Engineering

Robotics Design placement is permitted with instructor approval.  Please contact Mr. Hilton (Morganton campus) or Dr. Sakaguchi (Durham campus) with information about your past robotics experience to be considered.

Biomedical Instrumentation (Durham campus) and Circuits (Durham campus) have electrical engineering and calculus as a prerequisites. The electrical engineering prerequisite can be satisfied by exam. Please contact Mr. Kirk to make an appointment for the exam, allowing sufficient time for exam scheduling and grading before the close of the registration period. 

The introductory CAD/CAM course teaches skills that are valuable in many disciplines and enables the design and construction of items for research, academic competitions, and projects in the Peter T. Haughton Innovation and Fabrication Laboratory.

• • EE3100: CAD/CAM This course provides in-depth instruction in computer graphics. The goal of this course is to learn how to use computer-aided design (CAD) software to graphically represent two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects. This course emphasizes product design, assembly drawing, and exploded views. This course is well-suited to students considering a career in engineering or research, and for those students who wish to become more effective in visually communicating technical information in any profession. The final project is an original design of a functional object complete with all drawings necessary for its construction.

If you are ready to initiate your study if engineering in a specific interest area, we have a wide variety of introductory courses focused on different engineering fields and open to all students without prerequisites. These courses take students through the main concepts underlying the specific engineering discipline and use a variety of activities and projects to reinforce learning and the engineering design process. 

• EE4000: Mechanical Engineering - This course introduces students to the study and practice of mechanical engineering. Using activities, design projects, and laboratory modules students learn how engineers use mathematics and science to design efficient and beneficial devices such as automobiles, power plants, airplanes, machinery, and heating/cooling equipment. Topics include engineering design, simple machines, mechanisms, materials, dynamics, heat transfer, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, and modeling. 

• EE4020: Electrical Engineering - This course introduces students to topics important to the fields of electrical, electronic, and computer engineering. Using activities, laboratory modules, and a major design project students learn first-hand how electrical engineers analyze and solve problems. Topics include basic DC and AC circuits, OpAmps, semiconductors, and logic design. 

• EE4040: Architecture - This course introduces students to the field of architecture. Students use industry-standard software (Revit Architecture) to design buildings. Driven by hands-on projects and activities, this course covers topics such as architectural history, structural engineering, green building, project planning, site planning, building design, and project documentation. The final project is the design of a a commercial building, giving students the opportunity to model the real-world experiences of architects. 

• EE4080: Biomedical Engineering - This course introduces students to the different sub-specialties of biomedical engineering including biomaterials, biomechanics, bioelectricity, biomedical devices, and measurements, as well as design. Through hands-on labs, activities, and collaborative design projects students kinesthetically explore and experience biomedical engineering principles, the engineering design process, and problem solving and troubleshooting. 

• EE4090: Materials for Engineering Applications -This course introduces students to materials used in a variety of engineering fields. Through practical applications, students will learn to evaluate and select appropriate materials based on engineering constraints and performance requirements. The course explores the composition, properties, and performance characteristics of materials, emphasizing their impact on the engineering design process. Additionally, students will gain familiarity with industry standards, specifications, and testing methods that define and assess the engineering properties of materials. 

• EE4100 Introductory Robotics - This course provides students with the opportunity to develop skills in basic programming and design using an autonomous robot. Students will explore the use of sensors to have the robot react to its environment and learn to troubleshoot mechanical and software issues. Self-guided skill development early in the trimester is followed by a series of project challenges emphasizing teamwork and design.

• EE4140: Aerospace Engineering - This course introduces students to the field of aerospace engineering, engineering design, and the core math and science concepts needed to solve problems related to aerospace and other engineering disciplines. The course is presented with historical context, emphasizing the development of human flight from antiquity through modern aviation and on into current and future exploration of space. Topics include spatial reasoning, properties of fluids, descriptions of 3-dimensional motion, the mechanics of flight, and basic aero- and thermodynamic principles applied to the design and control of aircraft and spacecraft. Students have opportunities to experiment, calculate, compute, design and build as they explore and solve problems associated with the mechanics of flight, and are encouraged to earn course credit through aerospace-themed projects of their own design. 

• EE4160: Civil Engineering - This course introduces students to the study and practice of civil engineering and to math and science concepts needed to solve problems related to this and other engineering disciplines. Topics include the engineering design process, engineering mathematics, applied and reactive forces and moments, static equilibrium, distributed loadings, strength of materials, and stress and buckling analyses for structures in tension, compression, and bending. Activities include small-scale laboratory explorations, design projects inspired by the profession, data acquisition and computational modeling. 

