Professors Durón (Chair), Bassman, Baumgaertner, Bright, Cardenas, Cha, Dym, Furuya (2011-2011), D. Harris, S. Harris, Hightower, King, Lape, Little, Molinder, Orwin, Remer, Spjut, Wang and Yang.

Program Educational Objectives:

• Produce graduates who are exceptionally competent engineers whose work is notable for its breadth and its technical excellence;
• Provide a hands-on approach to engineering so that graduates develop an understanding of engineering judgment and practice;
• Prepare and motivate students for a lifetime 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.

Based on the premise that design is the distinguishing feature of engineering, the HMC engineering 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 graduates for professional practice, for advanced study in a specific engineering discipline, and for a lifetime of independent learning. Culminating in an unspecialized bachelor’s degree, the program emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach to problem solving.

The engineering curriculum can be described as having three stems. The engineering science stem consists of five required courses (Engineering 82, 83, 84, 85 and 106) 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 sequence of three required courses (Engineering 59, 101, 102) that provides analysis and design tools to model and interpret the behavior of general engineering systems. The sequence is multidisciplinary in approach, enabling students to gain a unified view of the entire spectrum of engineering disciplines.

The design and professional practice stem includes five required courses that focus on working 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 with an introduction to conceptual design, engineering drawings, and manufacturing techniques, (Engineering 4), continues with a laboratory course in experimental engineering (Engineering 80), and culminates with three semesters of Engineering Clinic (Engineering 111-113).

Pioneered by the Department of Engineering at Harvey Mudd College in 1963, the Engineering Clinic brings together teams of students to work with faculty advisors and external liaison engineers on carefully selected, industry- and government-sponsored design and development projects. The students plan and execute their projects; the faculty advise, coach, monitor, evaluate and provide feedback; the sponsors' liaisons 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 graduates 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. In this context, an engineering major may choose to emphasize a particular engineering specialty by appropriate choice of elective courses and Engineering Clinic projects. Specific programs tailored to individual needs are developed in consultation with an engineering faculty adviser.

An engineering major must satisfactorily complete the following required courses for the bachelor’s degree: Engineering 4, 8, 59, 80, 82, 83, 84, 85, 101-102, 106, 111-113 and 121-124. In addition, three upper-division engineering technical electives are also required and seniors must submit a final Clinic report that is acceptable to the project’s faculty adviser. Students should note that many electives are offered in alternate years.

To keep the option open for majoring in engineering, a student should have taken Engineering 4 and 59 before the fourth semester. Any proposed variation from this program must be discussed in advance with an engineering advisor.

ENGINEERING COURSES (Credit hours follow course title)

4. Introduction to Engineering Design and Manufacturing (4)
Staff. Design problems are, typically, open-ended and ill-structured. Students work in small teams applying techniques for solving design problems that are, normally, posed by not-for-profit clients. The project work is enhanced with lectures and reading on design theory and methods, and introduction to manufacturing techniques, project management techniques and engineering ethics. Enrollment limited to first-year students and sophomores, or by permission of the instructor. Prerequisite: WRIT001. (Fall and Spring)

11. Autonomous Vehicles (3)
D. Harris, Lape. Interdisciplinary introduction to design and programming in the context of small autonomous vehicles. Topics and activities include: energy and sustainability; applied mechanics; sensors and actuators; constructing chemical, mechanical and electrical systems;  embedded software development in C; a design competition. Enrollment limited to first-year HMC students and any-year off-campus students (as space permits). (Fall)

13. Energy Systems Engineering (3)
Hightower. This course covers the science, engineering and policies of a variety of energy technologies capable of significant growth as well as an integrated systems approach to conceptualize, model and analyze energy projects and programs. Topics include energy technologies and systems associated with stationary combustion, nuclear power, transportation, wind, photovoltaic and solar thermal. Students collaborate to choose, design and develop a novel green product to address a sustainability need. (Fall)

59. Introduction to Engineering Systems (3)
Staff. An introduction to the concepts of modern engineering, emphasizing modeling, analysis, synthesis and design. Applications to chemical, mechanical and electrical systems. Prerequisite: sophomore standing. Corequisite: Physics 51. (Fall and Spring)

