Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Advising

Category: Degree Requirements

May I take both CM 3410 and HU 3120?

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No, that is not permitted.  CM 3410 is required for graduation with a degree in chemical engineering from Michigan Tech.  You may take HU 3120 as a substitute course for CM 3410.  Because HU 3120 functions as an equivalent course to CM 3410, you may not take them both.

 

CM 3410 – Technical Communication for Chemical Engineering
Study of the purposes, genres, and applications of technical communication in chemical engineering professions, including written, oral, visual, and graphic communication. Assignments may include memos, progress reports, procedures, memo and formal reports, research citations, and job-seeking requirements. Emphasizes organization, support, coherence, usefulness, ethics, and professionalism.
Credits: 3.0
Lec-Rec-Lab: (3-0-0)
Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Restrictions: May not be enrolled in one of the following Class(es): Freshman, Sophomore, Senior
Pre-Requisite(s): UN 1015

 

HU 3120 – Technical and Professional Communication
A study of written and oral communication in technical and scientific environments; emphasizes audience, writing processes, genres of scientific and technical discourse, visual communication, collaboration, professional responsibility, clear and correct expression. Students write and revise several documents and give oral report(s). Computer Intensive.
Credits: 3.0
Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-3-0)
Semesters Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Restrictions: May not be enrolled in one of the following Class(es): Freshman, Sophomore
Pre-Requisite(s): UN 1015 and (UN 1025 or Modern Language – 3000 level or higher)

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How do I plan out my chemical engineering degree at Michigan Tech?

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The CM degree at Michigan Tech requires 131 credits plus 3 credits of co-curricular classes (physical education).  What classes are required for you depends on when you started at Michigan Tech, known as your catalog year.  The requirements are all posted on our advising webpages, and we made a video walking you through the process for planning out your degree.

Here’s the basic process.

  1. Go to our advising webpage and select Undergraduate — Advising — Plan Your Schedule
  2. Print out the course requirements (4 year plan or 5 year plan), the General Education Requirements, the co-curricular requirements, and the Technical Elective requirements that go with your catalog year.
  3. On your 4 (0r 5) year plan, cross off any courses for which you already have credit.
  4. Print out a blank Academic Plan worksheet.
  5. Fill in the Academic Plan worksheet with all the remaining courses.

There is a great deal that goes into that step “5” up there, and we’ve made some videos to help you find your way through the process.  Once you have a good rough plan, you may wish to make an appointment with a CM advisor to make sure that you’ve got all the details right.

That’s it!  Welcome to Michigan Tech Chemical Engineering–We’re glad you’re here.

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I am a transfer student; do I have to take the first-year engineering courses?

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The first-year engineering courses are required for graduation with a B.S. in chemical engineering.  If you have not yet transferred to Michigan Tech, we recommend that you take courses at your home institution that transfer as ENG 1101 and ENG 1102.  The transfer equivalent for ENG 1101 is a computer programming class using an objected-oriented programming language, such as Java or C++.  The transfer equivalent for ENG 1102 is a 3-D solid modeling class using software, such as Solid Works, Unigraphics, or 3-D Autocad.

For transfer students who have not transferred in ENG 1101 and ENG 1102, you may take ENG 1101 and ENG 1102 at Michigan Tech or it is sometimes preferable to substitute courses more appropriate to your experience and educational level.  For more information on this see the policy for when substitutions are allowed for ENG 1101, and ENG 1102.

CM 1000 is not required for graduation (per Departmental vote 10Feb2016) but it is recommended for first-year students, and it counts as a core engineering technical elective.  If you do not take CM 1000 then you must take an additional credit of core engineering technical elective.

 

 

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How can I prepare for registration?

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Registration is always right around the corner, and before it arrives, it’s best to get prepared. Those of you who have tried to make an appointment with Katie near registration time know that her schedule fills up. She has “walk-in” office hours weeks 9-11, so you will not need an appointment, but you may face some lines. With this post I reach out to you with some advice to ensure that you have a good registration season.

