Core Engineering

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Engineering Core Curriculum

All School of Engineering students entering Rensselaer directly from high school begin their curricula with the core engineering program. The primary objective of this program is to provide students with a liberal education and to develop a broad scientific and technical foundation for their future specialization. This predisciplinary-specific program usually extends through the third semester. During this phase, the primary focus is on the foundations of engineering as a unified field. The foundation in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology, combined with the specified engineering sciences (e.g., strength of materials, thermal-fluids, electric theory, etc.) satisfies basic technical knowledge requirements without regard to the intended field of specialization. In the humanities, arts, and social sciences area, courses not only enrich the student as an individual but also provide the perspective professionals need to make decisions that will affect society.

The electives within the core engineering program, together with the required basic content, give each student the opportunity to refine their goals and develop a broad and solid foundation. Elective courses also allow undeclared students to sample professionally oriented courses from several curricula so as to make a more enlightened choice of major. A student can also choose electives to provide a broader base or use them to focus on a particular field at an early stage. An imaginative student, with faculty counsel, can develop any number of creative study programs. It is also possible to major in one branch of engineering and obtain a focus area in a second branch.

When choosing electives, students must consider that each engineering discipline requires certain courses be taken earlier as field (or discipline) prerequisites. Courses required by name, required technical/multidisciplinary/science elective, or similarly designated subsets of courses (except where explicitly stated otherwise) to be applied toward the student’s program curriculum or minor may not be taken on a Pass/No Credit basis.

The combination of the core engineering program with the subsequent discipline-specific courses provides a coherent yet flexible curriculum that allows students to obtain an engineering education at all levels in multiple focus areas. The overall School of Engineering program is structured to permit students to select plans of study that fit their individual goals and interests. It also allows 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.

All elements of the curricula, including both core and discipline-specific courses, are under continuous review to ensure the application of new pedagogies and teaching methods and the introduction of courses covering the latest technological and computing and analysis advances. Topics such as quality, ethics, cultural sensitivity, safety, environmental impact, and contemporary issues related to science and engineering, are constantly integrated into curricula. Through these efforts, Rensselaer ensures that leadership, interpersonal communications, teamwork, problem formulation, system synthesis, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills are practiced and enhanced.

To provide a clear picture of what prospective engineering students can expect in their first two years at Rensselaer, a template showing how the core engineering program proceeds can be found in the Programs section of this catalog.

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