Engineering Courses

Description

This course introduces prospective engineering students to mathematical concepts relevant in engineering while emphasizing the solving of engineering problems rather than mathematical derivations and theory. All topics are driven by engineering applications taken directly from core engineering courses. The course includes hands-on laboratory exercises as well as a thorough introduction to Matlab.

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

An introduction to the integrated design of structures and the evolving role of architects and engineers. The course will investigate the idea that design excellence is very often the result of deep collaboration between engineers, architects, and builders and that it is only in relatively recent history that a distinction between these areas of expertise has existed. The historical, social, and architectural impact of structures will be explored and several structures and their designers will be studied in depth. Enrollment is limited to 50 students.

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

With the exception of ideas and emotions, materials are the substance of civilization. From the "Iceman's" copper ax to indium phosphide gallium arsenide semiconductor lasers, materials have always defined our world. We even name our epochs of time based on the dominant material of the age: Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age and now Silicon Age. In addition to discussing the nature and processing of metals, polymers, ceramics, glass and electronic materials, this course will analyze the dramatic developments in civilization directly resulting from advances in such materials. The text Stephen Sass' The Substance of Civilization will be used in the course. Enrollment is limited to 50 students per section.

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

Oceanography is one of the studies in which natural processes are investigated with interdisciplinary approaches by scientists of a wide range of specialties. Physical, chemical, biological and geological processes in the oceans and their interactions are studied in this course. Students will gain appreciation of the complexity of the ocean as a natural system and necessity of interdisciplinary to investigate it. Oceans as a source of resources, as a fundamental part of the global climate engine, as a book of Earth's environmental history, and as a bed of the origin of life are discussed. Use and abuse of ocean resources and associated environmental problems, such as ocean water pollution, over-fishing and whaling are also discussed.

Cross Listed Courses

EARS 3

Distribution Code

SCI

Description

This course will cover some basic concepts underlying the "information superhighway." The technologies of high-speed networking have stimulated much activity within the federal government, the telecommunications and computer industries, and even social science and popular fiction writing. The technical focus will be on communications technologies, information theory, and the communications requirements of video (standard and ATV), speech (and other audio), and text data. Social, economic, and policy issues will be an integral part of the course. Enrollment is limited to 30 students.

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

The course will explore technologies that will impact healthcare in the 21st century, including biology, robotics, and information. Included will be biotechnologies to be used for the treatment of diseases and the regeneration of missing organs and limbs. The course will also cover robotics that will replace human parts. Included will be artificial organs and joints, robots as replacement for human parts, the human genome project, gene therapy, biomaterials, genetic engineering, cloning, transplantation (auto, allo, and xeno), limb regeneration, man-machine interfaces, and prosthetic limbs. This section will also cover ethical issues related to the above topics and issues regarding the FDA and the approval of new medical treatments. We will discuss going beyond normal with respect to the senses, muscles, and creating wings. Enrollment is limited to 75 students.

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

This course will introduce students to the technologies used to combat biological threats to security ranging from pandemic influenza to bioterrorism. In particular, this course will explore the dual role that technology plays in both enhancing and destabilizing security. Specific technologies covered include the use of nanotechnology, synthetic biology, and mass spectrometry. The course considers questions such as: Where can technological solutions have the greatest impact? When can defensive technologies have offensive applications? And, how can we balance the need to regulate potentially dangerous technologies against the need for academic freedom and high tech innovation? Enrollment is limited to 30 students.

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

Climate change has occurred naturally and frequently over the course of many time scales in the past. America today is engaged in a discussion of current climate change and its cause, ranging from calls for immediate action to denial. This course explores the published scientific literature on the nature and cause of climate change, potential impacts on us, and the implications for our nation's energy issues. Through readings, class discussion, and individual research, we will explore this complex problem; student writing will synthesize results from the literature to clarify the factual basis for their own understanding. Reading will include a number of published papers and selections from textbooks. Students will be required to actively participate in class by leading class discussions and actively engaging in small group activities. In addition students will write two short papers, develop an annotated bibliography, and write a research paper based on the research completed for the annotated bibliography. Enrollment is limited to 16 students.

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

Medical imaging has evolved significantly over the last 100 years and has transformed modern medical practice to the extent that very few clinical decisions are made without relying on information obtained with contemporary imaging modalities. The future of medical imaging may be even more promising as new technologies are being developed to observe the structural, functional, and molecular characteristics of tissues at finer and finer spatial scales. This first-year seminar will review the historical development of modern radiographic imaging and discuss the basic physical principles behind common approaches such as CT, ultrasound, and MRI. Contemporary issues surrounding the use of imaging to screen for disease, the costs to the healthcare system of routine application of advanced imaging technology, and the benefits of the information provided by medical imaging in terms of evidence-based outcomes assessment will be explored. Students will be required to read, present, and discuss materials in class and write position papers articulating and/or defending particular perspectives on the historical development of medical imaging and its contemporary and/or future uses and benefits. Enrollment is limited to 16 students.

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

Humanity has previously seen two major resource transitions that have had radical impacts on day-to-day life: the Neolithic revolution (from hunting and gathering to agrarian) and the industrial revolution (from agrarian to pre-sustainable industrial). This writing course will consider the hypothesis that the human enterprise now requires a third such resource revolution - the sustainability revolution (from pre-sustainable industrial to sustainable industrial) - and that future generations will judge those of us alive today by how well we responded to this imperative. Topics addressed include past resource revolutions, resource and environmental metrics, energy, food, water, and climate. Writing assignments will include a personal essay, a critique encompassing one or a few sources, and an integrated analysis.

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

Public communication is an increasingly important aspect of modern science and technology, and a wide array of information sources compete to serve and expand public interest in scientific advances. Social media and the popular press play a dominant role for many readers, but the filtering of scientific information through non-technical mediums can obscure important details, introduce inadvertent errors, and even result in manipulation with the intent to mislead. Accessing peer-reviewed literature or other trusted information sources can minimize inaccuracies in reports, but it comes at the cost of time and effort and does not guarantee an enlightened ground truth. This first-year seminar will help students build strategies and skills for reading, researching, and understanding science. The course will cover three modules related to contemporary issues in biomedical science. Students will read materials, search for related information, make presentations, and participate in class discussions of related ideas. Students will also draft written position papers articulating and defending a view on topics of discussion, and they will complete a written and oral research project at the end of the term.

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

We hear about energy sustainability, but what does this mean? What will the impact of climate change be? What energy sources are considered sustainable and why? What fraction of our energy needs is likely to come from sustainable energy in the future? Are these estimates reasonable and what are the technological and societal challenges to broader use of sustainable energy? This seminar will explore these and other questions as we learn about energy resources, technologies and solutions that affect our lives and our planet today and in the future. We will evaluate the trade-offs and uncertainties of various energy systems and explore a framework for assessing solutions. Topics and writing assignments will examine resource estimation, environmental effects, and a survey of resources and technologies such as oil and gas, nuclear power, hydropower, solar energy, wind energy and more. Writing assignments will explore and present arguments for different approaches that may be taken to avoid a future climate disaster.

Description

Medical imaging has evolved significantly over the last 100 years and has transformed modern medical practice. Today, very few clinical decisions are made without relying on information obtained with contemporary imaging modalities. The future of medical imaging may be even more promising. New technologies are being developed to observe the structural, functional, and molecular characteristics of tissues at ever-finer spatial scales. In this first-year seminar, we will write as a way to explore the use of imaging to screen for disease. We will also explore the costs to the health care system of routine application of imaging technology and the benefits of the information provided by medical imaging. Students will be required to read, present, and discuss materials in class and write papers analyzing the development, uses, and benefits of medical imaging. The papers will progress incrementally in complexity from a short paper to a research paper.

Description

This course is intended to take the mystery out of the technology that we have grown to depend on in our everyday lives. Both the principles behind and examples of devices utilizing electricity, solid and fluid properties, chemical effects, mechanical attributes, and other topics will be discussed. In the associated lab project, students will dissect and analyze (and possibly revive!) a broken gadget or appliance of their choosing. Enrollment is limited to 50 students.

