What is an Engineer? You might be thinking of a person with a
hard hat, probably a reflective vest carrying a calculator or a toolbox. But
the truth is much simpler than that. Being and Engineer is more than going
through 4 years of Higher Education and throwing your cap at your graduation.
It’s a state of mind. Here’s a simple exercise to determine if YOU are an
engineer.
Now everyone has coat hangers and duct tape at their home (or
is it just me?). Now you might be an Engineer if you've used coat hangers and
duct tape for something other than hanging coats and taping ducts. Still don’t
think you’re an engineer? Here’s another one to make sure, this one is fool
proof. If your car is ever acting up or some other kind of machine around the
house, and you would prefer to fix it yourself rather than call a technician?
Well I have some news for you, you’re an Engineer.
Now of course, to LEGALLY call yourselves an Engineer you
need to go through that whole 4 years of Higher Education and throwing your cap
thing, there’s really no debate about that. (This message has been brought to
you by HEC). So by this part of this article, you must be wondering what this
engineering stuff is all about eh? I mean, did some person just up and start
building robots one day and humanity collectively decided, “Okay this is cool”?
Now as great of a story this would make for your next family gathering, this
sadly isn’t true. Engineering is a vast field that has its origin as old as
humanity. As soon as we were evolved enough to have opposable thumbs we’ve been
hitting rocks together to make everything from weapons and fire to wheels and
shelter. Of course the rocks got bigger and so did the wheels. So one day some
people decided they were going to make a living out of hitting these rocks
together and thus the field of Engineering was born. An engineer can tell you
how to hit together two rocks to make cooler rocks and after that, the sky is
the limit!
Within engineering, there are multiple disciplines. Kind of
like in ‘Avatar – The last Air bender’ engineers divide themselves into
factions but thankfully the fire nation has not attacked yet. Among these
disciplines the oldest one, often called the mother of engineering is
Mechanical Engineering. It is the broadest and most open ended field of
engineering. This discipline tried to stay true to its roots of hitting rocks together.
It focuses more on the physical or obviously, Mechanical aspects of any
engineering system. And as time passed it developed various sub-fields ranging
from the Automotive Industry to the field of Robotics. It has today become one
of the most sophisticated and developed of all the engineering disciplines. A
mechanical engineer can design a space shuttle to take you to the moon
(probably to hit moon rocks together) or a watch that could tell the time for
20 different time zones. It’s all possible, you just need to put some work into
the problem!
Mechanical Engineering is endorsed and promoted by various
institutions worldwide and among them, one of the most renowned and prestigious
is the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, conveniently known as IMechE. They
were founded in 1847 as is based in the United Kingdom. They as an institution
promote the discipline of Mechanical Engineering throughout the world. One way
they do this is through the establishment of a number of student chapters in
various engineering universities. These student chapters are run and managed by
the students of that institution and they organize a number of events and
competitions to promote the enrichment and grooming of the engineering
students. One such chapter, also the one bringing this article to you is IMechE
NUST Student Chapter. Founded in 2011, this chapter is based in the School of
Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering at the National University of
Sciences & Technology in Islamabad, Pakistan. IMechE NSC consists of a
student body made up of individuals who possess the qualities of dedication,
inspiration and sometimes perspiration. Now these three things are often
necessary to achieve anything worthwhile.
But enough about us, more about this article and this blog!
This blog was the brainchild of the Publications team of IMechE NSC and we are
here to share various content about the diverse fields of the engineering field
and particularly the mechanical engineering discipline. Did SpaceX finally
reach Mars? Are electric cars the future? Is Mechanical Engineering dying, or
simply transforming? These and many more are the topics we’ll be addressing
every week. We’ll be discussing the evolution and prospects of the fields and
also share content about various research projects. So don’t hesitate to
subscribe to our email newsletter that will bring you with the hottest
developments and the latest news.
And with this I bid you farewell, and leave you this small
joke. An engineer, a statistician, and a physicist go on a hunting trip. After
several hours in the bush, they spot a buck, and they each take a turn trying
to shoot the animal. The physicist goes first. He calculates the trajectory of
the bullet, assuming it is a perfect sphere in a vacuum. The bullet falls 20m
short of the deer. The engineer goes second. She pulls out his engineer’s pad
and book of projectile assumptions. After a few minutes, she takes aim, and
fires. The bullet lands 20m passed the deer. The statistician triumphantly
shouts “We got it!”
Abdul Moiz Awan
Director Publications (IMechE NSC)
SMME, NUST
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