The traditional engineering disciplines are fields of study in which your undergraduate pedigree is not as nearly as important as your GPA record and the research you conducted and plan to pursue at graduate school. Sure, American universities have an annoying habit of hiring young faculty whose PhD credentials are from big-name institutions, but in the main companies (and government agencies) that fund research labs are not solely swayed by a big name; they want to see what you can produce. Airbus just gave a research grant to small midwestern engineering school. By no means was that the schools first or largest grant it has received in recent years. Opportunities for graduate research in America are ample.