HMC Department of Engineering

Department Goals

• Produce graduates who are exceptionally competent engineers whose work is notable for its breadth and technical excellence
• Provide a "hands-on" approach to engineering students so that graduates develop an understanding of engineering judgment and practice
• Prepare and motivate students for a life-time of independent, reflective learning
• Produce graduates who are fully aware of the impact of their work on society, both nationally and globally
• Offer a curriculum that is current, exciting and challenging for both students and faculty, but can be completed in four years by any motivated student who is admitted to HMC

A Brief Introduction to Our Program

The Harvey Mudd engineering program is designed to produce graduates who are exceptionally competent and whose work is notable for its breadth and its technical excellence. Based on the premise that design is the distinguishing feature of engineering, the program provides a broad-based, "hands-on" experience in engineering practice and synthesis, as well as in analysis. Thus, the engineering program is designed to prepare students for professional practice, for advanced study in a specific engineering discipline, and for a life-time of independent learning. The curriculum is also intended to achieve these goals in ways that excite and challenge our students.

The engineering curriculum can be described as having three stems. The engineering science stem consists of five required courses (E82, E83, E84, E85, and E106) that collectively embody the fundamental "applied science" knowledge base needed by a broadly-educated engineer practicing in the foreseeable future.

The systems stem is a set of three required courses (E59, E101-102) that enables students to acquire a unified view of disparate fields of engineering and provides opportunities to model, design, and interpret the behavior of the dynamics of engineering systems.

The design and professional practice stem includes five required courses that are designed to provide students with the means to work in teams on open-ended, externally-driven design projects that, over the course of the curriculum, encompass conceptual design, preliminary (or embodiment) design, and detailed design. "Hands on" exposure to professional practice begins with students undertaking challenging design problems in the first year (E4), continues with a practicum (E8) on drawing and making objects, opportunities to develop and apply engineering judgment (E80), and culminates with three semesters of Engineering Clinic (E111-113).

Pioneered by the Department of Engineering at Harvey Mudd College in 1965, the Engineering Clinic brings together teams of students to work with faculty advisors on carefully selected, industry- and government-sponsored design and development projects. The students plan and execute their projects; the projects are their own work. The faculty advise, coach, monitor, evaluate, and provide feedback. The student teams also coordinate their activities with sponsors' liaisons to ensure that the sponsors' goals are achieved and that the design experience corresponds as closely as possible to what engineers encounter in actual practice. Thus, the questions and problems that student teams face are typical of those regularly confronted by practicing engineers, and the solutions they devise must work in practice, not just in theory.

We believe that our broad engineering program will produce engineers capable of adapting changing technologies to expanding human needs, while at the same time being sensitive to the impact of their work on society, both within the United States and globally.