The program of the School of Engineering is designed to provide a coherent yet flexible set within which students can obtain engineering education at all levels and with more than one focus. The program is structured to permit students to select plans of study to fit their individual goals, aptitudes, and interests. The overall program permits students to enter and leave at points most appropriate to their individual plans, and to facilitate entrance at intermediate levels in the undergraduate and graduate programs.

In brief, all engineering students entering Rensselaer directly from high school pursue a predisciplinary-specific program that usually extends through the second but may extend into the third academic year. During this phase, attention is directed to the foundations of engineering as a unified field, and a broad background is provided in the basic sciences, engineering sciences, engineering design, mathematics, computing, humanities, and social sciences. At the same time, a coherent program of orientation toward the engineering profession is pursued, and professional development is begun.

A student is not required to begin specializing in a particular area until the fourth semester of study. However, each of the engineering disciplines requires that certain courses be taken earlier as field (or discipline) prerequisites. A student who is deciding among several curricula must take this into account.

The electives in the predisciplinary-specific phase, together with the required basic content, give each student the opportunity to refine his or her goals and develop a broad and solid foundation. At the same time, elective courses allow the student to sample specialized fields and, if desired, to focus on a particular field at an early stage.

During the third year, a student may elect either to take a fourth year for a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in an engineering specialty or, if accepted by the graduate school for the professional program, undertake a coherent program integrating advanced undergraduate and graduate study leading to the Master of Engineering degree in a specific field. The professional program offers postbaccalaureate studies specifically intended as preparation for professional engineering practice.

Students who complete the B.S. program may seek admission to the Graduate School and, if qualified, pursue programs leading to the Master of Science (M.S.) or Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) degree. The M.Eng. degree is a nonthesis degree designed for those strictly planning to enter professional practice in engineering, rather than research, development, or an academic career.

Students attaining the master’s degree can continue on to the Doctor of Engineering (D.Eng.) or the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree, depending on their professional objectives. In addition, students holding baccalaureate degrees may pursue the Ph.D. degree directly through the Graduate School or continue their education in areas other than engineering.

Baccalaureate Program   Although many students enter at the freshman level and achieve all their educational objectives at Rensselaer, a significant number find it advantageous to enter at intermediate levels. Entrance into the engineering program at the end of the sophomore year is particularly attractive to graduates of two-year colleges. In all cases, such students enter with advanced standing and credit according to their credentials.

In general, the Bachelor of Science program is intended for students seeking careers in engineering-related areas or as a basis for advanced study in fields other than engineering. The elective opportunities permit the student to plan a program in depth or in breadth according to his or her interests. The Bachelor of Science degree in an engineering field requires fulfillment of the general requirements listed in the Academic Information and Regulations section and satisfactory completion of the prescribed engineering curriculum. Students should note that onecredit-hour nonengineering courses graded on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis, or more than 6 credit hours of ROTC courses, do not contribute toward fulfillment of the degree requirements.

Courses in accounting, industrial management, finance, entrepreneurship, and personnel administration that are offered by the School of Management, as well as ROTC courses, cannot be included to satisfy the humanities and social sciences requirement, but may be taken as free electives.

Professional Program   The professional program is intended primarily as preparation for professional practice. Qualified Rensselaer undergraduates may enter this program after core engineering study and follow a coherent program integrating advanced undergraduate and graduate study that leads to the Bachelor of Science and the Master of Engineering degrees. Graduates of other schools may be admitted with advanced standing if they have appropriate accredited baccalaureate engineering degrees or the equivalent.

Admission to a professional degree program is based on demonstration of adequate preparation and competence. Qualifications for admission are judged by the faculty in each curriculum. Application should be made directly to Graduate Academic and Enrollment Services.

Cooperative Education   Students may augment their academic course work with work experience through the Cooperative Education Program. Studies and work assignments are scheduled after consultation with their curriculum adviser. Although many co-op students complete their academic program in four years, some delay graduation for a year to obtain additional work experience.

Undergraduate Research Experience

Students may augment their academic course work with one or more experiences in research. Through Undergraduate Research Programs (URPs), students have the opportunity to work directly with faculty and/or graduate students on projects requiring critical inquiries, lending to discovery in exciting areas of leading edge technological research. Involvement in URP’s can be arranged strictly for the experience, for credit, or for pay. Application is made through direct contact with faculty seeking students via website or campus advertisements.

Engineering Curriculum

The core engineering program forms the base for all engineering curricula. It is presented on the pages that follow in a general format for students who are undecided as to their choice of engineering field or discipline. Such a student can, by using the electives in the first two years, sample various disciplinary offerings to aid in the selection of a discipline. At the same time, by taking the courses specifically indicated, the student will develop the background necessary to pursue any of the disciplinary curricula by the beginning of the third year.

