Do you want to be an engineer?

© Love Sarin

What is an Engineer?

• From Anglo-French enginer – to devise, construct

• From Latin ingenium – innate quality, especially mental power and hence a clever invention

So what do engineers create???Instruments, techniques, etc.

… “Solutions to problems”

Engineers are Problem Solvers• Engineers use basic scientific principles to solve

real world problems

• Creativity lies in applying the knowledge gained through education and experience in an unfamiliar situation to find a solution

This is a skill … more art than science

Is computer a problem solver?

The Art of Problem Solving• Estimation, educated guess, assumption, approximation, reductionism

– Often used in engineering career

• Why?– To get the “feel” of the answer– To check if the answer makes sense and if the solution is worth pursuing– To simplify a complicated problem

How would you eat a big elephant?In small bites

The skill to solve problems is developed with practice!!

Approximation • Estimate the surface area of a human being

How to approach?

ApproximateCylinder

Sphere

Cylinder

Cylinder

Surface area of human being = Ahead + Atorso + 2Aleg+ 2Aarm

= 4πr2head + (2 πr L)torso + 2 (2 πr L) + 2 (2 πr L)

= 4π(3.75 in)2head + (2 π(5 in) (25 in))torso + 2 (2 π(3 in) (32 in)) + 2 (2 π(1.5 in) (24 in))

= 2620 in2 X (2.54 cm / 1 in)2 X (1 m/ 100 cm)2

= 1.69 m2

Accepted value = 1.7 m2

9 dots and 4 contiguous lines

9 dots and 4 contiguous lines

Sometimes there are constraints in the real world, but many other times there are

constraints in our mind.

“I keep six honest serving-menThey taught me all I knew;

Their names are What & Why & WhenAnd How & Where & Who.”

Kipling, R. The elephant’s child, Just So Stories, Dover, Mineola, NY 1993.

Holtzapple MT and Reece WD, Foundations of Engineering, 2002, McGraw-Hill Professional

Average Starting Salaries: July 2009 survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, 2010

Some final things…• Make sure that you are available from 8am – 5:00pm on Monday,

July 30th for our field trip to the Boston Museum of Science

• We have a wiki! The homework, reading assignments, syllabus, and general announcements will be posted here.– https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/display/Summer2012CEEN090306/Home

• Please notice the changes in class time, noted on the wiki.

• If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please email one of us.

• Have fun! Engineering is awesome!

iClickers

• Pick up individual iClickers at the Science Library

• Basement floor at the circulation desk

• Check out with your brown ID

• Please bring iClickers with you to every class

• Return at the end of the session

Computer Accounts B&H 191

John E. StonebridgeUsername: stonebje

Password: Sb00111111

Two cases:Guohao Sun – sung2

Lei Yang – yangl2

First letter of Last Name

Up to first six letters of last name