Distribution Code

TLA

Description

Recent advances in electrical and computer engineering, computer science and applied mathematics have made remarkable digital imaging systems possible. Such systems are affecting everyone today — from eyewitness documentation of social and political events to health care to entertainment to scientific discovery. This course will introduce students to the fundamental concepts underlying a diverse and representative collection of modern digital imaging systems including cell phone cameras, medical imaging systems, space telescopes, computer games and animated movies. Specific attention will be paid to the scientific principles and engineering challenges underlying optics, computer processing chips, image processing software and algorithms, data compression and communication, and digital sensors as well as the basic principles of human vision and cognition. Students will explore and learn the basic science and technology through a combination of in-class lectures and active hands-on experimentation with digital cameras, image processing software and digital video systems. Students will participate in a course-long group project that demonstrates their understanding of and ability to harness these new technologies. Students will be expected to have access to an entry-level digital camera, either standalone or attached to a cell phone or tablet computer. Enrollment limited to 75 students.

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

Students will explore and compare engineered systems and processes in the world around them. They will sketch and build models to help them understand and communicate. Each week, students will learn new sketching and visual communication techniques that they will use to visually explain how engineered systems or processes work. Students will also maintain a sketchbook to practice new sketching techniques. After being exposed to some basic engineering principles students will further investigate specific engineered systems through sketching, research, disassembly, and building. They will communicate their findings visually.

Distribution Code

ART

Description

A foundation course on the cognitive strategies and methodologies that form the basis of creative design practice. Design thinking applies to innovation across the built environment, including the design of products, services, interactive technology, environments, and experiences. Topics include design principles, human need-finding, formal methodologies, brainstorming, heuristics, thinking by analogy, scenario building, visual thinking, and study of experienced thinkers. Weekly projects and exercises in a variety of media provide practice and development of students' personal creative abilities. Enrollment is limited to 20 students.

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

There is a revolution in technology that is occurring in healthcare. This new technology will dramatically change how healthcare is delivered in the future. This course will cover topics related to the virtual human, created from bits. This will include virtual reality, augmented reality and datafusion, computer simulation, advanced 3D and 4D imaging techniques, the operating room of the future, minimally invasive surgery, space medicine, tele-operations, tele-medicine and tele-surgery, Internet 2 and cyberspace, artificial intelligence and intelligent agents applied to medicine, and the National Library of Medicine virtual human project. We will also discuss the FDA approval of computer simulators, robotic surgeons, and the ethics of robots doing surgery. In addition, we will discuss the medical library of the future, teleconferencing, and the use of interactive media in healthcare education. We will also discuss computerized patient records (CPR) and clinical information systems. Enrollment is limited to 48 students.

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

An original investigation in a phase of science or engineering under the supervision of a member of the staff. Students electing the course will be expected to have a proposal approved by the department chair and to meet weekly with the staff member supervising the investigation. The course is open to undergraduates who are not majoring in engineering. It may be elected only once, or taken as a one-third course credit for each of three consecutive terms. A report describing the details of the investigation must be filed with the department chair and approved at the completion of the course.

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

The Senior Design Challenge is a two-term course designed to serve as a senior capstone experience for Dartmouth students across all majors. Students in this project-based course will practice human-centered design, developing not only the skills, but also the creative confidence to apply their liberal arts education to make a positive difference in the world beyond Dartmouth. Students will work in interdisciplinary teams on projects that will be determined in partnership with organizations in the Upper Valley. The project topics will be designed to give students some flexibility in determining the specific problem on which to focus, while ensuring client responsiveness and substantial fieldwork opportunities.

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

The Senior Design Challenge is a two-term course designed to serve as a senior capstone experience for Dartmouth students across all majors. Students in this project-based course will practice human-centered design, developing not only the skills, but also the creative confidence to apply their liberal arts education to make a positive difference in the world beyond Dartmouth. Students will work in interdisciplinary teams on projects that will be determined in partnership with organizations in the Upper Valley. The project topics will be designed to give students some flexibility in determining the specific problem on which to focus, while ensuring client responsiveness and substantial fieldwork opportunities.

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

We are living through biology’s century: global pandemics; $100 genomes; bio-reactor beef; plastic-eating engineered microbes…and we still have 80 years to go. This course is built around the basic idea that biotechnology is changing the world, but will only reach its greatest potential—technologically, economically, ethically—if we learn to guide it as a complex ecosystem of inter-dependent actors. Biotech hubs thrive where there is a dense milieu of intellectual and financial capital from top universities, academic medical centers, entrepreneurs, and venture capital. This course aims to ensure that future leaders—physicians, scientists, journalists, lawyers, financiers, patients, legislators—understand the ways that scientific advances, innovation policy, and entrepreneurship feed one another. Taught by a biotech venture capital investor, this is an interdisciplinary course designed to empower students with the context and confidence to go deeper than news headlines that fail to see both the ‘forest’ and the ‘trees’. The term will unfold in a cumulative manner. We begin with a diagnosis and overview of the Ecosystem for Bio-Innovation, and then go deeper into the institutions and players that cross-pollinate within this ecosystem, focusing on healthcare (e.g. mRNA vaccines, genetic disease treatments) while making note of biotechnology’s far broader impact on our society and planet. Each week of the course will focus on one theme, while also introducing new intellectual frameworks, plus real-world cases to help concretize key concepts. We will bring material to life through a combination of lecture, Socratic learning, student projects, guest speakers, and in-class debates, always infusing our time together with a sense of the scientific, economic, political, and ethical choices at stake. Final projects will allow students to critically apply coursework toward a cutting-edge area of biotechnology.

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

In this course we explore the computational techniques by which society survived and thrived before the advent of the integrated circuit and the electronic calculator. From the commerce of early civilizations until the last third of the 20th century, there was a progression of mechanical calculating gadgets, some simple – some quite ingenious and complex. Among these we will study slide rules, planimeters, integrators, digital adding machines, nomographs, and other special charts and graphical techniques. We will also cover celestial navigation, which in its day was a particularly important application of calculation; technical drawing and perspective, the precursors to computer graphics; and cryptography, whose computational requirements helped propel us into the electronic age. Laboratory sessions will give students direct experience using antique and period calculating instruments, plus the opportunity to create their own calculating devices.

Prerequisites

Introductory Calculus (Math 3, or equivalent, or permission)

Distribution Code

TLA

Description

This course will explore blockchains – how they work, how they have been used, and how they are affecting society in finance, information sharing, and law. Blockchain technology and its applications have been hyped and condemned with equal fervor. We will examine the phenomenon from a number of perspectives, and aim to provide all participants, no matter what their background or level of technical skill, with both some hands-on experience in working with blockchain-based software and some understanding of the place of applications such as cryptocurrencies, NFTs and DAOs in contemporary America.

Prerequisites

None

Description

This course introduces students from all majors, including science, engineering, and humanities to the fundamentals of entrepreneurship as applied to the commercialization of new technologies. Through case studies, readings, lectures, projects, and engagement with class guests the course will provide instruction and perspective on the process entrepreneurs take to start, resource, adapt and grow innovative technology-based ventures and help develop students’ understanding of their own interest in pursuing careers in the field.

Description

Research to inform Human-Centered design draws from a variety of disciplines (chiefly Human Factors and User Research) to solve complex, ambitious problems in technology design. The process across fields is the same: leveraging empathy and psychological research principles to bring human needs and experience into product design and development. This course will cover a range of research methods that apply to product design, predominantly through the lens of digital products (but applicable to other technologies). Key primary research methods will include contextual inquiry, expert interviews, diary studies, usability testing, cognitive walk throughs, A/B testing, and surveys. In order to ground these methods in theory, as well as provide practical experience, the course will be a blend of lecture, readings, discussion, and projects. The course is ideal for students with a social science background and an interest in applying this discipline to technology, or students who have had an introduction to research methods for product design and an interest in learning more. A background in statistical or data analysis is helpful but not compulsory.

