Courses
The engineering curriculum draws inspiration from areas that align with Brandeis' existing strengths, including bioengineering and materials science, while enhancing our existing undergraduate and graduate programs.
Together, we will explore new approaches to issues of ethics, design, equity, sustainability, and entrepreneurship through collaborations, capstone projects, and team-taught courses with faculty from across the university.
In the liberal arts tradition, our graduates will be outstanding communicators, writers, and stewards of social justice, poised for impactful careers as engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and more.
Introductory engineering courses are open to all students, regardless of major, but more advanced courses are restricted to majors or other students who have taken the necessary prerequisites. This is a program under development, so more courses will continue to be offered as time goes on.
Engineering Process requirements
The introductory sequence (ENGR11a, 12b, and 13a) are offered every semester and have no prerequisites. They all are cross-listed in other programs, and are the best way for students interested in studying engineering at any level to get a taste of what the field offers.
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An introduction to the engineering design process, with a focus on human-centered design. Students work in teams to solve authentic design problems under the theme of “Design to repair the world.” Students are guided through a highly scaffolded process in which they form an idea, sketch it, and develop it through multiple iterations leveraging quick feedback loops and the Design Thinking methodology.
There will be two parts to the semester:
- An individual project to build an upper limb prosthesis from a publicly available open source design, in which students will learn the prosthesis platform, learn to navigate open source designs and documentation, learn to operate the necessary digital fabrication workflows (CAM for 3D Printing, Laser Cutting, CNC) to manufacturer it, perform failure based testing, and develop material literacy; and
- A team project to create an open-source assistive device for an actual client to accomplish specific tasks. This second component will include modifying available open source designs for fittage (unique physiology) and function (specific tasks), as well as adding design elements to achieve an occupational therapy goal. The emphasis will be on quick-minimum viable feedback loop testing, ideation for augmenting the client, design (CAD), project management, consuming and producing documentation, communication, teamwork, and human-centered design in a global context.
ENGR11a is offered every semester and during Brandeis Summer School.
The engineering design and analysis process relies on measurements and data collected from the physical world. In this hands-on, project-based course, students will be introduced to concepts, mathematics, hardware, software, methods, and mindsets for making measurements, collecting and interpreting data, and conducting engineering experiments using the scientific method, with a focus on biomedical engineering applications.
Following an orientation to the tradeoffs among precision, accuracy, reliability, error, cost, and accessibility in measurement, students will explore topics including electronic circuits and sensors, computer-based data acquisition, data visualization and representation, and experimental design.
In the first half of the semester, students will conduct scaffolded projects applying concepts learned in class to measuring properties of the human body such as temperature, force, electrical activity, and walking gait. Students will then collaborate on a team project to design and build more elaborate biomedical instrumentation to collect and analyze data such as pulse, blood oxygen levels, blood pressure, or pulmonary function.
Throughout, we will engage with the ethics of measurement and experimentation, explore ideas of frugal engineering; and be introduced to social science research methods relevant to engineering design and analysis such as surveys and interviews.
ENGR12b is offered every semester.
Building models of complex physical systems is a critical aspect of problem-solving in science and engineering. While the models themselves are expressed through the languages of math and physics, developing an effective and efficient approach to modeling requires drawing on one's experiences and mental pictures of the systems at hand.
Towards providing students with this experience, this course will build connections between the theoretical, the experimental, and the designed. Students will be guided through a structured series of labs exploring modeling and simulation in a variety of system classes, with an emphasis on environmental and engineering applications.
In this course, students will learn to construct models from scratch and use pre-built modules for analyzing data, numerically solving dynamical models, fitting models to data, and visualizing results. Practical coding skills, such as debugging, documenting code, and learning to leverage open-source software, will be taught in a lab environment where students and the instructor can readily collaborate and solve challenges.
In addition to computational modeling and analysis, some labs will involve the use of digital fabrication (3D printing or laser cutting) to build and test physical versions of the models. This course is intended as a first exposure to modeling. Prior experience in programming is not required.
ENGR13a is offered every semester.
Introduction to the analysis and control of linear systems, including development of the fundamental concepts of feedback and control. The course includes application of the associated mathematics in both continuous and discrete time, such as transfer functions and Fourier analysis. Experiment, theory and computation are combined.
Seminar exploring professional responsibility and identify of engineers and engineering scientists in the 21st century. Builds on the unique disciplinary strengths of Brandeis as a liberal arts university. Discussion and case-study based.
Students work in multi-disciplinary teams of ~5 over the course of two semesters to design and realize solutions to real world, research-focused engineering problems. This is an excellent opportunity for engineering students to work with the Brandeis community. Socially responsible engineering projects, in affiliation with environmental studies or Heller’s Sustainable International Development program are possibilities. Additionally, one could adopt the successful Olin / MRSEC model of capstone teams acting as contract engineering companies producing instrumentation and software for research labs or courses at Brandeis. Senior engineering majors only.
Engineering Science requirements
The major has three engineering science requirements: Transport, Materials Science, and Thermal-Fluids. All engineering majors must take an additional three advanced electives, which build on these foundational courses and comprise their concentration area.
