Farihah Begum, Polytechnic Institute of New York University

Engineers aren’t just people who know a lot of math and science. They are people who innovate to improve the quality of life. Sure, they need a lot of math and science to do this, but they also need to work together with other innovators; budget time and money; and think of the easiest possible solutions to problems.

Sometimes it might be hard to understand the difference between science and engineering. The way I see it, science is all about finding out why the world works the way it does and engineering is about finding ways to improve the world. In other words, a scientist would ask "why" and an engineer would ask "how". Both questions are important in the world of invention.

So how long has engineering been around? Engineering has been around since the time of ancient civilizations. Engineering Daily considers the number one most remarkable engineering project in history to be the Pyramids of Giza, Egypt. Although there are a few theories as to how they were built, it is still mostly a mystery to today's archeologists, scientists, and engineers. A couple of more recent remarkable engineering projects include, Neil Armstrong's moon landing (the Apollo 11 mission) and the building of the Panama Canal.

One of the things that attracted me to the field of engineering was my fascination with math and science. However, just learning about math and science wasn’t enough for me. Doing math problems, science experiments, and other applications of these subjects wasn’t enough. I wanted to know how I could apply my knowledge to create new things, how I could use my interests to make changes that the world needs.

I found engineering provided an answer to these questions. Although there are many different types of engineering (such as mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, computer engineering, etc...), each discipline has a way of solving the world's problems. Today, the major issues the world faces -- such as depletion of water and fossil fuels, poverty, and many others -- are the key problems that this generation of engineers needs to tackle.

I want to be part of the team that improves the quality of life. I hope there are others like me, who want make this kind of significant change. Whether you're interested in robotics, making new medicine, or creating efficient technology, there's a type of engineering for all the people eager to make a change.