Microsystems Engineers

Have you ever wondered why the airbags inside cars, meant to protect drivers and passengers, only deploy from their compartments when the car is in a very serious collision? Inside those airbags is a tiny sensor, smaller than 1 millimeter, that can detect in the blink of an eye the sudden change in a car's speed when it collides forcefully with a solid object. These extremely tiny sensors aren't only found in cars — they're in many other products too, such as aircraft, self-driving spacecraft, medical devices, digital cameras, smartphone screens, video games, and more, where these products need them for specific purposes. Across various industrial sectors, any device smaller than 1 millimeter is called a "microelectromechanical system," because it's made up of extremely tiny mechanical and electromechanical components. Those tiny sensors are one of the clearest examples of microelectromechanical systems, and they have other applications too, such as the tiny microphones found in smartphones and computers, on top of many other examples found in countless products and industries. From this you can appreciate the importance and value of what engineers responsible for manufacturing various microelectromechanical devices do across different sectors. The experts who handle the design, manufacturing, and development of the microelectromechanical systems used in any industry are called "microsystems engineers," and it's their work we'll discuss in detail in the lines ahead.

Meet the Writer: Waleed Abo Omiraa