Mar 28, 2024  
2020-2021 Catalog 
    
2020-2021 Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

School of Engineering


 


The School of Engineering emphasizes excellence by educating future leaders in engineering who understand the context in which they live and work, and who are comfortable with managing and driving change.  We focus on developing innovative education that provides deep engineering competence, promotes high ethical standards, and delivers solutions to our challenges in an economically, environmentally, and socially responsible manner.

The School of Engineering offers the following majors:

The School of Engineering offers the following minor:

 


What Is Engineering?

Engineering is about problem solving, innovation, and the creation of devices, systems, processes, and structures to benefit society. Engineers create new ideas and then transform those ideas into products and services that improve people’s lives. As part of this creative process, engineers apply mathematics and the principles of the natural sciences to solve problems and meet the needs of society. Engineering spans the very small to the very large, from micro-sensors that can continuously monitor human health, to space stations that can support the exploration of new worlds. It also touches our everyday lives.

Engineering has provided our shelter, our transportation, our entertainment, our medical supplies and technologies, our water supplies, the food we eat, the movies we watch, the appliances that make our lives easier and the protection of our environment. Engineering careers are among the highest in demand in the world including the United States and, as a result, provide great personal and professional satisfaction and quality of life. Engineering is a “people-serving profession” and a pathway to financial security. In short, engineering makes the world work!

Letter of Welcome from the Dean

Dear Future Engineer:

Now, more than ever, we need talented and highly creative people to participate in this exciting profession. Engineering is all about creating things that never were, transforming culture, and improving human lives and conditions around the world.

At one of the youngest and most diverse universities in the country, engineering education at UC Merced is both challenging and satisfying. You will meet extraordinary people: world-class faculty, committed fellow students, dedicated staff, and partners from the local community and around the world. The social network you will develop in the School of Engineering and beyond during your time at UC Merced will last a lifetime. Our goal is to help you explore ways in which engineering and appropriate technology helps people and prepare you for a career of leadership and responsibility.

Congratulations on your vision and initiative. I look forward to welcoming you into the School of Engineering and watching you develop into a technical leader prepared for the complexities of tomorrow.


Mark Matsumoto

Dean, School of Engineering

Service Learning

Under the advisement of a faculty mentor, students have the opportunity to form service-learning teams that work with an approved community not-for-profit organization—or client—to develop technology-based solutions that support its success. For example, a team composed of both upper and lower division students might work together to design, develop, implement and test an information system to serve the needs of a local non-profit service organization. Students who get involved in a UC Merced Service Learning project may earn up to two units per semester for participation, depending on their leadership position within the team for that semester

Transfer Requirements

Major Preparation and Acceptance to the Major

Articulation agreements between California Community Colleges and majors in the School of Engineering at UC Merced are found on assist.org. Applicants are strongly encouraged to take as many courses that are equivalent to the major preparation required of their planned major at UC Merced. For School of Engineering majors, the completion of calculus, vector calculus, linear algebra, differential equations, a year of calculus based physics, one semester of general chemistry and two programming courses are strongly recommended.

More information on transfer preparation and admission can be found on assist.org and the School of Engineering Student Advising website. 

General Education

Transfer students are required to complete the following general education pattern before graduation:

  • Two English Composition courses (equivalents to WRI 001 and WRI 010)
  • Three social sciences courses in at least two disciplines
  • Three arts and humanities courses (of the three arts and humanities courses required, at least one has to be from arts and one has to be from humanities).
  • IGETC is strongly discouraged but certification will fulfill lower division Writing, Arts/Humanities and Social Science requirements.

Since Engineering is a rapidly developing profession, curricular changes are made by the Faculty from year to year. Changes made to the School of Engineering curriculum will be made available on the School of Engineering website at engineering.ucmerced.edu.