If your kids are into STEM

[txpitdog]

Particularly high school age, have them do some research into materials science and engineering. This will be a developing field with a long career path as the transition to cleaner energy drives forward. As example, ExxonMobil disclosed its R&D budget is focused on fuel cells, advanced biofuels, and decarbonization in manufacturing processes. Each of these will require advancements in materials science and will offer solid career opportunities.

[Briar Friar]

Good push MrM.

[John Paul]

Thats good to know! Thanks, my 12 year old is convinced he was to be an Engineer and loves science and Math.

[SaltwaterSlick]

Great career for sure! I have sold pressure equipment into Material, Science and Engineering facilities for over 40 years. Almost all have a great work environment and are fairly stable. In the Houston area, all the major energy companies have yuuuuuge research and development facilities, most have multiple facilities scattered around the area... To be really successful in that field, education is Vitally important and Credentials probably mean more in that career path than about anything other than perhaps the medical profession.

[Landrover]

If they are not thinking STEM or STEAM (A is for agriculture) they gonna be left out if not looking at solid trades!

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[JES]

Originally Posted by SaltwaterSlick

Great career for sure! I have sold pressure equipment into Material, Science and Engineering facilities for over 40 years. Almost all have a great work environment and are fairly stable. In the Houston area, all the major energy companies have yuuuuuge research and development facilities, most have multiple facilities scattered around the area... To be really successful in that field, education is Vitally important and Credentials probably mean more in that career path than about anything other than perhaps the medical profession.

For a true materials and corrosion engineer, better get that Piled Higher Deeper (PhD) behind their name...

[3ChordTruth]

Originally Posted by John Paul

Thats good to know! Thanks, my 12 year old is convinced he was to be an Engineer and loves science and Math.

Your son sounds like my son a few years back. Keep encouraging your son to excel in Math and Science, and you might also consider doing this.

I see you are in Real Estate, so of course you know how important “Economics” is. I told my son in high school that if he really learned just two subjects -- physics and Economics -- he would understand how most things and people “work” in the World around him. At the University level, I steered my son into taking some “business major” classes along with his Engineering classes like Mechanics of Materials, Differential Equations, Thermodynamics, etc. I believe knowing how “business” works, along with being an Engineer, will be a very desirable skill set. Someone will be managing all those Engineers in the future. This is just a suggestion, and you know your son best, and good luck with your young Engineer.

[Wall_Hanger]

Originally Posted by SaltwaterSlick

Great career for sure! I have sold pressure equipment into Material, Science and Engineering facilities for over 40 years. Almost all have a great work environment and are fairly stable. In the Houston area, all the major energy companies have yuuuuuge research and development facilities, most have multiple facilities scattered around the area... To be really successful in that field, education is Vitally important and Credentials probably mean more in that career path than about anything other than perhaps FINANCE or medical profession.

Fify...but yes you are 100% correct. Top 10 engineering schools get you pick of the litter for career placement. For instance, I knew a few of the petroleum material science and petroleum physics masters guys at Rice, they all had placements close to $200k (or more) for their first jobs! Went straight out of undergrad into a two year masters program, employment contracts were signed half way through the first year. It’s insane.

[Smeone]

this is a hot field and usually stays hot....it is very similar to ChemE, but ChemE seems to oscillate up and down....they say ChemE comes up with something and a Materials person makes it into something useful

there are very few Materials undergrad programs though relative to even ChemE and especially relative to other engineering programs and you have to be very careful about the one you pick many of them concentrate more on wafer chips and electronics materials or they are metallurgy or polymers.....all of those are good fields to be in, but most of them will not be as related to batteries, energy storage, or other forms of energy creation and use at the most raw level

it would be more chips to control batteries or polymers, metals, or ceramics to be a piece of some new energy equipment

also you have to choose the programs very carefully I know one in the "north Texas" region that has a hard time maintaining faculty and their overall college of engineering struggles to maintain faculty and to meet accreditation (in their engineering program with "energy" in the name also) and that has been going on for a long long time (and with their un needed law school)

it takes a lot of work to find a proper match for a college student these days especially in engineering because the cost to run those programs is so high and if they can generally maintain accreditation and get students out the door to a decent job they feel as though they have done their job no matter what the (un needed) struggles or delays or extra expenses for students were along the way

[SaltwaterSlick]

Originally Posted by Wall_Hanger

Fify...but yes you are 100% correct. Top 10 engineering schools get you pick of the litter for career placement. For instance, I knew a few of the petroleum material science and petroleum physics masters guys at Rice, they all had placements close to $200k (or more) for their first jobs! Went straight out of undergrad into a two year masters program, employment contracts were signed half way through the first year. It’s insane.

I have many, many thousands of dollars of equipment in the MechE and ChemE labs at Rice U. Don't know if you are a Rice guy or not, but I spent many, many hours working with Dr. Ricky Kobayachi and Prevase Nasir and their associates and grad students. They had some guys in the labs that were flat out artists with metals and created some very unique one of a kind vessels and such for their Cryogenic Doers over the years. Was one of my favorite places to call on!

[SaltwaterSlick]

Originally Posted by JES

For a true materials and corrosion engineer, better get that Piled Higher Deeper (PhD) behind their name...

Absolutely fact! At the Shell Westhollow facility, they use masters level grads for lab techs... many of which are still in school workin' on Pilin' it Higher and Deeper... Same At ERE (Exxon Research and Engineering Co.) that used to be at Buffalo Speedway in Greenway plaza...