Katie’s walk-in office hours schedule is posted here: blogs.mtu.edu/chem-eng-undergrad/

If you are uncertain what classes you need to take, please take a look at our video on Planning your Schedule.

Planning your schedule begins with the planning handout at this link (http://www.chem.mtu.edu/~fmorriso/advising/2015MoreAdvisingInfoHandout4SemPlanFAM.pdf), which shows a 4-year plan of how the Chemical Engineering curriculum maps out. I have indicated the classes that cause a bottleneck–these are the classes that are only offered one time per year. Up until the spring of junior year you have flexibility in when you can take classes. The three spring junior classes, however, (transport 2, kinetics, controls) are only offered in the spring. The senior chemical engineering classes (unit and plant operations, plant design, safety and the environment) are only offered once per year as well. This means that you need to be ready for those spring junior classes during the spring that you plan to take them.

The pre-requisites for our classes are summarized on this handout:  www.mtu.edu/chemical/undergraduate/advising/pdfs/prerequisite-map.pdf

To plan out your schedule you should map out which semester you intend to take the fixed classes (spring junior classes, senior classes) and then back-calculate when you will take the pre-requisites for those courses.

On the planning handout I have also indicated when classes are offered on-line, and I’ve highlighted some General Education (GenEd) rules that you should be mindful of as you plan out your GenEd choices.

Finally, once things get close to graduation, every requirement must be met and this can get confusing sometimes. For checking or auditing your compliance with your degree requirements Michigan Tech uses DARS: Degree Audit Reporting System. Go to your Banweb account, log in, and look for Degree audit. You can run your own degree audit. It takes a minute or two for the computer to slot all your courses into the various bins or “buckets” where they satisfy requirements. When it’s finished, you can take a look. Green is good; red is bad. You will see all kinds of lists and requirements that are checked. It is a computer program and online, so hopefully you can poke around a bit and figure out how it’s working. If you are a transfer student or if you transferred in courses, it is very helpful for sorting out what credits count for what.

Please take a look at your DARS and see how your credits earned are stacking up towards getting your CM degree. If you look over the attached sheet, consult the pre-req map, look at your degree audit, and make use of the handouts for minors and technical electives that are on the Advising web page, you will see that registration is a snap.

Thanks for your patience during registration season. We will endeavor to answer all your questions and hopefully we can find a solution that will lead to a smooth path towards your BS in chemical engineering.

More helpful links:

best wishes,

Dr. Morrison

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What are the changes to GenEd for Fall 2015?

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The Michigan Tech General Education program is changing as of Fall 2015.  All student starting or transferring to Tech as of Fall 2015 must follow the new General Education rules.  For chemical engineering students, this impacts mostly what courses count as HASS electives.  The program will soon be outlined on the Registrar’s General Education page; that’s the definitive page for determining the rules.  We do have an advanced copy of the rules/HASS list posted on the we that you can access at this link:  www.chem.mtu.edu/~fmorriso/curriculum/HASS2015RegistrarList.pdf.

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What is the Degree Audit Reporting System (DARS)?

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One of the frustrating things about registering is the uncertainty:  what classed do I need?  Does this class I’m looking at count as tech elective?  as gen ed?

One resource you have to sorting this out (besides seeing Katie) is the DARS tool in Banweb (Degree Audit Reporting System).  This tool checks your records (according to Michigan Tech) against the requirements for your degree.  If you’ve met the requirements, it goes GREEN.  If the requirements are not met, it stays RED.  See our advising video on this subject.  Degree services also have their own tutorial video (March 2018).

I would like to suggest that everyone try it out.

To get to DARS you log onto your Banweb account and under Student in the middle column look for “Degree Audit”.  Click there and run the current year audit.  Sometimes you have to wait – look for the circle above to see if it’s thinking.  It always has to generate the report to get the most current version.

