List of engineering branches

Engineering is the discipline and profession that applies scientific theories, mathematical methods, and empirical evidence to design, create, and analyze technological solutions, balancing technical requirements with concerns or constraints on safety, human factors, physical laws, regulations, practicality, and cost. In the contemporary era, engineering is generally considered to consist of the major primary branches of chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, materials engineering and mechanical engineering.^[1] There are numerous other engineering sub-disciplines and interdisciplinary subjects that may or may not be part of these major engineering branches.

Chemical engineering

Chemical engineering is the application of chemical, physical, and biological sciences to developing technological solutions from raw materials or chemicals.

Subdiscipline	Scope	Major specialties
Biomolecular engineering	Focuses on the application of biological systems at the molecular level.	Molecular engineering studies behavior and interactions at a molecular level Genetic engineering works with modification and manipulation of an organism's genes
Process engineering	Focuses on the design, operation, control, and optimization of chemical processes, including natural and man-made materials, the interaction of materials with machines, safety and health, energy conservation, and waste and pollution control.

Civil engineering

Civil engineering comprises the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and natural built environments.

Subdiscipline	Scope	Major specialties
Environmental engineering	The application of engineering principles to the improvement and protection of the environment.	Ecological engineering focuses on the design, monitoring, and construction of ecosystems. Fire protection engineering focuses on the application of engineering to protect people and environments from fire and smoke. Sanitary engineering focuses on the application of engineering methods to improve sanitation of human communities.
Municipal or urban engineering	Deals with municipal issues such as water and waste management, transportation networks, subdivisions, communications, hydrology, hydraulics, etc.
Geotechnical engineering	Pertains to the behavior of earth materials and soil and rock mechanics, often at the site of a civil engineering project.	Mining engineering involves the science, technology, and practice of extracting and processing minerals from a naturally occurring environment
Structural engineering	The engineering of structures that support or resist structural loads.	Earthquake engineering involves the behavior of structures subject to seismic loading Wind engineering involves the analysis of wind and its effects on the built environment Architectural engineering involves the application of engineering principles to building design and construction Ocean engineering, involves the design of offshore structures
Transport engineering	The use of engineering to ensure the safe and efficient transportation of people and goods.	Traffic engineering describes a branch of transportation engineering focusing on the infrastructure necessary for transportation Highway engineering involves a branch of engineering that deals with major roadways and transportation systems involving automobiles Railway engineering describes a branch of engineering that deals with major railways and transportation systems involving trains
Water resources engineering	Prediction, planning, development, and management of water resources.	Hydraulic engineering is concerned with the flow and conveyance of fluids, principally water; intimately related to the design of pipelines, water supply networks, drainage facilities (including bridges, dams, levees, channels, culverts, storm sewers) and canals River engineering is the process of planned human intervention in the course, characteristics, or flow of a river with the intention of producing some defined benefit—to manage the water resources, to protect against flooding, or to make passage along or across rivers easier Coastal engineering is the study of the processes ongoing at the shoreline and construction within the coastal zone, often directed at combating erosion of coasts or providing navigational access Groundwater engineering involves the analysis, monitoring, and often modeling of groundwater sources to better understand how much remains and if the water can be used for e.g. recharging reservoirs and irrigation

Electrical engineering

Electrical engineering comprises the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism.

