Reddit reviews Advanced Engineering Thermodynamics

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Engineering thermo is more focused on engine cycles. None of the rigorous derivations that I had in physics thermo. My entire grad thermo class was power generation cycles and availability analysis. The book we used was Advanced Thermodynamics for Engineers by Kenneth Wark, but the professor also referenced one by Bejan.

So far all of my engineering classes are much more focused on actually solving the problems for the numbers.

For example:
> air at STP is heated to x in the combustion chamber, the turbine has an effeciency of y, with an outlet pressure of z. what is the temperature and pressure at each stage of the engine cycle and what is the maximum energy that can be produced? how can the design be improved?

by the end of the class I was a lot more familiar with the ~30 pages thermodynamic tables for all the gases/liquids that are commonly used.

I would say the main difference is that engineering classes try to give you a more intuitive understanding of a system's behavior, where physics focuses more on a quantitative understanding of the underlying forces involved.

If you don't want to get too far away from the physics aspect there is a lot of room for growth in nano materials. A physics degree will go a long way toward getting involved in that area.