Complementary Minors and Certificates
The following minors complement the curriculum of the engineering degree:
Engineering Leadership Development
This interdisciplinary minor is designed to provide engineering students with critical principles and skills. Engineering graduates must demonstrate the ability to assume leadership roles in a competitive technologically complex global society. There are increasing demands for engineers to be able to deal effectively with other people, including the ability to work in teams and to interact with customers and other organizations on both national and international levels. Students will employ engineering case studies in active and collaborative classroom settings to develop these skills. The minor consists of 18 semester hours. Students in all engineering majors are eligible.
Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ENTI)
Skills attributed to entrepreneurial behavior and innovative thinking are beneficial for students in most if not all majors, and are critical to career success in established companies and new organizations to address pressing needs around the globe. This interdisciplinary minor uses problem-based learning and other active learning pedagogies to prepare students to create value and be agents of positive change in their discipline and their careers. The courses develop skills , knowledge and values in problem solving, innovation, opportunity recognition, self-efficacy, leadership, ethics, communications and learning from failure. To meet the students’ broad range of entrepreneurship and innovation interests, core courses (9 credits) establish foundational knowledge, and then students select a concentration cluster aligned to specific contexts such as entrepreneurship in food and bio-innovation, technology, the arts, media, hospitality, digital, social entrepreneurship, advocacy or new ventures. Students who complete the ENTI minor will be better prepared to be innovation leaders in their chosen career path, such as being entrepreneurial in an existing company (intrapreneurship), engaging in a start-up venture full or part-time, finding avenues to leverage their art or craft, or creating alliances to meet social or business needs.
Information Sciences and Technology
This minor is structured to provide students with the theoretical frameworks and skill sets necessary to compete and be productive in the information technology-intensive global context that defines the new "Information Age." Specifically, the minor will be focused on a program that will build an understanding of core information technologies and related areas of study; will prepare students for the practical application of various information sciences and related technologies; and engage students in sharpening their abilities to think critically and to work in teams. All this will be done with the intent to expose students to the cognitive, social, institutional, and global environments of Information Sciences and Technology and to then apply that knowledge as a supplement to their major.
International Engineering
The International Engineering Minor is paired with any engineering baccalaureate major at any campus in order to provide students with an opportunity to learn about, and understand their profession in a global context. It is designed to provide students with knowledge, language skills, and experiences to help prepare them for a professional career that is likely to include collaborations with professionals from various parts of the world. The minor will help students understand the cross-cultural communications challenges and the global arena in which their profession is practiced. Students completing this minor will gain a competitive advantage because they will be able to demonstrate a broader understanding of the role of their profession and will have demonstrated their ability to communicate across cultural lines.