Subdiscipline	Scope	Major specialties
Electronic engineering	Design and manufacture of devices related to low-power electrical circuits (electronic circuits) making use of active components such as semiconductor devices.	Control engineering focuses on the modeling of dynamic systems and the design of controllers using electrical circuits, digital signal processors, and microcontrollers Telecommunications engineering focuses on the transmission and processing of information through communications channels that are created by making use of applied electromagnetism in the physical world and are oftentimes divided in wired and wireless Electronics denotes a broad engineering field that covers subfields such as analog electronics, digital electronics, consumer electronics, embedded systems and power electronics. Electronics engineering deals with the implementation of applications, principles, and algorithms developed within many related fields, for example solid-state physics, radio engineering, telecommunications, control systems, signal processing, systems engineering, computer engineering, instrumentation engineering, electric power control, robotics, and many others
Computer engineering	The design and control of computing devices with the application of electrical systems. It involves the study of hardware and software systems that can process information, as well as digital logic design, computer architecture, and programming languages.	Software engineering denotes the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software and the study of these approaches; that is, the application of engineering and computer science to software^[2] Hardware engineering refers to designing, developing, and testing various computer equipment. Can range from circuit boards and microprocessors to routers Network engineering involves designing, deploying, and maintaining computer networks, such as corporate networks or the Internet
Power engineering	The generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity and the design and maintenance of devices such as transformers, switchgear, electric generators, electric motors, high-voltage engineering, and power electronics.	Power system planning, involves the modelling of power systems to analyse the management of current and future electricity demand Power system design, the development of a specific solution to address a power need, such as a new substation, a new power line, power system protection and so on Power system operations and control, involves plant and system operation, where protocols for the safe and continuous operation of individual equipment, subsystems, power plants, or the whole power system are developed and applied Protection and control, involves the design of power system protection, measurements, metering, telecommunications, and so on High voltage engineering, involves the understanding of electromagnetic phenomena of large voltages and currents (such as partial discharge), as applied to the holistic power system design and its components, such as transformers, electric motors, electric generators, switchgear, to create coordination and harmony
Optical engineering	The design of instruments and systems that utilize the properties of electromagnetic radiation.	Optoelectronics Photonics Optomechanics
Renewable energy engineering	The design and maintenance of renewable energy devices such as those involved in solar, wind, and hydroelectric power.

Material engineering

Material engineering is the application of engineering principles to understand the properties of materials

Subdiscipline	Scope	Major specialties
Ceramic engineering	The science and technology of creating objects from inorganic, non-metallic materials
Composite material	The science and engineering of structured materials composed of two or more macroscopic phases
Computational materials science	The use of modeling, simulation, theory, and informatics to understand materials	Electronic structure describes the analysis of the energies of electrons Density functional theory refers to the methodology to calculate many material properties Molecular dynamics refers to the simulation of how atoms move and materials change Phase field models pertains to calculations based upon continuum treatments of interfaces and their motion
Corrosion engineering	The science and engineering of ways to reduce corrosion
Nanotechnology	Studies of the small-scale properties and engineering of materials	Nanoengineering is the introduction of nanotechnology into existing fields of engineering. Materials nanoengineering involves creating Nanomaterials Biomedical nanoengineering involves creating Nanomedicine (Biosensors Instrumentation engineering involves creating Nanosensors Electronic nanoengineering involves creating Nanoelectronics
Metallurgical engineering	Studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys.	Metal alloys describes how combinations of elements behave Metal working involves industrial fabrication of metallic materials
Polymer engineering	Focuses on design and analysis of polymer materials
Semiconductors	Study of the properties and engineering of semiconductor materials and devices
Surfaces	Study of the properties and engineering of surfaces
Biomaterial	Materials implanted in the body
Material characterisation	A range of methods used to investigate materials	Electron diffraction crystal structure method Electron Microscopy imaging structure X-ray diffraction crystal structure method

Mechanical engineering

Mechanical engineering comprises the design and analysis of heat and mechanical power for the operation of machines and mechanical systems.^[3]

