Careers in Engineering

• Compare training, responsibilities, and daily work across engineering disciplines

• Examine sustainability, safety, ethics, and innovation questions engineers face

• Research design, manufacturing, consulting, and entrepreneurial engineering roles

• Define requirements, constraints, and trade-offs for a real-world problem

• Design, prototype, test, and improve a team engineering solution

• Present the project and a researched engineering career pathway

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Compare engineering disciplines by training, responsibilities, and professional pathways

• Apply engineering design principles, including constraints, trade-offs, testing, and iteration

• Evaluate ethical, safety, and sustainability considerations and present a project-based career plan

Students will leave with a completed design project and clearer next steps for exploring mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, and the broader field.

Engineering career exploration helps students distinguish disciplines that require different training, tools, and ways of thinking. Aerospace design may rely heavily on physics and modeling, while mechanical engineering often centers on prototyping, testing, and iteration. Comparing these pathways can make future academic choices and continued exploration more informed.

Sustainability, safety, ethics, and innovation add context beyond job titles. Students see how engineers work within limits involving budget, materials, physics, and human impact. Project-based design develops planning, systems thinking, technical judgment, and communication. It also teaches students to revise a design when evidence or test results change the picture.

This course is for high school students who have completed 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade and are interested in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, robotics, civil engineering, biomedical engineering, or the field more broadly. It fits students who want to compare disciplines before choosing a direction.

No prior engineering coursework is required. Students should be ready to research career pathways, discuss design trade-offs and engineering ethics respectfully, work through hands-on design challenges, collaborate, and present. Curiosity about how things are designed, built, tested, and improved will be valuable. The experience can help students identify which engineering questions and pathways they may want to explore more deeply.

Based on students surveyed in Summer Discovery’s 2026 program at the University of Michigan.

Programs on the University of Michigan campus give high-school students the experience of exploring an academic interest in Ann Arbor, a college town where campus and community life blend together. Tree-lined streets, downtown bookstores and cafés, the Nichols Arboretum, and trails near the Huron River create different ways to experience the setting beyond class.

Students learn alongside peers, navigate a large and active campus, and gain independence through everyday choices in a new environment. The experience helps students understand what university life can feel like while giving them space to deepen an interest without having every next step decided. For families, the program offers a meaningful combination of academic depth, community, personal growth, and clearer direction about what a student may want to study or pursue next.

Engineers work across aerospace, transportation, robotics, healthcare, energy, infrastructure, manufacturing, and environmental systems. Some focus on research and modeling, while others design components, test materials, manage complex systems, advise clients, or turn a new idea into a company.

The same project may involve several disciplines. A medical device can require mechanical design, electronics, materials science, software, and an understanding of patient needs. Students who enjoy this course may want to explore engineering majors, research labs, design teams, internships, or related fields such as physics, computer science, architecture, product design, or entrepreneurship.