The electrical power field is concerned with the generation, transmission, and distribution of electrical energy. Electrical power engineers design and develop equipment and systems to provide electricity in homes, offices, stores, and factories. Many power engineers design power systems for aircraft and spacecraft; others provide computer-controlled energy management systems that conserve energy in manufacturing facilities; and still others design electrical motors for applications ranging from appliances to processing plants.

The field of automatic control spans a wide range of technologies, from aerospace to health care. The main goal of automatic control technology is to automatically guide or regulate a system under both steady-state and transient conditions using feedback to adapt to unknown or changing conditions. Electrical engineers design and develop automatic control systems to guide aircraft and spacecraft. They apply control technology to automatically adjust processes and machinery in manufacturing such diverse products as chemicals, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, and integrated circuits.

Manufacturing technology has become more important in recent years as global economic reality has forced companies to reevaluate basic manufacturing techniques in order to remain competitive. In pursuit of increased productivity, companies have introduced such innovations as just in time parts supply, six-sigma quality goals, statistical process control, and robotic assembly cells. Even small companies have transformed their ad hoc approach to process development into rigidly controlled and monitored systems, well understood in terms of mathematical models, where the effects of random events can be quickly detected and corrected. Thus there is a widespread application of the manufacturing sciences in the workplace today, from automation on the production line to management techniques to environmentally friendly methods of manufacturing.

Instrumentation engineering deals with the design of devices to measure physical quantities such as pressure, flow and temperature. The design of such instrumentation requires a good understanding of physics that often extends beyond electromagnetic theory. Often instrumentation is not used by itself, but instead as the sensors of larger electrical systems.

Electromagnetics deals with the transfer of energy by radiation, such as light waves, and radio waves, and the interaction of such radiation with matter. Engineers apply electromagnetics in optical-fiber communications, radio broadcasting, wireless communications, coaxial cable systems, radar, antennas, sensors, and microwave generators and detectors.

This industry spans many areas. Transportation can include railroads, shipbuilding, and traffic management. Electric power is generated and distributed within most vehicles. Ships are wired like small cities for power and information. Once the domain of mechanical and civil engineering, transportation and automotive areas now have many job opportunities for electrical engineers from various technical specialties, including communications, computers, and control systems.

Electronics is a cornerstone of technology, supporting virtually all areas of science, engineering, and medicine with products ranging from sensitive instruments to machine controls to diagnostic equipment. The field is a fast-changing one, as new technology supplants old in rapid succession. Electronic engineers design, develop, and manufacture, for example -- computers; integrated circuits; sensors and transducers; audio, video, broadcasting, and telecommunications equipment; process control systems; navigation, guidance, and detection systems; prosthetic devices; and pollution monitoring instruments.

The field of communications encompasses transmission of information by electromagnetic signals through wired and wireless links and networks. The information may be voice, images, video, data, software, or text messages. The closely related field of signal processing involves manipulating electromagnetic signals so that they can be transmitted with greater accuracy, speed, reliability, and efficiency. Signal processing engineers direct their attention to data compression, modulation systems, radar, sonar, computer-aided tomography (CAT), ultrasound imaging, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Electrical and electronics engineers in the aerospace field design and develop electronics and power equipment for aircraft, helicopters, and spacecraft. Displays, controls, communications and navigation are important aspects of the field, as are simulators for training and development. Prospects in the two major branches of the industry are looking brighter. Commercial airlines are regaining profitability, and R&D for defense and space exploration will continue at more sustainable manner.

This wide-ranging field, alternatively referred to as biomedical engineering, was created some 30 years ago by the merging interests of engineering and the biological /medical sciences. Many of the major advances in this field now seem almost commonplace: pacemakers, blood analyzers, cochlear implants, medical imaging, lasers, prosthetic implants, and life support systems are just a few of them.