Role and need of Mechanical Engineering during Modern Interdisciplinary Engineering Education Era

 

The world will always need engineers. Who else could design the things that improve and make our lives easier? But with such a wide range of technical specialisations, it’s probably hard to decide which engineering branch would suit you best.

The future is uncertain. However, one thing is clear: Engineering will not operate in a vacuum separate from society in 2020, any more than it does now. Both on a macroscale, where the world’s natural resources will be stressed by population increases, and on a microscale, where engineers need to understand how to work in teams to be effective, consideration of social issues is important to engineering.

Interdisciplinary Engineering Education allows the student to learn by making connections between ideas and concepts across different disciplinary boundaries. Students learning in this way are able to apply the knowledge gained in one discipline to another different discipline as a way to deepen the learning experience. The most effective approach to interdisciplinary study enables students to build their own interdisciplinary pathway by choosing courses which make sense to them.

Take a car company for example. During the 1950s, the automotive industry was purely a place for mechanical engineers where they had to design and maintain the IC engines and their associated gears. Gradually, during the 1990s, technology crept into cars and almost all vehicles started to come with safety features controlled by embedded systems. That was the work of electronics engineers. Right now, as the carmakers explore the possibility of self-driving vehicles, computer engineers are coming into the picture as well and graduates from all three branches can find employment in the same industry. This is a modern corporate society. A time to look at interdisciplinary engineering careers. So, as evident from the above case, Mechanical, electronics and computer engineers can find jobs in the automotive industry. Apart from that, the other available interdisciplinary prospects are listed below.

• Aeronautics or the space industry
• Power sector
• Industrial robotics
• Medicine
• Computer and IT

Mechanical engineers make a difference. That's because mechanical engineering careers centre on creating technologies to meet human needs. Virtually every product or service in modern life has probably been touched in some way by a mechanical engineer to help humankind.

Interdisciplinary study allows for synthesis of ideas and the synthesis of characteristics from many disciplines. At the same time, it addresses students’ individual differences and helps to develop important, transferable skills. These skills, such as critical thinking, communication and analysis are important and continually developing at all stages of life.  Educational systems are serving students best if they enable and encourage students to build their own interdisciplinary pathway. This approach is sure to foster a love of learning, ignite a spark of enthusiasm and address learning differences for students.

Prof. Abhimanyu Singh

SIRT, Bhopal