First-Year Engineering

Start with a First-year Engineering Course

Get your first exposure to the engineering profession and its various disciplines.

Develop skills in:

problem-solving
computation
communication

As a first-year engineering student at Michigan Tech, you will collaborate with other students in your engineering analysis and problem solving course. A small group will join forces on small assignments during class. Large team projects take place outside of class, functioning much like a professional engineering team. At Michigan Tech you will experience collaborative engineering teamwork right from the start.

ENG 1101 - Engineering Analysis and Problem Solving

An introduction to the engineering profession and to its various disciplines. Focuses on developing problem-solving skills, computational skills, and communication skills. Through active, collaborative work, students work on teams to apply the engineering problem-solving method to "real-world" problems.

Credits: 3.0
Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-0-5)
Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Pre-Requisite(s): (MA 1031(C) or MA 1032(C) or MA 1120(C) or MA 1160(C) or MA 1161(C) or MA 1121(C) or MA 2160(C) or MA 3160(C)) and (Spatial Visualization Score >= 19 or ENG 1002(C))

A sample of team projects:

3D solid modeling
Autonomous robot
Alternative power generation
Ethics case studies
Human-powered vehicle
Chemical batch reactions
Programming a physical robot
Engineering innovations and technology

Use Active Learning

In a lecture-based class, it can take time to get feedback from the professor. That feedback is typically based on graded homework assignments or exams. By then the class had moved on to other topics.

At Michigan Tech, first-year engineering courses are not lecture-based. Instead they are active. Your professor will invest part of class introducing a new topic, and then give you the time to work on activities with your team. As your team grapples with a problem, your professor will go from team to team providing feedback as you need it.

Engineering Explorations

As part of your first-year experience, you will have the opportunity to attend several Engineering Explorations.

Undecided?

Undecided about which area of engineering to pursue? No problem. You'll have a chance to explore them all. Every engineering student at Michigan Tech takes the same core courses, and chooses a major after two or three semesters. You will get exposure to all the engineering fields before choosing a career path.