Chair   Deborah A. Kaminski

The intent of the engineering science curriculum at Rensselaer is to serve students whose educational desires do not correspond to the standard professional engineering curricula. Students should recognize that the degrees awarded in engineering science are not, nor are they intended to be, accredited for professional engineering practice. However, the program does provide students the opportunity to tailor programs of study to their particular needs, since each student develops his or her specific program in consultation with a faculty adviser.

Studies may be based on the sciences. For example, programs may concentrate on the application of engineering and scientific techniques to areas between technology and the social sciences and humanities.

Programs also may be developed for students desiring a liberal education based on engineering and involving a critical appreciation of our technical culture. Such courses of study may form the basis, for instance of premedical, prelaw, or prebusiness programs.

Product Design and Innovation: Dual Major Program in Engineering Science and Science, Technology, and Society

The dual major program in Product Design and Innovation (PDI) is jointly offered by the Schools of Engineering and Humanities and Social Sciences, and satisfies the requirements for the Bachelor of Science programs in both Engineering Science and Science, Technology, and Society (STS). PDI prepares students to become innovative designers who will develop and design the advanced products and technologies for the coming century. Built around a design studio every semester, PDI combines the technical sophistication of Rensselaer’s engineering science curriculum with the insight and vision of the humanities and social sciences disciplines in the STS curriculum.

The core of PDI is the design studio that students take every semester, giving them a hands-on opportunity to bring together the two major curricula. The engineering science curriculum provides a fundamental education in engineering science through basic courses in engineering mechanics, engineering electronics, energy, materials, and manufacturing. The STS curriculum provides a fundamental education in the economic, ethical, cultural, and political dimensions of product development and innovation, including numerous case studies of successes and failures that will give students the opportunity to learn what it takes to be effective leaders of design teams. On this basis the design studios help students to explore and develop their creativity while building a portfolio of design experiences continuously throughout all four years.

The design experiences range over a breadth of problems, from larger systemic problems to smaller focused problems, so that students have a broad exposure to all the different applications of design practice. Some fall and spring semester studios are taught as a sequence to give students experience with the design process from beginning to implementation. The studios also aim to develop students’ skills in using computers and other advanced tools and techniques, as well as in drawing, visualizing, communicating, and working together.

PDI graduates, in other words, are uniquely prepared to put their creativity to work as leaders of design and innovation, whether it be in a multinational business at the cutting edge of the global market, or in a smaller business that creates an unusual solution to a local problem. They are able to function effectively in the new situations and unfamiliar environments of multicultural global society, to collaborate with diverse constituencies to analyze and formulate problems of varying complexities, and to work individually and in teams to develop truly innovative and powerful solutions to challenges to our country’s continued to prosperity and social well-being. Corresponding programs to PDI are described in the School of Architecture and in the STS Department of the School of Humanities & Social Sciences.

Degree Requirements   On the basis of the student’s desire for emphasis in a particular area, suitable combinations of courses will be arranged. The courses must form a coordinated program approved by the student’s adviser and satisfy the general Institute and School of Engineering requirements. The program will be subject to review by the curriculum committee in charge of Engineering Science.

The curriculum provides B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees.

Product Design and Innovation

* These courses may be taken either semester.
1. The STS Area Option is STSS-2100 Medicine and Society; STSS-2300 Environment and Society; STSS-2400 Law, Values, and Public Policy: Perspectives on Science and Technology; or STSS-2500 History and Cultural Perspectives on Science and Technology.
2. This course satisfies the requirement for Professional Development II.

Faculty

Professors   D. Kaminski, G. A. Gabriele, W.C. Jennings, B.K. Malaviya, J.M. Tien, H.F. Tiersten, W.A. Wallace