Provisional University Bulletin (2026-2027)

• Major (BS)

The major in Engineering Science provides an interdisciplinary engineering education in a liberal arts context. Designed to be ABET-accredited, the program combines a strong foundation in math and science with hands-on, project based courses in engineering methods (e.g., design, modeling, instrumentation, controls), engineering science (e.g., materials science, heat and mass transport, thermodynamics), and engineering in society (e.g., ethics and justice). A set of specialized electives and a senior capstone design project comprise a concentration area reflective of the strengths of the engineering program faculty and the university, including biomedical engineering, environmental engineering, and materials science. This program is appropriate for students wishing to pursue careers or further study in engineering or an adjacent field, especially those that require close collaboration between engineers and non-engineers.

The Engineering Science major offers students the opportunity to learn to apply math, science, and engineering principles to solve real world problems. The program offers numerous opportunities for world-class research in engineering and applied sciences in a liberal arts environment.

Student Outcomes

After completing the major, students will have:

1. an ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics.
2. an ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors.
3. an ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences.
4. an ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts.
5. an ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives.
6. an ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions.
7. an ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies.

Core Skills and Knowledge

All engineering majors will demonstrate knowledge of a broad set of engineering science and process foundations that are shared among the various engineering disciplines.

Major topics include:

• Engineering design: problem definition, ideation, CAD/CAM techniques, rapid and digital prototyping, testing and iteration, communication
• Instrumentation: Designing and using circuits and sensors to collect and interpret data in a variety of physical environments, precision and accuracy, using data to refine engineering design
• Modeling: Techniques for computational representation of complex physical and socio-technical systems, use of models in the engineering design and analysis processes
• Controls: mathematical foundations and simulation of feedback control, construction, design, and application of PID controllers with sensors and actuators
• Materials science: The relationship between the structure, properties, and performance of various materials, including metals, ceramics, and polymers, focusing on materials selection for engineering applications and design
• Transport processes: Principles and application of heat and mass transfer, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, chemical, biological, and thermal transport
• Thermodynamics: Theory and applications of the laws of thermodynamics, thermodynamic properties of materials and substances, entropy, heat engines and heat cycles
• Engineering and society: Awareness of the role of engineers and engineering in society, including engineering ethics, justice, sustainability, professional responsibility
• Computation: Techniques for programming, modeling, and simulation applied to a variety of applications. Students will get experience in MATLAB, with opportunities to develop expertise in Python, C/C++ and other languages.
• Communication: Effective technical and professional communication skills including formal and informal presentations, design documentation, reports, memos
• Collaboration & teamwork: Skills in effective leadership, time management, documentation, communication, conflict management, project management.

Additional engineering skills and knowledge from the students’ electives and concentration areas.

Social Justice

One of the great challenges facing our society is the need for new sources of clean energy, better medicines, and new scientific breakthroughs that will fuel the technologies of the future. These challenges will require the concerted effort of scientists and engineers from different disciplines working together toward a common goal. One of the key goals of the Engineering Science major is to produce a cadre of engineers that will be able to successfully work in interdisciplinary teams of tomorrow.

Upon Graduating

The Engineering Science major is designed to prepare students for any of the following career paths:

• Graduate school in a disciplinary or specialized field of engineering or applied science;
• Engineering careers in high-tech fields like biomedical engineering, materials engineering, robotics, and environmental engineering;
• Engineering-adjacent careers in policy, law, finance, and other fields that benefit from a deep and broad background in engineering science.

There is no special admission to the engineering program and any Brandeis student can major in Engineering. Students considering a major in Engineering Science should contact Prof. Jonathan Krones (jskrones@brandeis.edu), the Undergraduate Advising Head of Engineering, as early as possible. We will provide intensive academic advising to all students who express interest in studying engineering from the beginning of their time at Brandeis. Because it is an accredited degree program, there are quite a few requirements, meaning students are strongly recommended to start taking major requirements right away in their first year. 

