Engineering and Admissions: Frequently Asked Questions

Is admission to an engineering major harder than admission to Lafayette College?

NO! If you choose to apply to Lafayette, you’re applying to Lafayette College, not to any specific major or area of study. (We appreciate it when students indicate their interest in engineering, to help us plan ahead so we can offer the classes students will need! But it does not influence your chances of admission.)

What classes would I take my first semester?

All engineering-inclined students share a common first-semester schedule: they take ES101 Introduction to Engineering Design, a First Year Seminar, Chemistry (unless they have AP or IB credit for Chemistry already), and Calculus (typically Calculus I, but this depends on AP/IB credit). During ES101, we provide co-curricular opportunities and focused academic advising to help you choose the best major for your interests and goals.

What kind of computer should I bring to Lafayette?

The College recommends Windows, but the Engineering Division does not recommend or require a specific computer for your use. While some engineering classes and projects will use software optimized for PCs, students can make use of available machines on campus. Throughout our building, we have PC-based computer labs with dual displays that are available 24/7. Elsewhere on campus, there are also Mac computer labs. If you’re bringing a laptop, bring the one you’re comfortable with; support is available regardless. 

Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering

What is chemical engineering?

Chemical engineering is a broadly applicable field that leverages the fundamentals of natural and engineering sciences towards solving problems and engineering design.

According to a 2022 National Academies Report, Chemical Engineering is “the only engineering field with molecules and molecular transformations at its core.” Applications of chemical engineering will be vital for the future of “energy, food, water, medicine, and manufacturing.”

This background is vital for applications in “energy, food, water, medicine, and manufacturing” including applications in:

•   Developing renewable energy solutions including solar, batteries, and biofuels
•   Understanding environmental systems
•   Engineering targeted and accessible medicine
•   Designing resilient and sustainable manufacturing
•   Producing polymers and materials for advanced applications

What is biomolecular engineering?

Biomolecular Engineers apply engineering principles to analyze, utilize, and/or design biological molecules and systems.

“Modern biomolecular engineering is very much at the intersection of chemical engineering and molecular biology, biochemistry, materials science, and medicine. The role of chemical engineers in addressing problems in health and medicine continues to lie in process and scale-up, as well as in discovery and development of molecules and materials with pharmaceutical and medical applications.” (National Academies report, “New directions for chemical engineering 2022) 

Biomolecular engineers use computational and experimental approaches for a broad range of applications.  Many applications pertain to health and medicine such as for personalized medicine, vaccines, and design of materials for drug delivery.  The tools of biomolecular engineers span many industries and can also be applied in fields such as agriculture, bioremediation, biofuels, and biomaterials.

Where do Lafayette chemical engineering graduates work?

A degree in chemical engineering is versatile.  Chemical engineers traditionally bridge the gap between fundamental science and consumer applications through diverse roles including research and development, process design, manufacturing, project management, and sales and marketing. The skills that are learned are also transferable to non-scientific fields such as non-governmental organizations, government agencies, law, medicine, dentistry, and entrepreneurship.

Lafayette ChBE alumni work in a diverse range of fields, from chemical manufacturing and process engineering to pharmaceuticals and personal care products. Others focus on environment and sustainability or materials and food science.  Graduates are equipped with an array of technical and professional tools to be successful as technical engineers, consultants, managers. Many also choose to pursue advanced degrees, building on the exceptional preparation they received at Lafayette.

What is the difference between majoring in chemistry versus majoring in chemical engineering?

While students that study chemistry will receive a rigorous program that explores the fundamental molecular structures, properties, and reactions of different forms of matter, chemical engineers follow a more applied training to bridge between pure science and end-use.   A chemical engineer’s design-based approach is rooted in practical applications or industrial contexts and seeks to create solutions centering function and processes.

What kind of projects are students in chemical engineering working on?

Students in chemical engineering work on a variety of projects through courses and labs.  The curriculum includes three experiential courses where students are in the lab learning and applying phenomena such as how to design a reactor to how to desalinate salt water.  The course sequence culminates in a capstone design class where students have the opportunity to work on unique projects, many of which partner with local industries such as BBraun and DSM and the local Lafayette Farm (LaFarm).

Students also have the opportunity to work on research projects with faculty members.  Over half of our senior class is or has been working directly with a faculty member on research in closely mentored projects.  The research spans three main fields: 1) Environment, Energy, and Sustainability; 2) Design and Science of Advanced Materials; 3) Biomolecular Engineering.  Many of the projects are funded by external grants indicating the cutting-edge level of the research.

 

Civil & Environmental Engineering

What is civil and environmental engineering?

Civil engineers apply broad expertise in engineering principles and sustainable practices to design, build, manage, and maintain the physical foundations of society. Their work spans buildings, roads, bridges, airports, harbors, water treatment systems, and tunnels, as well as the movement of people and resources through these systems. They also safeguard natural environments by managing rivers and coastlines and by remediating areas affected by contaminated soil and water. As stewards of both infrastructure and natural resources, civil engineers often serve in architecture and engineering (A/E) firms, construction firms, and government agencies.

