The degree programme ‘Engineering and ICT’ is a new and unique advanced engineering programme in Norway. Industry wants advanced engineers with ICT specialization as well as good engineering qualifications. Within engineering we see an increasing need for candidates who understand and are able to develop existing computer tools even further. In order to succeed in the development of computer tools for the future, we are dependent upon our abilities to combine skills within computer technology and engineering professionally and as a totality.

Reasons for choosing the Engineering and ICT programme:

• You would like to work with technology, but you don’t know what to specialize in? You options are numerous even after choosing ’Engineering and ICT’!
• You are interested in scientific subjects and computing? (Admission to the degree programme does not require computer skills, we will teach you everything from scratch.)
• Industry needs engineers with a combination of computer and traditional engineering qualifications.
• You would like a fascinating role as a bridge builder between people with backgrounds from computing and engineering.

Numerous specialization alternatives

After two years you may choose from the following six specialization fields:

• Geosciences and Petroleum Engineering
• Geomatics
• Energy and Process Engineering
• Marine Technology
• Structural Engineering
• Product Development and Materials Engineering

In addition to the technological specialization you also obtain sought-after special qualifications within ICT.

Geosciences and Petroleum Engineering

The simulation grid for a part of the Gullfaks field. Water is injected in the water zone (blue) and displaces oil (red) towards the production well. The model calculates the optimal oil well placement and production rate.

Searching for and extracting oil and gas require exceptional computer modelling. Seismic processing and interpretation, numeric stimulation of flow in reservoirs and geological modelling of sediment environment and oil migration are amongst the largest application areas for computer utility in today’s world. By choosing Geosciences and Petroleum Engineering, you may specialize within these particular fields.

A common feature for these fields is that you by means of computers can calculate highly complex, physical systems. Only the most powerful computers are capable to manage these large modelling systems, and NTNU's super computer centre which consists of two SGI Origin 3800L computers with a total calculation power of nearly 1 Tflop, is well suited for this purpose.

In addition, the Department of Petroleum Engineering and Applied Geophysics recently installed a ”floor to roof” advanced virtual reality laboratory which we use for visualization of large, complex amounts of data such as seismic and geological data and flow processes in reservoirs.

Within the Geosciences and Petroleum Engineering specialization, you may further specialize within the following profiles:

• Profile – Basin Modelling
  Basin modelling deals with the description of the physical processes taking place in a sedimentary basin, including basin formation, sediment transport and sedimentation and subsidence and thermal history. Modelling of hydrocarbon generation and migration are particularly important. Within several of our research areas we cooperate with the Department of Geology and Mineral Resources Engineering, and SINTEF Petroleum Research.

• Profile – Reservoir Simulation
  The planning of oil and gas extraction from petroleum reservoirs is based on enormous amounts of data from geology, seismic, petrophysics, rock type properties and the chemical properties of the reservoir fluids. All these data are fed into a reservoir simulation model that employs the data in large equation systems. By solving these equation systems we may describe the reservoir’s behaviour when using different extraction strategies. Typical problems include estimating extraction by means of water injection compared with gas injection, or the effect of the number of wells on the extraction rate. Reservoir simulation is one of the heaviest computing applications there is. As the data information for reservoirs are attached with uncertainty, statistical uncertainty analyses are also an important element in the calculations.

• Profile – Seismic
  Seismic is the most common method for mapping and surveying oil and gas reservoirs. Seismic waves are created by air guns, and these waves are reflected from the interface between different sediment layers under the seabed. Such raw seismic data need major processing before a completed 3D image of the subsurface can be presented. In the processing and visualizing of seismic data, powerful computers are a necessity, both as regards computing power and graphical representation. In recent years, visualization of data in a 3D visualization laboratory has proved useful when interpreting 3D seismic data.

Geomatics

Are you interested in maps? Would you like to learn how to measure up the earth down to the last millimetre by using satellites? Would you like to learn how to use digital cameras to register the shape of a car in 3D with every detail? If yes, Geomatics is right up your alley. Geomatics combines traditional map sciences with information technology, and deals with the entire span from data acquisition to presentation and application.

Anything from tiny microscopic objects to the earth can be measured and estimated by means of advanced geometric methods. Next, the measured objects can be “recreated” in the computer systems and form the basis for further analysis. If we want to take a closer look at the objects, they can be presented as maps or three-dimensional figures. Below we have listed some central topics you will learn more about when taking Geomatics:

• Navigation by GPS
• Accurate positioning by satellite measuring
• Dealing with geographical information in computer systems
• Communication by means of digital maps
• Accurate measuring of objects via digital images
• Satellite remote measurement for environmental monitoring and resource mapping

The most relevant employers for our Master’s candidates (graduate engineers) with a background from Geomatics are enterprises developing mapping systems and geographical information systems, consulting companies within measuring and navigation both onshore and in the North Sea, national and local services, education and research environments. Geomatics students with good IT qualifications are sought-after on the labour market.

Energy and Process Engineering

This specialization deals with a very broad spectrum of problems within energy, process and flow engineering. We start with different types of energy sources, both renewable and non-renewable. Examples of renewable sources are solar and wind energy, bio fuel, oceanic currents and hydro power, while non-renewable sources include oil and gas. Energy from these sources must be “produced”, transported and converted into work (mechanical energy or electricity) and heat so that the energy can be used to fill a number of needs in modern society.

