology and take a quantum leap ahead of...
by Alex A. Kecskes Future engineer-colonists looking to extract oxygen, nutrients and minerals on the moon or Mars may be able to use a Rod-Shaped Bacterium to do their...
It's not often in this economy that a jobs board writer can utter the following, but it's true: if you are looking for an engineering job and can't find one, it may be a case...
by Alex A. Kecskes Each year, 1.2 million people with Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) suffer severe vision loss. Another 20,000 will go totally blind due to a...
by Alex A. Kecskes Like ancient mariners who sailed the seven seas using canvas sails, tomorrow's space explorers will use solar sails to take them to the stars. Made of large,...
by Alex A. Kecskes BP’s Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20th off the coast of Louisiana, killing 11 platform workers and causing the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S....
by Alex A. Kecskes The first GI Bill helped 450,000 veterans make the transition from warrior to future engineer. Today, Virginia Tech’s department of mechanical engineering...
by Alex A. Kecskes In nanotechnology, engineers create high-performance materials and components by integrating atoms and molecules. It's a growing field just coming out of its...
How do you take the hottest month of the year and the hottest field, green technology, and merge the two? If you're in the engineering sector, you could certainly look to green...
by Alex A. Kecskes Scientists at Adrok, Edinburgh, Scotland, have developed a technique called Atomic Dielectric Resonance (ADR) to detect and measure onshore oil...
by Alex A. Kecskes James Bond would love this: a high performance mini sub that resembles a shark. Climb in and you'll be "shaken not stirred" as you punch through waves and...
by Alex A. Kecskes Sometimes referred to as the “Blueprint Brigade,” Engineers Without Borders (EWB-USA) has grown from less than a dozen members in 2002 to over 12,000 today....
by Alex A. Kecskes Engineers are always looking for ways to improve the way we live and work. One way they do that is by making our homes and offices more energy efficient....
If you're a young engineer with a BSEE or MSEE and you're wondering what engineering career to pursue, you may want to head in the direction of Systems Engineer. According to...
Ruben Caballero, a senior engineer and antenna expert at Apple, raised an early red flag to Apple execs, noting that the iPhone 4's antenna design could lead to dropped calls....
While liberal arts graduates have traditionally encountered problems finding a job in tough economic times, today, even engineers are feeling the pain—in particular, mechanical...