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Forensic Engineering Specialization

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purplemonkey

Automotive
May 22, 2007
31
All:

I don't often post on these forums but I do tend to lurk quite a bit. I suppose before I get to my question, I should start off with an introduction on who I am and my past/present work in order to give you all an overview of my background.

I was working for a heavy equipment manufacturer after I got out of university and transitioned in that roll from the engineering department to the manufacturing department doing tooling design (small jigs/fixtures, skid & stand design, heavy weldment fit up fixtures and BTH lifting devices). I was with this company for the past 6 years.

A great opportunity came up and I have taken on a position with another company as a Product Safety Engineering. My specific mindset for taking this position was to be able to transition and eventually specialize in Forensic Engineering. This would be my long term goal and consequently attainable dream job (actual dream job would be an F1 driver but I have neither the talent nor the money for that!)

I am now looking to concurrently do a PT M.Eng degree to help get to my career goals however I am a bit unsure on what strand of study will help me specialize as a successful forensic engineer.

I'd also be curious to know specific soft skills, technical proficiencies and general attributes any fellow forensic engineers might possess that you may deem useful. Things I have the ability of developing either through further education or extra curricular activities.

Any general advice here would also be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance all!
 
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As with CSI, forensic would sound like an extremely broad subject. You possibly need to narrow it down somewhat.


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Of course I can. I can do anything. I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!
There is a homework forum hosted by engineering.com:
 
1. Do your current job (safety engineering) first.
2. Do your current (new) job as safety engineering as best you can -ALWAYS asking
"Why did this happen?"
"What are the root cause(s)?"
"What actually happened - as opposed to what was "written" officially, what was written (unofficially), what was "said", what was "called in" (on the first telephone call after an incident) , what was "not said" in those phone calls or afterwords?
3. BE ON THE JOB FLOOR - not locked up back in your cubical reading the next advertisement for forensic engineering. Anticipate and prevent problems FIRST, SECOND, and Always. But also, be helpful, communicative, and NOT a "prison warden" looking at the inmates on the job.

4. Forensic engineering requires both a keen observational skill set AND an analytical mindset. Not preconceptions or assumptions, but always also listening to your sixth sense of "that looks funny" or "Hmmmn. I've seen that frame bent forward that way after a crane drops a load on a truck that was supposed to be backing up."
 
@IRstuff: I should have specified my interest specifically is in vehicle crash analysis. I would absolutely LOVE to specialize in this and eventually get into the role of becoming an expert witness. That being said with my current position as a Safety Engineer specifically pertaining to the construction/off-road industry I don't feel my skills would be directly transferable. I should also mention that I am hoping to have my current company help with some of the tuition costs of getting my M.Eng. My M.Eng must then be synonymous to both my current position and my future career goals. It's for this reason that I am considering doing my M.Eng in Human Factors Engineering as this seems to be a transferable technical proficiency between my current job and my future goals.

@racookpe1978: Great advice. Thank you for your input. I fully plan on doing my current job to the best of my ability and taking away everything I possibly can from it. My time line however is to hit my goal career by 35 (I will be 29 this year) and so it's for that reason I am starting to dig into what will get me where. Especially when it comes to furthering my education, a part time M.Eng typically takes 3-4 years (depending on how ambitious I am)
 
I did a quick Google sears for "automobile crash consulting" and was amazed at the number of consulting engineering firms that specialize in that. Thus, I'd see if there is some way you can join an engineering group as a member to be able to rub elbows with those firms or maybe see about employment there. It may be possible to adjust your intended education some based on information that you may gain from the group. Does the professional mechanical or automobile professional engineers societies have sub-committees that deal specifically with this subject? Do a little searching and it may assist in your quest.
 
You are looking to do accident reconstruction for vehicle crashes. As OG noted, there are many firms that do this. You might want to consider, in addition to your engineering degree and MS level work, that a PhD would be good particulary in physics or mechanical engineering. Would add a bit to your credibility.....keeping in mind that PhD's are not looked on in the same light in "the real world" as they are in academia; however, for accident reconstruction I believe it would actually be a plus.

My practice is primarily forensic engineering with specialization in structural and construction failure analysis. I've been doing it a long time and got into it via a testing laboratory background, which is a natural adjunct and progression.
 
@Ron: Noted about the PhD. My concern is that the benefits of having a PhD will not outweigh the high level of financial commitments associated with it. Truthfully, being out of work and pursuing a PhD is not a favourable option for me and if I can get by with just an M.Eng, I would much prefer this route.

Couple of reasons here:

1) Financial commitment is less comprehensive
2) Time to achieve this is far less than MS + PhD
3) I am not highly academic to begin with - I am much more hands on and much less theoretically based (whether that's a good thing or bad thing for my career path I have yet to decipher)
 
PM....not problem with doing it without PhD...just know that you'll run into a few of them occasionally and they will tout their academic credentials over their work product!

Good luck..do your research on every case and above all be right!!
 
judges like PhD's.

"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning."
 
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