Description

AI Demystified unfolds the pivotal world of Artificial Intelligence (AI), spotlighting its multifaceted applications and theoretical concepts across diverse sectors such as healthcare and commerce. This course, while demystifying AI, delves deep into its practical and ethical aspects, aligning with its impactful presence in our daily lives and future. Through a combination of illuminative lectures, hands-on coding sessions, weekly assignments, and a group project, students traverse through AI’s principles, applications, and societal impacts, culminating in a wholesome learning experience tailored for AI beginners and prospective professionals, and preparing them to adeptly navigate our increasingly AI-infused future.

Prerequisites

COSC 001 or ENGS 020. A working knowledge of Python is recommended. Students will be expected to have an elementary knowledge of Python by the end of week 2. Materials will be provided to support this.

Description

Every physical and digital artifact in the human-built environment is the product of a design process, and every decision that designers make—from how to gather research information, to what materials to use—carries ethical implications. That is, every choice that designers make has the potential to shape the distribution of benefits and harms. Yet, very often, designers are not fully aware of these ethical implications and are not trained to navigate the complex ethical dilemmas that they encounter in their work. Consequently, we are surrounded by objects and systems that perpetuate social injustices and environmental destruction. This course integrates philosophical theorizing and design practice, exploring the moral, social, and environmental responsibilities of designers in, e.g., product design, engineering design, UI/UX design, and other related fields. Through readings, group discussions, short lectures, case studies, guest speakers, and hands-on projects, students will learn to critically analyze and apply ethical principles in the context of design. Along the way, students will develop not only a deeper understanding of the role of design in shaping our world, but also the skills needed to become more thoughtful and responsible designers.

Prerequisites

Any one of: ENGS 12, ENGS 21, or COSC 25.01

Distribution Code

TMV

Description

Innovators cannot avoid narrative. It simply comes with the territory. Would you have heard of Apple if it didn’t break through with a powerful THINK DIFFERENT brand? Or what about Theranos? Would they have risen (and fallen) so quickly if it weren’t for a captivating idea about changing healthcare with just one drop of blood? In both of these cases, would the founders have been so iconic without their infamous black turtlenecks? Innovation, scale, and story go hand in hand. As the innovator brings their idea to the world, they have a number of questions to consider: how do I communicate what’s so game-changing about this idea? How do I tell my story so investors and advocates trust me to bring this innovation to market? How do I build a brand my audience identifies with (and wants to buy)? How do I build a company culture that recruits and retains the best talent — and rallies people to make a positive impact on the world? These are all designed objects with narrative at the core, which we’ll learn to craft. We’ll explore how traditional design processes and mindsets used to create digital and physical artifacts can be applied to the narrative artifact. Building on this foundation, we’ll also expand the designers’ toolkit with new methods of research, analysis, and craft specific to the narrative dimension of design work. From Airbnb to Tesla, Beyonce to Taylor Swift, we’ll go way beyond “marketing” and analyze case studies of how the world’s most impactful innovators use diverse narrative strategies to grow traction around their ideas and achieve their goals. Students will then get to try their hand at applying these strategies to design impact-focused narratives through practice projects. For the midterm project, student groups will redesign Budweiser to speak to a modern story of masculinity. For the culminating project of the course, students will design and pitch narrative objects to real-world founders to help them launch their new-to-world businesses.

Description

This course explores intellectual synergies between design and education including three explicit intersections: how design methods help us create better learning experiences; how design pedagogies can be valuable to the instruction of non-design subjects; and how human-centered design might help us address persistent problems in education systems. In an attempt to practice what it preaches, this course does not use the standard letter grading system–please inquire with the instructor about implications for your minors/modifications.

Prerequisites

Recommended: ENGS 12 or ENGS 21, or any EDUC course

Description

In this course, students will learn how entrepreneurs reason and behave in contexts with high uncertainty and how entrepreneurial skills might help us effect positive change in applications including and beyond venture formation. Through short sprints, weekly readings and discussions, and a longer project, students will experience several approaches to “entrepreneurial thinking.” Throughout the term, the class will discuss how each approach relates to design thinking, uncertainty, innovation, and the goals of the liberal arts.

Prerequisites

ENGS 12

Description

This course will introduce students to how new vaccines and drugs are developed and delivered to patients by scientists, industry, and entrepreneurs. This course will also examine new opportunities to improve speed, scale and access to new medicines that are not just commercially viable, but socially valuable. To tell this story, we will follow the development of Covid-19 vaccines from the initial discoveries made in protein, nucleic acid, and nano-material engineering, the transfer of these technologies into entrepreneurial venture capital-backed startup companies like Moderna and BioNTech, and their development into novel vaccines that saved millions of lives. We will examine the technical, clinical, business, and marketing/educational, and policy strategies that determine the development, access, and acceptance of these new vaccines and drugs. A key feature of this course is a student team project in which students use entrepreneurial thinking to design a comprehensive development plan for a novel biomedical product candidate that employs engineering, business, and social science strategies identified throughout the term. The objective of the plan is to design, test, manufacture, and sell a safe and effective product that will be both accessible and acceptable to the end-user population. By the end of the course, students will be able to analyze the biotechnology landscape, identify promising biomedical venture opportunities, understand effective business strategies, and identify strategies that can enhance the social value of these ventures. Students will emerge from this course with a deeper understanding of unique challenges and opportunities inherent in biotech entrepreneurship.

Description

The past 20 years have seen an incredible amount of high-tech medical advances, but to what degree have these impacted the health of those living in the developing world? The potential for years of life gained through biomedical technology is tremendous in some of the world’s poorest regions, but appropriate design requires an understanding of the clinical, political, and cultural landscape, and a clean-slate approach to developing low-cost, effective tech. This course offers an exciting opportunity to understand how to design solutions for the most important health challenges of the developing world. Learning goals will be achieved through hands-on experience, including: a laboratory component where we deconstruct, design and build a low-cost medical device, case study discussions on successful global health innovations, and several “teardowns” of common medical devices. Lecturers from Thayer, Tuck School of Business, the Dartmouth Center for Health Care Delivery Science, and Geisel School of Medicine will cover complimentary topics in clinical medicine, healthcare delivery, innovation and medical imaging. A final project will bring everything together by addressing a real health problem with a prototype of a low-cost tech solution. Enrollment is limited to 40 students.

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

A hands-on course in which students working in groups build and assemble simple musical instruments with the aim of understanding how materials, technologies, craftsmanship, and cultural knowledge interact in the conception, design, and production of diverse instruments around the world. Merging the methodologies of materials science and engineering with the approaches of arts and humanities, the course explores from an interdisciplinary perspective the social meanings and powers ascribed to musical instruments, and the way that instruments have come to function as potent symbols of personal, cultural, and political identity.

Cross Listed Courses

MUS 17.04/COCO 20

Description

This course introduces systems dynamics, an approach to policy design and analysis based upon feedback principles and computer simulation. The approach is useful for gaining an understanding of the underlying structural causes of problem behavior in social, economic, political, environmental, technological, and biological systems. Goals of this approach are to gain better understanding of such problem behaviors and to design policies aimed at improving them. Lectures and exercises illustrate applications of the approach to real, current problems such as urban decay, resource depletion, environmental pollution, product marketing and distribution, and agricultural planning in an expanding population. The similarity and transferability of underlying feedback characteristics among various applications is emphasized. No prior engineering or computer science experience is necessary.

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

Energy production, distribution, and use is central to human activity. In many quarters, there is growing appreciation for the nexus among energy, climate change, the environment, and economic development. This course will focus on futures of energy as they impact, and are impacted by, these drivers. The course uses model-based approaches to develop global-scale energy scenarios and to explore the potential evolution of current and potential energy options in both localized and global settings.

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

May not be taken under the Non-Recording Option This course introduces concepts and techniques for creating computational solutions to problems in engineering and science. The essentials of computer programming are developed using the C and Matlab languages, with the goal of enabling the student to use the computer effectively in subsequent courses. Programming topics include problem decomposition, control structures, recursion, arrays and other data structures, file I/O, graphics, and code libraries. Applications will be drawn from numerical solution of ordinary differential equations, root finding, matrix operations, searching and sorting, simulation, and data analysis. Good programming style and computational efficiency are emphasized. Although no previous programming experience is assumed, a significant time commitment is required. Students planning to pursue the engineering sciences major are advised to take ENGS 20. Students considering the computer science major or majors modified with computer science should take COSC 1 and COSC 10. Enrollment is limited to 50 students.

