Types of Engineers

Electrical and Electronic Engineers

Totally Bright Ideas

If it involves electricity, there’s an electrical engineer behind it. A longer-burning light bulb, flat panel TV, the tablet you can’t get along without, your smart phone, GPS, microwave oven, and the Internet—they’ve all benefitted from the bright ideas of electrical engineers.

Electrical engineers work with the big and the small—from the tiniest microchips all the way up to giant power stations that light up our lives. Control systems are big with electrical engineers. Think cruise control on your parents’ car, or the air traffic control systems that keep airplanes on the proper path without smacking into each other. And just imagine, say, a gum factory. The action can get fast and furious, with thousands of sticks of gum being made, flavored, colored, cut, sorted and wrapped. Electrical engineers develop computer control systems that let manufacturers control their products every step of the way.

One thing about electrical engineers is that they’re always making things smarter. Like the smart tag on your car that lets you zip through the tollbooth and then sends the bill to Mom and Dad…and a smart front door that tells you who’s ringing your doorbell when you’re not at home…and even a smart umbrella that tells you if it’s going to rain, and sends you a message if you’ve accidentally left it at basketball practice. Click here to see some of the recent achievements of electrical engineers.

Interested in becoming an electrical engineer? Check out these videos:

Courtesy of the National Science Foundation

Courtesy of ThinkTV

There’s Reality…and Virtual Reality

You probably know virtual reality best through video games and science fiction movies. But VR—the experience of being totally in another environment—is helping people in many fields. Doctors can practice “operating” on virtual patients…soldiers can get combat experience without actually being in danger…engineers can design planes to test a pilot’s performance in the real world…students can “visit” colleges without leaving home. Electrical engineers are helping to bring us whole new worlds! Click here for more on virtual reality

Refrigerator Tricks

Imagine a fridge that takes care of itself—knows when it’s low on food, reorders from the grocery store and Googles new recipes. Now if it would only heat up your mac and cheese.

Movie Magic

Electrical engineers help design the computers and software that create the special effects that make movies magical. What would Stars Wars, Wonder Woman, Jumanji and many others be without them?

New Smart Watch

Order food…scribble a letter and it automatically converts to type…turn on your favorite TV shows….pay for stuff. Whatever your smart phone can do, your watch can do better…well maybe not better, but it’s more fun.

Personal Flying Machines

Imagine soaring into the sky and flying above the crowded streets. Personal flying machines have been a dream of many for a long time. Electrical engineers are among those experimenting with the arrangement of propellers, motors, landing gear, and safety systems, to create a prototype that lets a person step in and take off vertically into the sky.

Zapping Ebola

A robot washes a hospital room in an ultra-violet light that zaps germs and even the Ebola virus in a matter of minutes. You can bet that the cleaning wizard here is all the rage with doctors and nurses.

Cryptocurrency

Ever heard of Bitcoin? Ethereum? Those and others are the stars of the developing cryptocurrency movement. Some say they are the future of money. They let you send cash over the Internet directly to another person…without a bank or PayPal or eBay or anything like that being involved. In other words, no middleman. Electrical and software engineers are on the case, improving the new systems.