Hi,

Structural engineering is a branch of civil engineering, and its applications are diverse. A great deal of what structural engineers do involves designing structures such as buildings, bridges, tunnels, etc. The majority of structural engineers work primarily as consultants to architects or design-build contractors. The architect or design-builder comes up with a building layout, and then it's the structural engineer's responsibility to calculate the loads (such as snow, wind and earthquake forces), fit the structure to the architecture, and decide on what structural systems to use. The structural systems include steel, concrete, masonry, wood and other materials from which the engineer selects beams, columns, and other members that make up the building support.