For midyear students entering Brandeis in January, or for transfer students, we recommend booking an appointment with the Engineering Undergraduate Advising Head to discuss potential pathways for completing the Engineering major. 

Seth Fraden
Soft and biological materials, including liquid crystals, colloids, and biopolymers; Microfluidics

Duane Juang
Bioengineering; Biomedical diagnostics; Microfluidics

Jonathan Krones
Environmental and systems engineering; Industrial ecology; Engineering education

W. Benjamin Rogers
Soft and biological materials science; Molecular engineering; DNA nanotechnology

Ian Roy
Design and digital fabrication; Entrepreneurship; Makerspaces; Hackathons; Drones

A. Nine general math and science courses (34 credits):

1. MATH 10a
2. MATH 10b
3. Engineering Linear Algebra
4. MATH 20a
5. PHYS 11a/15a
6. PHYS 11b/15b
7. BIOL 15b
8. CHEM 11a
9. One associated lab course: BIOL 12b or CHEM 18a

B. Six Engineering Process courses (24 credits):

1. ENGR 11a
2. ENGR 12b
3. ENGR 13a
4. Linear Systems and Controls
5. Senior Capstone Design (2 semesters)

C. Three Engineering Science courses (12 Credits):

1. ENGR 21a
2. Introduction to Materials Science
3. Engineering Thermodynamics

D. Three additional Engineering Science electives (12 Credits)

E. Two Engineering and Society Courses (6 credits)

1. Engineering Science, Ethics, and Justice
2. One additional Engineering and Society elective

F. Foundational Literacies

As part of completing the Engineering Science major, students must: 

• Fulfill the writing intensive requirement by successfully completing: any WI-designated course approved for the major or, alternatively, any WI-designated course from the School of Science, Engineering, and Technology.
• Fulfill the oral communication requirement by successfully completing: any OC-designated course approved for the major, or, alternatively, any OC-designated course from the School of Science, Engineering, and Technology.
• Fulfill the digital literacy requirement by successfully completing: any DL-designated course approved for the major, or, alternatively, any DL-designated course from the School of Science, Engineering, and Technology.

G. No course with a grade of below C- can be used to satisfy the requirements of the major.

H. No course taken pass/fail may count toward the major requirements.

Note that students with qualifying Advanced Placement Examination scores in Mathematics (AB or BC), Physics (C), and Chemistry may place out of some of the above science and math requirements, but it is highly recommended to take more advanced substitutes in their place. Speak with the UAH to discuss the most appropriate options.

ENGR 11a Introduction to Design Methodology
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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. Students will become fluent in basic additive and subtractive manufacturing, including 3D printing, laser cutting, and CNC machining. Usually offered every year.

ENGR 12b Engineering Instrumentation and Experimentation
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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 learn social science research methods relevant to engineering design and analysis such as surveys and interviews. Usually offered every year.

ENGR 13a Modeling and Simulation
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Building models of physical systems is a critical aspect of science and engineering. While models are expressed through the languages of math and physics, developing a good mental picture of the system at hand requires drawing on experience. Towards providing students with this experience, this course will build connections between the theoretical, the experimental, and the designed. They will be guided through a structured series of labs on a variety of system classes including nonlinear mechanical systems, infectious disease dynamics, mass transport, and coupled oscillators. In three of the labs, students will not only analyze and model a physical system but also use digital fabrication (3D printing, laser cutting, or CNC milling) to build and test physical versions of their models. This course is intended as a first exposure to modeling. Prior experience in programming is not required. Students will receive Python notebooks for each lab to be used for data analysis, numerically solving dynamical models, fitting models to data, and visualizing results. Practical coding skills, such as debugging, elaborating notebooks 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. Usually offered every year.

ENGR 21a Analysis of Transport Phenomena
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Prerequisites: MATH 10b and PHYS 11b, or instructor permission.

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.

ENGR 22b Engineering a Circular Economy
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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.

ENGR 32a Sustainable Energy
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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.

ENGR 98a Readings in Engineering

Open to exceptional students who wish to study an area of engineering not covered in the standard curriculum. Usually offered every year.