The processing industry delivers goods that meet some of these needs, goods we assume we may easily access at all times. This includes the food industry, wood processing industry (paper), petrochemical, pharmaceutical and other types of chemical industries, metal-working industry, etc.

The production of electric power in Norway has traditionally been carried out in hydro-electric power stations. In the future, electricity must also be produced in thermal power stations mainly operated by natural gas.

We all want the environment and safety to be ensured in today’s society. This includes for instance good living and working conditions, and safe and energy-efficient transportation.

The examples above are only a small sample of keywords that characterize the activities on our course. A more comprehensive description is available at:

• www.ntnu.no/ept (Department of Energy and Process Engineering)
• www.mtf.ntnu.no/people/omelhus/ept (Norwegian slide presentation)

These subject areas require advanced technology in years ahead. This technology presupposes extensive use of highly advanced computerized technology tools, both within calculations, management and control. You will need this special combination of basic technological and computerized technology qualifications that characterize this course.

Marine Technology

In Norway, all types of marine activities are represented. This includes central activities in oil companies, shipping companies, the Navy, brokers, classification companies (Veritas), authorities, engineering companies, shipyards, building workshops, equipment vendors, computer firms, fishing and farming. It is likely to assume that no other country has an equally complete marine industry where the parties cooperate so well and the advanced engineers move from one type of activities to another. This is one of the reasons why the Norwegian marine industry is internationally competitive, and it forms the basis of the fact that Norway also runs major marine activities abroad.

Career opportunities

Marine activities are diverse, but they have some common features. That means that we may have a general and common basis in our degree programme, which again is one of the reasons why advanced engineers often change fields during their occupational career within the marine industry. ICT-related tasks in this industry typically involve advanced numerical calculations or control and processing of information. This also includes geometric models, animations and simulations. The amount of information in building projects is so large that only advanced ICT methods are good enough.

Some students choose to specialize within the construction of ships and platforms. They frequently get jobs in engineering companies, the classification company Det Norske Veritas, consulting firms or oil companies. Others choose safety or operation of ships and platforms. They often start their careers in shipping companies, oil companies, maintenance companies or logistics companies. Some choose fishing and farming where there is a major unexploited potential for ICT, while others specialize within modelling, logistics or information management, including internet shopping. They find jobs at shipyards, in building projects or as consultants, some times in oil companies. However, the general background in the marine education is enough for students with ICT background being attractive to the entire industry – an industry where ICT is steadily growing in importance.

Some enterprises offer two-year long rotation jobs with fixed terms in different countries. With an ICT background you also have the opportunity for a career within research and education. Marin Teknisk Senter in Trondheim, which holds NTNU’s marine department, is the Western world’s largest centre for research and development within the marine industry.

Structural Engineering

The ’Structural Engineering’ specialization deals with constructions – of all shapes and scales: From tiny screws and shafts via hip prostheses and car components to large bridges and offshore constructions. We are surrounded by constructions, and we will always need people with construction qualifications.

Computer tools are an important part of construction engineers’ daily lives. The time is long gone when people did the calculations one by one and sat down at the drawing table afterwards. Practically all strength calculations are today made by computers. Besides, visualization plays a much more important role. Today, we can see the forces that emerge when massive waves smash into a jetty on the computer screen, and by doing so we find potential weaknesses in the constructions. A few years ago, that would have been impossible, but advanced software does not make the engineer superfluous. Sensible input and necessary post-controls require a great deal of physical insight.

The course ’Construction Engineering’ has a lot in common with some of the courses in the degree programme ‘Building and Environmental Engineering’. And that may not be a bad idea – considering the building industry’s annual turnover of NOK 300 billion. A great number of constructional engineers also work in the offshore sector. Qualifications within construction engineering are also of interest to several industrial enterprises, because the candidates from this course acquire skills in calculation of strength.

This specialization allows you to further specialize within the following areas:

• Marine Construction Engineering
• Geotechnics
• General Construction Engineering
• Computation Mechanics

Product Development and Materials Engineering

This specialization educates advanced engineers to:

• Large industrial companies such as Hydro, Statoil, Aker-Kvaerner and Rolls Royce Marine.
• The entire Norwegian goods-producing industry that supplies the consumer market, the public sector and national and international industrial enterprises with products.
• The entire spectrum of engineering and consulting companies in Norway and abroad.

The qualifications our students acquire on this course also provide excellent opportunities for establishing their own enterprises within software development. In fact, NTNU has arrangements that assist students in establishing such enterprises – even during their studies for those who prefer that.

Examples of the types of software you will learn about as a student of the Product Development and Materials Engineering specialization:

• Geometric modelling of anything from separate components to the assembling of finished products. These models may for instance be used for verification by means of element analyses and life calculations, for generating bases for the production of the product or to produce market material.

• Modelling, simulation and visualization of the products’ functional properties and strength. In this way we can test products long before the prototypes have been produced.

• Management of documents and solution concepts during the entire integrated product development stage, from idea to production and recycling. This also includes computer tools for network communication with sound, video and computer graphics. This type of software enables cooperation between designers and constructors in geographically distributed teams.