Prompt 10: Recognizing the truth

Written by Yiran Li

With the development of science and technology, electronic devices and Internet have been a great part in people's daily lives. Sometimes, we blindly trust the information from the Internet. For instance, if something becomes very popular on YouTube or Instagram, people will rush to purchase that product. However, not all the information on the Internet is accurate. When I watched video called "Is Engineering Right For You?", I think its idea was different from mine. It said that math is not equal to engineering but physics is the world of engineering. I do not agree with him at all. Personally, I think Math is the fundamental skill for an engineer. As a chemical engineering student, the physics course required is called Phys Scientists & Engineers. If you have taken this course, you can find it requires calculus course. Calculus help explained many physics theorems and physics calculations. We can say that engineering is the world of physics, but it's wrong to tell students that engineering does not require students to do well at math.

From a journal article, the author introduced how engineers use the math in practice. Math is made up by algebra, arithmetic and geometry, trigonometry, statistics and calculus. For instance, engineers designing drainage systems must design for a 50- or 100-year storm in their calculations, a significant change from the normal rain concentration. A great number of examples can be used to find math is quite important to engineering.

In conclusion, when we want to make some important decisions, it's better to seek for professional help because some of the information online may be biased.

Video Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psOxfEmW1Ws

Reference: http://work.chron.com/math-skills-needed-become-engineer-7330.html 

Flint Water Crisis

By Callaghan TysonMayer

Believe it or not, the Flint Water Crisis was caused and helped by civil and environmental engineers. Before the water supply changed to the Flint River, engineers from the LAN (the engineering firm that was consulted) promised officials that with proper procedures, the water could be clean enough. LAN engineers also decided that corrosion control was not necessary for the Flint water pipes, because the Flint River was supposed to be a temporary water source. This turned out to be a terrible decision, since the corrosion of the pipes is what led to undrinkable water. Although LAN might be at risk of more legal trouble than the State government, they are denying that they were part of the problem.

On the opposite perspective, engineers are also the ones who made Flint residents aware that there was a problem. Engineers are the ones that test the water for lead poisoning and other harmful levels of bacteria, and they eventually found that this water was not safe for humans. Without proper testing, Flint officials could have continued to tell citizens the water was safe to drink.

Terri Olson is an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, who studies the use of home filters. Olson found that the use of the filters supplied by the state is not as sufficient as everyone thinks they are. Olson concludes that although the filters are effective at removing metals, they also encourage the growth of pathogens and microbes. These are harmful to people with already weakened immune systems, like the residents of Flint.

Sources: http://www.engin.umich.edu/college/about/news/stories/2016/january/flint-water-crisis

http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/06/flint_water_crisis_7_things_to.html

How to be a Professional Engineer (PE)

written by Yiran Li

If you have the license of a professional engineer; to a client it means you've got the credentials to earn their trust, to an employer it signals your ability to take on a higher level of responsibility, among your colleagues it demands respect, to yourself it's a symbol of pride and measure of your own hard-won achievement.

To use the PE seal, engineers must complete several steps to ensure their competency.

1.      Earn a four-year degree in engineering from an accredited engineering program

2.      Pass the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam

3.      Complete four years of progressive engineering experience under a PE

4.      Pass the Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) exam

Professional Engineers must maintain and improve their skills by fulfilling continuing education requirements depending on the state in which they are licensed. They need to take authorized courses regularly. Many higher level and responsible positions must be filled by licensed professional engineers. In the future, an increasing number of professions need Professional Engineering licenses to support their career requirements, like education. Many states start to ask for individual teaching engineering license.

References: https://www.nspe.org/resources/licensure
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Prompt 8: Practicing Your Knowledge

By Callaghan TysonMayer

During this semester, I took EGR100, which is the first and most general engineering course for all engineers. This class is broken down into 2 projects that are completely hands-on experience. For each project, we are broken up into groups of 4.

The first project is to build a robot out of a lego NXT kit. The robot has to be able to follow a black line, pick up a ball, then continue along the black line until it reaches a stand that it has to drop the ball into. This sounds very complicated, and it was for pretty much the entire project. The difficult part was not building the robot, that was very easy just like building legos. Programming the robot was not easy at all. The robot works through a series of if/then commands; this means "if the robot senses the ball in front of it, then it will raise the claw". A series of commands like this were programmed so that the robot did what we wanted it to do when a certain condition was met.

This is a picture of my group's final robot. After countless hours of work, we finally got it to do everything we wanted and we got an A on the project. This was an experience different from any other that I've had in a classroom. We had to do hands-on work and perform tasks that real engineers do on a daily basis. This was not easy and I can't say I enjoyed it, but it was definitely a good experience. 

The Future of Engineers

Written by: Adam Tarrant

          From a recent state of profession report from The Engineers Australia, it states that home-grown engineers have dropped significantly within its nation and can lead to some serious risks. The students studying math and science in Australia's high school and college courses have decreased in recent years, which will lead to a “broken pipeline of future engineers” (The Sydney Morning Herald). 

          There could be a few reasons as to why this decline of engineers is occurring. For starters, the school’s teachers and professors could have a negative effect on these student’s passion for the profession; the curriculum could be outdated or not effective. 

          

          Secondly, the recruiting and propaganda for these engineering programs could be lacking in drawing in these aspiring students. 

          If Australia wants to be considered a modern and current nation, they should strive to reverse the steady decline in engineers in the next couple of years or they will be facing some real problems in the future.

source: The Sydney Morning Herald