The phrase "engineer friend" refers to a person who is an engineer and also a friend. It means having someone who is both skilled in engineering and also someone you have a close relationship with. Full definition
A Japanese structural engineer friend of mine estimated that if there hadn't been a tsunami, probably the loss of life would have been 10 % of that. (dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com)
I ran the idea by some electrical engineer friends and a friend who has done research in the biomedical field and they confirmed that there could be a beneficial effect to the body. (wellnessmama.com)
Maybe I am just too confident having completed a host of new grad stats courses and having some interesting input from a chemical engineer friend of mine, but I am curious about your critical thinking process and analysis of the claims made in this temp range and so forth. (realclimate.org)