As a kid, riding a roller coaster was the last thing Greg Lewis wanted to do. Zooming backward at 50 miles per hour? No thanks. Going upside down in a loop-de-loop? Terrifying! 

    But there was one thing he did love about roller coasters: watching them. Greg was fascinated that a machine so large could move people so fast without a motor or engine. He wanted to understand exactly how roller coasters worked. So he decided to study mechanical engineering in college. 

    Today Greg works as a design engineer for Skyline Attractions, LLC. That’s a company that helps design and build roller coasters around the world. We asked Greg about his cool job. 

Can you tell us what you do as a design engineer? 

    I help create roller coaster tracks and trains (what people ride in on a roller coaster). Once we have our designs, I do a lot of math to make sure that every part of a coaster works properly once it’s built. It has to be fun, safe, and comfortable to ride! 

How do you make sure that a ride is safe? 

    We use computer programs to help us test every design for structure and safety. There’s also a set of rules that everyone who designs roller coasters has to follow. For example, different rides need different restraints, like seat belts or safety bars. This can depend on the speed or height of the ride. We want a ride that’s fast enough to be fun but not so fast that it’s dangerous.