72. Engineering Mathematics (1.5) (Also cross-listed as Mathematics 110)
Bassman, Cha, Levy (Mathematics), Yong (Mathematics). Applications of differential equations, linear algebra, and probability to engineering problems in multiple disciplines. Mathematical modeling, dimensional analysis, scale, approximation, model validation, Laplace Transforms. Prerequisites: Mathematics 35 and 65; or the equivalent. (Spring, first half)

80. Experimental Engineering (3)
Staff. A laboratory course designed to acquaint the student with the basic techniques of instrumentation and measurement in both the laboratory and in engineering field measurements. Emphasis on experimental problem solving in real systems. Prerequisites: Engineering 59; co-requisite Engineering 72. (Spring)

82. Chemical and Thermal Processes (3)
Hightower, Lape. The basic elements of thermal and chemical processes, including: state variables, open and closed systems, and mass balance; energy balance, First Law of Thermodynamics for reactive and non-reactive systems; entropy balance, Second Law of Thermodynamics, thermodynamic cycles and efficiency. (Fall and Spring)

83. Continuum Mechanics (3)
Bassman, King. The fundamentals of modeling continuous media, including: stress, strain and constitutive relations; elements of tensor analysis; basic applications of solid and fluid mechanics (including beam theory, torsion, statically indeterminate problems and Bernoulli’s principle); application of conservation laws to control volumes. (Fall and Spring)

84. Electronic and Magnetic Circuits and Devices (2)
Wang, Yang. Introduction to the fundamental principles underlying electronic devices and applications of these devices in circuits. Topics include electrical properties of materials; physical electronics (with emphasis on semiconductors and semiconductor devices); passive linear electrical and magnetic circuits; active linear circuits (including elementary transistor amplifiers and the impact of non-ideal characteristics of operational amplifiers on circuit behavior); operating point linearization and load-line analysis; electromagnetic devices such as transformers. (Fall and Spring)

85. Digital Electronics and Computer Engineering (3)
D. Harris, S. Harris. This course provides an introduction to elements of digital electronics, followed by an introduction to digital computers. Topics in digital electronics include: Boolean algebra; combinational logic; sequential logic; finite state machines; transistor-level implementations; computer arithmetic; and transmission lines. The computer engineering portion of the course includes computer architecture and micro-architecture: levels of abstraction; assembly-language programming; and memory systems. The digital electronics portion of Engineering 85 may be taken by non-engineering majors as a stand-alone half course under the number Engineering 85A. (Fall and Spring)

85A. Digital Electronics (1.5)
D. Harris, S. Harris. This course provides an introduction to elements of digital electronics, intended for non-engineering majors who may be interested in pursuing other advanced engineering courses that require this background. Lectures for this course coincide with lectures for the first half of Engineering 85. (Fall and Spring)

101-102. Advanced Systems Engineering (3)
Bright, Duron, Molinder, Wang. Analysis and design of continuous-time and discrete-time systems using time domain and frequency domain techniques. The first semester focuses on the connections and distinctions between continuous-time and discrete-time signals and systems and their representation in the time and frequency domains. Topics include impulse response, convolution, continuous and discrete Fourier series and transforms, and frequency response. Current applications, including filtering, modulation and sampling, are presented and simulation techniques based on both time and frequency domain representations are introduced. In the second semester additional analysis and design tools based on the Laplace- and z-transforms are developed and the state space formulation of continuous and discrete-time systems is presented. Concepts covered during both semesters are applied in a comprehensive treatment of feedback control systems including performance criteria, stability, observability, control-lability, compensation and pole placement. Prerequisite: Engineering 59 or permission of instructor. 3 credit hours per semester. (Year-long sequence)

106. Materials Engineering (3)
Hightower, King. Introduction to the structure, properties and processing of materials used in engineering applications. Topics include: material structure (bonding, crystalline and non-crystalline structures, imperfections); equilibrium microstructures; diffusion, nucleation, growth, kinetics, non-equilibrium processing; microstructure, properties and processing of: steel, ceramics, polymers and composites; creep and yield; fracture mechanics; and the selection of materials and appropriate performance indices. Prerequisites: Physics 51, Engineering 82 and Engineering 83 or permission of instructor. (Fall and Spring)

111. Engineering Clinic I (3)
Spjut, staff. Participation in engineering projects through the Engineering Clinic. Emphasis is on design of solutions for real problems, involving problem definition, synthesis of concepts, analysis and evaluation. Prerequisite: junior standing in engineering or permission of Clinic director. (Fall and Spring)

