Catalog

The need for professional registration depends on the field of engineering and the nature of practice in that field. Engineers in private professional practice generally need to be registered. Currently, registration is required in all states for the legal right to practice professional engineering. Although there are variations in state laws, graduation from an accredited curriculum in engineering, subscription to a code of ethics, and four years of qualifying experience are minimum requirements for registration. Two days of examinations covering the engineering sciences and the applicant’s practical experience are also required in most states and territories. A student begins this professional registration process by taking the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) eight-hour examination during senior year in this college.

The College of Engineering and Applied Science defines active learning as “enhancing knowledge, skills, and understanding through practical experience.” The college’s goal is to provide all students with the opportunity to participate in enrichment experiences and partnerships with individual faculty and professionals in discovery, service, and professional learning. Several programs are in place to financially support students engaged in undergraduate research or “discovery learning” with faculty, graduate students, and research sponsors. Students seeking professional learning experiences such as internships and co-op assignments with a participating employer also typically earn hourly wages, while those pursuing service learning opportunities in the college, community, or beyond could earn wages or course credit.

International active learning opportunities include assisting developing communities through Engineers Without Borders, a national nonprofit organization started at CU-Boulder; and arranging an international internship through the International Engineering Certificate Program. For more information about active learning programs and opportunities, visit engineering.colorado.edu/activelearning.

In addition, the college offers a First Year Engineering Projects course as a general engineering elective, which provides students with collaborative, hands-on experience in designing and building engineering devices early in the engineering curriculum, and most undergraduate majors in the college require completion of a senior capstone design course.

The Integrated Teaching and Learning (ITL) Program emphasizes hands-on, inquiry-based learning experiences throughout the K–16 engineering curriculum. The ITL Program encompasses college-wide curricular initiatives and has created a unique learning environment to enable and support them—the Integrated Teaching and Learning Laboratory (ITLL).

The interdisciplinary ITL Laboratory is a 34,000 sq. ft. hands-on learning environment that features interactive laboratory plazas and supports hands-on experimentation, pervasive data acquisition and analysis capability, design studies, team work areas, active learning spaces, and state-of-the-art manufacturing and electronics fabrication capability. It is heavily used by engineering students of all disciplines and is supported by a dedicated team with an unwavering focus on outstanding service.

The ITL Program features an innovative interdisciplinary undergraduate curriculum that includes a First-Year Engineering Projects course that engages student teams to experience the design process in a hands-on way, culminating in a public design expo each semester. The nationally recognized k–12 ITL engineering program focuses on attracting and preparing more diverse and well-prepared youth to careers in engineering and technology. Visit itll.colorado.edu.

In today’s international environment, engineers frequently work and travel in foreign nations or with foreign engineers. Therefore, it is desirable that engineering students familiarize themselves with foreign cultures by selecting appropriate courses or by studying abroad. The University of Colorado has over 50 programs that enable students to undertake course work in engineering. These include programs at the Universities of New South Wales, Wollongong, and Murdoch in Australia; the Universidad de Costa Rica in the Americas; the Universities of East Anglia, Lancaster, and Sussex in England; Uppsala University in Sweden; the American University of Cairo in Egypt; the University of Ghana; the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid; the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey in Mexico, and others. All participants in the university study abroad programs remain enrolled at the university; the pass/fail grade option is used by this college for course work taken during study abroad (but is exempt from college and major department pass/fail limitations). Financial aid from the university can be applied to the program costs in some cases, and special study abroad scholarships may be available for program participants. More information about studying abroad is available at the Office of International Education, University of Colorado at Boulder, 123 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0123, 303-492-7741, or studyabroad.colorado.edu.

Engineering departments may also assist students wishing to study engineering at the Ecole National des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris, the Ecole Polytechnique Feminine in Paris, the University of Oviedo in Spain, and the University of Regensburg. As of fall 2009, the college participates in the Global Engineering Exchange Program (Global E3). Please contact the engineering dean’s office for more information.

With the proper preparation, students may complete one or two semesters of engineering education during study abroad. All students preparing for study abroad must petition their major department about specific courses planned away from CU and ensure that the college residency requirement is satisfied.

Engineering Entrepreneurship Certificate +

Engineering for Developing Communities Certificate +

Engineering, Science, and Society Certificate +

International Engineering Certificate +

Technology Ventures and Product Management Certificate +

The following honorary engineering societies have active student chapters in the College of Engineering and Applied Science:

Chi Epsilon, civil and architectural engineering society
Eta Kappa Nu, electrical engineering society
Omega Chi Epsilon, chemical engineering society
Pi Tau Sigma, mechanical engineering society
Sigma Gamma Tau, aerospace engineering society
Tau Beta Pi, engineering society

Student chapters of the following professional or social societies meet frequently to present papers, speakers, films, and other programs of technical interest:

American Indian Science and Engineering Society
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
American Institute of Chemical Engineers
American Society of Civil Engineers
American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers
American Society of Mechanical Engineers
American Solar Energy Society
Architectural Engineering Institute
Asian Engineering Society
Associated Energy Engineers
Associated General Contractors
Association for Computing Machinery
Association for Women in Mathematics
Biomedical Engineering Society
Engineering Ambassadors
Illuminating Engineering Society of North America
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
National Society of Architectural Engineers
National Society for Black Engineers
Sigma Tau, engineering social fraternity
Sigma Xi, scientific research society
Society of Automotive Engineers
Society of Environmental Engineers
Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and Scientists
Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
Society of Manufacturing Engineers
Society of Mexican-American Engineers and Scientists
Society of Physics Students
Society of Women Engineers
Structural Engineers Council

A student organization, the University of Colorado Engineering Council (UCEC), represents students in the College of Engineering and Applied Science. UCEC supervises matters of interest to all undergraduate students through the control board, its legislative body. Students in this college also publish the Colorado Engineer Magazine, first published in 1904.