Prerequisites

MATH 3 and prior or concurrent enrollment in MATH 8

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

The student is introduced to engineering through participation, as a member of a team, in a complete design project. The synthesis of many fields involving the laws of nature, mathematics, economics, management, and communication is required in the project. Engineering principles of analysis, experimentation, and design are applied to a real problem, from initial concept to final recommendations. The project results are evaluated in terms of technical and economic feasibility plus social significance. Lectures are directed toward the problem, and experiments are designed by students as the need develops.

Prerequisites

MATH 3 or equivalent

Distribution Code

TLA

Notes

Effective summer 2025, ENGS 21 carries a TLA distributive. Prior offerings were classified as a TAS.

Description

The student is introduced to the techniques of modeling and analyzing lumped systems of a variety of types, including electrical, mechanical, reacting, fluid, and thermal systems. System input will be related to output through ordinary differential equations, which will be solved by analytical and numerical techniques. Systems concepts such as time constant, natural frequency, and damping factor are introduced. The course includes computer and laboratory exercises to enhance the students’ understanding of the principles of lumped systems. Students will develop the ability to write MATLAB code. Enrollment is limited to 50 students.

Prerequisites

MATH 13, PHYS 14, and ENGS 20

Distribution Code

TLA

Description

A study of the fundamental properties of distributed systems and their description in terms of scalar and vector fields. After a summary of vector-field theory, the formulation of conservation laws, source laws, and constitutive equations is discussed. Energy and force relations are developed and the nature of potential fields, wave fields, and diffusion fields is examined. A survey of elementary transport processes is given. Particular attention is given to the relation between the description of systems in terms of discrete and distributed parameters. Applications are chosen primarily from fluid mechanics, electromagnetic theory, and heat transfer. Includes a set of laboratories.

Prerequisites

ENGS 22, or equivalent

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

An introduction to the structure/property relationships, which govern the mechanical, the thermal, and the electrical behavior of solids (ceramics, metals, and polymers). Topics include atomic, crystalline, and amorphous structures; X-ray diffraction; imperfections in crystals; phase diagrams; phase transformations; elastic and plastic deformation; free electron theory and band theory of solids; electrical conduction in metals and semi-conductors. The laboratory consists of an experimental project selected by the student and approved by the instructor.

Prerequisites

PHYS 14 and CHEM 5

Distribution Code

TLA

Description

The fundamental concepts and methods of thermodynamics are developed around the first and second laws. The distinctions between heat, work, and energy are emphasized. Common processes for generating work, heat, or refrigeration or changing the physical or chemical state of materials are analyzed. The use of thermodynamic data and auxiliary functions such as entropy, enthalpy, and free energy are integrated into the analysis. The numerous problems show how theoretical energy requirements and the limitations on feasible processes can be estimated. Enrollment is limited to 60 students.

Prerequisites

MATH 13, PHYS 13, ENGS 20 or COSC 1 and COSC 10

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

The course treats the design of analog, lumped parameter systems for the regulation or control of a plant or process to meet specified criteria of stability, transient response, and frequency response. The basic theory of control system analysis and design is considered from a general point of view. Mathematical models for electrical, mechanical, chemical, and thermal systems are developed. Feedback-control system design procedures are established, using root-locus and frequency response methods.

Prerequisites

ENGS 22

Distribution Code

TLA

Notes

Effective fall 2025, ENGS 21 carries a TLA distributive. Prior offerings were classified as a TAS.

Description

This course is an introduction to probabilistic methods for modeling, analyzing, and designing systems. Mathematical topics include the fundamentals of probability, random variables and common probability distributions, basic queueing theory, and stochastic simulation. Applications, drawn from a variety of engineering settings, may include measurement and noise, information theory and coding, computer networks, diffusion, fatigue and failure, reliability, statistical mechanics, ecology, decision making, and robust design.

Prerequisites

MATH 8 and either ENGS 20 or COSC 1 and COSC 10. PHYS 13 or CHEM 5 recommended.

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

A vast number of everyday products, from home appliances to automobiles, are controlled by small embedded computers, invisible to the user. This course introduces, at an elementary level, the three basic components of all such embedded systems: sensors to measure the physical environment, actuators to produce the system behavior, and a microcontroller that processes the sensor data and controls the actuators. Topics: microcontroller architecture and programming, writing embedded software, analog- to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion, interfacing sensors and actuators, and data communication. There are daily in-class design exercises and weekly labs. Enrollment is limited.

Prerequisites

ENGS 20 or COSC 10; and PHYS 14 (may be taken concurrently)

Distribution Code

TLA

Description

This course introduces computer-aided design and kinematics applied to study the geometry of motion in linkage systems that are components of machines ranging from vehicle suspensions to robotic arms. The principles and methods introduced include capturing design intent in parametric models, design communication with mechanical drawings, computer-based kinematic design, and design validation with rapid prototyping. A series of project-based learning activities focus on the design of linkage mechanisms to control the leg movements of walking machines where the objective is to transform the rotation of an input crank into a desired walking movement for the legs. The course aims to develop spatial and geometric thinking abilities while practicing mechanical design within constraints and building prototypes of increasingly complicated walking mechanisms. The lessons and projects examine technologies that surround us and art that explores the boundary of mechanical animals and life.

Prerequisites

ENGS 021

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

Introduction to the principles of physics and engineering applied to biological problems. Topics include the architecture of biological cells, molecular motion, entropic forces, enzymes and molecular machines, and nerve impulses. Enrollment is limited to 20 students.

Prerequisites

CHEM 5, PHYS 13 and PHYS 14 (or equivalent). PHYS 14 (or equivalent) may be taken concurrently. Students with strong quantitative skills who have taken PHYS 3 and PHYS 4 can enroll with permission of the instructor.

Cross Listed Courses

PHYS 30

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

This course teaches classical switching theory, including Boolean algebra, logic minimization, algorithmic state machine abstractions, and synchronous system design. This theory is then applied to digital electronic design. Techniques of logic implementation, from small scale integration (SSI) through application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), are encountered. There are weekly laboratory exercises for the first part of the course, followed by a digital design project in which the student designs and builds a large system of his or her choice. In the process, computer-aided design (CAD) and construction techniques for digital systems are learned. Enrollment is limited to 60 students.

Prerequisites

ENGS 20 or COSC 1 and COSC 10

Cross Listed Courses

COSC 56

Distribution Code

TLA

Description

Principles of operation of semiconductor diodes, bipolar and field-effect transistors, and their application in rectifier, amplifier, waveshaping, and logic circuits. Basic active-circuit theory. Introduction to integrated circuits: the operational amplifier and comparator, to include practical considerations for designing circuits with off-the shelf components. Emphasis on breadth of coverage of low-frequency linear and digital networks, as well as on high order passive and active filter design. Laboratory exercises permit "hands-on" experience in the analysis and design of simple electronic circuits. The course is designed for two populations: a) those desiring a single course in basic electronics, and b) those that need the fundamentals necessary for further study of active circuits and systems.

Prerequisites

ENGS 22, or equivalent background in basic circuit theory

Cross Listed Courses

PHYS 048

Distribution Code

TLA

Description

After a brief review of the concepts of rigid body statics, the field equations describing the static behavior of deformable elastic solids are developed. The stress and strain tensors are introduced and utilized in the development. Exact and approximate solutions of the field equations are used in the study of common loading cases, including tension/compression, bending, torsion, pressure, and combinations of these. In the laboratory phase of the course, various methods of experimental solid mechanics are introduced. Some of these methods are used in a project in which the deformation and stress in an actual load system are determined and compared with theoretical predictions. The course includes a series of computer exercises designed to enhance the student's understanding of the principles of solid mechanics.

