This page is for a previous semester (Fall 2024). Please visit this page to select a more recent semester to find updated details.
The “EN1” course (taken in your first semester at Tufts) is an Introduction to Engineering. There are multiple sections available, offered by different instructors from a variety of different departments and disciplines, all customized to their personal interests and expertise.
Course Description:
Introduction of various concepts in engineering. Emphasis on project work, engineering ethics, and engineering design process. Discipline topic areas vary each term. Limited to first-year students.
Notes for Fall 2024:
– Section 14: Frontiers in Reproductive Health Engineering has been assigned a day/time (Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12pm to 1:15pm)
– NEW Section 06: Equitable and Inclusive Civil Infrastructure has been added (Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am to 10:15am)
– Every fall, Tufts School of Engineering (SoE) offers a selection of EN1: Applications in Engineering Sections. Below are the selection that are being offered in Fall 2024.
– A single document containing all the Fall 2024 EN1 Section Information can be downloaded here. Please reach out to the individual instructors if you have questions regarding details of a particular section of EN1. Otherwise, please reach out to your assigned academic advisor for general academic advice.
– For many of the EN1 sections, there are a few reserved seats for A&S students who are interested in doing an internal transfer into SoE. If you have questions or need additional information, please reach out to the Liberal Arts to Engineering Internal Transfer Advisor.
– If you get on the waitlist for one EN1 section, you can still sign up for another (open) section, and be automatically swapped if you get off the waitlist. This is called a “Future Swap” (Add then Drop) and requires careful implementation in SIS. Follow these instructions to do this properly. Note that a mistake will lose your spot on the waitlist!
Student Perspective of First Year Courses:
Eric (Junior in Environmental Engineering)
Kinan (Junior in Electrical Engineering)
Richard (Junior in Data Science)
EN1 Sections (Fall 2024):
Section 01: Intro to Renewable Energy (Thomas Vandervelde, ECE)
Section 02: Coffee Engineering (Matthew Panzer and Kyongbum Lee, ChemE)
Section 03: Engineering for the Customer (Eli Cushner, Gordon Institute of Engineering Management)
Section 06: Equitable and Inclusive Civil Infrastructure (Chelsea Andrews, CEE)
Section 08: Simple Robotics (Ethan Danahy, CS)
Section 09: Community Engineering Education (Greses Pérez, CEE)
Section 10: Engineering in the Kitchen (Emily Carlson, ECE)
Section 13: Impact of Self-Driving Cars (Harold Miller-Jacobs and James Intriligator, ME/HF)
Section 14: Frontiers in Reproductive Health Engineering (Juan Gnecco, BME)
Section 15: Sci-Fi Bioengineering (Nisha Iyer, BME)
Section 16: Bridges and Resilient Cities (Betsy Kirtland, CEE)
Section 17: Intro to Nanoscience (Paul Simmonds, ECE)
Section 18: Exploring Computer Science (Diane Souvaine, CS)
Section 19: Wind Energy: Extreme Engineering & Societal Impacts (Dan Kuchma, CEE)
See details about each section and the instructors here.
Section 01: Intro to Renewable Energy
We will examine renewable energy generation technologies with a critical eye; including, the examination of the way the media portrays energy technologies. We will explore the renewable energy technology of today as well as future prospects. We will look at the natural resource requirements of energy systems as well as their environmental and economic impacts. While going off the grid sounds like a great idea, it is a complex problem to be solved. Solar and wind energy sources require a lot of land; additionally, they are not constant with time, and efficient energy storage technology does not exist. Labs will give the student a hands-on sense for the energy generation process and its complexity. (Thomas Vandervelde, Electrical and Computer Engineering)
Section 02: Coffee Engineering
What agricultural commodity is produced at a scale of over 20 billion pounds per year globally? Coffee beans! This course provides an introduction to several (bio)chemical engineering concepts, including: mass and energy balances, process flow diagrams, driving forces for molecular motion, and some organic/physical chemistry, all discussed in the context of coffee production and brewing. Additional topics include: coffee economics, caffeine biology and metabolism, data representation/statistics, and pressure-driven flow. (Matthew Panzer and Kyongbum Lee, Chemical and Biological Engineering)
Section 03: Engineering for the Customer
What do Starbucks, TikTok, and Amazon have in common? They deliver great customer experiences! Far from random, these experiences are carefully designed and engineered. Through team projects, class discussions, and industry guest speakers, we will analyze physical products, user interfaces, and service experiences. In addition, we will cultivate the essential leadership skills to bring everything together. By the end of this course, you will be equipped with the mindset and tools necessary to prioritize “The Customer” as you continue your academic journey at Tufts. (Eli Cushner, Gordon Institute of Engineering Management)
Section 06: Equitable and Inclusive Civil Infrastructure
This course introduces civil infrastructure; with a focus on transportation, water, energy, and waste management components. Both the technical and professional aspects of these components will be explored. In addition, the course focuses on concepts of equitable and inclusive development of infrastructure, whether in the creation of new or in the renovation of existing elements. (Chelsea Andrews, Civil and Environmental Engineering)
Section 08: Simple Robotics
Introduction to robot construction, programming, event-based programming, artificial intelligence, and elementary controls. Basic principles of robotics for students with minimal or no prior programming or building background. Hands-on projects emphasizing engineering design using a LEGO-based Robotics platform. (Ethan Danahy, Computer Science)
Section 09: Community Engineering Education
