WASHINGTON, Jan. 3, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 3: ENGINEERING

Profile America — Thursday, January 3rd.  In order to tackle the 19th century's version of "shovel ready jobs," the nation's first engineering college opened on this date in 1825 in Troy, New York, now known as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.  At the time, engineering primarily concerned great structures, applying math and physical sciences to bridges, canals, ship-building, fortifications and large buildings.  In the years since, engineering has come to be applied to many other fields, such as chemical, electrical, petroleum, and, of course, computers.  As a force in the U.S. economy, what might be called "big engineering" is a major industry.  There are over 58,000 engineering service firms in the nation, employing slightly under one million people.  You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at www.census.gov.

Sources:  440 International Calendar of Events, Those Were the Days
2007 Economic Census, NAICS 541330

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on a monthly CD or on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button). 

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau