URI Engineering’s Mission. The College of Engineering is a diverse community of scholars, learners, and professional staff dedicated to the development and application
of advanced technologies, and working together to enhance the quality of life for all. We are creative problem solvers, innovators, inventors, and entrepreneurs, applying our skills for the advancement of knowledge, service to our community, and the economic development of the state of Rhode Island and beyond. We prepare our graduates to be global leaders in a wide range of engineering disciplines and to create
new knowledge, products, and services.
Expected Learning Outcomes. As required by ABET, Inc.’s engineering accreditation criteria, graduates receiving baccalaureate degrees in all engineering disciplines will demonstrate:
(a) an ability to apply knowledge of mathematics,
science, and engineering
(b) an ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data
(c) an ability to design a system, component,
or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic,
environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability,
and sustainability
(d) an ability to function on multi-disciplinary
teams
(e) an ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems
(f) an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility
(g) an ability to communicate effectively
(h) the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental,
and societal context
(i) a recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning
(j) a knowledge of contemporary issues
(k) an ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice.
Engineers from all fields are heavily involved
in the solution of technological and socio-technological problems; industry’s needs are for balanced teams of both men and women from different engineering areas. Therefore, the college’s goal is to stimulate our students to become creative, responsible engineers, aware of the social implications of their work, and flexible enough to adjust to the rapid changes taking
place in the world and, consequently, in all branches of engineering.
The College of Engineering (COE) offers undergraduate majors in biomedical, chemical,
chemical and ocean, civil, computer, electrical, industrial, mechanical, and ocean engineering. In addition, an ocean option is available in mechanical engineering. Because the same fundamental concepts underlie all branches of engineering, the freshman-year courses are quite similar for all curricula, and the choice of a specific branch of engineering may be delayed until the beginning of either the second term or the second year of study. Students electing one of the programs that include ocean options follow the curriculum for chemical or mechanical engineering for two or three years and enroll in several ocean engineering
courses in the junior and senior years. All of the engineering curricula are based on an intense study of mathematics and the basic sciences supporting the fundamentals of each engineering discipline. These principles
are applied to the understanding and solution of problems of current interest and importance in the field. Each curriculum is designed to provide the knowledge and ability necessary for practice as a professional
engineer, or for successful graduate study, which may include law, business administration,
or medicine, as well as engineering and science disciplines.
Curriculum Requirements
Entering engineering students who have chosen a specific major should follow the particular program listed in this section. It is recommended that those students who have decided to major in engineering but have not selected a specific program take the following courses: CHM 101 and 102, EGR 105, MTH 141, PHY 203 and 273, and a general education requirement during their first semester. Students who are still undecided about their choice of major after completing the first semester should review their choice of courses for the second semester with their advisor to be certain that they meet the prerequisites for the sophomore year.
Students who are undecided about engineering but wish to keep it open as an option should note that MTH 141, 142; PHY 203, 204 and 273, 274; and a course in chemistry are required for graduation from the College of Engineering, and are prerequisites for many engineering courses. They must be taken before transferring from University College (UC) to the COE.
To transfer from UC to the COE, students must not only complete 24 credits with a grade point average of 2.00 or better, they must also complete all of the required mathematics, science, and engineering
courses for the freshman year with a grade point average of 2.00 or better.
To meet graduation requirements, students
enrolled in the COE must satisfactorily complete all courses of the curriculum in which they are registered and obtain a grade point average of 2.00 or better in all required science, mathematics, and engineering courses (including professional electives). Students are also required to complete an exit survey at least one semester
prior to their anticipated graduation date. At the discretion of the dean, students who do not demonstrate satisfactory progress
may be required to leave the COE.
Student Advisement. Engineering students are advised by engineering faculty members. While the student is in UC, the advising takes place at UC; once the student transfers to COE, advising takes place at the departmental level. The office of the Associate Dean provides non-routine advising.
General Education Requirements. Engineering students must meet URI’s general education requirements listed on pages 34–35, except that only three credits are required in the foreign language or culture component. In these courses, students are exposed to and challenged by concepts from the humanities and social sciences to ensure that the social relevance of their engineering activities will never be forgotten. In selecting courses to satisfy these requirements, students should consult with their advisors to be certain that they have met department-specific course requirements. The requirements in mathematics and natural sciences are satisfied by required courses in the engineering curricula.
