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Alex Aldana

Mr. Phillips

English 3

29 April 2019

To what extent is a Career in Mechanical Engineering reliable?

Imagine a life without cell phones, air conditioning, cars, refrigerators and many more

products that are used every day by billions of people all around the world. Many believe that

they could not live without a cellphone or that these products are essential to modern life. Every

product, system, or generator has been touched and most likely made by a Mechanical Engineer.

Mechanical Engineers make life easier. They make inventions that solve world-wide problems,

meet human needs, improve lifestyle and could potentially solve medical issues. While these

engineers continue their never-ending work, our future lies in their hands. A career in

Mechanical Engineering is reliable because engineers are always needed to make machines used

in daily life, to grow other fields, and to correct equipment failures.

The world is always in need of a new machine that could save people time and work.

Many can have an idea of a machine with these factors but to make it into an actual product is a

different process. According to US News who interviewed Warren Seering, a Mechanical

Engineering professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Seering said, “ ‘ It takes

creativity to shepherd a theoretical device into a practical reality.’ ” In 2018, Study International

News wrote an article titled “The Importance of Engineering in the Modern World”. They said,

Engineering contributes to society and impacts lives to make “a more sustainable world.”

Mechanical Engineers have advanced the world to its current self and continue to make the

world smarter, faster and more efficient.

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Mechanical Engineers have the potential to grow other fields and excel by putting both

fields’ knowledge together. Medical scientists and Mechanical engineers put their work and

knowledge to the test to possibly make something great. In March of 2018, Jean Thilmany

reports to the American Society of Mechanical Engineering about Ovijit Chaudhuri’s research.

Chaudhuri is an assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford, he is looking at the

mechanical aspects of Breast Cancer while working with chemists and biologists to potentially

stop the progression of the cancer in the body. In May of 2018, Eric Barth, a Mechanical

Engineer associate professor, and his team are searching for a way to treat Epilepsy by entering

the brain through the cheek by creating a robot. Barth says that the machine is “ shaped like two

toilet paper roll-sized objects” and could help neurosurgeons when entering the hippocampus.

According to Kayt Sukel who interviewed Jeremy Ackerman in March of 2019, Ackerman said “

Today we see that most successful tools in the surgical suite come from surgeons and engineers

who can find a way to work together” and believes engineers should interact and watch surgeons

to be able to make a design for medicine. As Mechanical Engineers work with experts in other

fields related to medicine, they can create great inventions that could be the solution to world-

wide issues to really improve technology and save lives.

Many may say Mechanical Engineers are prone to failure because technology can fail.

Mechanical Engineers are problem- solvers, which is why they are needed. They correct

equipment malfunctions and make better products from those who have failed or are not as

efficient. According to Jim Lucas of LiveScience in August of 2014, he explains that the skills

acquired by Mechanical Engineers gives these Engineers how to calculate failure conditions and

how much a specific part of the product can withstand a force. The Bureau of Labor Statistic

(BLS) says that Mechanical Engineers find how equipment may have failed and explain why the
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operation happened and also find a way of how to fix it. Mechanical Engineers design products

to prevent failures from happening and if a product failure does occur, they make better products

to prevent failure again. Engineers learn from their mistakes and with the new technology being

created by themselves, the chance of failure is very low, and they will only correct themselves.

Many may also complain that Mechanical Engineering is a rigorous career. Most careers

are rigorous to some extent and the benefits received from Mechanical Engineering outweigh the

hard work. US News interviewed J. Robert Sims, the President of the American Society of

Mechanical Engineers. Sims said, “I repaired an old radio and used an old power supply to

experiment with the electrolysis of water. I produced a small amount of hydrogen that I

proceeded to ignite.” According to the BLS Mechanical Engineers can obtain a Bachelor and a

master’s degree at once through a 5-year program at some colleges or universities. The

Department of Mechanical Engineering at RICE University explains that the undergraduate

experience of Mechanical Engineering is “the most stimulating and rewarding experience”

received and that students can advance in science and math to create a new world because

engineering made it possible. These Engineers use their knowledge and skills at home for their

own benefit, create a trail that can lead the world to a more advanced place, and benefit from

their years of studying themselves.

Mechanical Engineers will always be needed because there is always work to do to excel

in technology. These Engineers have excelled in medicine which is out of their scope of practice

but yet succeeded to make products that have benefited the field of medicine. Products as simple

as a water purifier, has saved lives and prevented life-threatening diseases made by a Mechanical

Engineers. Engineers create machines for all fields like the public itself, medicine, the military

and the government. Jessalyn Johnson from Brainstem in November of 2016, said that without
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Mechanical Engineers “technologies would not be available.” The world would not be as

advanced as it is today if it were not for Mechanical Engineers. This career is reliable because of

how essential it is to human existence. Therefore, I believe this is the career I want to pursue. I

want to change society and make life a safer, efficient and more at ease place to live.
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Works Cited

Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Mechanical Engineer”. Occupational Outlook Handbook, Bureau of

Labor Statistics, April 2019. www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/mechanical -

engineers.htm, accessed April 2019.

Butterman, Eric. “MRI-safe Robots Treat Epilepsy”. ASME.org, American Society of

Mechanical Engineers, May 2018. www.asme.org/engineeringtopics/articles/bioengineer

ing/mrisafe-robots-treat-epilepsy, accessed 24 April. 2019.

Lucas, Jim. “What is Mechanical Engineering”. Live Science, 26 August 2014. https://www.live

science.com/47551-mechanical-engineering.html, accessed 1 May. 2019.

RICE. “Why Mechanical Engineering”. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rice University

.mech.rice.edu/undergraduate-program/group/why-mechanical-engineering, accessed 25

April. 2019.

Study International Staff. “The Importance of Engineering in the Modern World”. SI News,

Study International, 29 March 2018. www.studyinternational.com/news/importance-

engineering-modern-world/, accessed 26 April. 2019.

Sukel, Kayt. “Vital Design”. ASME.org, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, March

2019. pp1-2, www.asme.org/engineering-topics/articles/bioengineering/vital-design,

accessed 24 April. 2019.

Thilmany, Jean. “Mechanical Engineers help stop Breast Cancer”. ASME.org, American Society

of Mechanical Engineers, March 2018. www.asme.org/engineering-topics/articles/bio

engineering/engineers-help-stop-breast-cancer, accessed 28 April. 2019.

US News. “Mechanical Engineer.” US News & World Report. money.usnews.com/careers/best-

jobs/mechanical-engineer, accessed 26 April. 2019.

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World of Engineering. “What is Mechanical Engineering and why is it important”. Brain Stem,

Grand Canyon University, 11 November 2016. blogs.gcu.edu/college-of-science-enginee

ring-and-technology/mechanical-engineering-important/, accessed 24 April. 2019.