Minor and Certificate Programs
Minor
The transcript-recognized undergraduate academic minor must be completed in conjunction with an undergraduate degree at The University of Texas at Austin. For more information regarding the requirements for achieving a minor, including a comprehensive list of minors, please visit the Minors and Certificate Programs section of the Undergraduate Catalog.
Materials Science and Engineering Minor
The transcript-recognized undergraduate academic minor in materials science and engineering must be completed in conjunction with an undergraduate degree at The University of Texas at Austin in one of the following majors: chemistry, physics, electrical and computer engineering, or mechanical engineering; students pursuing an integrated undergraduate/graduate program must complete the requirements for the minor within one year after completing the undergraduate requirements of their program. For more information regarding the requirements for achieving a minor, including a comprehensive list of minors, please visit the Minors and Certificate Programs section of the Undergraduate Catalog. Details about the minor in Materials Science and Engineering are available at http://tmi.utexas.edu/academics/undergraduate-minor-materials-science-engineering/.
Admissions
To be considered for admission into the Minor Program for Materials Science and Engineering, students must meet the following requirements:
- The minor must be completed in conjunction with an undergraduate degree in one of the four supported majors of chemistry, physics, electrical and computer engineering, or mechanical engineering.
- Students must have completed M 408C, M 408D, M 427J, CH 301, PHY 303K and PHY 303L, or equivalent and all with a grade of C- or higher.
- Students who have completed 30 hours or more and have not taken more than 60 hours will be encouraged to apply online at the earliest possible date; deadlines will be March 1 for fall or summer and October 1 for spring.
Applications will be reviewed and rendered in time for fall and spring admissions.
Requirements
The requirements for the minor in Materials Science and Engineering will consist of 15 credit hours towards the minor. All students will be required to take a three-credit hour, laboratory-based bridge course (E S 360). The remainder of the required courses required for the minor will consist of a sequence of courses that are specific to the major degree and which are detailed below.
If students are interested in additional coursework, they can see http://tmi.utexas.edu/academics/undergraduate-minor-materials-science-engineering/ for a complete list of courses that would serve as optional electives. Courses beyond 15 hours are not required for the completion of the minor.
Chemistry Majors
| Requirements | Hours | |
|---|---|---|
| E S 360M | Experiments in Materials Science and Engineering | 3 |
| CH 353 | Physical Chemistry I | 3 |
| PHY 355 | Modern Physics and Thermodynamics | 3 |
| CHE 355 | Introduction to Polymers | 3 |
| M E 349 | Corrosion Engineering | 3 |
| All classes must be taken on the letter-grade basis. The student must earn a combined grade point average of at least 2.00 in these courses. | ||
| *An additional 3 hours of optional electives may be taken. For a complete list of courses available, please see http://tmi.utexas.edu/academics/undergraduate-minor-materials-science-engineering/. | ||
Physics Majors
| Requirements | Hours | |
|---|---|---|
| E S 360M | Experiments in Materials Science and Engineering | 3 |
| PHY 369 | Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics | 3 |
| CH 367C | Materials Chemistry | 3 |
| or CH 367L | Macromolecular Chemistry | |
| or M E 336 | Materials Processing | |
| CH 354S | Elements of Spectroscopy | 3 |
| E E 334K | Quantum Theory of Engineering Electronic Materials | 3 |
| All classes must be taken on the letter-grade basis. The student must earn a combined grade point average of at least 2.00 in these courses. | ||
| *An additional 3 hours of optional electives may be taken. For a complete list of courses available, please seehttp://tmi.utexas.edu/academics/undergraduate-minor-materials-science-engineering/. | ||
Electrical Engineering Majors
| Requirements | Hours | |
|---|---|---|
| E S 360M | Experiments in Materials Science and Engineering | 3 |
| PHY 369 | Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics | 3 |
| E E 325 | Electromagnetic Engineering | 3 |
| CH 354S | Elements of Spectroscopy | 3 |
| or CH 367C | Materials Chemistry | |
| E E 334K | Quantum Theory of Engineering Electronic Materials | 3 |
| All classes must be taken on the letter-grade basis. The student must earn a combined grade point average of at least 2.00 in these courses. | ||
| *An additional 3 hours of optional electives may be taken. For a complete list of courses available, please see http://tmi.utexas.edu/academics/undergraduate-minor-materials-science-engineering/. | ||
Mechanical Engineering Majors
| Requirements | Hours | |
|---|---|---|
| E S 360M | Experiments in Materials Science and Engineering | 3 |
| M E 316T | Thermodynamics | 3 |
| PHY 355 | Modern Physics and Thermodynamics | 3 |
| or PHY 375S | Introductory Solid-State Physics | |
| or PHY 369 | Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics | |
| M E 378K | Mechanical Behavior of Materials | 3 |
| M E 349 | Corrosion Engineering | 3 |
| All classes must be taken on the letter-grade basis. The student must earn a combined grade point average of at least 2.00 in these courses. | ||
| *An additional 3 hours of optional electives may be taken. For a complete list of courses available, please see http://tmi.utexas.edu/academics/undergraduate-minor-materials-science-engineering/. | ||
Certificate Programs
National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges Scholars Program Certificate
The National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges Scholars Program (GCSP) certificate is designed to be complementary, not additive, to a student’s traditional academic path. The GCSP certificate provides students with the scholarship network and formal recognition from the National Academy of Engineering, while typically requiring only one course beyond their standard degree program.
