Scieneering

Minor in Interdisciplinary Engineering and Science (IES)

This minor requires students to learn and apply philosophical tools that engineers and scientists use to frame and solve problems, thereby allowing them to master basic principles outside of their major discipline area. The intended goal of this minor is to prepare and motivate students for careers in medicine, biomedical research, biotechnology, and limitless fields where knowledge of more than one discipline is required.

As a general guideline, this minor will require 18 credit hours of approved coursework:

• Introduction to Scieneering (ENGR/COS 2164; 1 credit hour) - a survey course, covering topics at the interface of science and engineering
• a basic 2-credit course outside of the student's major college: Engineering Fundamentals for Scieneers, ENGR 2464 (for science students) or Cell and Molecular Biology for Engineers, BIOL 2124 (for engineering students)
• a 3-credit course outside of the student's major college: computational/quantitative course for Life Science majors and a Life Science of bio-"flavored" engineering course for Physical Science and Engineering majors
• 9 credit-hours of technical elective science/engineering courses selected from an approved list; it is anticipated that students will be able to satisfy these elective requirements through their major curriculum.
• 3-credit Scieneering Capstone course, ENGR/COS 4064- Independent Research, possibly a continuation of the student's interdisciplinary research project, culminating in a paper or poster in a peer-reviewed journal or at a local or regional conference.

Checksheet

Application 

Applications to add the minor are only accepted at select periods throughout the year, generally between semesters. For upcoming application dates, please refer to Changing Majors, specifically the bullet titled “engineering minors” for complete instructions.

Scieneering Program Contact

coeacademicdean@vt.edu