Transmitting data on micro-chips using light pulses…
Building "scaffolds" at the cellular level to enable tissue growth…
Developing new materials, one atom at a time…

Science and art, mathematics and creativity, models and approximations. Engineering encompasses all of these. The field of engineering has grown so much in recent years that a definition is not easy to come by. Engineers do build bridges and skyscrapers, design machinery, and oversee public works. But that's only the beginning.

Engineering is the endeavor that creates, maintains, develops, and applies technology for societies' needs and desires. Its origins go back to the very beginning of human civilization where tools were first created and developed. Indeed, a good case can be made for the defining of humans as those animals that create, develop, and understand the significance of technology.

Tasked with solving real-world problems, engineers integrate their knowledge of the physical sciences with more abstract realms to take us beyond the boundaries of current technology – in all areas of life.

The food that you eat, the utensils that you eat with, the table that you eat off of, the house that you are in, the clothes that you wear, the book that you read, the television that you watch, the telephone that you communicate with, the car that you travel in -- these are all technologies created by human cleverness to satisfy human needs. This process of creation is engineering and those who do the creating are practicing engineering, whether they call themselves engineers or not. We humans have the cleverness to do that. It is the development of the tools, theories and methods and the understanding of the appropriate sciences and mathematics for that process; that is engineering. It is a central part of the history of humanity.