112-113. Engineering Clinic II-III (3)
Spjut, staff. Participation in engineering projects through the Engineering Clinic. Emphasis is on design of solutions for real problems, involving problem definition, synthesis of concepts, analysis and evaluation. Prerequisites: Engineering 4, 80 and 111 or permission of Clinic director. 3 credit hours per semester. (Fall and Spring)

114. Engineering Clinic (1-3)
Spjut, staff. A continuation of Engineering Clinic for juniors who elect a second semester. Prerequisite: permission of Clinic Director. (Spring)

115. Project Management (3)
Little, Remer. This course teaches tools and techniques commonly used in managing engineering projects, including work breakdown structures, PERT/CPM analysis, and budgeting, forecasting and aspects of project control. It also introduces use of models and operations research techniques in selecting and assigning resources to projects. Students are required to develop and implement a work plan for a small-scale project, typically a Clinic project. (Fall)

116. Cost Estimation and Modeling (3)
Remer. Principles of cost and schedule estimation and modeling for capital projects, and for estimation and budgeting of operations and maintenance of ongoing processes. Hardware and software and integrated design projects are included. Advantages and disadvantages of different estimation methods are explored. (Every other year; Spring)

117. Economics of Technical Enterprise (3) (Formerly Engineering 201)
Remer. Time value of money, interest rates, depreciation and depletion, personal and corporate taxes, investment yardsticks such as present worth, rate of return, payback period and cost/benefit analysis, venture analysis and comparison of alternative projects, cost estimation and inflation, personal economics and investments, current business economic topics, tempering economics with judgment. (Fall)

118. Engineering Management (3) (Formerly Engineering 202)
Little, Remer. Introduction to the concepts of modern management including the scientific, behavioral and functional schools of thought, motivational models, leadership styles, organizational structures, project management, and other areas of student interest. (Not to be substituted for any technical elective required for the major.) Prerequisite: senior standing or permission of instructor. (Spring)

119. Preliminary Design (3)
Staff. This course examines the general principles associated with functional analysis and preliminary design, and applies these principles to a particular design problem. Students in the course will be expected to demonstrate competency in the application of functional analysis techniques and setting of performance specifications, design of artifacts to meet the functional specifications, and documentation of successful designs. Students will be offered a choice of several design problems which may come from one of the traditional engineering disciplines (chemical, civil, electrical, mechanical, etc.) or may cut across several boundaries. (Every other year; Fall)

121-122. Engineering Seminar (0.5)
Staff. Weekly meetings devoted to discussion of engineering practice. Required of junior engineering majors. No more than 2.0 units of credit can be earned for department seminars/colloquia. Pass/No Credit grading. (Year-long sequence)

123-124. Engineering Seminar (0.5)
Staff. Weekly meetings devoted to the discussion of engineering practice. Required of senior engineering majors. No more than 2.0 units of credit can be earned for department seminars/colloquia. Pass/No Credit grading. (Year-long sequence)

131. Transport Phenomena (3)
Bright, Cardenas, Lape. Integrated approach to the subjects of fluid mechanics, heat transfer and mass transfer, through the study of the governing equations common to all three fields. Applications drawn from a wide variety of engineering systems. Prerequisite: Engineering 83. (Fall)

132. Heat Transfer (3)
Lape. A study of conduction, convection and radiation phenomena with application to selected problems in several fields of engineering. Prerequisite: Engineering 82. (Spring)

133. Chemical Reaction Engineering (3)
Remer, Spjut. The fundamentals of chemical reactor engineering: chemical reaction kinetics, interpretation of experimental rate data, design of batch and continuous reactors for single and multiple reactions including temperature and pressure effects, and the importance of safety considerations in reactor design. (Every other year; Fall)

134. Advanced Engineering Thermodynamics (3)
Lape, Spjut. The application of classical thermodynamics to engineering systems. Topics include power and refrigeration cycles, energy and process efficiency, real gases and non-ideal phase and chemical reaction equilibria. Prerequisite: Engineering 82. (Every other year; Spring)

136. Mass Transfer and Separation Processes (3)
Lape. Principles of mass transfer, application to equilibrium-stage and finite-rate separation processes. Extension of design principles to multistage systems and to countercurrent differential contacting operations. Applications from the chemical processing industries and from such fields as desalination, pollution control and water reuse. Prerequisite: Engineering 82. (Every other year; Spring)

