What is the difference between science and engineering?
I was asked this question recently by a friend who manages supply chain and logistics for a company that makes tools. This is what I said:
“Scientific work is a lot about discovering new things. In our example, we do a lot of work with water, so science would be discovering new poisons or looking at potential new causes and effects of any artificially induced changes to the environment, or breaking down the chemical makeup of water pulled from an aquifer versus a surface-water source. But engineering is more about building things. We are taking the information we already know (example: the water has arsenic poison) and combining existing tools and systems to solve the problem in a new way. (Using air cathodes and electricity, we can get iron to bind with the arsenic and therefore remove the poison.) Science is not so much about solving the problems it's about identifying and clarifying the problems. I like engineering better, because the main questions in engineering are, ‘does it work? Is it effective? Is it safe?’
5 engineering skills that non-engineers can (and should!) learn
5.How to clean up numeric data in a CSV sheet
CSV means comma-separated values, and it’s one of the most preferred ways to store numeric data sets. Data scientists use programs like R and Python to crunch these numbers and find trends and make charts illustrating those trends. However, a lot of time gets wasted in sorting and organizing data into a format that a computer program can read. Having a “clean” input can really help get a faster “output”.
4.How to make a sketch of something to build
Something I didn’t realize before hanging out with a bunch of engineers was how much time (and money) is spent building prototypes with (relatively) easy-to-find materials. A great skill to have is to be able to visualize the end result of a prototype, and sketch it on paper. Forget Autocad, Solidworks or Figma. A clear pen-and-ink drawing to clarify the most important features to build will suffice.
4a.How to actually build your sketch
Learn what the hardware store stocks, what 70% of the fasteners are for and what tools you need to use them, the sizes of PVC pipe, and the difference between plywood thicknesses. If you learn a little bit about power tools and own a well-oiled toolkit, that’s another big plus.
3.How to skim a scientific paper for what’s important
You don’t have to learn all the technical language. But you do need to keep in mind the hypothesis and what was being observed and the testing parameters so you can understand whether the conclusion is accurate, useful, or germane to your topic, and then be able to refer others back to the paper and/or the writers for further information.
2.How to work in R, Python, or both
Numeric data is king, and these are more powerful than MS Excel alone for handling large data sets. Definitely invest the time to learn at least the basics, and if you need to pay someone to teach you, invest the money, too.
1.How to meticulously measure everything and keep a record of it
Lest our experiments be done in vain, we keep a record of every measurement, every chemical added, every probe stirred, every test tube filled--you get the picture. It’s a good habit to have. :)
What is development engineering?
“We are using the tools, systems, and principles of traditional engineering disciplines to solve global social problems.”
I, among 46 others, were part of UC Berkeley’s inaugural Master’s of Development Engineering cohort. Looking to combine the established fields of development practice along with some of the hard skills in engineering, this program was created to train professionals to be able to combine the best techniques of both worlds. Engineering doesn’t have an amazing history in development—some headline disasters include the Sockket flop, the One Laptop Per Child fiasco, and the Play Pump disaster—but community-based co-design can produce amazing results. In just my class alone, we built a Pinard Stethoscope 2.0, a new kind of spray bottle using zero plastic and only four parts, an online knowledge transfer bank and platform for indigenous communities in Peru, a financial incentive model for food and beverage corporations to offset their water use, a fair trade textiles enterprise helping Ghanaian women, an education platform and community to reduce severe unemployment in Nigeria, and a new way to diagnose diabetic retinopathy using a smartphone. And that’s just some of the amazing work that a handful of my classmates have done.
Development engineering is truly about making the world a better place. Curious to learn more about us? Check out the program here.