Subdiscipline	Scope	Major specialties
Acoustics engineering	Concerns the manipulation and control of vibration, especially vibration isolation and the reduction of unwanted sounds.	Architectural Acoustics Psychoacoustics Underwater Acoustics
Manufacturing engineering	Concerns dealing with different manufacturing practices and the research and development of systems, processes, machines, tools and equipment.	Musical instruments Hand tools Cleaning tools Cutting and abrasive tools Forestry tools and equipment Garden tools Kitchen tools Machine and metalworking tools Power tools Woodworking, Woodworking machine Balancing machine Electrical discharge machining Loom Pumpjack Printing machine Personal protective equipment
Optomechanical engineering	Field-specific to the mechanical aspects of optical systems. Includes design, packaging, mounting, and alignment mechanisms specific to optical systems.^[4]	Fiber optics Laser systems Telescopes Cameras Optical instrumentation
Thermal engineering	Concerns heating or cooling of processes, equipment, or enclosed environments.	Air conditioning Refrigeration Heating, ventilating
Sports engineering	Is a field of engineering that involves the design, development, and testing of sports equipment. The equipment used by athletes has always gone through technological design and development based on current knowledge and understanding.
Vehicle engineering	The design, manufacture, and operation of the systems and equipment that propel and control vehicles.	Automotive engineering, bicycles, motorcycles, automobiles, buses and trucks and new telecommunication vehicles Naval architecture, marine vehicles and structures Aerospace engineering, airplanes, helicopters, drones and spacecraft Marine engineering, boats, ships, oil rigs and other marine vessels or structures, oceanographic engineering Railway engineering dealing with the design, construction, and operation of all types of rail transport systems
Power plant engineering	Field of engineering that designs, constructs, and maintains different types of power plants. Serves as the prime mover to produce electricity.	Geothermal power plants Coal-fired power plants Hydroelectric power plants Diesel engine (ICE) power plants Tidal power plants Wind turbine power plants Solar power plants
Industrial plant engineering	Field of engineering that designs, constructs, and maintains different types of Industrial Machines and Equipment.	Air compressors Pumps Fans and blowers Conveyors Elevators Escalators Pneumatics Hydraulics Gears, springs, screws, bolts, flywheel, machine components Piping systems
Energy engineering	Energy efficiency, energy services, facility management, plant engineering, environmental compliance, and energy production. Energy efficiency of buildings and manufacturing processes, employing advances in lighting, insulation, and heating/cooling properties.