The recently formed BOLD (Broadening Opportunity through Leadership and Diversity) Center melded the college’s diversity-focused integrated access, retention, and performance initiatives. Through BOLD-inspired and -led initiatives, the college intends to become a leader in attracting, preparing, and expanding opportunities for students historically underrepresented in engineering, including students from low-income families and those who are the first in their family to attend college.

The BOLD Center creates a vibrant and inclusive community of students from a wide range of backgrounds and prepares engineers with diverse perspectives to be innovative leaders in a global society. The BOLD Center team thinks broadly and focuses deeply on measurable outcomes to significantly improve upon historical student access, retention, and performance results.

BOLDly Moving Forward—The BOLD Center intends to achieve breakthroughs in attracting, preparing, and expanding opportunities for historically underrepresented students in engineering through the development and provision of effective curriculum and support to ensure academic successes. The BOLD team believes that building strong community among students who might otherwise feel isolated in a majority population-dominated environment is key to student success. Thus BOLD nurtures student engagement, academic achievement, and retention through a focus on community building, leadership, and professional development activities, coupled with strong academics and support.

Why be BOLD?—Students succeed by becoming part of the inclusive BOLD community and finding out about engineering student societies, mentoring, effective study habits, career services, internships, volunteer opportunities, and participation scholarships. Also, the BOLD Center offers free tutoring of all engineering students in the Student Success Center. Visit engineering.colorado.edu/bold.

The Engineering Honors Program provides an educational experience that transcends the classroom and is designed to match the unique abilities, needs, and ambitions of the college’s best students. The program is for students who want to belong to and contribute to an honors culture that cares more about learning than grades; more about maximizing their opportunities than meeting minimum requirements; more about being thoughtful, critical, engaged, and intentional than passively defined by the vague expectations of others. Central to fulfilling this mission is the new Engineering Honors Program Residential College in Andrews Hall, which includes a residential faculty member, classrooms, special study spaces, and the highest percentage of upper-division students living on campus.

Being part of the Engineering Honors Program will mean all of the following:

• being part of a community of talented and dedicated students
• participating in special honors courses
• having the opportunity to do advanced research
• having a faculty mentor
• having exposure to industry leaders
• having greater access to internships
• completing a senior honors thesis

The Herbst Program of Humanities enriches and broadens the technical education offered in the College of Engineering and Applied Science through discussion-based classes and seminars on the great works in literature, art, history, and political and social thought. As a program of applied humanities, Herbst encourages students to engage in immediately relevant and significant conversations about our world.

The Herbst Program offers courses at all undergraduate levels, but its centerpiece is a two-semester, 6 credit-hour sequence open to juniors and seniors. These seminars, HUEN 3100 and 3200, are limited to 12 students and are devoted almost entirely to roundtable discussions of original texts, primarily in literature and philosophy, but with secondary attention given to art, music, and architecture. These seminars endeavor to help students improve their writing skills, gain confidence and skill in civil discourse on controversial issues, see more clearly the inadequacy of dogmatic responses to complex questions, and develop intellectual rigor on non-technical issues. Students must apply to participate in the Junior Seminars, one or both of which may also satisfy the university’s writing requirement.

The Herbst Program offers several different courses for students in their first or second year. HUEN 1010, Introduction to the Humanities, explores such diverse forms of humanistic expression as short novels, poems, visual art, music, drama, and philosophy. HUEN 2010, Tradition and Identity, examines—through ancient epics, modern novels, children’s literature, poetry, short stories, drama, film, and philosophy—what it means for you to be you while belonging to a world of others. HUEN 2100, 2120, and 2130 span invention and discovery from the Stone Age through the 20th century. HUEN 2210 Engineering Science and Society explores the ethics and social implications of engineering work. A variety of HUEN 2843 and 3843 Special Topics classes are offered each semester, on such issues as The Meaning of Information Technology, Leonardo da Vinci, The Journey in Literature and Film, and Leadership in Literature. The Herbst Program also offers summer term, study abroad, and Maymester courses.

The Herbst Program was initially funded by an endowment established by Clarence Herbst in 1989, and is sustained by the generous support of a variety of donors, including Linda Vitti Herbst, and by the College of Engineering and Applied Science. See engineering.colorado.edu/herbst.

Offered in cooporation with the College of Engineering and Applied Science and Housing & Dining Services, the Quadrangle Community is comprised of four small residence halls: Aden, Brackett, Cockerell, and Crosman. This community offers on-site tutoring, access to a computer network configured to match that in engineering computer labs, enhanced academic support services, wireless computer access, and calculus work groups in residence. There is a minimal fee for this Living & Learning Community. Interested students should contact Housing & Dining Services for application information.