Research, Design & Analysis

Your engineering degree has provided you with the basics in terms of knowledge and theory that qualify you to perform as a practicing engineer in a variety of job functions. While a good solid knowledge of engineering design is at the core of many engineering careers, over the course of a lifetime, an aerospace engineer may have jobs encompassing a wide range of functions and responsibilities. The job functions in the aerospace industry are similar to other industries and offer you the opportunity to follow a path that aligns with your interests and strengths.

Research
An engineer working in research works to discover and develop new methods, processes, materials and systems that can be used to upgrade the existing product or to create a new one. Aerospace companies invest a great deal of time and money into research and into improving their product lines because ultimately it's technological advances that maintain a company’s competitiveness in the industry.

You'll often find engineers with a graduate degree working in research positions since they gained research experience as part of their degree and have specialized knowledge.

Design
The design engineer takes the idea for a product and develops the plans for a functional product that meet the customer’s requirements. Design engineers start out with nothing more than a concept, then develop a detailed plan and a set of drawings that are used to construct the prototype and the final product.

Designers are creative problem solvers who can visualize the end product. They are both "big picture" and detail-oriented and have a good understanding of engineering principles. Designers also have strong interpersonal and communication skills as they need to interface with many other types of engineers throughout the process to develop the final product.

Design is unlike any other job function and most design engineers have previous experience in a different engineering function. It takes talent and experience to hone your skills as a designer in order to successfully tackle each design project independently, because no two projects will be alike.

Analysis
Engineers working in this area take the design and perform a thorough assessment based on customer requirements, specifications or regulatory requirements. They often specialize in areas such as aerodynamics, thermal, loads, stress, dynamics (vibration and noise), material behavior, safety and reliability. The analytical engineer verifies that the design meets the specifications. If it does not, they notify the designer that modifications need to be made.

These engineers focus in an area of specialization. They possess strong engineering theory and mathematical skills and understand the design process in order to do their analysis. In most cases, they follow company procedures and employ specialized computer programs to aid the process. For example, in aircraft design, aerodynamicists make use of computer programs that analyze the 3-D geometry of the aircraft instead of using expensive wind tunnel tests.