Even the most innovative design can’t live up to its potential if it’s not made out of the right stuff. As a materials engineer, your job might be to create shock-absorbent material for a marathon running shoe, produce a full-spectrum sun block that protects against skin cancer, or identify steel beams capable of bearing the tremendous weight of a bridge. The right materials can have revolutionary results—the telecommunications industry, for example, was transformed when fiber optics replaced copper wires; medicine took a giant leap with the development of biomaterials and tissues engineering, which now heal diseased and damaged parts of the body.