Prerequisites

MATH 13 and PHYS 13

Distribution Code

TLA

Description

We interact with fluids every day. From complex systems such as cars, airplanes, and chemical plants, to simple devices like a bike pump, our world is filled with engineering applications that make use of the principles of fluid mechanics. This course surveys the fundamental concepts, phenomena, and methods in fluid mechanics, as well as their application in engineered systems and in nature. Emphasis is placed on the development and use of conservation laws for mass, momentum, and energy, as well as on the empirical knowledge essential to the understanding of many fluid dynamic phenomena. Examples are drawn from mechanical, chemical, civil, environmental, biomedical, and aerospace engineering.

Prerequisites

ENGS 23 or equivalent

Distribution Code

TLA

Description

A consideration of the engineering and scientific basis for using cells or their components in engineered systems. Central topics addressed include kinetics and reactor design for enzyme and cellular systems; fundamentals, techniques, and applications of recombinant DNA technology; and bioseparations. Additional lectures will provide an introduction to metabolic modeling as well as special topics. The course is designed to be accessible to students with both engineering and life-science backgrounds. This course has a graduate section, ENGS 160. Enrollment is limited to 20 students.

Prerequisites

MATH 3, CHEM 5, BIOL 12 or BIOL 13 or permission

Distribution Code

TLA

Description

This course will expose students to the fundamental principles of chemical engineering and the application of these principles to a broad range of systems. In the first part of the course, aspects of chemical thermodynamics, reaction kinetics, and transport phenomena will be addressed. These principles will then be applied to a variety of systems including industrial, environmental, and biological examples

Prerequisites

ENGS 22, ENGS 25 and CHEM 5

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

A survey of the sources, measurement techniques, and treatment technologies relating to environmental pollution resulting from the activities of humans. The course will be technology-focused, but will also touch on topics related to the implementation of technology in the real world such as public perception, policy and legislation, and choosing between technological alternatives. Technological and other issues will be addressed relating to water pollution, air pollution, solid wastes, and the fate and transport of pollutants in the environment. Consideration of each area will include general background and key concepts, detailed design examples of importance in the area, and case studies/current topics. The course will include guest lecturers.

Prerequisites

MATH 3 and CHEM 5, or equivalent, or permission

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

Natural resources sustain human productivity. Principles of scientific resource management are established, including mathematical model development based on material balances and decision making based on dynamical and stochastic systems. Three generic categories of resource are analyzed: exhaustible, living, and renewable. In the first category, we emphasize the life-cycle of exploitation including exhaustion, exploration and substitution. In the living category, we explore population dynamics under natural and harvested regimes, for fisheries, fowl and forests. The renewable case of water is treated in terms of quantity and quality. Finally, air quality management is considered through the lens of assimilative capacity. Throughout, the intersection of natural processes and economic incentives is explored with dynamical systems theory, computer simulations, and optimization techniques. Case studies illustrate contemporary management problems and practices.

Prerequisites

MATH 23 or ENGS 22, and ENGS 37

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

Introduction to the movement and transformation of contaminants released in soils, rivers, and the atmosphere. Fundamentals of advective-dispersive reactive transport, including approaches for assessing and parameterizing the complex heterogeneity and anisotropy of natural media. Analysis of mixing processes that lead to dispersion at larger spatial and temporal scales. Basic principles are illustrated by application to real world examples of groundwater, river, and atmospheric pollution.

Prerequisites

MATH 8 or equivalent and either ENGS 37 or EARS 16

Cross Listed Courses

EARS 66.01

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

This course is an interdisciplinary introduction to the principles of design for sustainability, with emphasis on the built environment. Through lectures, readings, discussions, and a major design project, students learn to design buildings and other infrastructure with low to no impact on the environment. Emphasis is on creative thinking, strategies for managing the complexity of the product life cycle of the infrastructure, and the thorough integration of human and economic aspects in the design. Homework and project activities provide practice in relevant engineering analysis. Enrollment is limited to 20 students.

Prerequisites

ENGS 21 and ENGS 22 or SART 65

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

Today, more than 50% of the world population lives in cities on less than 2% of the planetary surface. This urbanization is expected to remain a megatrend for the next decades. The resulting concentration of infrastructure and activities has created human ecosystems distinct from natural ecosystems, and their future depends not only on their internal sustainability but also on symbiotic interactions with the natural ecosystems on which they ultimately depend. This engineering course addresses the technological aspects of urban sustainability, including energy procurement, energy consumption and green energy, air quality, water supply, use and treatment, building infrastructure, transportation, resource conservation, decarbonization, city planning and the role of automation and information technology in modern sustainable cities. In the context of the triple bottom line (the framework that considers financial, social and environmental impacts), the course further addresses, but to a lesser extent, the aspects of sustainable economics and urban social wellbeing and cities as a hub for innovation. Berlin - as a rapidly growing dynamic urban space - has experimented with several solutions and has made significant progress toward sustainability. In Berlin, sustainability is a lived practice where green living deeply permeates everyday life. As such, Berlin presents a unique and unparalleled opportunity to study and understand the green system that is given by this environmentally friendly city. Berlin will be used extensively as an example and site for field work throughout the course. Institutions and political decisions which facilitated advancement of urban sustainability in Berlin will be addressed and their impact will be made visible during the field trips. The course is geared toward engineering majors who have previously taken the course ENGS 37, an introduction to environmental engineering, and develops the students’ proficiency, solution design and quantification abilities across a wide range of issues regarding sustainable cities.

Prerequisites

MATH 3 or MATH 8; PHYS 13; and ENGS 37 (ENGS 37 may be taken concurrently)

Description

A survey of advanced methods used to analyze the occurrence and movement of water in the natural environment. The watershed processes controlling the generation of runoff and streamflow are highlighted and used to explore the transport and fate of sediment and contaminants in watersheds. Throughout the course the ideas and concepts are explored through the primary literature, with emphasis given to methods of observation, measurement, data analysis, and prediction.

Prerequisites

MATH 3 and EARS 16 or 33 or BIO 53 or ENGS 43 or permission of instructor

Cross Listed Courses

EARS 76

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

Techniques for building large, reliable, maintainable, and understandable software systems. Topics include UNIX tools and filters, programming in C, software testing, debugging, and teamwork in software development. Concepts are reinforced through a small number of medium-scale programs and one team programming project.

Prerequisites

COSC 10 or equivalent

Cross Listed Courses

COSC 050

Distribution Code

TLA

Description

Basic concepts of optimization are introduced as aids in systematic decision making in engineering contexts. Deterministic optimization is developed in the form of linear and integer programming and their extensions. Probabilistic models are introduced in terms of Markov chains, queuing and inventory theory, and stochastic simulation. The course emphasizes the application of these methods to the design, planning, and operation of complex industrial and public systems.

Prerequisites

MATH 8 and MATH 22 or equivalent

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

In the early 1900s, quantum mechanics replaced the classical understanding of physics, leading to the first quantum revolution that harnessed quantum mechanical phenomena to create innovative new technologies like transistors and lasers. Today, we are witnessing the second quantum revolution, which requires exploiting quantum mechanics fully by isolating and controlling quantum systems. This course aims to prepare students for this second revolution and the transformative technologies that will be developed, which will significantly impact the future of electrical engineering, materials science, and computation. Through hands-on experience with actual quantum systems, we will explore the use of quantum mechanics in sensing, communication, and computation to develop an intuition for the subject and its applications.

Prerequisites

MATH 022 or ENGS 023 or PHYS 022

Description

This course will survey applications of engineering principles to medical diagnosis/treatment of disease, monitoring/measurement of physiological function, and rehabilitation/replacement of body dysfunction. Case studies will be used to highlight how engineering has advanced medical practice and understanding. Examples will be drawn from bioinstrumentation, bioelectricity, biotransport, biomaterials, and biomechanics. While investigations will focus primarily on the engineering aspects of related topics, issues surrounding patient safety, public policy and regulation, animal experimentation, etc., will be discussed as appropriate.

