Engineering Work and Military
Andrew -- I believe your intent is to find a branch of engineering that would lead you toward peaceful pursuits not involving weaponry. If that is the case I would think biomedical engineering, environmental engineering, engineering in support of research in space sciences and earth sciences, engineering education, communications, utilities, automotive etc. etc. all would qualify. However, it is almost impossible to find some engineering field that cannot be of value to the military and therefore logically will be exploited by them to ends that you (and I) may not agree with. You can divorce yourself from these through where you decide to work, but the field itself will be find military application nonetheless. I work in a very satisfying non-military engineering research environment, government funded to the university I work for, but I have also been the head of an electronics instrument company and was astounded to learn how much of that market is directly or indirectly supported by government and military spending. With 20% of our GNP going to the military it is an enormous investment every year that permeates all engineering orgnaizations and fields. -- Spud