Interdisciplinary

Discipline	Scope	Major specialties
Agricultural engineering	Farm power and machinery, biological material processes, bioenergy, farm structures, and agricultural natural resources.	Aquaculture engineering, cultured aquatic species and their production systems Biosystems engineering, a broad term to encompass aspects of agricultural and biological engineering Biological systems engineering, a broad term to encompass aspects of agricultural and biological engineering Biomechanical engineering Bioprocess engineering, products from biological materials Bioresource engineering Biotechnological engineering Ecological engineering, ecosystems Food engineering, food processing, food machinery, packaging, ingredient manufacturing, instrumentation and control Forest engineering Health and safety engineering Natural resources engineering Machinery systems engineering Information & electrical systems engineering
Applied engineering	Systems integration, manufacturing and management.^[5]	Automation/control systems/mechatronics/robotics Computer-aided drawing and design (CADD) Construction Electronics General Graphics Nanotechnology
Biomedical engineering, Biomedical nanoengineering	Medicine and healthcare biology, biocompatible prostheses, diagnostic and therapeutic devices ranging from clinical equipment to micro-implants, imaging equipment such as MRIs and EEGs, tissue regeneration, and pharmaceuticals. The increased utilization of nanotechnology across the existing areas of this branch has led to the specialization Biomedical nanoengineering.	Bioinstrumentation, devices and tools used in the diagnosis and treatment of disease Bioinformatics, digital tools to collect and analyze biomedical data, such as DNA Biomechanics, motion, material deformation, transport of chemical substances across biological membranes and flow inside the body. Artificial heart valves, artificial kidneys and artificial hips Biomaterial, materials implanted in the body Biomedical optics Biosignal processing, recording, and processing biological signals for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, such as cardiac signals, speech recognition and brain activity Biotechnology, use of living systems to make useful products such as pharmaceuticals and foods Clinical engineering, hospital-related products, including data management, instruments and monitoring systems Medical imaging, MRIs, EEGs, ultrasound, PET Neural engineering, replacement/restoration of lost sensory and motor abilities, neurorobots, neuro electronics Pharmaceutical engineering, pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical delivery Rehabilitation engineering, products that aid individuals with physical and other impairments, to improve e.g., mobility, seating and communication Tissue engineering
Biological engineering	The application of principles of biology and the tools of engineering to create usable, tangible, economically viable products.	Bioacoustics Biochemical engineering, processes that involve biological organisms or molecules such as bioreactors Bioengineering Biosystems engineering, a broad term to encompass aspects of agricultural and biological engineering Biological systems engineering, a broad term to encompass aspects of agricultural and biological engineering Biomedical engineering, the application of engineering principles and techniques to the medical and biological sciences Biotechnical engineering Biomolecular engineering Bioresource engineering Bioprocess engineering Cellular engineering Food engineering Genetic engineering, manipulate genes in organisms Food and biological process engineering Health and safety engineering Microbiological engineering Molecular engineering Protein engineering, protein synthesis Systems biology Synthetic biology
Building services engineering	The design, installation, operation, and monitoring of the technical services in buildings in order to ensure a safe, comfortable, and environmentally friendly operation.	Architectural engineering Mechanical engineering Heating, ventilation and air conditioning Refrigeration Public health engineering: water services, drainage and plumbing Electrical engineering Lighting, including artificial and emergency lighting, low voltage systems, containment, distribution, distribution boards and switchgear Lightning protection Security, video and alarm systems Escalators and lifts Fire engineering, including fire detection and fire protection Building façade engineering Energy supply – gas, electricity and renewable sources
Energy engineering	Energy efficiency, energy services, facility management, plant engineering, environmental compliance, and energy production. Energy efficiency of buildings and manufacturing processes, employing advances in lighting, insulation, and heating/cooling properties.	Solar engineering, photovoltaic systems, solar thermal systems Wind engineering, wind turbines
Geological engineering	A discipline of engineering concerned with the application of geological science and engineering principles to fields, such as civil engineering, mining, environmental engineering, and forestry, among others. The work of geological engineers often directs or supports the work of other engineering disciplines such as assessing the suitability of locations for civil engineering, environmental engineering, mining operations, and oil and gas projects by conducting geological, geoenvironmental, geophysical, and geotechnical studies.	Geophysical engineering Geoenvironmental and hydrogeological engineering Geotechnical and rock engineering Mineral and energy resource exploration engineering
Geomatics engineering	The design, development, and operation of systems for collecting and analyzing spatial information about the land, the oceans, natural resources, and manmade features.	Survey engineering Geodesy Geospatial
Information engineering	Generation, distribution, analysis, and use of information, data and knowledge in systems.	Machine learning Data science Artificial intelligence Control theory Signal processing Telecommunications Image processing Information theory Computer vision Natural language processing Bioinformatics Medical image computing Autonomous robotics Mobile robotics
Industrial engineering	Logistical and resource management systems	Manufacturing engineering, tools, equipment, and processes Component engineering, optimal components to be subsequently assembled into products Systems engineering, logistics, team coordination, machinery control Construction engineering, buildings and other structures Safety engineering, safe operation and safe failure modes Reliability engineering, product durability
Legal engineering	Application of scientific approach and knowledge to solving legal problems.
Mechatronics engineering	Mechanical and electrical engineering hybrid	Robotics and Automation Instrumentation engineering Optomechatronics engineering Biomechatronics engineering Avionics, the design of electronics and systems on board an aircraft or spacecraft
Engineering management	Management of engineers and engineering processes
Military engineering	Military weapons and vehicles, such as artillery and tanks	Combat engineering
Mining engineering	An engineering discipline that involves the science, technology, and practice of extracting and processing minerals from a naturally occurring environment.
