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THE MAJOR
College: School of Engineering
JMU Concentrations: TBD
Admission and Progression Standards for this major:
Click on the link to learn more about the admission and progression standards of this major: http://www.jmu.edu/advising/snapshots/SSENGR.shtml
Description of Major:
The Engineering degree is a new major at JMU beginning fall of 2008. The Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) is a single engineering degree that spans the traditional engineering disciplines and includes coursework in science, mathematics, business, technology management, engineering design, and interpersonal communication skills. The themes of the program are sustainability, engineering design, and systems analysis. Engineering for a sustainable world is, in short, a body of knowledge and set of holistic analytical design skills that contribute to the development of products, processes, systems, and infrastructures that simultaneously protect the environment, conserve resources, and meet human needs at an acceptable financial cost. By reframing traditional engineering practice, sustainability provides a way of moving toward the development of sustainable societies, where human quality of life is advanced with a minimum impact on finite resources and the environment. Sub-disciplines of engineering, such as mechanical, electrical or chemical will not be offered in this program. Rather a broad-based engineering program that spans many areas of engineering will be emphasized to train engineering versatilists who are aware of the need for sustainability in the products, processes, and engineering systems they design.
Tell me more about this field of study.
In addition to the basic science, mathematics, engineering, design, and business foundation required in any engineering degree program, engineering for a sustainable world is built on an understanding of the following elements:
- The technical, economic, environmental, and social dimensions of sustainable engineering design.
- A holistic, interdependent systems approach to problem-solving considering these four dimensions.
- The nature of natural resources, raw and synthetic materials, and fabrication processes.
- Energy use, efficiency, and conservation in technological systems and the built environment.
- Ecology, biodiversity, and environmental carrying capacity.
Tell me more about JMU’s Engineering Program.
The JMU Engineering program spans the traditional engineering sub-disciplines. The new School of Engineering will offer a single Engineering Bachelor’s degree as opposed to building separate degree programs in each engineering sub-discipline. The curriculum will provide an in-depth, hands-on, 4-year engineering design experience, and contains integrated business courses designed specifically for engineers. The program provides an integrated focus on sustainability and sustainable design processes and contains 21 credits of hands-on laboratory experiences. The program is rooted to a strong, traditional liberal arts core curriculum while simultaneously preparing students to pass the Fundamentals of Engineering pre-licensure exam. Students will be prepared for and required to take the national Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) pre-licensure examination in their senior year. The curriculum will allow a student to graduate with an engineering degree in 120 credits. This credit count, combined with relatively short “prerequisite chains” will allow appropriately prepared students to complete the curriculum in four years, while still having an opportunity to pursue a related minor or concentration. Furthermore, appropriately prepared community college transfer students will be able to transfer into the program with an associate’s degree in engineering and complete their bachelor’s degree in two additional years.
What common major or minor combinations from other departments complement this major?
Minors, concentrations, and certificate programs currently under development for the engineering program include Math, Physics, Environmental Science, Materials Science, Integrated Science and Technology, Business, and Computing. Additional complementary minors and concentrations will be developed in the future as dictated by student demand and interest.
CHARACTERISTICS
OF SUCCESSFUL STUDENTS
The successful engineering student is characterized by a strong interest in science, math, and technology. Engineering students enjoy learning about how things work, and excel in design and problem solving activities using a wide variety of different tools and methods. They have good interpersonal skills, are articulate communicators, and enjoy working in groups to design new things. Their interests tend to be broad rather than narrowly defined. They are characterized by a curiosity and a practical ingenuity that makes them want to understand the natural and man-made world around them and use that understanding to solve real-world human problems.
CAREERS
Upon graduation from this program, alumni will be prepared for a wide range of opportunities in the engineering workforce or in engineering graduate school. Typical fields of engineering that students will be prepared to enter include Applications Engineering, Process Design, Product Design, Process Engineering, Project Engineering, and Systems Engineering. Other industry options include Product Service, Technical Sales, Management Training, and Technical Marketing. A wide range of graduate school options include masters and doctoral programs in Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Materials Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Systems Engineering. Other post-graduation options include Business School, Law School, AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, Military Service, Entrepreneurship (starting a small business), Applied Science Fields, International Experiences, Medical School, and careers in Politics/Public Policy.
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