Electrical Engineering Branches and Specialization

Electrical engineers have a vast amount of knowledge of electrical phenomena and technology, and work in an array of capacities that support total engineering efforts in the industries that employ them. Electrical engineers apply the laws of electrical energy and the principals of engineering to the generation, transmission and use of electricity. They design everything from generating systems in dams to the smallest of electrical circuits in spacecraft, and all the everyday electronics in between including televisions, radios, stereos, and computers.

Representative Job Titles and Area of Specialization

Circuit Designer*	Communications Engineer*
Control Engineer*	Robotics Engineer*
Power Systems Engineer*	Electronics Technician
Professor/Teacher

* See Training section

Nature of the Work

There are four well defined branches of electrical engineering: power, communications, electronics, and control systems.

Electrical engineers who specialize in power are involved in the generating of, transmission, distribution and application of power from such sources as water, fossil fuel, nuclear, and solar energy

Electrical engineers specializing in communications are involved in equipment engineering, circuit transmissions, traffic plant and acoustical engineering. This branch of engineering designs systems that receive, transmit and deliver information into audio and video forms.

Electronics engineers develop and implement computer systems and enhance electronic aids like heart monitors.

Those with a specialization in control systems design such products as automatic regulators, guidance systems and robotics controls.

Places of Employment

Universities and colleges	Consulting firms
Federal/state/local governments	Armed Forces
Aeronautical/aerospace industry	Automotive industry
Chemical industry	Computer industry
Construction industry	Defense industry
Electronics industry	Environmental industry
Food and beverage industry	Transportation industry
Water/waste water industry	Nuclear Industry
Machine tool design industry