Prerequisites

ENGS 22, PHYS 13 and PHYS 14 (PHYS 14 may be taken concurrently)

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

The basic biomedical engineering concepts introduced in ENGS 56 will serve as the foundation for exploring technology in a clinical environment. The specific clinical setting to be explored will be the operating room (OR). This course will introduce a variety of surgical procedures and technologies from an engineering perspective. Areas of focus will include patient monitoring, biophysical tissue properties, general surgical instrumentation, tissue cutting and binding technologies, and optical visualization technologies. In addition, state-of-the-art procedures employing image-guided, minimally invasive, laparoscopic, and robot-assisted surgical technologies will be discussed. The first half of the term will include weekly seminars presented by surgeons describing a particular surgical procedure, the technologies currently used and a surgeon’s “wish-list”. During the second half of the term, students will undertake a design project aimed at developing a technology that addresses a specific need within the OR. Enrollment is limited to 18 students.

Prerequisites

ENGS 23 and ENGS 56 or equivalent

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

Engineered biomolecules are powering an array of innovations in biotechnology, and this course will familiarize students with key developments in the field. An overview of foundational principles will cover concepts such as the central dogma of biology, atomic scale forces in protein structures, and protein structure-function relationships. Strategies for modifying protein structures will be surveyed, with a particular emphasis on genetic techniques. The development of proteins with practical utility will be highlighted using case studies.

Prerequisites

ENGS 35 or CHEM 41

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

This course will provide a comprehensive introduction to the design, modeling, and experimental implementation of synthetic bio-molecular circuits in living cells at an undergraduate level. Simple but sophisticated synthetic biological circuits will be implemented and tested in microbial cells in the laboratory including those involving molecular amplification, regulatory feedback loops with biological nonlinearities, and robust analog circuits. Computer aided design, modeling, and simulation will use CADENCE, an industry standard electronic circuit design laboratory tool. It will show them how to design, model, and fit actual experimental biological data such that engineering circuit theory and biological experiment agree.

Prerequisites

ENGS 22 or Permission of Instructor. Experience in Molecular Biology is useful (e.g. ENGS 35, BIOL 45, & BIOL 46 or equivalent) but not necessary.

Distribution Code

TLA

Description

In this course the physical and operational principles behind important electronic devices such as the solar cell and transistor are introduced. Semiconductor electron and hole concentrations and carrier transport are discussed. Carrier generation and recombination including optical absorption and light emission are covered. P-N junction operation and its application to diodes, solar cells, LEDs, and photodiodes is developed. The field-effect transistor (FET) and bipolar junction transistor (BJT) are then discussed and their terminal operation developed. Application of transistors to bipolar and CMOS analog and digital circuits is introduced. The course is primarily intended for students interested in electronics, including digital, analog, power and energy, both at component and integrated circuit levels. The course may also be useful to students interested in electronic materials, device microfabrication and communications.

Prerequisites

ENGS 23

Distribution Code

TLA

Description

This course will build on ENGS 32, providing a foundation for transistor- level analog and digital circuit design. The course will start with an introduction to the Semiconductor Industry and how it has dramatically altered the modern way of life, resulting in diverse technologies from the iPhone and Facebook to LED lighting and electric transportation. This will lead into basic semiconductor theory and CMOS device models, two-port linearized models, and finally single- and multi-stage amplifiers with applications motivated by wireless communications and biomedical instrumentation. The second half of the class will focus on digital circuits. Topics will include designing and optimizing complex static CMOS in terms of energy, delay, and area for computational blocks and memory arrays (SRAM, DRAM, and FLASH). The class will have weekly labs and a final project that will utilize modern computeraided design tools (Cadence). The course will prepare the student for advanced study of highly integrated electrical circuits.

Prerequisites

ENGS 32

Distribution Code

TLA

Description

Microprocessors and microcomputers are central components in an ever-increasing number of consumer, industrial, and scientific products. This course extends the experimental design methodology developed in ENGS 50 to state-of-the-art System-on-Chip (SoC) architectures and explores the principles behind advanced embedded systems. SoC devices are highly-integrated components that combine high-performance multi-core processors, with Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), and a broad selection of industry standard peripheral interfaces -- all within a single chip. Students are introduced to concepts of event-driven finites state machines, peripheral interfacing via the processor and the FPGA fabric, and advanced hardware-software co-design tools that speed the design process. The course is based on a sequence of laboratory projects that incorporate SoC programming practices and debugging strategies, interrupt handling, FPGA and bus interfaces, and attached peripheral devices.

Prerequisites

ENGS 50

Distribution Code

TLA

Description

Electric energy sources, systems, and applications are essential for reducing climate impacts of energy and for engineering high-performance systems and products. This course builds skills for designing and working with electric energy, including AC and DC electrical power and energy calculations; an overview of power systems; electric motor fundamentals and applications; electric power applications and opportunities for electrifications; electrical safety; and power distribution in buildings. Several laboratory exercises are included. Not open to students who have received credit for ENGS 85.12.

Prerequisites

ENGS 22 and ENGS 32 or instructor permission

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

Conceptual development, techniques and engineering applications in electrostatics, magnetostatics and magnetic induction; displacement current and Maxwell’s equations; transmission line analysis; propagation, reflection, refraction and dispersion of electromagnetic waves.

Prerequisites

ENGS 23

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

As a successor to ENGS 20, this course covers intermediate topics in programming and software design with an emphasis on engineering applications. Students will learn software design principles and basic data structures. Topics covered will include object-oriented design, user interface design, lists, stacks, queues, binary trees, hash tables, and simulation. Students will learn techniques for developing maintainable, extensible, and understandable software.

Prerequisites

ENGS 20 or COSC 1 and COSC 10

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

This course integrates discrete mathematics with algorithms and data structures, using computer science applications to motivate the mathematics. It covers logic and proof techniques, induction, set theory, counting, asymptotics, discrete probability, graphs, and trees.

Prerequisites

ENGS 20 or COSC 1 and COSC 10 or advanced placement

Cross Listed Courses

COSC 030

Distribution Code

QDS

Description

Multi-core processors are now ubiquitous in most personal computers. These are the fundamental computer-engineering building blocks for high-performance servers, blade farms, and cloud computing. In order to utilize these devices in large systems they must be interconnected through networking and collectively programmed. This hands-on system-engineering course offers students the opportunity to explore problem-solving techniques on a high-performance multi-computer containing multi-core processors. The course involves weekly programming laboratories that teach POSIX thread, UDP and TCP network, and MPI style programming techniques. These techniques are explored in the context of scalable problem solving methods applied to typical problems in science and engineering ranging from client-server sensing and data repositories, to numerical methods, gaming and decision support. All laboratories will be conducted in the C programming language and proficiency in C is required. Enrollment is limited to 30 students.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ENGS 20 or COSC 50

Cross Listed Courses

COSC 063

Distribution Code

TLA

Description

This course provides an introduction to communication systems. The focus is on the deterministic aspects of analog and digital systems. The student is introduced to modeling and analyzing signals in the time and frequency domains. Modulation techniques are addressed as well as sampling, multiplexing, line coding, and pulse shaping. Recent developments in communication systems are briefly discussed.

Prerequisites

ENGS 22, ENGS 27 and ENGS 92.

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

This course teaches students how to design, implement, test, debug and publish smartphone applications. Topics include development environment, phone emulator, key programming paradigms, UI design including views and activities, data persistence, messaging and networking, embedded sensors, location based services (e.g., Google Maps), cloud programming, and publishing applications. Concepts are reinforced through a set of weekly programming assignments and group projects. Enrollment is limited to 50 students.

Prerequisites

COSC 10

Cross Listed Courses

COSC 065

Distribution Code

TAS

Notes

Course Not offered in the 23-24 Academic Year

Description

An introduction to the behavior of structural systems (including examples of buildings, space structures, and mechanical systems), with an emphasis on modeling and approximating behavior. Classical and computational analysis methods for structural load flow through basic three-dimensional structures; methods of approximating the response of planar structures; methods of determining deformations in planar, statically determinate structure; actions and deformations in statically indeterminate structures, using both flexibility/compatibility methods and stiffness/equilibrium methods (including an introduction to matrix methods). A structural system of choice will be redesigned to improve performance.

Prerequisites

ENGS 20 or COSC 1 and COSC 10 and ENGS 33

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

The fundamentals of dynamics with emphasis on their application to engineering problems. Newtonian mechanics including kinematics and kinetics of particles and rigid bodies, work, energy, impulse, and momentum. Intermediate topics will include Lagrange's equations, energy methods, Euler's equations, rigid body dynamics, and the theory of small oscillations.

