Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Advising

Category: Degree Requirements

How do I get a project approved for senior design?

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You will submit an abstract describing your project. To be approved the project must:

  • require the use of knowledge and skills acquired in your earlier engineering course work;
  • utilize appropriate engineering standards;
  • incorporate multiple realistic constraints;
  • and include economic considerations, which is typically an economic analysis discriminating between design options.

If your project is through Enterprise then you will submit your abstract using a link you received via email when enrolling in ENT 4950. The email was from enterprisereg@mtu.edu, titled “Part A Approved”.

Your project will be reviewed by the ABET committee chair, Dr. Caneba. You should review your abstract with Dr. Caneba before submitting it because revisions are often necessary. Abstracts are due by week 5 of the semester.

See related:  What needs to be in my senior design abstract for Enterprise? and How do I register for ENT 4950?

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What changed on the new 2021-22 ChE flowchart?

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If you are comparing the 2021-22 flowchart with an older version, then here’s what look for:

CM 2110 Material and Energy Balances. The title was change from Fundamentals of ChE I to Material and Energy Balances. The class itself hasn’t changed.

CM 3230 Thermodynamics for ChE. This course was moved from spring of third year to spring of second year and CH 3510 pchem lecture is no longer a prerequisite.

CM 3240 Separations. This is a new course that is replacing the old CM 2120 Fundamentals of ChE II course. CM 3240 is considered an equivalent to CM 2120, and so if you’ve already taken CM 2120 then you do not need to take this new course. The new CM 3240 course requires CM 3230 thermo as a prereq.

CM 3980 Sustainable ChE and CM 4320 Process Safety. These are new courses that are replacing CM 4310 Chemical Process Safety/Environment. You may take the new CM 3980 sustainability course anytime after completing CM 2110 and differential equations and we will be offering it both fall and spring semesters even though the flowchart only has it listed for fall semesters.

Technical Electives. The technical elective rules were simplified. The CH 2420 Organic Chemistry II or CM 4740 Hydro/Pyro or BL 2100 Principles of Biochemistry option was changed to a technical elective. CH 3511 Pchem Lab was changed to a technical elective. The core engineering elective was changed to a technical elective. On the new curriculum you need 18 credits of technical electives. The flowchart shows this as CM 1000 Intro to ChE plus an additional 17 credits of technical electives.

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How will the curriculum changes affect me?

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Anyone in sophomore, junior, or senior ChE classes will be affected by these changes.

Seniors graduating in Spring ’22: For Fall ’21, you need to enroll in both CM 4320 Process Safety (2 credits) and CM 3980 Sustainable Chemical Engineering (1 credit).  These classes are replacing the old CM 4310 Process Safety/Environment (3 cr) course and are only planned to be offered in the fall next year (2021).

Students taking third-year ChE class: For Fall ’21, you should enroll in CM 3230 Thermo for ChE along with the other usual CM classes and take Pchem in either fall or spring semesters of junior year.  Pchem lecture, CH 3510, is still required for graduation, but will no longer need to be taken before thermo.  You should take thermo in the fall because this will spread out your junior ChE classes more evenly between fall and spring semesters and will allow room for the sophomores to take thermo in the spring.  Be aware that the last time CM 2120 is being offered is Summer ’21.

Students taking second-year ChE classes: For Fall ’21, you should enroll in all the classes on your flowchart.  However, be aware that the title for CM 2110 has been changed to Material and Energy Balances.  Then in the spring you will be taking CM 3230 Thermo for ChE.  If you are done with your math by spring semester then you will also be able to start taking some of the other third-year level ChE classes, if you wish.  During third-year you will be taking a 3000-level separations course that is replacing the old CM 2120 course.  

If you have completed CM 2120 fundamentals of ChE II then you may stay on your current catalog year.  However, if you would like to take advantage of the new technical elective rules and/or pchem lab no longer being a requirement,  then next fall you will need to let me know that you’d like to be moved to the new catalog year.  The required classes that you’ve already taken will work with any of the catalog years.  

Spring 2022 will be the last semester that students will be allowed to take CM 3230 thermo concurrently with the spring third-year ChE classes, CM 3120 transport/UO II, CM 3310 process control, and CM 3510 chemical reaction engineering.

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I want to change my major to Chem Eng; what are the requirements for this?

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We require a meeting with the ChE advisor prior to approving any change major requests.  If you’d like to change majors or are considering changing majors into ChE then make an appointment with the ChE academic advisor.  After your meeting you may submit your request to change majors through the Curriculum Change Portlet that is on your MyMichiganTech webpage.  There are directions on how to do this on the Registrar’s Office change major page.

Our general policy for major changes is as follows:  Students admitted to the College of Engineering may switch their major to chemical engineering.  Students admitted into a different College may also switch their major to chemical engineering provided they have earned a grade of C or better in key math and science classes (calculus, university chemistry, and university physics).  Students who do not meet these requirements will need to develop a course plan with the ChE academic advisor, which may include retaking key classes prior to switching majors.

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What are the new technical elective rules that are starting Fall 2021?

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Beginning Fall 2021, the following changes will be made to our technical elective rules:

  • The organic chemistry II or substitute requirement will be changed to any technical elective from the list.
  • Pchem lab will no longer be required and will be changed to any technical elective from the list.  Pchem lecture will still be required.
  • The core engineering elective requirement will be changed to any technical elective from the list.

