What is Engineering? What would the world be like without engineers? Look at the following comics and figure out what engineers do!

The World Without Engineers

The World Without Engineers

The World Without Engineers

The World Without Engineers

The World Without Engineers

The World Without Engineers

The World Without Engineers

Engineers are Inventors! Engineers use science and math to solve real world problems! What are some of the types of engineers you’ve heard of? Possibly: Chemical, electrical, mechanical, software, civil, biomedical, and environmental. AND MANY MORE! Look around you, virtually every manmade contraption you see was conceived of and created by an engineer!

Now let’s take a look at some real life engineers and what they’re working on right now!

Separating Oil from Water Di Gao, a chemical engineer at the University of Pittsburg, invented a plastic-coated cotton material that could clean up the Gulf. Ph.D. in chemical engineering from U of California, Berkeley. Gao “envisions large, trough-shaped filters that could be dragged through the water to capture surface oil.”

Designing Better Cars Marcus Ashford, a mechanical engineer at the University of Alabama, has invented a car engine with 80% less exhaust emissions. Marcus Ashford He got his bachelors degree in mechanical engineering from LSU and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas. While in school, he designed a car engine that reduced harmful emissions by 82%. For this he won several awards and a patent. He now teaches mechanical engineering at the University of Alabama and is trying to design a car engine that runs on hydrogen, not gasoline. http://me.eng.ua.edu/people/facultydetailsmod.asp?ID=23 http://www.engineeringk12.org/students/Engineer_Spotlight/Mech_Engineer_Marcus_Ashford/default.php

Cleaning Up the Ocean Alexandria Boehm is an environmental engineer who works on ways to clean up oceans near where people live. Alexandria Boehm got her bachelor’s degree in engineering from Cal Tech and her Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the University of California. She is working on designing ways to clean up the ocean near where people live. So many types of pollution get into the ocean near where people live around the world. Polluted ocean water affects both air quality and drinking water quality. http://www.stanford.edu/~aboehm/ http://www.engineeringk12.org/students/Engineer_Spotlight/Enviro_Engineer_Alexandria_Boehm/default.php

Designing Space Colonies Kimberly Jones is a civil engineer working on purifying water so that we can one day go to Mars!!! Kimberly Jones earned her bachelors degree in civil engineering from Howard University. She got her Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the Johns Hopkins University. Her research is also on improving water quality here on earth and elsewhere. She is interested in finding out ways to purify water so that one day, if we can establish a living station on Mars, we will have a way to have clean water there. http://www.howard.edu/ceacs/departments/civil/faculty/Kimberly-Jones.htm http://www.engineeringk12.org/students/Engineer_Spotlight/Civil_Engineer_Kim_Jones/default.php

Controlling Computers with Thoughts Daniel Moran, a biomedical engineer at Washington University, has invented a way to play video games using only the human mind! Daniel Moran has figured out a way for people to control computers with their minds. Just by thinking, a kid can play space invaders, an old computer game from when I was a kid. The kid wears a cap that senses brain waves. There are no needles, nothing hurts- you just wear a cap and think and the computer does what you want it to do. Imagine how useful this will be when it gets perfected, when people can do other things by thinking, when people with disabilities can operate computers without speaking or moving a muscle. He got his bachelors degree in biomedical engineering from Milwaukee School of Engineering and his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Arizona State. He is now a professor at Washington University in St. Louis. http://news-info.wustl.edu/sb/page/normal/583.html http://www.engineeringk12.org/students/Engineer_Spotlight/Biomed_Engineer_Dan_Moran/default.php

Listening for Cancer John Viator, a biological engineer, has invented a way to hear cancer cells. John Viator has designed a machine that can HEAR cancer. It listens for the special sounds cancer cells make and his device can detect as few as 10 cancer cells. He uses a laser to make cells vibrate, but cancer cells vibrate differently than normal cells, so they make a different noise as they vibrate. So far, his machine only detects skin cancer, but in the future it will detect cancer cells in blood. http://web.missouri.edu/~viatorj/ http://www.engineeringk12.org/students/Engineer_Spotlight/Biomed_Engineer_John_Viator/default.php

The Engineering Design Process Loop Redesign Identify the Problem Present Your Design Research the Problem Test and Modify Design There is no one agreed-upon process for doing engineering, but it basically goes like this. Engineers solve problems through designs. It is an iterative process where the design might go through many stages of testing and re-design. Often engineers do not identify the need, society does, but engineers tackle the problem once it is clearly defined. Construct an Initial Design Find Possible Solutions Select One Solution

You will be an Engineer! Throughout this curriculum, you will answer: 1. What is the problem that we have? 2. What can you find out about the problem? 3. What ideas are there already out there that could help us solve the problem? 4. How can you use those ideas to determine a solution? 5. What would your design look like? 6. Build and test it. Does your design work? 7. Show others! 8. Make it better!