Hey guys thanks for checking out my blog! For those of you that don’t know, I’m a mechanical engineering major. However, I actually started my freshman year as an environmental engineering major. After the first semester, though, I realized that environmental engineering was not for me. Viterbi gave me plenty of opportunities to get a better idea of what my major was like, which ultimately pushed me towards a major change. In addition to the Environmental Engineering Intro class, there are also “Major Spotlights,” where alumni in each major come in and talk about and answer questions regarding the major and what they’re currently doing with the major. From both of these opportunities, I realized that ENE was not the major I belonged in.
I ultimately chose mechanical engineering because I want to work in the Energy field, specifically in something related to research and development in the renewable energy side of the industry. Being such a diverse and expansive major, mechanical engineering will give me the necessary experience and knowledge to thrive in this field. I’m interested in careers that involve developing/working with new materials to optimize energy solutions as well as the data analytics side of power systems such as smart grids. In case I change my mind or something, though, mechanical engineering will also give me the flexibility to work in other fields as well including but not limited to: robotics, aerospace applications (think propulsion/structures applications for companies like Boeing, SpaceX, JPL…), material science, engines, Micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), and nanotechnology.
Some of the classes that I have taken/are taking include: Dynamics (an extension of Physics), Strength of Materials (melding a knowledge of physics and forces with material science knowledge), AutoCAD design (SolidWorks & Solid Edge ST5), Thermodynamics, Fluid Dynamics, and Mechoptronics.
From these classes, some of my favorite professors have been Prof. Bickers, Prof. Lynett (although he’s a Civil Professor), Prof. Radovich, and Prof. Franke. Each professor is not only a great teacher, but also incredibly interested and involved in their field of study, whether it be through doing research or working in the industry.
I like mechanical engineering because it is such a large and diverse field. There’s so many different, practical applications for it in incredibly interesting fields. The hard part of mechanical engineering is simply figuring out what niche you want to explore and carve out in the field.