138. Introduction to Environmental Engineering (3)
Cardenas. Introduction to the main concepts and applications in modern environmental engineering. Included are surface and groundwater pollution (both classical pollutants and toxic substances); risk assessment and analysis; air pollution; and global atmospheric change. (Every other year; Spring)

140. Introduction to Compressible Flow (3)
Cardenas. The effects of compressibility in the governing integral and differential equations for fluids. The effects of friction, heating and shock waves in steady one-dimensional flow. Unsteady wave motion and the method of characteristics. Two-dimensional flow over air foils, linearized potential flow and the method of characteristics for supersonic flow. Prerequisite: Engineering 131. (Every other year; Spring)

151. Engineering Electronics (3)
Yang. Analysis and design of circuits using diodes, bipolar junction transistors and field-effect transistors, following a brief treatment of solid state electronics and the physics of solid state devices. Analysis and design of single and multi-transistor linear circuits including operational amplifiers. Corequisite: Engineering 153. Prerequisite: Engineering 59 and Engineering 84 or permission of instructor. (Fall)

153. Electronics Laboratory (1)
Yang. Experimental evaluation of electronic devices and circuits. Prerequisite: Engineering 84 or permission of instructor; taken concurrently with Engineeering 151. (Fall)

155. Microprocessor-based Systems: Design and Applications (4)
D. Harris, S. Harris. Introduction to digital design using programmable logic and microprocessors. Combinational and sequential logic. Finite state machines. Hardware description languages. Field programmable gate arrays. Microcontrollers and embedded system design. Students gain experience with complex digital system design, embedded programming, and hardware/software trade-offs through significant laboratory and project work. Prerequisites: Engineering 85 or Engineering 85A and Computer Science 60 or permission of instructor. (Fall)

156. Introduction to Communication and Information Theory (3)
Molinder. Comprehensive treatment of explicit and random signal transmission through linear communication networks by generalized harmonic analysis including signal sampling and modulation theories. Treatment of noise in communication systems including design of optimum linear filters and systems for signal detection. Introduction to information theory including the treatment of discrete noiseless systems, capacity of communication channels and coding processes. Prerequisite: Engineering 101. (Spring)

158. Introduction to CMOS VLSI Design (3)

D. Harris. Introduction to digital integrated system design. Device and wire models, gate topologies, logical effort, latching, memories and timing. Structured physical design and CAD methodology. Final team project involves design and fabrication of custom chips. Prerequisites: Engineering 84 and Engineering 85A or permission of instructor. (Spring)

161. Computer Image Processing and Analysis (3)
Wang. An introduction to both image processing, including acquisition, enhancement and restoration; and image analysis, including representation, classification and recognition. Discussion on related subjects such as unitary transforms, and statistical and neural network pattern recognition methods. Project oriented. Prerequisites: Engineering 101-102 and programming proficiency, or permission of instructor. (Every other year; Fall)

164. Introduction to Biomedical Engineering (3)
Orwin. The application of engineering principles to help pose and solve problems in medicine and biology. Focus on different aspects, particularly biomedical measurements, bio systems analysis, biomechanics and biomaterials. (Every other year; Spring)

166. High-Speed PC Board Design (3)
S. Harris. This course provides the student exposure to fundamental and practical issues in the design and fabrication of printed circuit boards (PCBs), with primary emphasis on boards for high-speed digital circuits. Students work in teams to design a high-speed PCB, which can then be fabricated and subsequently tested by the students. Upon completing this course, students should be able to use appropriate CAD tools to capture a circuit schematic, choose a board cross-section, place components on a board and route wiring. Further, the course should enable students to recognize when circuit speed/size combinations are likely to make “high-speed effects” such as reflections and cross talk important, know how to quantify these effects and their impact on performance, and to design their boards to reduce the deleterious effects to an acceptable level. Prerequisites: Engineering 84 and Engineering 85A.  (Every other year; Spring)

168a. Introduction to Fiber Optic Communication Systems (3)
Yang. This course provides the fundamentals of optics and its applications in communication systems. The physical layer of optical communication systems will be emphasized. Topics include optical materials; dispersion and nonlinear effects; polarization and interference; and the basic elements of system implementation such as laser sources, optical amplifiers and optical detectors. The course will include a multiple channel system design. (Every other year, Spring)

