Certificate in Engineering for Energy Sustainability
Overview | Requirements | Courses | Course Plans | Course Plan Examples | Forms
Overview:
Equity and sustainability of energy resources in the face of increasing global population and economic development are key issues at the center of the public discourse today. The objective of this certificate program is to offer undergraduate students a suite of courses addressing energy sustainability that span across the engineering curriculum, with firm roots in “real world” design and engineering practices.
Requirements:
Students who are enrolled as degree-seeking undergraduate students with a minimum GPA of 2.5 and a plan of study to fulfill the certificate requirements may enroll in the program.
A student interested in completing the certificate program must contact a particular faculty member in his or her major department to apply. The student and faculty member must fill out this declaration of intent and tentative study plan to enter the certificate program.
The following faculty members have been designated as a points of contact for each department:
- Richard J. Straub, Biological Systems Engineering
- Robert G. Radwin, Biomedical Engineering
- Thatcher Root, Chemical and Biological Engineering
- Jeffrey S. Russell, Civil and Environmental Engineering
- John H. Booske, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Susan E. Babcock, Materials Science and Engineering
- Roxann L. Engelstad, Mechanical Engineering
- Michael L. Corradini, Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics
Courses:
Students will select the 16 “sustainability credits” from a suite of available courses that are divided into the following categories:
- Science/Liberal studies
- Engineering
- Capstone
Students will be required to take a minimum of 3 credits from each category, and a maximum of 6 from any category.
Capstone courses associated with the certificate program are offered by faculty within various departments, supervising independent work by students who are nearing completion of their corresponding degree program, with parallel interest in the subject of energy sustainability. Supervising faculty of the respective capstone courses will assign sustainability credits for their courses.
Students will also have to fulfill a one-credit seminar requirement. This will consist of student presentations and panel discussions on the topics of energy sustainability. In the immediate future, this seminar requirement will be fulfilled through the course CBE 555, Chemical Engineering Connections. In the near future, a cross-listed course will be developed for this purpose.
Click here for a list of approved courses (PDF)
Course Plans:
During the term that they expect to meet the certificate requirements, students must fill out and submit this course plan to the supervising faculty member of their capstone courses in their major department. The faculty member will review the course plan and make the recommendation for a certificate to the respective department’s professional advising staff.
Course Plan Examples:
The certificate program is designed to fit into any engineering major’s study plan. Click the links below to see an example course study plan for each major. Please be advised that the courses in these study plans are from around 2005, and so may be outdated. Please see above for the approved courses in each semester: