Mechanical engineers design, develop and produce many of the tools required by other engineers. Demand for Mechanical Engineers is expanding to keep pace with new technology.
Representative Job Titles and Area of Specialization
- Manufacturing/Production Engineer*
- Energy Resource Specialist
- Maintenance Engineer
- Automotive Engineer
- City Planner*
- Material And Structure Specialist*
- Environmental/Transportation Engineer*
- Power Engineer*
- Reliability/Testing Engineer*
- Professor/Teacher*
* See Training section
Nature of the Work
There are more than 24 subdivisions of Mechanical Engineering ranging from air pollution control to underwater technology. Mechanical engineers address energy-related issued like how to convert natural resources into energy. They also design and manufacture new and useful products.
Places of Employment
- Universities and colleges
- Large industries:
- Automotive
- Industrial machinery
- Industrial machinery
- Chemical
- Computer
- Manufacturing
- Mining
- Transportation industry
- Machine tool design industry
- Pharmaceutical companies
- Federal agencies
- State agencies
- Consulting firms
- Food industry
- Cosmetics industry
- Publishing/printing companies
- Oceanographic industry
- Textile industry
Training
A bachelor's degree qualifies you for many of the careers listed above depending on the type of courses you completed and experience you gained as an undergrad.
Typically, you would need an advanced degree for careers marked by an asterisk.
If you want to teach and conduct research at a university, you will need a Ph.D.
For further information and/or career counseling contact the UCR Career Center, (951) 827-3631.
Supplemental Material
The following documents may provide further ideas for exploration.