Prerequisites

ENGS 22

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

In this course the basic concepts of materials science introduced in ENGS 24 are applied to a variety of materials problems and processes. The course will treat processes and principles relevant to both mechanical and electrical engineering applications. Topics include solidification and crystal growth, joining and bonding techniques, deformation processing, surface coatings and thin film deposition, polymer processing, composite materials, magnetic and dielectric materials, powder metallurgy and ceramics processing, materials selection, failure processes, and quality control. The course will involve laboratory exercises and field trips to local industry. Materials applications will be considered on a case study basis, including aerospace and automotive structures, consumer goods, high performance sports equipment, electric components, VLSI circuit fabrication and packaging.

Prerequisites

ENGS 24 and ENGS 33 or equivalent

Distribution Code

TLA

Notes

Not offered 2022 - 2024

Description

ENGS 75 is a blended laboratory and lecture course on the practices and analyses that guide the design and development of physical, engineered products. The scope addresses consumer and industrial mechanical and electro-mechanical products, including those with embedded electronics, biomedical instruments and devices (including drug delivery systems), chemical processing equipment, and more. Lectures will introduce engineering design and development practices, methods, and tools that are relevant from product inception, through prototyping, and into eventual production. Emphasis is placed on design for manufacturing, robustness, and environmental impact. Students will be challenged to synthesize creative and disciplined strategies that apply these practices and methods in each of two design projects. Working in a team-based environment they will identify needs and value, then plan, design, develop, and test prototypes. SolidWorks will be used extensively for models of individual components and assemblies. Students will prepare presentations and written reports of progress and deliverables at key milestones. Readings from texts and case studies, along with several guest lectures from visiting professionals, are included as well.

Prerequisites

ENGS 21 plus one of the following: ENGS 31, ENGS 32, ENGS 33, ENGS 35, ENGS 36, ENGS 37, or ENGS 56. Experience with SolidWorks is helpful but not required.

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

An introduction to the analysis and synthesis of mechanical components and systems. Lecture topics focus on design and analysis of mechanical components subject to static and fatigue loading conditions, deformation, and buckling. Power transmission shafting, bearings, and gears will be studied in detail. A survey of design requirements for other components — springs, screws, belts, clutches, brakes, roller chains, and welded and riveted connections — will be provided. The class includes laboratory sessions for developing practical skills in design fabrication. A term project emphasizes the synthesis of a working machine to complete a specified task. The project involves the design or selection of components studied, and includes fabrication and demonstration of the machine. Solid modeling software is used as a design tool. Enrollment is limited to 25 students.

Prerequisites

ENGS 21, ENGS 33, and proficiency with solid modeling software

Distribution Code

TAS

Description

Advanced undergraduates occasionally arrange with a Thayer faculty member a reading course in a subject not occurring in the regularly scheduled curriculum. This course can only be elected once and either ENGS 84 or ENGS 85 may be used toward the Engineering Sciences major, but not both.

Prerequisites

Permission of the department chair.

Notes

(Proposed courses should include a full syllabus, resources and student evaluation methods and must be submitted for approval prior to the end of the term preceding the term in which the course will be taken.)

Description

From time to time a section of ENGS 85 may be offered in order to provide an advanced course in a topic which would not otherwise appear in the curriculum. This course can only be elected once and either ENGS 84 or 85 may be used toward the Engineering Sciences major, but not both.

Prerequisites

Permission of the department chair

Description

Computational modeling in materials science is a powerful tool that allows discovery of new materials and exploration of materials theory. This course introduces the use of computational modeling to understand and predict materials behavior, properties and processes. The course will introduce a series of common materials modeling approaches from molecular dynamics to Monte-Carlo simulations and Density Functional Theory. All methods will be illustrated using use cases from various fields of materials science (e.g., Li-ion batteries, structural alloys, …). The students will learn to apply these methods hands-on on specific problems writing code and using open-source codes. A strong emphasis will be on the critical assessment of the limits of the models.

Prerequisites

ENGS 24, ENGS 20, and working knowledge of ordinary and partial differential equations. Students not meeting the prerequisites and non-engineering majors may seek instructor permission.

Description

This course introduces computer-aided design and kinematics applied to study the geometry of motion in linkage systems that are components of machines ranging from vehicle suspensions to robotic arms. The principles and methods introduced include capturing design intent in parametric models, design communication with mechanical drawings, computer-based kinematic design, and design validation with rapid prototyping. A series of project-based learning activities focus on the design of linkage mechanisms to control the leg movements of walking machines where the objective is to transform the rotation of an input crank into a desired walking movement for the legs. The course aims to develop spatial and geometric thinking abilities while practicing mechanical design within constraints and building prototypes of increasingly complicated walking mechanisms. The lessons and projects examine technologies that surround us and art that explores the boundary of mechanical animals and life.

Prerequisites

ENGS 21

Description

Electric energy sources, systems, and applications are essential for reducing climate impacts of energy and for engineering high-performance systems and products. This course builds skills for designing and working with electric energy, including AC and DC electrical power and energy calculations; an overview of power systems; electric motor fundamentals and applications; electric power applications and opportunities for electrifications; electrical safety; and power distribution in building. Several laboratory exercises are included.

Prerequisites

ENGS 22 and ENGS 32 or instructor permission

Description

This course is a blended laboratory and lecture course that builds foundational knowledge of processing methodology, design, and materials selection. The course introduces the wide scope of additive manufacturing (AM) techniques and contextualizes their unique opportunities and considerations within the broader manufacturing space. Emphasis is placed on connecting fundamental processing concepts to both structural and materials engineering aspects of design with AM. Topics will include extrusion-, laser-, binder-, and synthesis-based methods for various material classes ranging from polymers to glasses, biomaterials, alloys, functional ceramics, composites, and more. Labs focus on the demonstration of lectured concepts through hands-on printing experience, characterization of AM components, and a team-based design challenge. Students will also apply their knowledge in a team-based project to analyze, assess, and pitch a new implementation of AM for an industrial application.

Prerequisites

ENGS 24

Description

Helmets increase head injuries. The fastest people are the latest. Hospital patients are less likely to have cancer when their bones are broken. But don’t throw out your helmet, break your leg, or invest in transportation inefficiency just yet... Causality is the beacon of science and foundation of policy, but causal relationships can be lost in a labyrinth of correlation. Instead of caveating correlative studies, this course establishes the principles on which scientists and engineers can answer true causal questions. At the core of this pursuit is experimentation. We will build a formal understanding of randomized control trials that allows us to generalize these principles to observational (i.e. non-experimental) data. These generalizations will give rise to mathematical tools for learning (causal or non-causal) relationships when experiments aren’t quite what we would want them to be.

Prerequisites

ENGS 20 or COSC 10, and ENGS 27 or ENGS 93; or instructor permission

Notes

All coding assignments will use Python. No previous experience with Python is required.

Description

An individual research or design project carried out under the supervision of a member of Thayer School faculty member. Students electing this course will be expected to carry out preliminary reading during the preceding term. A major written report and oral presentation will be submitted at the completion of the course. ENGS 86 may be counted as an elective in the major if ENGS 89 is taken as the culminating experience. Only one of either ENGS 86 or ENGS 88 may be used in satisfaction of the combined A.B. major and B.E. degree requirements.

Prerequisites

Senior standing in the Engineering Sciences major or Bachelor of Engineering standing and permission of the department chair is required.

Notes

(One-page proposal submission required and must be submitted for approval prior to the end of the term preceding the term in which the course will be taken.)

Description

An original investigation in a phase of science or engineering under the supervision of a Thayer School faculty member. Students electing the course will be expected to carry out preliminary reading during the preceding term and to meet weekly with the individual supervising the investigation. The course is open to qualified students intending to complete ENGS 86 or 88 and who have three or fewer terms remaining in their undergraduate (AB) program. Instructor and faculty advisor permissions are required, and it may be elected only once. A report describing the details of the investigation must be filed with the instructor and approved at the completion of the course. Grading is CT/NC and the course does not fulfill any major requirements, BE requirements, nor distributive requirements. A proposal is required. The template is available on the Engineering website and must be submitted for approval prior to the end of the term preceding the term in which the course will be taken.

