Why do people keep recommending biology for a Engineering degree?

You don't need biology for an engineering degree unless it's bio-engineer. Physics and chemistry are what you need.

You need to understand the concept behind Design Thinking, which encapsulates the reasoning for knowing biology for engineering. Bear in mind that in most cases, you are essentially a problem-solver looking to employ practical applications for technology. Design Thinking recommends that you not limit your "tool set" to one tool, but to "empathize" with the situation of whatever people you're helping. The more you understand about their point of view and their world the more thorough and satisfying your solution is liable to be. The old saying, "If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." My own personal philosophy is that the more mature a technology becomes, the more it becomes invisible -- seamlessly integrating with the human environment, improving ergonomics such that it's guaranteed to save more effort than it takes to figure out how to use it. To understand biology gives you a tremendous edge. And learning about other fields normally considered "outside" engineering also helps. Understanding how your customers "work" makes you a better engineer.

Hi,

I do not know why a biology recommendation is made.  I suspect that they are recommending that you should have a good background in math and science and certainly science classes are important , physics and chemistry would be the two that I would recommend that would have more relevance to engineering.  Math is key to engineering.  Make sure you take all of the math courses you can (algebra, geometry, trigonometry, calculus, statistics, etc.) offered by your high school.  It is often said that engineers must like math.  That is not necessarily true, but they do need to be able to do math and use it as a tool.

Hope this helps.

Doug

As a professional Civil Engineer, I can certainly attest to the usefulness of Biology to the Civil Discipline. Both water supply treatment and wastewater and stormwater treatment often use biological processes for treating water. A good understanding of bacterial and biochemical processes is important for professional engineers that work in these areas.

To achieve an Engineering degree, it requires a rigorous regiment of math and science classes. Biology is one of the fundamental class for all engineering majors. You need to understand basic knowledge about various organ system and their functionality. As a Nano-Engineering student, I have gone through biology class since freshman year. I would recommend the student to at least have a basic science background.