How many engineering fields are there

These include nuclear engineering, biological engineering, and rehabilitation engineering. Often thought to be the oldest engineering discipline, civil engineering focuses on constructing, designing, and maintaining physical structures used by the public, such as dams, bridges, tunnels, roads, airports, subway systems, and water supply systems.

Many of today's engineers specialize in building eco-friendly architecture to combat climate change. Civil engineers work in many industries, like transportation, urban planning, and space.

In the broadest sense of the term, chemical engineering deals with chemicals. These engineers design and manufacture materials and products using scientific principles from chemistry, biology, math, and physics. They may also come up with innovative processes to use and transform energy. Chemical engineers can work with microorganisms, food, pharmaceuticals, and fuels.

Often performing experiments and other tasks in labs, many also use computers to design experiments. Mechanical engineering entails the development and production of mechanical systems and other devices in motion. These professionals use problem-solving, critical thinking, and the principles of math and physics to transform concepts into functional products, such as ships, firearms, household appliances, turbines, and vehicles. Today's mechanical engineers rely on many of the same core components that have been used for thousands of years, including wheels, springs, screws, and axles.

A newer branch of engineering introduced in the 19th century, electrical engineering focuses on electrical equipment and electronics. These engineers design, test, and maintain devices that use or produce electricity, from small objects like microchips and computers to large-scale projects like satellites and power station generators. Most electrical engineers complete tasks in an office or lab, though on-site work is also common.

The final engineering branch is industrial engineering , which combines engineering with general business practices to reduce costs, improve quality, and increase efficiency. These specialists often find employment in industries related to service, entertainment, and healthcare. As an industrial engineer, you must work well with people. Industrial engineers' primary tasks may include designing facilities and information systems, managing inventories, overseeing personnel assignments, and ensuring workplace safety.

Certain types of engineering jobs may offer higher incomes depending on factors like demand and industry. Engineering is a notoriously challenging field. These majors require lots of homework and classes that cover high-level topics like advanced calculus and physics. But some engineering majors may be less exacting than others. In general, engineering majors that place heavier emphasis on math and science, such as chemical engineering, tend to be more challenging for students. A study examined the average time students in various majors spent preparing for class each week.

Majors that required more prep time were considered more difficult. Here's a quick recap of the hardest and easiest engineering majors, according to this study. When determining whether you should major in engineering, ask yourself the following questions about your interests, skills, and goals. Math and science are the two biggest staples of engineering degrees.

They often split their time between an office and project sites. Similar occupations include construction manager, landscape architect and urban or regional planning, according to BLS. Electrical engineers focus on the design, testing and manufacturing of electrical components, such as motors, navigation and communications systems, and power generation, according to BLS.

They work in a range of industries, including research, manufacturing, telecommunications and more. Electrical engineering is one of the industries broadest fields, which means the available jobs can vary widely from one sector to another.

From working with circuits and making computers and other electronics to building fiber optic networks or vision sensors for cars, many disciplines employ electrical engineers. Similar occupations include electrician, biomedical engineer and architectural and engineering manager, according to BLS.

Mechanical engineers design, build and develop mechanical and thermal sensing devices, such as engines, tools and machines. Mechanical engineering is one of the broadest of the engineering fields, according to BLS, and they can be found a huge range of products from electric generators to batteries to refrigeration systems.

Mechanical engineers analyze projects to determine how a mechanical device can be used and then design and test machines to help the project. They can also investigate equipment that has failed to determine how part of the mechanics needs to be repaired, according to BLS.

Other similar occupations include materials engineer, petroleum engineer and mechanical engineering technician, according to BLS. There are nearly as many types of engineers as there are industries overall. Here's an overview of a dozen specific types of engineering. Consider how an engineering degree can kick-start your career. Follow him on Twitter JoeCo If you're wondering how to become a computer programmer, the field requires academic knowledge, a passion for math and engineering, adaptability and hands-on experience.

You likely know several people who are majoring in or planning to major in a specific engineering field. But what types of engineering can you choose from? And how do they differ from one another? In this article, we will take an in-depth look at the types of degrees in engineering available, as well as what types of engineering jobs you could get with that degree.

We'll also go over salary info, job growth rates, and how you can find the ideal engineering major for you. Engineering is the application of scientific and mathematical principles to help find solutions to technical problems. This is done mainly by building and designing machinery, vehicles, engines, transportation systems, and various kinds of structures. As you can see, engineering is an extremely broad term that can be applied to many different scientific and technological fields, such as architecture, medicine, and environmentalism.

While there are technically dozens, if not hundreds, of different types of engineering, this hugely popular field is most often divided into five main branches , each of which acts as an umbrella for multiple specializations. According to The Oxford Handbook of Interdisciplinarity , these branches are as follows:. These are generally considered the "traditional" engineering categories from which many more specialized fields ultimately grew. But these branches don't encompass all types of engineering, of course.

In addition to these five main types, there are tons of engineering subfields as well as interdisciplinary engineering fields, which combine characteristics from some or all of the five branches. Most people who study engineering in college go on to become engineers. As an engineer, you can make quite a lot of money depending on your field of expertise.

In fact, engineering fields make up the bulk of our list of the best college majors as a result of their high salary potential and solid job growth rates interestingly, many are also considered some of the hardest majors. This isn't surprising when we consider the fact that STEM as a whole has grown increasingly important in our modernized, technologically driven world. The chart below contains more than a dozen types of engineering jobs, their median salaries, and their projected employment growth rates through the year Jobs are listed in order of highest median salary to lowest.

Petroleum engineers. Aerospace engineers. Computer hardware engineers. Nuclear engineers. Chemical engineers. Sales engineers. Electrical and electronics engineers. Marine engineers. Materials engineers. Mining and geological engineers. Health and safety engineers. Biomedical engineers. Environmental engineers. Mechanical engineers. Industrial engineers. Civil engineers. Agricultural engineers. As you can see from this chart, engineers can bring in some pretty good money. And what's really great is that you only need to have a bachelor's degree to be able to qualify for these jobs!

But you'll also notice that these different types of engineering can vary a lot in income and projected growth. For example, whereas marine engineers will benefit from faster-than-average growth over the next decade, there's less demand for nuclear engineers, a field which is currently experiencing a negative growth rate.

Clearly, engineering isn't a single consistent field: it's filled with many different branches and subdisciplines, all of which have their own pros and cons in terms of annual salary and projected employment growth. Overall, though, engineering is a great field to major in , especially if you're hoping to make a good income down the line. Next, we'll look at the many types of degrees in engineering you can get at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

There are tons of different types of degrees in engineering you can earn in college and graduate school. This list contains more than 50 examples of engineering majors , organized by the five engineering branches which are also majors in and of themselves.

Not all schools offer all these exact majors and specializations, so be sure to check each college you're interested in to see what types of degrees in engineering it offers. As a general rule, tech schools, such as Caltech, MIT, and Georgia Tech, will typically offer a much wider array of engineering majors and degrees.