If folks in the Greenway plaza area knew what kind of equipment was in the basement of the D-building labs there between Buffalo Speedway and Mercer, they wouldn't want to be within 5 miles of that area!! That's where the H2S lab for high pressure work was for many, many years.

[Wall_Hanger]

Originally Posted by SaltwaterSlick

I have many, many thousands of dollars of equipment in the MechE and ChemE labs at Rice U. Don't know if you are a Rice guy or not, but I spent many, many hours working with Dr. Ricky Kobayachi and Prevase Nasir and their associates and grad students. They had some guys in the labs that were flat out artists with metals and created some very unique one of a kind vessels and such for their Cryogenic Doers over the years. Was one of my favorite places to call on!

That is awesome. Some of their vessels they designed for NASA are quite literally amazing. I am a Rice alum but not near smart enough for that stuff. I studied at the Baker Institute Center For Energy Studies. It was great, met James Baker a few times along with several other dignitaries. Rice will always be a special place for me, quite a different experience than A&M was.

[HogHunter34]

Great thread. My son is a sophomore in HS with engineering endorsement. Leaning toward Mechanical
To me the Material Science & Eng program is not highly promoted nor do you see many engineering jobs that advertise for them
Heck I even applied at a Material Science Company (Cytec Engineered Materials) for an engineering position about 10-12 yrs back and all their positions were seeking ME, ChemE or similar. Most of their engineers had ME & ChemE or Industrial backgrounds
This was a composite polymer sheeting company that supplied panels to aerospace companies
I actually considered a MS in MSE at one point but decided not to because there just didn’t appear to be a great demand. Some areas of materials development have reduced in demand
However I ended up tacking on a specialty at the graduate level in Plastics Engineering. Undergrad is in Chemistry
Plastics field is & continues to grow & develop. Not a bad specialty within the realm of materials

[txpitdog]

I’m a ChemE as well, but from back during a time when they mainly just taught you to run a refinery. I do environmental engineering now, but ChemE is an incredibly useful foundation for many different applications. I’ve got less than. 20yrs left before retirement, and I’m hoping just a bachelor degree will get me there. Thought about getting a masters several times, but I’m not seeing a need. My field (sustainability and policy) is accelerating so fast that by the time anyone came up with a curriculum it would be obsolete before graduation.

The acceleration and technology is new. That’s why I think high school and college kids really need to do some research on how they can take advantage. They have a once in a century opportunity to get in on the ground floor and develop experience that companies will covet when things begin to gel from R&D to manufacturing.


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[HogHunter34]

^^^ I agree & great field
For the record I currently work for a Material Science company in polymer/plastics applications development
My role is Process Engineer. I’m hoping I’m done in 15 years

[FVR JR]

All good career choices. I'm a civil. Not glamorous but as long as people want water to drain and roads to drive on you've got a job. STEM or a good skilled trade is the way to go for sure.

[TexasLongball]

Good info here. Tagging this for later reading for my sophomore son.

[txpitdog]

Nobody should ever get into a profession solely for the potential to get rich. It’s a fast road to being miserable...and also probably not rich. But with the emerging new market and new technologies and economic potential, if a young person is likely pursuing engineering anyway, a little forethought and strategy might actually have a chance to make that getting rich part happen.

[salth2o]

Originally Posted by txpitdog

Particularly high school age, have them do some research into materials science and engineering. This will be a developing field with a long career path as the transition to cleaner energy drives forward. As example, ExxonMobil disclosed its R&D budget is focused on fuel cells, advanced biofuels, and decarbonization in manufacturing processes. Each of these will require advancements in materials science and will offer solid career opportunities.

My son is 14 and a freshman in high school. In his current dual credit class they are doing career exploration. Right now he thinks he wants to do Industrial engineering. I will share this with him.

Thanks!

[kyle1974]

My 14 year old is highly gifted in math/science. We were recently talking about engineering or physics roles he could go into. He asked about Petroleum engineering, and I laughed... then he laughed too...

then I cried.

[bdubb]

Originally Posted by kyle1974

My 14 year old is highly gifted in math/science. We were recently talking about engineering or physics roles he could go into. He asked about Petroleum engineering, and I laughed... then he laughed too...

then I cried.

Lol

[HogHunter34]

Industrial & Systems Eng have their place in manufacturing
Petroleum Eng has its volatility
Materials Eng has not fully developed in terms of job demand
Biomedical Eng to me was hyped up for awhile now but similar to materials you don’t see high job demand

To me going the Electrical, Mechanical, Chemical or Structural Eng route gives many very wide market options

[salth2o]

Originally Posted by txpitdog

Particularly high school age, have them do some research into materials science and engineering. This will be a developing field with a long career path as the transition to cleaner energy drives forward. As example, ExxonMobil disclosed its R&D budget is focused on fuel cells, advanced biofuels, and decarbonization in manufacturing processes. Each of these will require advancements in materials science and will offer solid career opportunities.

I wanted to publicly acknowledge txpitdog's generosity. My 14 year old son needed to ask some questions to an engineer for his Dual Credit class. txpitdog agreed to help and quickly responded.

Many thanks!

[3ChordTruth]

Originally Posted by salth2o

I wanted to publicly acknowledge txpitdog's generosity. My 14 year old son needed to ask some questions to an engineer for his Dual Credit class. txpitdog agreed to help and quickly responded.

Many thanks!

Good going txpitdog, you likely helped out a future Texas Engineer with that class assignment.

[txpitdog]

Originally Posted by salth2o

I wanted to publicly acknowledge txpitdog's generosity. My 14 year old son needed to ask some questions to an engineer for his Dual Credit class. txpitdog agreed to help and quickly responded.

Many thanks!

Glad to help!