Undergraduate Engineering Curriculum
All the undergraduate engineering curricula in this bulletin are presented as
four-year programs. Well-qualified students with excellent high school
preparation should be able to complete all requirements in four years or less.
Students with gaps in their high school preparation or those who participate in
the Cooperative Education Program may require more time to complete their
degrees. Other students may adjust their semester credit loads to maintain
employment or for other reasons. Programs can be tailored for part-time and
evening students, as classes are scheduled for both day and evening. Part-time
and evening students are urged to consult their advisors to avoid future
scheduling problems.
It is important for students to recognize that some flexibility is provided
in each of the curricula to allow for individual differences in backgrounds and
academic goals. It is the student’s responsibility to consult with an academic
advisor to design a program to fit personal needs.
Creative accomplishment in an engineer’s career often derives from an
education that stresses major ideas and fundamental concepts of engineering
rather than specific technologies. The engineering curricula provide wide
experience in the mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences as well as in
the social sciences and the humanities. In this way the student obtains both
thorough training in engineering and a well-rounded education. Such an approach
provides the best preparation for the engineer, who must envision and develop
the technologies of the future and deal with scientific advances.
Engineers are responsible for translating the ever-expanding reservoir of
scientific knowledge into systems, devices, and products and for further
expanding knowledge. To meet these responsibilities, those who are learning to
be engineers must not only master the ideas of others but must also originate
new ideas. Moreover, although engineers deal extensively with facts and
scientific fundamentals as a matter of course, they cannot rely on these alone.
Engineers inevitably face decisions that cannot be made on the basis of
technical skill, but that require a broad understanding of human values and
behavior as developed by studies in the social sciences and humanities. They
must also be able to accommodate situations where judgment and wisdom, combined
with scientific knowledge or technical skill, can provide a solution.