When the DARS opens, you will see some graphics and a long column of red or green “buckets” of courses or requirements.  They are:

1.  Two buckets that check your GPA for both the department and for overall.  Both must be over 2.0 for you to graduate.
2.  Major requirements:  This is all your core math, physics, chemistry, and chem eng courses.
3.  Chemistry option:  here whether you take Organic 1 or Hydro Pyro you chose a different audit path.  In this section you will see the technical electives and the various categories of the electives.  Take a close look to see what classes you may choose from in each category.
4.  Six gen ed buckets that check if you meet all the gen ed requirements.  It checks if you have the freshmen courses, the sophomore courses, the HASS, etc.  It checks that at least 6 credits of HASS are at the 3000 level.
5.  Co curricular bucket – your phys ed courses.

The DARS system is what actually checks you out for graduation.  If it says you graduate, you do.  We have worked long and hard with the programmers in the Admin Building to get this system to accurately check you out for graduation – please use the DARS tool to guide you as you plan for registration.

There are some things that the DARS system will not do right until Katie “touches” your audit and makes an adjustment.  If something you chose or transfered puts you into this situation, you do need to come see Katie.  She’ll be happy to look at DARS adjustments after registration is over.

Hope this eases your registration experience!

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Continuous Enrollment Rules on BS/MS

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The Dean of the Graduate School, Jackie Huntoon, sent an email updating the continuous enrollment rule as it applies to the BS/MS program.

Students must be continuously enrolled. The idea behind these is that students begin the MS immediately after completion of the BS. The way these programs are all set up is that as soon as students complete the BS they are considered to be enrolled in the MS and they therefore must adhere to the graduate level continuously enrollment policy – like all other graduate students. If they don’t remain continuously enrolled they will be dropped from the program and have to reapply – and if they reapply they can’t be in the “accelerated program” since the Senate policy requires that students apply prior to graduation with the BS. This could have financial implications for students (loss of ability to double count credits) so it is important that they understand this. Kristi Isaacson (kris@mtu.edu) is the point person for the accelerated master’s programs so if you have a question – feel free to contact her.

(by email 20Feb2014)

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Do the Fall 2013 general education changes affect me?

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Take a look at your transcript on Banweb.  If you have credit for all of the old UN classes:

  • UN 1001 (Perspectives)
  • UN 1002 (World Cultures) or UN 1003 (World Cultures Activities)
  • UN 2001 (Composition or Revisions)
  • UN 2002 (Institutions)

then the Fall 2013 general education changes do not affect you.

If you have not yet taken all of the UN classes listed above by Fall 2013 then, yes, the Fall 2013 general education changes do affect you.

If you don’t have credit for:

  • UN 1001 (Perspectives), you will instead take an elective course from the Humanities and Fine Arts (HUFA) elective list (see below).
  • UN 1002 (World Cultures), you will instead take UN 1025 (Global Issues) or a 3000-level language course, and one credit of free elective.
  • UN 2001 (Composition), you will instead take UN 1015 (Composition).
  • UN 2002 (Institutions), you will instead take an elective course from the Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS) elective list (see below).

The courses that are on the HUFA elective list are:

  • FA 2330 Art Appreciation
  • FA 2520 Music Appreciation
  • FA 2820 Theater Appreciation
  • HU 2130 Introduction to Rhetoric
  • HU 2501 American Experience in Literature
  • HU 2538 British Experience in Literature
  • HU 2700 Introduction to Philosophy
  • HU 2820 Communication and Culture
  • HU 2910 Language and Mind

The courses that are on the SBS elective list are:

  • EC 2001 Principles of Economics
  • PSY 2000 Principles of Psychology
  • SS 2100 World Peoples and Environments
  • SS 2200 Prehistory and Archaeology
  • SS 2400 Introduction to Human Geography
  • SS 2500 United States History to 1871
  • SS 2501 United States History Since 1877
  • SS 2502 European History to 1650
  • SS 2503 European History Since 1650
  • SS 2504 World History to 1500
  • SS 2505 World History Since 1500
  • SS 2600 American Government and Politics
  • SS 2700 Introduction to Sociology

If you need a class from one of these lists, be sure to take a look at your transcript on Banweb.  You might already have one of these classes from AP or transfer credit.  If that is the case then we can use it towards the UN course requirement instead of the HASS requirement.  You can choose which requirement you would like the class to count towards, but it cannot be used towards both.

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