IBE students wishing to pursue an engineering program with an interdisciplinary focus may do so by designing (together with a faculty member) a program meeting certain constraints. The student's transcript will include the phrase Major in Engineering (as contrasted to Major in Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, etc.).
This option is designed to satisfy legitimate interests in interdisciplinary majors, such as in the fields of bioengineering, electromechanical engineering, environmental engineering, integrated product development engineering, software engineering, etc., or in other engineering disciplines not explicitly available as designated majors. It is anticipated that IBE students are more apt to have an interdisciplinary interest than those working toward an engineering degree, since they are highly qualified students who already have chosen a non-traditional program.
You will note that the general IBE curriculum contains 20 credits of engineering core courses and 18 credits in a major field. Students may use these 38 credits to devise an interdisciplinary engineering degree program. The procedures and constraints are as follows:
- The student must find a faculty member willing to serve as advisor who is also acceptable to the engineering co-director of the IBE program. The advisor and engineering co-director must certify that the proposed engineering core and major program serve an appropriate and coherent engineering objective.
- The program must satisfy the constraints of the engineering core component of the BSBE program, which is 20 credits from a given list of courses. The major program must include the additional 18 credits, for a total of 38.
- The engineering core shall include Math 205 (a college requirement).
- The engineering core and major together must include at least 35 credits of courses in science and engineering, and at least 27 credits of courses in engineering. At least 3 of the credits shall represent laboratory work.
- At least 9 credits of the courses in engineering must be at the 200 level or above.
The program can include as many as 11 credits (within the 38) of science courses, so as to permit whatever biology, chemistry, mathematics, etc. as may be appropriate in certain cases. The requirement of 9 credits at the 200 level or above in engineering courses is intended to assure an adequate dimension of depth, which along with the necessary faculty approvals should prevent a student from selecting a program that comprises a smattering of this and that.
Total credits required for graduation: 137
All IBE students must fulfill standard IBE requirements including:
- Foreign language proficiency
- One summer internship
- Maintenance of a minimum 3.25 GPA