After the presentation of the core engineering curriculum in the general format, specific curricula for each field of specialization are presented under the corresponding disciplinary headings for students who are certain of their disciplinary choice(s) and wish to begin their disciplinary program(s) earlier than the third year. Two kinds of programs are listed under each discipline: (1) a four-year baccalaureate program leading to the Bachelor of Science degree; (2) a professional program, taken in the fourth and fifth years, leading to the Bachelor of Science and Master of Engineering degrees.

While undergraduates normally are not allowed to take graduate-level credit courses (levels 6000-9000) except by special permission, a student admitted to the Professional School may be required to take certain courses in the 6000-9000 range and may elect other such courses with the approval of his or her adviser.

Core Program   The primary objectives of the core engineering program are to provide a liberal education and to develop a broad scientific and technical foundation for future specialization and development. The background is vital not only to the student’s shorter-range goals in formal education but to his or her ability to acquire new competence as required in professional practice.

The required courses emphasize fundamentals that are applicable to engineering as a whole and concepts and generalizations that are expected to remain valid for an extended period of time.

The foundation in mathematics, physics, and chemistry, combined with the specified engineering sciences, (e.g., strength of materials, or thermal-fluids, etc.) satisfies basic technical knowledge requirements without regard to the intended field of specialization. In the humanities and social sciences area, courses should not only enrich the student as an individual but also provide the perspective needed by a professional whose decisions will affect society. The course, Introduction to Engineering Design, is intended to enhance the student’s ability to address and resolve engineering problems by the resourceful application of knowledge. This theme is extended later during the student’s specialized study.

The undecided student can use electives to sample professionally oriented courses from several curricula, and thus make a more enlightened choice of a major. A student can also choose electives to provide a broader base, or electives that are more specialized. An imaginative student, utilizing faculty counsel, can develop any number of creative study programs. He or she can major in one branch of engineering and obtain a concentration in a second branch.

To provide proper guidance, each student is assigned a faculty adviser who is knowledgeable in core engineering matters and can help the student plan a program to best meet his or her educational and career objectives. When the student is identified with a specific curriculum, a new adviser is assigned who is particularly aware of the opportunities for advanced study in that curriculum. The normal core engineering program is as follows:

1. These required courses may be taken in either order.
* Depending on major.

Electives   Electives in the core engineering curriculum may be selected from, but are not limited to, the following list of suggested courses. However, in most engineering curricula, specific electives are required or recommended during the core engineering phase. Students should consult the curriculum information for their intended fields of specialization before selecting electives.

 General Engineering Course Descriptions

International Exchanges

To help promote a broad-based engineering education, to develop the “citizen engineer,” and to help provide the undergraduate student with a global perspective, the School of Engineering at Rensselaer promotes a voluntary international experience during the course of the undergraduate program. In addition to several individual agreements between Rensselaer and other universities throughout the world, the School of Engineering has helped formulate and is an active participant in the Global Engineering Education Exchange (Global E3) program.

This program is oriented primarily to undergraduate students and, in particular, offers them the possibility of spending one or two semesters at an international university, or one semester at the university followed by an industrial internship in that country. Preferred timing for this experience is the junior year, and students normally apply in the fall or spring of their sophomore year.

Students complete forms that include the courses they must take or desire to take as electives, and then the Institute for International Education, which administers this program for the members, makes an appropriate match based on the educational discipline requirements, the cultural experience, and the language background on the part of each student. The students continue to pay tuition at the home institution (Rensselaer) and continue to be covered by various financial aid mechanisms, insurance, etc. Room and board is paid by the student at the host institution. Consequently, there should be no additional costs incurred in this program, except for travel expenses.

Opportunities exist to study in foreign countries and learn in the native language, such as in France, Germany, and Austria, but there are many opportunities to study in foreign countries and take courses given in English. These include the Technical University of Denmark, Budapest University, universities in the United Kingdom, Korea, Singapore, and Japan, among others. Consequently, although a total immersion in another culture would benefit by knowledge of the language, that is not a necessity. Refresher language instruction in French and German is given usually in the summer preceding the fall semester in those cases where language is necessary and prior experience exists.

There are approximately 30 universities participating in this program in the United States, and more than 50 in the rest of the world, and further growth is scheduled. Countries today include: Australia, Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

People interested in the program should contact Professor Lester A. Gerhardt, (518) 276-6203, or e-mail gerhal@rpi.edu.