When you hear the term “civil engineering”, your eyes and ears usually don’t perk up in anticipation like they do when you hear “new iPhone” or “driverless cars” or “Artificial Intelligence.” Instead, you think bridges, roads, dams, airports, traffic patterns…buildings. Civil engineers are boring, right?

Civil Engineering is Not Boring

On the surface, yes. But let your mind wander a little deeper into what each of those boring functions of civil engineering really means in 2017 and beyond: Civil Engineering Innovations will have the greatest impact on our quality of life. Here’s why.

1. What’s the most important resource on the planet? Water. Who figures out how to get water from point A to point B? Civil engineers.
2. Our current infrastructure is very, very old. Bridges, roads, sewers, sidewalks, and airports. Whose job is it to design, create, and build new, better infrastructure? Civil engineers.
3. Buildings are the largest contributor to greenhouse gases. Not the sheep in Australia. Who has the power to make better buildings?  Civil engineers.
4. Self driving cars are all the rage. But what is required for us to enjoy cities full of self driving cars, fewer accidents, and less traffic? Traffic engineering. Whose job is that?  Civil engineers.
5. You may have heard that “Mechanical Engineers build missiles and Civil Engineers build targets.” That’s quite true. Creation is easier than destruction. Whose job is it to create new “targets”?  Civil engineers.
6. Urbanization means we have less land on which to build, so we must go taller. Who designs really tall buildings?  Civil engineers.
7. To have a “Smart Planet”, we need Smart Cities, which require Smart Buildings. Who builds smart buildings? Civil Engineers.

All the best people are Civil Engineers

I am biased, I’m a Civil Engineer, my dad was a Civil Engineer and all the best people are Civil Engineers. Except my editor. Without English Majors, wd all tlk lk txt, rt?The Built Environment is the largest industry in the world. It is primed for disruption and innovation. Yes, Architects, Contractors are all part of the ecosystem. It’s time for Civil Engineers to step up and lead the effort to invent and create innovative startups that make a difference.