171. Dynamics of Elastic Systems (3)
Cha. Free and forced response of single- degree-of-freedom systems. Eigenvalue problem for multi-degree-of-freedom systems; natural modes of free vibration. Forced response of undamped and viscously damped, multi-degree-of-freedom systems by modal analysis. Prerequisite: Engineering 83. (Fall)

172. Structural Mechanics (3)
Bassman, Dym. Introduction to elementary structural systems: trusses, beams. Force and deflection analysis. Energy methods. Stability. Introduction to finite element methods. Prerequisite: Engineering 83. (Spring)

173. Applied Elasticity (3)
Dym. Introduction to the concepts of stress and strain. Application to the theory of bending and torsion. Topics in elementary elasticity. Prerequisite: Engineering 83. (Every other year; Fall)

174. Practices in Civil Engineering (3)
Little, Cardenas, Dym. The student is exposed to the practice of civil engineering through a series of case studies discussed within the context of a broad-based engineering curriculum. Engineering fundamentals related to the selection and use of construction materials, stress and strain, and to the analysis and design of structural and transportation systems may be discussed. Types and specifics of case studies vary depending upon the instructor. Prerequisites: Engineering 59, Engineering 80 and permission of the instructor. (Every other year; Spring)

175. Rigid Body Dynamics (3)
Bassman. Kinematics, mass distribution and kinetics of systems of particles and rigid bodies. Formulation of equations of motion with: Newton/Euler equations; angular momentum principle; power, work and energy methods. Numerical solutions of nonlinear algebraic and ordinary differential equations governing the behavior of multiple degree of freedom systems. Computer simulation of multi-body dynamic systems. Construction of physical systems for comparison with simulation. Prerequisite: Engineering 83 (taken previously or concurrently). (Fall)

176. Numerical Methods in Engineering (3)
Cha. This course focuses on the application of a variety of mathematical techniques to solve real-world problems that involve modeling, mathematical and numerical analysis, and scientific computing. Concepts, calculations and the ability to apply principles to physical problems are emphasized. Ordinary differential equations, linear algebra, complex analysis, numerical methods, partial differential equations, probability and statistics, etc., are among the techniques that would be applied to problems in mechanical, electrical, chemical and civil engineering. Examples are drawn from fluid mechanics, heat transfer, vibration of structures, electromagnetics, communications and other applied topics. Program development and modification are expected as well as learning to use existing code. Prerequisite: Engineering 72. (Every other year; Spring)

179. Deformation and Fracture of Solids (3)
King. Elements of stress and strain, elastic and plastic deformations of solid materials, fracture mechanics, strengthening mechanisms, thermal and thermo-mechanical processing, effects of microstructure, failure modes and analysis of service failures. Prerequisites: Engineering 83 and Engineering 106. (Every other year; Fall)

190. Special Topics in Engineering (3)
Staff. An upper division or graduate technical elective treating topics in engineering not covered in other courses, chosen at the discretion of the Engineering Department.

191. Advanced Problems in Engineering (1-3)
Staff. Independent study in a field agreed upon by student and instructor. Credit hours to be arranged.

205. Systems Simulation (3)
Bright, Molinder. An examination of the use of high-speed digital computers to simulate the behavior of engineering and industrial systems. Both continuous and discrete systems are treated. Prerequisites: Engineering 101-102. (Fall)

206. Optimization Techniques in Engineering Design (3)
Bright, Dym, Little. Presentation of techniques for making optimum choices among alternatives; applications to engineering design problems. Prerequisite: Engineering 205. (Spring)

231. Advanced Transport Phenomena (3)
Bright, Lape. Integrated approach to the subjects of fluid mechanics, heat transfer and mass transfer, through the study of the governing equations common to all three fields. Applications drawn from a wide variety of engineering systems. Prerequisite: Engineering 131. (Spring)

278. Advanced Structural Dynamics (3)
Cha. Free and forced response of continuous systems, including the vibration of strings, rods, shafts, membranes, beams and plates. One dimensional finite element methods: discretization of a continuum, selection of interpolation functions, and determining the element mass and stiffness matrices and the corresponding load vector. Introduction to special topics, including the effects of parameter uncertainties on the dynamics of periodic structures and model updating in structural dynamics. Prerequisite: Engineering 171. (Every other year; Spring)