• EE4180: Environmental Engineering - This course introduces students to the study and practice of environmental engineering and to math and science concepts needed to solve problems related to these and other engineering disciplines. Topics include engineering design, hydrology and water resources, stormwater modeling and management, drinking and wastewater treatment, pollutant fate and transport, health effects of environmental pollutants, and mitigation and remediation strategies. Activities include small-scale laboratory explorations, design projects inspired by the profession, field measurement, online data acquisition and computational modeling. 

• EE4200: Digital Agriculture and Engineering - This course introduces students to the application of digital technologies to agricultural production. These tools enable farmers to boost yields and income globally while reducing the environmental impact of agriculture. Topics of study include crop plant physiology, controlled environment agriculture, precision agriculture, Internet of Things, automation, and artificial intelligence. For projects, students will design and prototype scientifc instruments, smart devices, and growing environments to optimize crop production. 

We have a few advanced engineering courses that can help students prepare for a rigorous engineering curriculum in college. These courses have prerequisites and have expectations that are higher than those in our other courses.

• • EE4520: Biomedical Instrumentation - (Prerequisites: Calculus and either Biomedical or Electrical Engineering). Students learn the basic principles of electronic instrumentation with biomedical examples.

  • EE4540: Statics -  (Prerequisites: Calculus and Physics) Learn how to apply the principles of Mechanics to problems of equilibrium. Topics include: vectors, moments, analysis of force systems (trusses, frames, and machines), rigid body equilibrium, center of gravity, and moment of inertia. 

  • EE4560: Circuits - (Prerequisites: Calculus and Electrical Engineering) Students continue the study of electrical circuits, including DC circuit analysis and theorems, op-amps, first and second order circuits, transient analysis, AC sinusoids and phasors, sinusoidal steady-rate analysis, AC power analysis, three-phase circuits, magnetically coupled circuits, frequency response, and Laplace and Fourier transforms.

We also have a robotics design opportunity, an interdisciplinary opportunity with physics, and an online biotechnology course

• EE4310 Special Topics: Robotics Design - (Prerequisite: By application during research course application process) This course will present engineering topics that are not part of the regular offerings of the department of engineering and computer science and can focus on a variety of topics, with special emphasis to those involving engineering design. Robotics Design is for students who want to pursue a more formal design experience as part of NCSSM's FIRST Robotics Team, the Zebracorns. It is for students with the motivation, independence, and maturity necessary to conduct their own design projects in robotics, either related to software and control or mechanical design. Students can use industry-leading robotics software, the Robotics Operating System, to integrate sensor and machine learning systems required for robot control, build machine learning models, interfaces, or they can learn CAD (OnShape) to design a variety of mechanisms using motors, actuators, and pneumatics. Both the software and mechanical designs will undergo design reviews and can be tested under real world conditions, requiring sustained reliable operation, during the FIRST Robotics competition season. Final projects can include white papers and engineering design portfolios. Students will be accepted to this course by application.

• PH4150/EE4150 Elements of Satellite Design - (Prerequisites: PH4020 or PH3500) This is an interdisciplinary course focused on the applied science and engineering of small scale satellites. Students will apply physics principles and the engineering design process to consider fundamental elements for designing orbital systems that gather earth data through remote sensing. Physics topics commensurate with second semester physics such as orbital mechanics, energy analysis, waves, simple harmonic motion, and electromagnetism will be covered, as well as electrostatics and basic circuit design. Together with a previous Core Mechanics physics course (PH 4020 or PH 3500), this course covers the majority of a year long introductory physics course. The course can be used to satisfy either the physics core elective graduation requirement, the graduation requirement in engineering, or the STEM elective.

  • BI4155 Honors Agricultural Biotechnology - (Prerequisite: Biology) As the human population grows over the next few decades, we will need to produce more food on agriculture's existing footprint, saving land for biodiversity. This can be done by improving seeds and through better management of farms-- through technological innovation. Agricultural biotechnology is thriving globally, especially in the Research Triangle here in NC as new agriculture companies set up shop to employ and collaborate with our region's' academic talent. In this course, students will examine how farms around the world are intensifying agriculture and promoting sustainability through plant breeding, transgenic plant and animal development, and soon, gene editing. They will learn about and build automated smart devices like weather stations, sensor motes, robots and drones using the Arduino platform. They will analyze agricultural data to help farmers make better decisions. And finally they will propose and prototype solutions that improve the practices of subsistence farmers and large scale growers around the world. This course meets North Carolina standards for Agriscience and Biotechnology IV: Agricultural Solutions.