Hello there, my fellow engineering leader!

Over the last couple of years, I’ve received a ton of email from my readers (a metric ton, since I’m in Canada). They’ve asked all sorts of really interesting questions on all facets of engineering, management, leadership and productivity. Today, I’d like to share some of that Q&A with you in the hopes that some of it will be helpful for you in your own career.

If you’ve got a question you would like answered, just scroll to the bottom of list post and type it into the comments form. I’ll answer every question, and the best ones will be featured in a future Q&A post.

Water, Energy and Sustainability Courses

Q  I’ve found many interesting professional development courses on Hydrology/Hydraulics, Wastewater, Water supply, Hydropower, Stormwater, etc. Do you know of any professional development courses on energy and sustainability? My school doesn’t offer these type of courses but I’d definitely use them to further my career.

– M.K.

A  Based on your interests, you might want to consider becoming a LEED AP (Leaderhsip in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional) from the US Green Building Council. It’s a designation I earned back in 2009 and it was an excellent experience. It’s a point system for new construction and major renovations. Points are awarded based on a number of sustainable practices, such as wastewater and storm water management, renewable energy and energy management. Having the designation definitely sets you apart in terms of getting involved in sustainable development.

You can check it out here —> http://www.usgbc.org

As for other sustainability courses, you might want to check out the following:

MIT Open Courseware (Free courses from MIT. I’ve searched for their classes on sustainability, and there’s a ton.)
Coursera.org (Free courses from a number of other universities. Again, I’ve filtered out the ones on sustainability.)

– Pat

Machine Design and Leaving a Legacy

Q  I’m actually in a bit of a bind. I graduated last summer and have a full time job as a product engineer. I’m enrolled in a MSME program but I feel as though I’m learning more useful things at work rather than at school. I’m not pursuing my postgraduate degree for the sake of a paper, I just want to be the best engineer I can be! I love machine design and mechatronix. Do you recommend any programs that can strengthen those areas? I want to do something that’s worthwhile, something that’s going to make a difference, something legacy worthy!

– J.O.

A  I can totally appreciate what you mean about feeling like your on-the-job experience is more useful than school. I felt the same way when I graduated from my undergrad. It sounds to me like you’re pursuing further education so that you can just plain be better at what you do. Is that a fair statement?

If that’s the case, then maybe what you’re looking for is something that’s more of an applied program. Would you consider your MS an academic program or an applied science program? The easiest way to distinguish is to see if the program requires a thesis versus a major project. If there’s any way to do a project as opposed to a thesis, I suspect you’ll get more out of the program, because then you’ll be doing something a bit more practical.

Another thought is that you might be able to join an extracurricular design team at your school. When I was in school, the civil guys had a concrete canoe design team, and the mechanical and electrical guys had solar car and dune buggy design/ race teams. Maybe there’s something similar where you are, or even better, a robot design team or course.

I did a quick Google search for you, and the SolidWorks website had a bunch of robot design competitions listed:

http://www.solidworks.com/sw/education/robot-design-student-competition.htm

The Wikipedia article on “Robot competition” also has a list of competitions worldwide you might be able to get involved with.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_competition

If you’re interested in courses in machine design and mechatronix, you might consider some of these:

• PDHEngineer.com (Look under mechanical, then machine design)
• Control of mobile robots (Georgia Institute of Technology)
• Intro to engineering mechanics (GIT, might be too simple for you)
• Applications in engineering mechanics (GIT)

– Pat

Your Questions

Remember, if you’d like a question answered, all you have to do is leave it in the comments field below. I promise to answer every question and ti feature the best ones on the blog.

Photo credit: Flickr/ Richard

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