Water Treatment
Examples of this work are all around us. Most cities have a water treatment plant to remove wastes before water is discharged to nearby rivers, lakes, or seas. Developing these treatment plants was one of the first activities of civil engineers around the turn of the last century. Today, this technology has advanced to the point where waste water can be cleaned for reuse-a valuable resource in drought conditions. New filtration technology has also made an age-old goal technically and economically feasible: taking ocean water and removing dissolved salts so that the water is drinkable.
Garbage Disposal
Another example can be seen in garbage disposal. Years ago the disposal practice of most cities was simply to dump it in the closest, most convenient location. Today, however, such landfills are being engineered to have relatively impermeable walls so that the dangerous materials in garbage do not escape into the environment. However, the amount of readily available landfill space is declining, so environmentalists are pursuing efforts to recycle much garbage back into commercially useful materials. Once the suitable materials are found in garbage, they have to be extracted, purified, and reprocessed. Engineers are involved at every step of the process.
Many people have looked at the vast mountains of garbage our society generates and asked why a more effective use and disposal of it wasn't possible. The result has been an increasing reliance on recycling-restoring throwaway items to something of value.
International Opportunities
In a profound sense, engineers are involved in helping sustain people around the world. In underdeveloped nations, the essential elements of life-water, shelter, and transportation-are provided through the efforts of engineers. Advanced technology provides some interesting solutions to tricky problems. For instance, in sub-Saharan Africa, how does one keep pharmaceutical compounds that must be refrigerated? You can't simply put them in a refrigerator because an electric power station may be a thousand miles away. And you may not have the fuel available to run a portable generator. The solution is to use a complex synthetic mineral called zeolite that can use solar energy to provide cooling.
Another example can be seen today in the Peoples Republic of China where telephones are hard to come by. In Beijing, the capital city, it is common to see officials with cellular telephones, high-tech versions of this essential tool that only in the past decade has become common in the United States. Because underdeveloped countries like China lack the utility infrastructure that has been built up in the United States and Europe, a wireless system such as cellular telephones is more practical. In this way, the business and government community can take advantage of the latest technology, even when the rest of the country is very backward.
Career Options
How about the fun side of engineering? It does exist, even if you aren't aware of it. For example, a booming business today is the construction of amusement parks, which would not be complete without stomach-wrenching roller coasters. These complex machines, as well as many other rides, require extensive structural design work by engineers. You will also find engineers at work in rock-and-roll studios, concert halls, movie sets, sports arenas, and beaches.
Headlines are being captured today by young engineers developing new "multimedia" entertainment, which combines sound, video, and text on a PC screen. Many technology and communications forecasters can envision a day when all types of entertainment are downloaded via fast, broadband channels into the home, creating an instant worldwide market for movies, recordings, and other performances.
Even before all the various engineering specialties have been described in this book, you can see that there are dozens of different engineering functions, job descriptions, and opportunities. It's hard to decide that you want to be an aerospace engineer, a materials engineer, a computer engineer, or whatever. The solution to this problem is simply to make a decision first to be an engineer. Later, you can decide on the specific type.