What kind of projects are students working on?

Students in civil & environmental engineering work on a wide range of hands-on projects embedded in courses and labs. In fact, there are six required civil engineering courses that include a lab component on top of required science courses in chemistry and physics that include labs. Additionally, students have opportunities to work directly with faculty on research through the EXCEL Scholars program, independent study, and departmental honors. Students contributing to faculty-led research frequently have opportunities to participate in leading conferences, co-author scholarly work, and interact with project stakeholders, funding agencies, and/or industry partners. These experiences enable students to gain a depth and breadth of knowledge, develop communication and interpersonal skills, and prepare for a variety of post-graduation pathways including an engineering career or graduate study.

Students build technical skills from benchtop experiments, computer analysis, to full-scale structural testing. Throughout the curriculum, students learn and apply fundamental concepts in dedicated facilities and equipment for exploring structural systems and materials, water resources and fluid behavior, geotechnical engineering, land surveying, geographic information systems, and more. 

The civil engineering curriculum, outlined at ce.lafayette.edu, culminates in a capstone design experience where students tackle real-world problems with regional or global partners, for example, partnering with a Brazilian NGO to develop off-grid water treatment solutions for remote locations. 

Many students also join co-curricular design/build teams like the Steel Bridge Team, which fabricates and tests steel structures using the department’s fabrication shop. For well over a decade, Lafayette’s Steel Bridge Team has been a top contender in the national competition, earning two first place finishes. Other teams of students participate in the geotechnical engineering GeoChallenge competitions and ASCE Sustainable Solutions competition.

Where do Lafayette civil and environmental engineering graduates work?

Graduates in civil and environmental engineering launch their careers with architecture/engineering (A/E), consulting, and construction firms, government agencies and nonprofit organizations. Typical roles include structural analysis and design, transportation engineering and planning, water resources engineering, environmental engineering, site assessment and remediation, geotechnical foundation and ground improvement, land development, and construction project management. Recent graduates have taken jobs with firms such as AECOM, HNTB, WSP, Langan, Kiewit, H&H, and Clark Construction, and others continue on to graduate programs at Virginia Tech, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Penn State, and Auburn.

Electrical & Computer Engineering

What kind of projects are students working on?

Health Monitor, line-tracking robot car, laser communication, solar charging system, autonomous wheelchair, design of smart assistive living, power electronics for renewable energy systems, computer vision in robotic control, design of brain-computer interface, applications of machine learning and AI, computer security, antenna design, wireless link, and a computer network.

Engineering Studies

What is Engineering Studies?

Engineering Studies provides students with a technical background in engineering fundamentals paired with substantial coursework in humanities, social science, and the natural sciences. Graduates often use that education for careers inside and beyond technical professions. With a 95% job placement rate and salaries in the Top 10 of majors at the college, Engineering Studies students bring expertise in navigating the complex cultural, political, economic, environmental, and technical dimensions of engineering and technologies to their varied communities. What does that mean in practice? It means students benefit from the flexibility to bring together technical and non-technical skills so they can work to design, manage, and lead engineering projects that require an understanding of people, places, and things. By analogy, EGRS students are more urban planning–how to sustain a neighborhood–than singular building, or more about a viable healthcare system than inventing the medicine, or more about an effective network of communication than the specific circuit board or device. It is akin to humanistic engineering and envisioning technology for the public good, while allowing graduates to develop expertise that binds engineering with sustainability, economics, finance, art, architecture, and more. Put another way, students with this interdisciplinary bachelor of arts degree are bridge builders between communities, translators across sectors, and future managers and leaders who understand engineering as a liberal art. 

What kind of projects are students working on? 

EGRS projects are commonly built to connect various constituents, using community engagement methods and bringing technical, cultural, economic, and environmental pieces together. For example, students have worked on arts and community-building through engineered works on a local arts trail, civic engagement over warehousing and data center placement, sustainable transportation possibilities in the Lehigh Valley, fair housing developments, renewable energy opportunities on campus and in the region, lightfoot off-the-grid infrastructure at our campus farm, LaFarm, models for food waste reduction, energy storage systems, and the electrification of flight. For each project, the EGRS skill and expertise in understanding how technologies succeed by holding together technical know-how and social, cultural factors is common.

Where do Lafayette Engineering Studies graduates work?

Engineering Studies graduates go on to a wide variety of career paths. Most common are environmental, energy and transportation sector jobs, sustainable urban planning, project management, construction management (Clark, DPR, Turner, Whiting-Turner, Skanska, Henkles & McCoy), engineering and technology policy, tech-industry consulting firms (Deloitte, Accenture, Ernst & Young), industrial and information systems management, law, architecture, and education. In addition, many students go on to graduate school or professional school in engineering management, architecture, city and regional planning, economics, energy systems engineering, environmental management, international development, medical school, and law school. Recent graduates have gone to Duke, Dartmouth, Yale, Columbia, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, Villanova, and Northeastern.

