Technical Electives
Technical electives provide an opportunity for students to explore a range of engineering, mathematical, and natural sciences topics to provide increased breadth or to focus on a specific technical area to develop in-depth understanding. In addition, one technical elective must be used to meet a requirement for a course in earth sciences. Students should consult their advisor to plan their technical elective program.
The EVEN BS curriculum requires nine credit hours of technical electives. Technical elective credit may be met by courses in the following categories:
- most engineering, physics, biology (both EBIO and MCDB), chemistry, geology, physical geography, atmospheric and oceanic sciences, and mathematics (both APPM and MATH) courses that are substantially different from required EVEN courses;
- many courses taught by Computer Science and Engineering Management;
- quantitatively rigorous courses in social sciences (economics, psychology, human geography);
- EVEN senior thesis; and
- independent study courses with appropriate technical content.
Three credit hours of technical electives may be lower division (1000-, 2000-level course). The remaining technical elective courses must be taken at the 3000-level or above. Both undergraduate and graduate courses (5000 level and above) may be taken as technical electives; enrollment in graduate courses requires the consent of the instructor.
One of the technical elective courses (3 credit hours) must be an earth science course at either the lower or upper division level. Earth Science courses are indicated with an * at the end of the title on the approved TE list.
All technical elective course selections should be approved by your advisor. Technical electives counted toward the graduation requirements for the EVEN BS degree may not be taken pass/fail.
Many students have found that a course devoted to the use of computer software for engineering drawing (e.g., AutoCAD) or geographic information science (GIS) and mapping (e.g. ARCview®) can open up job opportunities.
Exceptions to these rules will be considered by petition to the Environmental Engineering Program.
Specific Inclusions and Exclusions for Technical Electives
Independent study is accepted as technical elective credit up to a maximum of 6 credit hours.
Internships could be pre-approved as a technical elective ( up to 3 credits), student must go through application for approval prior to internship beginning.
A maximum of 3 credit hours of some Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) courses may be used as technical electives upon commissioning.
Earth, Science Technical Electives
Courses that meet the earth sciences requirement are typically found in the Departments of Geological Sciences, Geography, Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, and some engineering departments.
Advice on Technical Electives
If you find a class you are interested in and you feel it meets the Technical Elective requirements you will need to complete a petition for approval if it is not listed on the approved Tech Elective list.
Instructor’s consent must be obtained on a petition form if prerequisites are not met. Permission must be obtained from the relevant department if courses have other restrictions.
Free Electives
The EVEN curriculum allows for three credits of free elective(s). College-level CU or transfer credits, upper- or lower division, may be used for these credits to broaden the student’s academic experience. Students may also use AP or IB credits, courses from Residential Academic Programs (RAP), President’s Leadership Class (PRLC), ROTC, courses required to pursue a minor, etc., as long as they are substantially different from required EVEN courses. Or they may be used to take a “fun” class in something you always wanted to study!