Computers. The College of Engineering’s Computer Center (ECC) supports the teaching and research activities in the college; it is located in Kirk. Students are assigned computer accounts upon entering the COE and use these accounts until they graduate. Email accounts are maintained separately and do not expire. In addition to providing the computer technologies that engineering students rely on for their course work, the ECC also provides faculty members with the resources necessary for their teaching and research commitments, through the use of network services, classrooms, and the expertise of the staff in identifying and procuring software. The ECC houses 75 workstations and offers scanning, printing, and copying services, along with cable and wireless Internet access for personal laptop computers. In addition to a large general-purpose area, the ECC has four classrooms, each containing a specific type of equipment, which can be reserved for classes or labs. All equipment in the ECC is networked and controlled by two centralized servers. The Department of Chemical Engineering has a senior computing room with PCs and a junior computing room, also with PCs. Several specialized software packages such as Aspen and FEMLAB are available on these computers for undergraduate teaching and research. Printers are located in all the computer rooms and a dedicated large-scale plotter is available in the department. The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering has two computational facilities. The CADD Laboratory contains 22 state-of-the-art computers, two large-format plotters, and several printers; it is also equipped with a direct projection multimedia system. In addition to AutoCAD, other software packages are available in this laboratory including AutoCOGO, CIVIL, CONSOL, Darwin, Eaglepoint, HCS, Land Development Desktop, MicroPaver, RSS, PCSTABL, RamSteel, Seep/W, Sewer-CAD, Slope/W, SRWALL, STAADPro, SURVEY, Synchro, TransCAD, TSIS, WaterCAD, ZStress, and others. Modern geomatics and surveying equipment (funded by the Champlin Foundations) including electronic Total Station and GPS for field data acquisition are linked to the CADD lab computers, printers, and plotters for graphic GIS representation and analysis. The senior Capstone Design Project Studio has six computers used by the design teams during the integrated capstone design project. The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has numerous multiprocessor Linux and UNIX servers. The primary servers feature hardware raid and fiber-optic gigabit network connections. The main computing lab hosts 14 general use, dual-monitor Linux work stations, many of which have dual-core processors. These machines are available 24 hours a day to all students in the department. In addition, there are approximately 50 Linux workstations and 40 Windows systems dispersed throughout laboratories and offices. Available software includes Matlab for signal processing, HSPICE for analog circuit simulation, Quartus for FPGA simulation and design, as well as thousands of open-source applications. Numerous laser printers are available, including duplex (two-sided) and color variants. Wireless network access is available throughout the department. The Department of Mechanical Engineering has a computer classroom that includes 25 networked PC workstations, two high-speed laser printers, and a direct projection system for classroom and seminar presentations. Application software includes SolidWorks, Working Model, Matlab, Abaqus, Algor, Excel, FEMLAB, Maple, Engineering Equation Solver, Compact 2-D (CFD) and others. In addition, laboratories in the Mechanical Engineering Department are equipped with a variety of computers for computational modeling studies, high-speed data acquisition and control of mechanical devices. The Department of Ocean Engineering has a computer laboratory at the Bay Campus to support both their education and research programs. The laboratory is permanently accessible to students, both physically (in two computer rooms located in the Middleton Building, with electronic code access) and remotely through the Internet. The laboratory is equipped with nine Pentium IV and five dual-core PC workstations, two laser printers, and an 8-processor Microways Opteron computer cluster running UNIX. Each PC features, as a minimum, MatLab, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, LaTeX, Scientific Word, Nestscape/Explorer, AUTOCAD, LabView, SolidWorks and email software. The cluster has an MPI parallel FORTRAN compiler. Minors and Double Majors Students wanting to obtain strengths in other areas of academic specialization and yet remain in engineering are encouraged to do so by either completing a minor or double major.
The College of Engineering in conjunction with the College of Arts and Sciences also offers a five-year International Engineering Program (IEP) in which students earn two degrees: a Bachelor of Science in engineering and a Bachelor of Arts in a foreign language. The foreign languages currently offered by the IEP are German, French, and Spanish; Chinese will be offered for the first time as of this year, 2006. In addition to their engineering and language-related courses, students spend six months abroad in a professional internship in Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, or Asia. Upon graduation, students are well prepared to compete in the global marketplace.
To enroll, an engineering student simply registers and follows the recommended
outline of courses for the specific language. In 1992, the IEP was selected as the recipient of the Award for Educational Innovation by ABET, the national Accreditation
Board for Engineering and Technology (currently known as ABET, Inc.).
Cooperative Education Program. Optional for juniors and seniors (with a GPA of at least 2.50) in all engineering departments, the Cooperative Education Program assists students with placements for part-time or full-time work directly related to a student’s field of study. Enrollment information may be obtained from the Dean’s Office, 102 Bliss Hall.
Engineering and M.B.A. Program. This five-year program offers students the opportunity to earn a Bachelor of Science in engineering and a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.). Students with a GPA of 3.00 or better may enroll during their senior year with successful completion of the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT).
Accreditation. A national accrediting organization, ABET, Inc. (formerly known as Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, or ABET) established in 1933 and composed of representatives from technical societies, assures professional standards
through periodic evaluations of the programs of the college. ABET, Inc. may be contacted at: 111 Market Place, Suite 1050, Baltimore, MD 21202-4012 or by phone at 410-347-7700.
Continuous accreditation of URI’s engineering programs by ABET, Inc. has been in place since 1936 for the curricula of civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering, 1954 for chemical engineering, 1957 for industrial engineering, 1992 for computer engineering, 1995 for ocean engineering, and 1989 for the M.S. in manufacturing engineering.
URI’s College of Engineering is a member
of the American Society for Engineering Education.
Graduate Degrees. Graduate study is available
in the College of Engineering at the Master of Science and Doctorate (Ph.D.) level.