Tag: engineering elective

I am a freshman. Can I join an Enterprise team?

Freshman may join an enterprise, however we generally do not recommend it.

During the spring semester you may enroll in ENT 1960. Be aware that this class does *not* count towards your technical electives like the other enterprise project-work classes do.  ENT 1960 only counts as a free elective. Our chemical engineering degree requires only three credits of free electives and many students will have their free elective requirement met with other classes or a minor.

We do not recommend that you join an Enterprise team in your first year since most students usually have a pretty heavy credit load and are still adjusting to college life. Also involvement in an Enterprise team can take up a lot of time.  We want you to have a good start to your college career so that you have the ability to participate in things like Enterprise or AIChE later on.

If you are interested in a particular Enterprise team, ask if you may attend their weekly team meetings.  That will give you an opportunity to learn more about the Enterprise team, how it functions and about their current projects.  You may then join the Enterprise and begin participating during your second year by signing up for ENT 2950 in the fall.  Unlike ENT 1960, ENT 2950 will count towards your technical electives.  ENT 2950 is on the engineering list.

How can I prepare academically for graduate school in chemical engineering?

The first year of graduate school in chemical engineering typically involves taking advanced courses in transport, thermodynamics, kinetics, and mathematics (partial differential equations).  It may also involve specialty courses specific to your area of chosen specialization. Anything that makes those required courses easier is a good idea.  I feel that at Michigan Tech we do not go far enough in transport, so I recommend that you take the graduate transport class (CM5300 Advanced Transport Phenomena I, 3 credits, Spring, prereq=CM5100) or Polymer Rheology (CM4650, 3 credits), either of which will introduce you to the use of tensors in mathematical analysis.  After that I recommend taking our graduate math class (CM5100 Applied Mathematics for Chemical Engineers I, 3 credits, Fall) or any advanced mathematics course that interests you (some examples might be MA