Quantum engineering	The application of quantum theory to the design of materials and devices. Now gaining recognition as its own branch of engineering, but more traditionally associated with sub-disciplines of electrical and computer engineering, communications engineering, solid-state and semiconductor materials engineering, optical engineering, and engineering physics.	Quantum properties of nanomaterials, nanoelectronics and nano-scale devices Semiconductor materials and semiconductor devices Photonics and quantum optics Quantum information systems and quantum cryptography Quantum computing
Nuclear engineering	Terrestrial and marine nuclear power plants	Medical physics Nuclear fuel Nuclear reactor design and control systems Radiation protection Fusion Energy
Petroleum engineering	A field of engineering concerned with the activities related to the production of Hydrocarbons, which can be either crude oil or natural gas. Petroleum engineers focus on studying subsurface formation properties and design and selection of equipment to maximize economic recovery of hydrocarbons from subsurface reservoirs. Petroleum geology and geophysics focus on the provision of a static description of the hydrocarbon reservoir rock, while petroleum engineering focuses on estimation of the recoverable volume of this resource using a detailed understanding of the physical behavior of oil, water, and gas within porous rock at very high pressure.	Reservoir engineering, the flow of fluids in porous and permeable underground reservoirs and sub-surface stresses Drilling engineering, well-drilling, cementation, and casing Production engineering, design and selection of sub-surface equipment, surface facilities, and separation of well fluids
Project engineering	Project engineering includes all parts of the design of manufacturing or processing facilities, either new or modifications to and expansions of existing facilities. A "project" consists of a coordinated series of activities or tasks performed by engineers and designers. A small project may be under the direction of a project engineer. Large projects are typically under the direction of a project manager or management team. Project tasks typically consist of such things as performing calculations, writing specifications, preparing bids, reviewing equipment proposals and evaluating or selecting equipment, and developing and maintaining various lists (equipment and materials lists) and drawings (electrical, instrument, and piping schematics, physical layouts and other drawings used in construction). Some facilities have in-house staff to handle small projects, while some major companies have a department that does internal project engineering. Large projects are typically contracted out to project engineering companies. Staffing at engineering companies varies according to the workload and duration of employment may only last until an individual's tasks are completed.	Mechanical engineering Process engineering Instrumentation and control engineering Civil engineering Structural engineering Environmental engineering Electrical engineering
Railway engineering	Railway systems, including wheeled and maglev systems. Train signaling and automatic train control.
Software engineering	Software engineering the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software and the study of these approaches; that is, the application of engineering and computer science to software.	Cryptographic engineering Cryptographic Engineering is the discipline of using cryptography to solve human problems. Cryptography is typically applied when trying to ensure data confidentiality, to authenticate people or devices, or to verify data integrity in risky environments Information technology engineering, (ITE) or information engineering methodology (IEM) is a software engineering approach to designing and developing information systems. It can also be considered as the generation, distribution, analysis, and use of information in systems Teletraffic engineering Telecommunications traffic engineering, teletraffic engineering, or traffic engineering is the application of traffic engineering theory to telecommunications. Teletraffic engineers use their knowledge of statistics including queuing theory, the nature of traffic, their practical models, their measurements, and simulations to make predictions and to plan telecommunication networks such as a telephone network or the Internet. These tools and knowledge help provide reliable service at a lower cost Web engineering focuses on the methodologies, techniques, and tools that are the foundation of Web application development and which support their design, development, evolution, and evaluation. Web engineering is multidisciplinary and encompasses contributions from diverse areas such as systems analysis and design, software engineering, hypermedia/hypertext engineering, requirements engineering, human-computer interaction, user interface, information technology engineering, information indexing and retrieval, testing, modeling and simulation, project management and graphic design and presentation
Supply chain engineering	Supply chain engineering concerns the planning, design, and operation of supply chains.^[6]^[7]	Logistics Pricing Production
Systems engineering	Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering that focuses on how to design and manage complex engineering projects over their life cycles. Issues, such as reliability, logistics and coordination of different teams, evaluation measurement, and other disciplines become more difficult when dealing with large or complex projects.	Systems engineering deals with work-processes, optimization methods, and risk management tools. It overlaps technical and human-centered disciplines such as control engineering, industrial engineering, organizational studies, and project management. Systems engineering ensures that all likely aspects of a project or system are considered and integrated into a whole
Textile engineering	Textile engineering courses deal with the application of scientific and engineering principles to the design and control of all aspects of fiber, textile, and apparel processes, products, and machinery. These include natural and man-made materials, interaction of materials with machines, safety and health, energy conservation, and waste and pollution control. Additionally, students are given experience in plant design and layout, machine and wet process design and improvement, and designing and creating textile products. Throughout the textile engineering curriculum, students take classes from other engineering disciplines including mechanical, chemical, materials, and industrial engineering.	Apparel engineering Fabric engineering Industrial & production engineering Textile engineering management Textile fashion & design Textile machinery design & maintenance Wet process engineering Yarn engineering
Cybersecurity Engineering	Cybersecurity engineers identify threats and vulnerabilities in computer systems and software. These professionals are experts who implement secure network solutions to protect organizations' networks and data systems from hackers, cyberattacks and other forms of computer crime.	Penetration testing: Cybersecurity engineers often evaluate an organization's computer networks, applications, and data systems for vulnerabilities Network maintenance: Engineers may also install, test, and configure networks IT system security: Engineers often spend time defining protocols and installing and configuring security devices
Cloud engineering	Cloud engineers design, build, and manage scalable cloud infrastructure.