Under these new rules there will be one technical list and you will need to take a total of 18 credits from the list.  Pchem lab will be on the technical elective list.  The reason for this change was to make the elective rules easier to understand and to give you greater flexibility in pursing your interests.  This will also help you be able more easily earn a minor in a math, science, or engineering area, if you desire.

Students who started at Michigan Tech before Fall 2021 will have the option to move to these new rules.  Students who start in Fall 2021 or later will be required to follow the new rules.

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I’ve been enrolled in or taken a higher-level math class but I don’t have credit for the lower-level math class on my transcript. Does this matter?

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Yes, this matters because you need to have credit for all of your required math classes in order to meet graduation requirements. This situation can also negatively impact future class scheduling if you are missing a math prerequisite for a class in which you trying to enroll.

The most common situation where this occurs is when a student receives a marginal score on their AP calculus test. Currently, if you receive a 3 on the calculus AB test, you are allowed to enroll in calculus II (MA 2160) but you will not receive credit for calculus I unless you receive a C or better in calculus II. There are similar rules for the AP calculus BC test. Go to the Admissions AP, IB, and CLEP Scores page for the latest information on these requirements. They are listed on the required scores page for AP credit.

If you find yourself in a situation where you are missing credit for a required math class then contact your academic advisor ASAP for assistance in resolving this issue.

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How do I figure out what my AP/IB/CLEP and dual enrollment/transfer credit count toward?

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The class credit you will receive for AP, IB, and CLEP tests are on the Admission’s AP, IB, and CLEP scores webpage.

The class credit you will receive for dual enrollment or transfer credit is on the Registrar’s Office, Transfer Services webpage. Go to the Transfer Credit Information page and the link to the Transfer Equivalency System is at the bottom. The Transfer Equivalency System is a listing of classes that have transferred recently for other students, but is not a list of every class that can transfer. If you don’t see the school or classes that you have taken then it means that the course may need to be evaluated for transfer. You will be contacted by Transfer Services through your mtu.edu email if they need information from you regarding a course you’ve taken.

You can figure out where the classes can be used towards your degree by reviewing the degree requirements. Some courses are required for graduation (like calculus MA 1160 or chemistry CH 1150), some courses can be used towards technical electives (like statistics MA 2710), some courses can be used towards general education requirements (like psychology PSY 2000), and some courses can be used towards free electives. Go to the department’s degree requirements page for more details on these requirements.

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What do you think of double majoring?

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There was an opinion piece in the New York Times in October 2018 that expresses one view of double majoring.

Opinion Today

David Leonhardt
Op-Ed Columnist for the New York Times

24 October 2018

(an excerpt)

When I visit a college campus and ask the students what they’re studying, the response often starts with: “I’m double-majoring in … ” And then my heart sinks just a little bit.

I understand why many students are temped to double-major. They have more than one academic interest. When I was in college, I briefly thought about double-majoring in my two favorite subjects, math and history. (Instead, I spent much of my time at the college newspaper and barely completed one major — applied math.)

But the reality is that many students who double-major aren’t doing it out of intellectual curiosity. The number of double majors has soared in recent years mostly because students see it as a way to add one more credential to their résumé. What’s even better than one major? Two majors!

Except that it’s not. Most students would learn more by creatively mastering a single major — and leaving themselves time to take classes in multiple other fields. “Double majoring,” as Jacqueline Sanchez, a Wellesley College student, wrote in a recent op-ed for her campus paper, “ultimately prevents students from exploring many different disciplines.”

Unfortunately, double majoring is just one part of a credentials arms race among teenagers and college students. This arms race exacerbates inequality, because it can make upper-middle-class students seem more accomplished than working-class and poor students. And the arms race is also unpleasant and counterproductive for many of the well-off students. They’re loading up on extracurricular activities, Advanced Placement courses and college majors, rather than exploring, going deep into one or two areas and learning what they really enjoy.  (see link for more)

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What do I do now that CM 3410 Tech Comm is no longer offered?

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The faculty have decided to merge the tech comm topics into transport lab to better help you with the communication of engineering topics.

Effective Fall 2018, CM 3410 Tech Comm will no longer be offered and CM 3215 Transport Lab will be changed to a 3 credit course.  Because of this change you must now have UN 1015 Compositions done before taking CM 3215 Transport Lab, and you need to have CM 3215 Transport Lab done before taking CM 4110 Unit Operations Lab and CM 4855 ChE Design I.

If you have taken both CM 3410 and CM 3215 then you are unaffected by this change.

If you have taken CM 3410 and you take the 3-credit version of CM 3215 then you can use the additional credit towards your technical electives or free electives, if needed.  Send an email to cmadvise@mtu.edu to have this change made to your degree audit.

For students who started at Michigan Tech prior to Fall 2018, if you have not taken CM 3410 then you have a choice.  You can either take a technical elective or HU 3120, the Humanities tech comm course, as a substitute for CM 3410.  Send an email to cmadvise@mtu.edu to have this change made to your degree audit.  If you choose to take HU 3120 as a substitute for CM 3410 then it cannot be used towards your general education HASS requirements.

For students who start at Michigan Tech during Fall 2018 or later, you will be on the new curriculum that no longer requires CM 3410.

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