The GCSP certificate program is designed to offer students from all majors and all years an introduction to the program through Engineering Studies 377, an array of university-wide course connections, and mentorship. GC Scholars choose between 18 and 24 hours of approved coursework from a broad range of offerings that align with the five key program components. The five key curriculum components include facing the 21st Century Engineering Grand Challenges with (1) entrepreneurship and (2) service-learning by (3) understanding global dimensions through (4) research and (5) interdisciplinary curriculum. Each Scholar must choose at least one class that emphasizes each one of the components. Scholars will be advised on progress regularly by faculty affiliated with the program, and will present their work at an annual GCSP colloquium.
The certificate requirements are:
| Requirements | Hours | |
|---|---|---|
| E S 377 | Topics in Engineering (Topic: Grand Challenges) | 3 |
| At least 18 hours of approved courses from GC Scholar Coursework Program Plan | 18 | |
| Be a student of good standing | ||
| Complete courses, a research project, a community project, a comprehensive reflective report, and a final design, which are evaluated with aligned rubrics. | ||
Computational Science and Engineering Certificate
The Cockrell School sponsors the transcript-recognized Certificate in Computational Science and Engineering along with the Jackson School of Geosciences, the College of Liberal Arts, and the College of Natural Sciences.
The foundations of science and engineering are under rapid, dramatic, and irreversible change brought on by the advent of the computer. Steady growth in computer capabilities, and enormous expansion in the scope and sophistication of computational modeling and simulation, have added computation as the third pillar of scientific discovery and have revolutionized engineering practice. Computational science and engineering can affect virtually every aspect of human existence, including the health, security, productivity, and competitiveness of nations.
The Computational Science and Engineering Certificate program is sponsored by the Cockrell School of Engineering, the Jackson School of Geosciences, the College of Liberal Arts, and the College of Natural Sciences; it is administered by the Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences (ICES). The program offers highly qualified upper-division students an opportunity for in-depth study and research in computational science and engineering, including computational and applied mathematics, numerical simulation, scientific computation, and visualization. A student who completes the general requirements listed on Transcript-Recognized Programs and the specific requirements below receives recognition on his or her University transcript and a letter from the director of ICES that describes the program and the work completed. Along with supporting letters from supervising faculty and graduate mentors, these are valuable assets for students applying to graduate school and pursuing competitive job opportunities.
To apply for admission, students must have completed 60 semester hours of coursework, must have a grade point average of at least 3.00, and must have taken coursework in calculus.
Students must complete 18 semester hours of approved coursework with a grade of at least C- in each course. A student’s overall GPA in certificate courses must be 3.00 or greater.
| Requirements | Hours | |
|---|---|---|
| Students must take at least one course in each of the following areas: | 18 | |
Upper Division Mathematics | ||
Basic Programming | ||
Numerical Applications | ||
Advanced Computing | ||
Electives | ||
Scientific Computing Project 1 | ||
| --- | ||
| 1. To be supervised by a member of the computational science, engineering, and mathematics (CSEM) graduate program faculty. The research project is completed in a three-semester-hour research methods or individual instruction course, which the student should take during the senior year. The research project may include mentoring by ICES postdoctoral fellows and CSEM graduate students as part of a vertical instructional research team. | ||
With the approval of the certificate program’s faculty adviser, course substitutions may be made within the broad area of computational science and engineering.