References

^ Julie Thompson Klein, Robert Frodeman, Carl Mitcham. The Oxford Handbook of Interdisciplinary. Oxford University Press, 2010. (pp. 149–150)
^ Wiebe, A. J.; Chan, C. W. (April 2012). "Ontology driven software engineering". 2012 25th IEEE Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering (CCECE). pp. 1–4. doi:10.1109/CCECE.2012.6334938. ISBN 978-1-4673-1433-6. S2CID 9911741.
^ Clifford, Michael. An Introduction to Mechanical Engineering. Taylor & Francis Group LLC, 2006. ISBN 978-1-44411337-2
^ University of Arizona OPTI 421/521: Introductory Optomechanical Engineering
^ "ATMAE Membership Venn Diagram" Archived 2013-11-13 at the Wayback Machine. atmae.org
^ Ravindran, Ravi; Warsing, Donald Jr. (2017). Supply chain engineering : models and applications. CRC Press. ISBN 9781138077720.
^ Goetschalckx, Marc (2011-08-11). Supply chain engineering. Springer. ISBN 978-1-4419-6512-7.

[1] Julie Thompson Klein, Robert Frodeman, Carl Mitcham. The Oxford Handbook of Interdisciplinary. Oxford University Press, 2010. (pp. 149–150)

[2] Wiebe, A. J.; Chan, C. W. (April 2012). "Ontology driven software engineering". 2012 25th IEEE Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering (CCECE). pp. 1–4. doi:10.1109/CCECE.2012.6334938. ISBN 978-1-4673-1433-6. S2CID 9911741.

[3] Clifford, Michael. An Introduction to Mechanical Engineering. Taylor & Francis Group LLC, 2006. ISBN 978-1-44411337-2

[4] University of Arizona OPTI 421/521: Introductory Optomechanical Engineering

[5] "ATMAE Membership Venn Diagram" Archived 2013-11-13 at the Wayback Machine. atmae.org

[ravi-6] Ravindran, Ravi; Warsing, Donald Jr. (2017). Supply chain engineering : models and applications. CRC Press. ISBN 9781138077720.

[goet-7] Goetschalckx, Marc (2011-08-11). Supply chain engineering. Springer. ISBN 978-1-4419-6512-7.

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