ENGR 105 also includes a design project which can be undertaken by individuals or by teams of two or three. In this course the design sequence is introduced throughout the course and culminates in the design of a particular item chosen by the individual student or team. An oral and written report is required at the end of the semester, with appropriate computer drawings to support the design. At the sophomore level students take ENGR 210, ENGR 220, and ENGR 350, Statics, Dynamics, and Mechanics of Materials, all of which are design oriented. These courses introduce students to open ended problems and selection of alternative solutions with their consequences.
Teamwork is encouraged.
The junior year includes basic environmental, structural, soils, materials, transportation, and fluid mechanics courses and labs, all of which contain significant design components in the form of open ended, practical problems, alternative approaches to solutions, feasibility considerations and detailed specifications of systems. A required reinforced concrete design course is also included in the junior year. The senior year includes a capstone senior design course, CE 480, in which students work on a complex, multidisciplinary project design. With appropriate guidance from the faculty, the students are given responsibility from beginning to end. The project is selected so that the students must interact closely with a local consulting engineering firm, a government agency or similar organization.