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WhAT IS engineering technology?

Engineering technology emphasizes the application of existing scientific and engineering techniques to a variety of real-world problems. “Application” is the key word in this definition, in that engineering technology differs from engineering in its emphasis on practical applications rather than on theory and design. Engineering technicians and technologists work in the job spectrum between the engineer and the skilled craftsman, with responsibilities closest to those of the engineer.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Is Engineering Technology Right for You?
If you like knowing why and how things work and applying that knowledge to solve real-life problems, engineering technology may be the career for you!

Engineering technology is the profession in which knowledge of mathematics and natural sciences gained by higher education, experience, and practice is used to create and enhance technologies that benefit humanity. For example, engineering technologists and technicians use their knowledge of science and math to help make the bridges, buildings, computers, software, electronic instruments, power plants, and transportation systems that we use daily.

What are Engineering Technicians and Engineering Technologists?
By completing an associate’s degree (typically in two years) in one of K-State Salina’s engineering technology programs, you can become an engineering technician. Engineering technicians are in high demand nation-wide to help develop and install products, manage computer networks, maintain automated manufacturing equipment, inspect highway construction materials, write computer software, test circuit designs, as well as to do many other interesting and rewarding jobs.

To become an engineering technologist, you must earn a bachelor’s degree (typically with two additional years of study beyond the associate degree) in engineering technology. Engineering technologists typically hold technical positions in which they help develop products, manage resources, or supervise technicians and other technical staff in a production facility.

Engineering technologists and technicians often work with engineers as part of an engineering team. Engineers plan and design engineering projects; in contrast, engineering technologists and technicians translate the engineer's designs into actual products.

If you look around your everyday environment, you'll see many things that engineers designed, and that engineering technologists and technicians helped make a reality. For example, while engineers design bridges, it is engineering technologists often supervise bridge construction, overseeing the work of the construction workers. In this same example, engineering technicians inspect the soil, concrete, and other building materials to ensure that the bridge complies with the required specifications. Engineering technicians and engineering technologists must have a theoretical background to work directly with engineers or scientists, yet they must also have practical, hands-on experience to oversee the work of craftspeople.

While both engineering technologists and technicians work in implementing the designs of engineers, engineering technologists – because they have a more advanced degree – tend to hold more supervisory and managerial positions than engineering technicians, and usually work closer with design engineers and scientists.

What is the difference between engineering and engineering technology?
Sometimes the distinction between a bachelor’s degree in engineering technology (like the ones we offer here at K-State Salina) and the traditional bachelor’s degree in engineering (like the ones offered on the K-State Manhattan campus) is not very obvious. Similar math, science, and communications courses appear in both types of degree programs. Also, even though the technical specialty courses in engineering technology may seem similar to engineering courses, engineering technology courses usually emphasize application of the technical concepts rather than theoretical development of those concepts. Although the technical courses in engineering technology are often less math-intensive, they also include a much higher concentration of laboratory work.

Graduates of engineering programs apply scientific concepts to develop solutions to real world problems. Their jobs are more theoretical, involving the design of new products or concepts. Engineering technology programs prepare students for practical design and production work. Graduates of baccalaureate engineering technology programs may get jobs similar to those obtained by graduates of a bachelor's degree program in engineering, but are more likely to be involved with a company’s production processes than with its research efforts.

Engineering technologists and technicians work for major technological companies across the technological spectrum, but they are best suited to areas that deal with application, manufacturing, implementation, engineering operation, sales, and production, as opposed to the conceptual design and research functions performed by typical engineering graduates.

What specialty fields are available in Engineering Technology at K-State Salina?
K-State Salina offers degree programs in the following disciplines:

Construction Engineering Technology – Construction engineering technicians focus on the construction of the facilities that are essential to modern life, such as buildings, roads, mass-transit systems, canals, water treatment facilities, dams, bridges, and airports. Construction engineering technicians may work in the office, the field, or both, and they may serve as project managers, cost estimators, and schedulers.

Computer Systems Technology – Computer science technicians write, test, and debug computer programs, test operating systems, and help develop and test the database applications used in business and industry. Many Computer Science Technology graduates work as network administrators and may be responsible for the installation or maintenance of a major computer network.

Electronic and Computer Engineering Technology – Professionals in this area help to develop and test new communication devices, telecommunication systems, and industrial and consumer electronic products and systems. They also assist in the design, manufacture, and application of new computer technology. Some engineering technicians and technologists are responsible for the maintenance and operation of automated manufacturing systems.

Mechanical Engineering Technology – Mechanical engineering technicians and technologists help to develop the machines and related systems that we depend upon in our daily lives, ranging from automobiles and airplanes to printing presses and factories. They also help create and supervise the processes for manufacturing, testing, and improving products.

Web Development Technology – Technicians with this background possess skills in computer programming, database development, network administration, and business applications that are vital to the development, maintenance, and improvement of websites used for e-commerce.