Some courses on the approved course list may be restricted by the department offering the course. Please note that the CSE Certificate Program cannot ask the department to waive prerequisites or force the department to lift restrictions on their courses.
A list of approved courses is available at http://www.ices.utexas.edu/programs/cse-certificate/ and in the Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, ACE 4.110
Humanitarian Engineering Certificate
The undergraduate Humanitarian Engineering Certificate provides students with the opportunity to develop expertise in designing and/or implementing projects or products for traditionally underserved populations, e.g., the physically or mentally challenged, low-income or rural communities. The participants will develop not only technical knowledge but also awareness of social, political, and/or economic circumstances that may be important to the development of engineering solutions for underserved populations.
The certificate consists of 18 hours. Students must receive a grade of at least a C- in each course applied toward the certificate and have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 in the courses presented to fulfill the certificate. The certificate program will be managed by the Committee for the Humanitarian Engineering Certificate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Students may apply for participation in the program at any time during their enrollment at The University of Texas at Austin, but it is recommended that they apply prior to starting the requirements. Students must contact the Committee for the Humanitarian Engineering Certificate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering to apply for the certificate in the semester in which they are completing the requirements and graduating.
The course requirements for the certificate are:
| Requirements | Hours | |
|---|---|---|
| Three hours from the following: | 3 | |
| First-Year Signature Course 1 | ||
| First-Year Signature Course 1 | ||
| Sociology of Development | ||
| Cultural Anthropology | ||
| Classics of Social and Political Thought | ||
| This Human World: An Introduction to Geography | ||
| PHY 303L & PHY 103N | Engineering Physics II and Laboratory for Physics 303L | 4 |
| Humanitarian engineering project chosen from the following: | 4 | |
| Project Development with Underserved Communities and Project Design with Underserved Communities | ||
Approved project design course such as M E 466K 2 | ||
Approved independent study research project 2 | ||
| M E 179M | Topics in Mechanical Engineering (Topic: Humanitarian Engineering Seminar) | 1 |
| Three hours from the following: | 3 | |
| Global Food, Farming, and Hunger | ||
| Population and Society | ||
| Contemporary Cultural Geography | ||
| Geographies of Globalization | ||
| Medical Geography | ||
| Global Health Issues and Health Systems | ||
| Might and Right among Nations | ||
| Environmental Ethics | ||
| Medicine, Ethics, and Society | ||
| Topics in Asian Cultures (Topic 26: Global Markets and Local Cultures) | ||
| Topics in History (Topic 18: Global History of Disease) | ||
| Communicating Sustainability | ||
| Communication and Social Change | ||
| Three hours from the following: 3 | 3 | |
| Project Management and Economics | ||
| Building Environmental Systems | ||
| Biochemical Engineering | ||
| Biomechanics of Human Movement | ||
| Biomechanics | ||
| Engineering Biomaterials | ||
| Medical Decision Making | ||
| Introduction to Environmental Engineering | ||
| Water and Wastewater Treatment Engineering | ||
| Design of Wastewater and Water Treatment Facilities | ||
| Indoor Air Quality | ||
| Hydrology | ||
| Studies in Civil Engineering (Topic: Designing Sustainable Nanomaterials) | ||
| Introduction to Biochemical Engineering | ||
| Cell and Tissue Engineering | ||
| Design for Environment | ||
| Chemical Engineering Economics and Business Analysis | ||
| Technology and Its Impact on the Environment | ||
| Solar Energy Conversion Devices | ||
| Renewable Energy and Power Systems | ||
| Development of a Solar-Powered Vehicle | ||
| Biomedical Electronic Instrument Design | ||
| Applications of Biomedical Engineering | ||
| Nuclear Environmental Protection | ||
| Biomechanics of Human Movement | ||
| Solar Energy Systems Design | ||
| Energy Technology and Policy | ||
| Topics in Mechanical Engineering (Topic: Design/Control of Robots for Rehabilitation) | ||
| Renewable Energy Technology | ||
| Medical Device Design and Manufacturing | ||
| Nanotechnology for Sustainable Energy | ||
| Topics in Mechanical Engineering (Topic: Development of a Solar-Powered Vehicle) | ||
| Energy and the Environment | ||
| --- | ||
| 1. For an approved list of courses, please see your adviser. | ||
| 2. Approval for these options must be obtained in advance from the Committee for the Humanitarian Engineering Certificate. | ||
| 3. Additional courses may be substituted for those listed upon approval by the adviser for Humanitarian Engineering. | ||