Integrative Engineering

What is Integrative Engineering?

Our newest B.S. engineering degree program emphasizes systems thinking and gives students the opportunity to study in a cross-disciplinary field of engineering. The program has three focus areas:  bioengineering, environment & energy, and robotics. In addition to a sequence of core courses that emphasize the fundamentals of systems thinking and modeling, each focus area consists of 10 courses, some of which are specified while others come from lists of approved electives for each focus area. Integrative Engineering students take courses from multiple departments and programs to meet these focus area requirements, giving them exposure to different engineering perspectives and methods. Although the program is flexible, integrative engineering does not have a “general engineering” option. The program is fully accredited by ABET.

Where do Lafayette Integrative Engineering graduates work?

Integrative Engineering graduates go on to a variety of jobs, depending on their focus area. Most common are consulting firms, biotech and biomolecular engineering firms, environmental engineering firms, renewable energy developers, and energy sector jobs. In addition, many students continue their studies in graduate school. Recent graduates have gone to Duke, Yale, Minnesota, Georgia Tech, Villanova, Massachusetts, and Northeastern. 

Mechanical Engineering

What do you do as a Mechanical Engineer?

Mechanical Engineering is a broad discipline that involves modeling and controlling things that MOVE. Mechanical Engineers learn to understand energy—how it moves and how to turn that movement into benefits for people. Your refrigerator takes the flow of electrical energy and transforms it into the flow of cold air. Power plants take the energy of moving water and convert it into electrical energy. This transformation of energy requires machines and devices, which mechanical engineers learn to design and fabricate. They also learn to model the behavior of these machines and implement control systems to ensure they perform as intended.

What fields can I work in with a Mechanical Engineering degree?

Because the field of Mechanical Engineering is broad, graduates go on to work in areas such as aerospace, automotive, power generation, HVAC, renewable energy, automation, robotics, process design, medical devices, biomedical engineering, consumer electronics, quality control, construction, transportation, and project management, among many others. Those who want to specialize in one of these areas can use their mechanical engineering degree to be well positioned for graduate study.

Recent Lafayette graduates have gone on to work at Lutron, Air Products, Victaulic, NASA, AMSL, Bear Robotics, Under Armor, 3M Healthcare, and BR+A.  They have also completed graduate programs at Princeton, Cornell, Duke, Stanford, WPI, Yale, University of Illinois U.C., Ohio State University, and Virginia Tech.

What if I am interested in Mechanical Engineering and other engineering disciplines?

At Lafayette College, you can choose to minor in Mechanical Engineering while majoring in another discipline.  This six course sequence is compatible with any of the other B.S. or B.A. Engineering programs we offer.

How is Lafayette’s Mechanical Engineering experience distinctive?

Our focus on undergraduate education means our class sizes are small enough that instructors know every student and are accessible resources to each of them. Our curriculum is anchored in hands-on experiences. In the sophomore year, students engage in the entire engineering design process—and the teamwork it requires—by spending a semester developing a small electric vehicle that they design, fabricate, and test themselves. This experience becomes a foundation that students build upon through to their final semester. We also offer three hands-on laboratory courses, each with a maximum of 12 students per instructor. At this student-faculty ratio, students are presented with challenges that require them to explore options, solve problems, debug, and iterate like practicing engineers. Finally, students work in teams on their year-long senior capstone design project, collaborating with real stakeholders to define a need, opportunity, or problem and iteratively design a solution that provides value to those stakeholders. For students focused on attending graduate school, there is an option to complete a thesis for their capstone project, working closely with a faculty member on a research topic of interest. Some thesis students even appear as co-authors on scientific publications!

BS Engineering/AB International Studies Dual Degree Program

What is the Dual Degree Program?

The dual degree program in engineering and international studies allows for BS engineering students to develop their intercultural competence through a combination of second (or third) language development, courses in globalization and a required immersion experience. As it is a dual degree, students are required to complete 40 credits, 4 more than earning solely a BS engineering degree.

How can the immersion experience be satisfied?

Many of our students meet the immersion experience requirement by completing a semester-long study abroad program during the spring of the sophomore year connected with their language of interests. Lafayette leads two engineering-specific study abroad programs in Bonn, Germany and Madrid, Spain, but dual degree students have also studied in places such as France, Switzerland and Taiwan. Other students satisfy the requirement by completing either a summer internship or study abroad program connected with their language of interest. Students can work with our Study Abroad Office and Gateway Career Center to help find these opportunities, but it is the responsibility of the student to find these summer experiences.

What engineering majors can enroll in the Dual Degree Program?

All students pursuing a BS in Engineering (chemical, civil, electrical, integrative and mechanical) are eligible to complete the International Studies dual degree. Students in Engineering Studies interested in this type of coursework can consider a double major with Engineering Studies and International Affairs.