Prerequisites

Permission of the department chair.

Notes

One-page proposal submission required and must be submitted for approval prior to the end of the term preceding the term in which the course will be taken: ENGS 87 Proposal Template

Description

Honors version of ENGS 86. A course normally elected by honors students in one term of the senior year. The student will conduct a creative investigation suitable to the major subject under the supervision and guidance of a member of Thayer School faculty member. Students electing this course will be expected to begin the project work at least one term prior to electing ENGS 88 and may choose to conduct the preliminary investigation under ENGS 87. A major written report and oral presentation will be submitted at the completion of the course. Only one of either ENGS 86 or ENGS 88 may be used in satisfaction of the combined A.B. major and B.E. degree requirements.

Prerequisites

Permission of the chair of the Honors program.

Description

This course explores elements of the engineering design process as a means of enhancing student ability in problem definition, development and evaluation of creative alternatives, application and methods of technical and economic analysis, identification and application of ethical and legal constraints, and effective presentation of technical information. Design projects are developed from specifications submitted by industry and other organizations and are pursued over the course of two quarters as a team project (ENGS 89/90). Written and oral proposals and progress reports are required for the design project during the term. A project advisor is required for each design team to serve as a consultant to the team's efforts. ENGS 89 is the first unit of a two-term course sequence (ENGS 89/90) that must be taken consecutively.

Prerequisites

Prior to enrollment in ENGS 89, at least six engineering courses must be completed. These include ENGS 21 plus five additional courses numbered 22 to 76 (excluding 75) and 91 and above.

Description

This course is the second unit in the two-course team engineering design sequence ENGS 89/90. The objective of the course is to develop the students' professional abilities by providing a realistic project experience in engineering analysis, design, and development. Students continue with the design teams formed in ENGS 89 to complete their projects. Design teams are responsible for all aspects of their respective projects: science, innovation, analysis, experimentation, economic decisions and business operations, planning of projects, patents, and relationships with clients. Mid-term and final oral presentations and written reports are required. A faculty member is assigned to each design team to serve as consultant to the team's efforts.

Prerequisites

ENGS 89

Description

A study and analysis of important numerical and computational methods for solving engineering and scientific problems. The course will include methods for solving linear and nonlinear equations, doing polynomial interpolation, evaluating integrals, solving ordinary differential equations, and determining eigenvalues and eigenvectors of matrices. The student will be required to write and run computer programs. ENGS 91 may not be used by mathematics or computer science majors in partial satisfaction of the distributive requirement.

Prerequisites

ENGS 20 or COSC 1 and COSC 10; ENGS 22 or MATH 23, or equivalent

Cross Listed Courses

COSC 071

Distribution Code

QDS

Description

Survey of a number of mathematical methods of importance in engineering and physics with particular emphasis on the Fourier transform as a tool for modeling and analysis. Orthogonal function expansions, Fourier series, discrete and continuous Fourier transforms, generalized functions and sampling theory, complex functions and complex integration, Laplace, Z, and Hilbert transforms. Computational Fourier analysis, applications to linear systems, waves, and signal processing.

Prerequisites

MATH 46 or ENGS 22 and ENGS 23 or the equivalent

Cross Listed Courses

PHYS 070

Distribution Code

QDS

Description

The application of statistical techniques and concepts to maximize the amount and quality of information resulting from experiments. After a brief introductory summary of fundamental concepts in probability and statistics, topics considered will include probability distributions, sampling distributions, estimation and confidence intervals for parameters of statistical distributions, hypothesis testing, design and analysis of variance for single and multiple-factor experiments, regression analysis, estimation and confidence intervals for parameters of non-statistical models, and statistical quality control.

Prerequisites

MATH 13 or equivalent

Distribution Code

QDS

Notes

Due to significant overlap in material, students may not take both ENGS 93 and ENGG 193.

Description

Mathematics for Machine Learning aims to lay the mathematical foundation that are key to understanding the motivations and the implementation ML algorithms. This course will cover the following four broad topics; namely, vector calculus, probability theory, matrix algebra and optimization, in so far as they are used in ML algorithms. The course will conclude with application of these topics to four prototypical ML tasks/algorithms – two in supervised learning (regression using linear models and classification using support vector machine), and two in unsupervised learning (clustering using expectation maximization (EM) and dimensionality reduction using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Programming at the level of Python and ML software packages (PyTorch, Tensorflow, etc.) will be used to supplement the understanding of the mathematics and algorithms, though the focus of the course will be on developing mathematical foundations and intuitions for the ML algorithms, rather than on developing large-scale applications of ML algorithms.

Prerequisites

ENGS 20 or COSC 10, and MATH 8. MATH 20 and MATH 22 are recommended but not mandatory.

Distribution Code

QDS

Description

Hands-on experience with existing enterprises can create a valuable training and enrichment experience for students in the Thayer Bachelor of Engineering program. At the end of the internship, students will make a presentation to the Thayer community that addresses the nature of the enterprise they were engaged in, the problem they were assigned, and the results and impact of the project. The purpose of the presentation is to share lessons learned from the experience with the Thayer community. The presentation will be accompanied by a short but complete written report. Neither the presentation nor report should contain confidential information of the enterprise. The course is graded after completion of the report, normally before the second week of the term following the internship, and the grade is based on evaluation from the student’s on-site internship supervisor as well as the instructor’s evaluation of the student’s presentation and written report. This is a 0.5 credit course and due to the full-time nature of the internship experience, students may not enroll in other courses during the internship experience. The credit for this course will appear on the Thayer School of Engineering transcript, and this course counts toward the number of credits required for the Bachelor of Engineering degree. Students must complete an internship proposal form, and consult with and gain approval from the instructor prior to enrollment. Students may only enroll in and receive credit for ENGG 99 once. Students holding F-1 visa status will need to get an updated I-20 endorsed with employment authorization, prior to starting their internship. F-1 students should consult the Office of Visa and Immigration Services (OVIS) about the CPT work authorization process. Internships typically occur in the summer term, may be paid by the company, and must be based on the term start and end dates.

Prerequisites

Permission of the instructor. Enrollment is open to students accepted to the BE degree program with at least 2 but not more than 9 courses remaining in their BE program plan.

Description

Electrochemical energy materials and devices are playing a vital role in our technology driven society, and are in massive and rapidly growing demand for applications ranging from portable electronics to electric cars, from grid-scale energy storage to defense purposes. This course will give an introduction to the materials developments and characterizations in diverse electrochemical devices, with a focus on various electrode materials and technologies. Topics include, for example, basic principles of electrochemistry; introduction of a series of electrochemical energy storage devices; materials in emerging new battery technologies; photoelectrochemistry and photovoltaic devices. This course focuses on understanding materials science and challenges in modern electrochemical devices. For example, how to engineer the structures and properties of materials to maximize their electrochemical performances? How to characterize structures and compositions of electrochemical materials? The course also includes guest lectures to introduce a variety of energy materials for broad applications, such as solar cells and electrochemical sensing. (It is assumed that students do not have background in electrochemistry.)

Prerequisites

ENGS 024 or Permission of Instructor

Description

Metabolic engineering combines aspects of chemical engineering, systems biology and synthetic biology. This course focuses on developing a quantitative understanding of metabolic processes within the cell. Although metabolism is a complex process, it is determined by a small number of physical constraints, including enzyme activity, mass balance and thermodynamics. In this course you will learn to perform a mass balance, construct and analyze a stoichiometric network, simulate a series of kinetic reactions, and analyze isotope tracer experiments. Key genetic techniques, including CRISPR, will be presented. Computational analysis will be performed using COBRA and Equilibrator via Python and associated tools in the Python Data Science stack. These tools will be applied first to several canonical examples from the metabolic engineering literature and then to a project of your choosing.

Prerequisites

ENGS 20, ENGS 35, and a non-introductory course in biochemistry or molecular biology, or permission.