Program Objectives
Students who complete this program successfully will be able to:
- Better understand the role of engineering in society and the interactions of engineering with their major field of study.
- Perform simple calculations and estimations using the engineering method.
- Make simple cost-benefit analyses and risk-benefit analyses.
- Appreciate the importance of the underlying assumptions used to produce the cost-benefit analyses and risk-benefit analyses presented by engineers.
- Make informed decisions about the desirability of engineering activities by weighing the benefits of those activities against their environmental risks.
- Understand the interdependence of the economic, environmental, and sociological aspects of technological change.
- Assess the validity and possible weaknesses in predictions presented by others of economic, environmental, and sociological consequences of technological change.
- Attain a basic understanding of the engineering design process.
- Achieve a survey-level understanding of why particular materials and processes are used to produce simple engineering devices and systems.
- Understand the capabilities and limitations of basic manufacturing processes and engineering systems.