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Transport phenomena permeate our everyday life, ranging from the currents and winds that carry heat and matter around the planet to the circulatory system that transports oxygen, nutrients, and waste in living organisms to the working principles of refrigeration that we use to slow bacterial growth and prolong the shelf-life and availability of food. In this course, we will study the physical and mathematical foundations of how mass, momentum, and energy move through materials and across interfaces. Students will synthesize ideas from thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat and mass transfer, and learn how to integrate these concepts to analyze, design, and engineer a wide range of systems. Emphasis will be on simple models and analytic methods for obtaining quantitative descriptions of a wide range of phenomena. We will draw on examples from various branches of science and engineering, including chemical, biological, and thermal transport to enrich the subject. The material in this course will enable students to better understand transport and teach them new tools that can be used in other engineering courses and projects. Usually offered every year.
This laboratory-based course introduces students to the relationships among structure, processing, properties, and performance of solid state materials including metals, ceramics, polymers, composites, and semiconductors. Topics include atomic structure and bonding, crystallography, diffusion, defects, equilibrium, solubility, phase transformations, and electrical, magnetic, thermal, optical and mechanical properties. Students apply materials science principles in laboratory projects that emphasize experimental design and data analysis, examination of material composition and structure, measurement and modification of material properties, and connection of material behavior to performance in engineering applications.
Advanced engineering science course bringing together concepts from thermodynamics, heat transfer, and fluid mechanics, enabling students to analyze and design real-world thermal-fluid systems.
Engineering electives
As the program develops and the faculty size grows, additional engineering electives will be offered.
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The way we produce, use, and dispose of materials and products today is unsustainable. Resource extraction destroys ecosystems and biodiversity worldwide; manufacturing is responsible for an enormous fraction of global greenhouse gas emissions; and waste plastics are now found in every corner of the Earth, including our bodies, with as-yet unknown consequences to human and ecological health. The circular economy is a model of production and consumption that offers a potential solution to these problems — where all materials and products are designed to be used, reused, and recycled again and again, minimizing environmental impact from resource extraction, manufacturing, use, and final disposal.
In this class, students will learn what is required to realize this vision of a circular economy from an engineering and design perspective. Based on a methodological foundation from industrial ecology, students will use life-cycle assessment and material flow analysis to characterize the profound issues with contemporary manufacturing and waste systems and justify the principles of materials and product stewardship that underpin the circular economy model. Students will also learn to critique materials management and circular economy proposals at various scales, including materials and product design; so-called “circular business models;” and municipal, national, and global materials systems. Finally, students will use what they have learned to propose new engineering design solutions to real-world challenges. Usually offered every second year.
Climate change, energy poverty, resource scarcity, and health impacts are all challenges associated with the ways we currently produce and consume energy worldwide. Although the global energy system is currently dominated by fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas), renewable energy sources (e.g., solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass) and other low-carbon alternatives (e.g., nuclear and hydropower) are growing at unprecedented rates. Through an interdisciplinary engineering lens, this course explores the dynamics of the current energy transition with a particular focus on sustainable energy systems and alternative energy resources. Students will be introduced to quantitative, engineering methods for energy modeling and technology selection in the context of the economic, political, and environmental dimensions of both conventional and alternative energy resources. Usually offered every second year.
Diagnostic technologies are a cornerstone of precision medicine. This course offers an introduction to the science and engineering principles behind in-vitro diagnostic (IVD) devices and assays. In this course, you will learn the fundamentals of microfluidics, biosensors, and molecular and biochemical assays as they apply to the development of devices for disease detection and health monitoring. Through lectures, hands-on labs, and a final design project, you will gain practical experiences in IVD device development. You will gain experience in designing fluidic devices through CAD (computer aided design), fabricating them via rapid prototyping methods, and learning basic fluid mechanics by testing these devices. You’ll work in small teams to design and prototype a diagnostic device addressing a real-world health need. The semester culminates in a final presentation and written report showcasing your final design.
Cross-listing
Many of the introductory and elective engineering courses are cross-listed with other departments, satisfying major requirements across the university. Cross-listings besides the one shown here are possible; reach out to your department and the Engineering Program for more information.
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- All engineering courses count as "general science electives"
- ENGR 12b Biology elective
- ENGR 12b: Business & society elective
- ENGR 22b: Business & society elective
- ENGR 22b: Lower-level elective
- ENGR 13a: Natural science elective
- ENGR 22b: Natural science elective
- ENGR 32a: Natural science elective; additional elective for the CJSP minor
- ENGR 11a: additional general science elective
- ENGR 12b: Elective for Focal Area A (Biological Dimensions to Health and Illness)
- ENGR 11a: science elective & 4-credit lab
- ENGR 12b: science elective or 4-credit lab
- ENGR 13a: science elective or 2-credit lab
- ENGR 22b: general science elective
- ENGR 11a: additional elective for BA; additional upper-level science elective or lab course for BS
- ENGR 13a: Lab requirement (by petition only)