A forensic engineer is a professional engineer who specializes in forensic engineering. Forensic engineers are usually involved in civil cases involving products that have failed to perform as expected, but they can also be called upon to investigate patent disputes and other legal issues that require the expertise of an experienced engineer. A typical forensic engineer has at least a bachelor’s degree in engineering and may have additional graduate degrees.
After a bridge failure, a city government might call an engineer to determine how and why the bridge failed, as well as who might be liable. In product liability cases and other situations where the failure of an engineering product resulted in an undesirable outcome, forensic engineers can be used by lawyers and public safety agencies. Forensic engineers can examine the patented product and determine whether it is truly original during patent claims investigations.
A forensic engineer may speak about various engineering-related conditions that are relevant to the case in criminal cases. If someone is accused of filing another person’s brake lines with the intent of causing them to sever, causing the brakes to fail, a forensic engineer could explain how brakes work and what techniques could be used to cause them to fail, as well as examine actual physical evidence to determine what happened and whether the case is valid.
Engineering can also be relevant in more abstract ways, such as examining homemade weapons to see how they were engineered, what level of expertise was required to make them, and how well they worked. Forensic engineers work in both the lab and the field, using a variety of tools and skills to complete their tasks.
A forensic engineer may be hired by a government agency, such as a police force, in some cases. Others work for forensic engineering firms or companies that manufacture products such as automobiles, which require a high level of engineering expertise to make them safe. Others may work as professors or instructors while also consulting in forensic engineering.