Forensic Engineering

The field of forensic engineering is the culmination of many different science disciplines. This subject has recently originated in it’s own right. Forensic engineering presently has a very low profile compared to forensic science, but this particular area of forensics looks into the matter when problem arises from product failure, which can happen due to poor manufacturing, inadequate materials or poor design.

This new kind of engineering course tells about good product design before development. The main emphasis is given to the fact that product design lies at the center of successful manufacturing, which can be anything like automobiles, aircrafts and televisions. Damage can arise at any stage of development, which gives the designer a fair idea as to what should be done in order to avoid such errors. Any new innovation must be secured either by patent or by registered design.

Forensics, today has gained much popularity due to its ability to answer questions of interest to the legal system. It can be anything from a civil to a crime action. Infact, if we use only the term forensic instead of forensic science, that’ll be considered wrong, since the word forensic denotes to ‘legal’, i.e. confined only to courts, but forensic is so much linked to scientific field, that the two terms go hand in hand.

Suppose you own a firm and it is on the verge of being sued due to the supply of defective products. Here comes the role of forensic engineers who investigate the cause of failure of consumer items. Likewise there is now a need for the investigation of fires, explosions, aircraft, automobile and train crashes.

Another utilization of forensic engineering comes in the field of civil engineering where the forensic engineers probe in construction accidents, structural and geotechnical failures, waterproofing and roofing failures.

Well, it is noticeable that are some similarities between forensic science and engineering such as the scene of crime and scene of analysis of accident, integrity of the evidence and court appearances. Both the fields make extensive use of optical and scanning electron microscope. To examine critical evidences, there is wide usage of spectroscopy (infra-red, ultra-violet and nuclear magnetic resonance), though simpler problems are sufficed by hand lens.

If you want to get into the dual role of an investigator and an engineer, a career in forensic engineering is for you.