In this course, students will explore the connections between communities and engineering education by partnering with local K-12 students to co-design educational games about STEM topics that are relevant to local communities. Students will learn the foundations of engineering design principles, game development processes, develop an understanding of people from different backgrounds, and understand how people interact with engineering design learning activities. In this course, student teams will be visiting local K-12 schools and community centers to test their prototypes multiple times throughout the semester. These experiences will prepare students with useful skills for future projects and research experiences, such as working with external partners and transforming ideas into solutions and products through rapid iteration. (Greses Pérez, Civil and Environmental Engineering)
Section 10: Engineering in the Kitchen
In this course, we will explore engineering through the lens of food and kitchen gadgets. During the semester, we will disassemble every electrified food-preparation device we can get our hands on, learn how they work, and use our newfound skills to build a few of our own. Along the way, you’ll analyze and design basic electrical circuits, program microcontrollers to take measurements and respond to them, log data to answer questions about cooking, and connect the Things you build to the Internet. We’ll also explore some of the complex social and ethical issues at the intersection of technology and food: does a cloud-connected refrigerator make us more efficient, or more lazy, or does it just result in more e-waste? And what responsibility do engineers have when working with something so deeply human as food? (Emily Carlson, Electrical and Computer Engineering)
Section 13: Impact of Self-Driving Cars
There is no question about it – Self-Driving Cars will be here; the only dilemma is when! This class will examine all aspects of this coming revolution. We will address the questions of:
– What are the technologies that will enable this to happen?
– Who are the key players in the world?
– What are the social, ethical, urban, environmental, and legal implications of this revolution?
We will examine these topics through lectures, guest speakers, and student presentations. The aim of the course is to not only examine the engineering principles involved in self-driving cars but to also examine the societal implications as we move forward with this technology. (Harold Miller-Jacobs and James Intriligator, Mechanical Engineering and Human Factors Engineering)
Section 14: Frontiers in Reproductive Health Engineering
Reproductive tissues are some of the most dynamic, multifactorial, and complex systems of the human body and, as such, remain some of the most poorly understood. Frontiers in Reproductive Health Engineering is an introductory course that explores how big picture themes in the discipline of biomedical engineering (BME) can help to demystify, destigmatize and advance the way we understand women’s reproductive health and its diseases. The goal of the course is to expose first year students to both the basic principles of engineering and the fundamentals of the reproductive biology through a series of didactic lectures, group discussions, demos and invited guest speakers that span the current state of technology, the existing needs, and the future of reproductive health. (Juan Gnecco, Biomedical Engineering)
Section 15: Sci-Fi Bioengineering
Where does science fiction meet biological reality? Using classic and contemporary sci-fi films as a framework for inspiration and discussion, this course will survey the practicalities of once imaginary technologies including gene editing, chimeric animal research, artificial organs, rapid vaccines, neural interfaces, and more. As we dissect fact from fiction, students will grapple with global and interstellar bioengineering challenges, regulations, and ethics as they exist now and may exist in the near future. (Nisha Iyer, Biomedical Engineering)
Section 16: Bridges and Resilient Cities
We will use the semester to understand the interaction of bridge design for resilient cities. Bridges play a significant role in urban design as they connect populations and often provide a significant architectural contribution to the cityscape. As a major component of a transportation network, bridges also play an essential role in creating resilient cities and ensuring that transportation networks remain functional in an emergency. We will study bridges in three major cities to learn about engineering design, city planning, and natural hazards with a focus on the creation of resilient cities. Students will learn the basics of bridge engineering, will be introduced to geospatial mapping, and will learn about what makes communities resilient. (Betsy Kirtland, Civil and Environmental Engineering)
Section 17: Intro to Nanoscience
In the Introduction to Nanoscience course we explore what happens when we make things incredibly small. We will see that as we as approach length scales of a few tens of nanometers, the properties and behavior of objects fundamentally changes as we enter the strange but powerful quantum world. We will investigate the foundations of nanoscience through the lens of both naturally occurring and artificially designed nanomaterials, looking at their applications in modern technology. We will collaboratively investigate nanoscale phenomena and their impact on engineering solutions. Course content will explore the world of nanotechnology from a multidisciplinary perspective and discover its potential to revolutionize society by offering future solutions to big engineering problems. (Paul Simmonds, Electrical and Computer Engineering)
Section 18: Exploring Computer Science
Basic principles of computer science for students with minimal or no prior programming background. Fundamentals of design, coding, and testing computer programs. Fundamental algorithms for sorting and searching. Programming projects employ and demonstrate common algorithms. Projects analyze and visualize data from real applications. This sampling of various topics will give the student a taste of not only what constitutes computer science, but also a deeper understanding of mankind’s most powerful tool. The course will prepare the student to take CS 11 in a subsequent semester, if so desired. Note: Section 18 should NOT be taken in the same semester as CS 11. (Diane Souvaine, Computer Science)
Section 19: Wind Energy: Extreme Engineering & Societal Impacts
The wind energy resource is enormous, and it could power a fully electrified world many times over. The costs of wind energy have fallen to be less than the costs from petroleum-based energy sources. The reduction in costs is primarily due to the growing size of wind turbines which in offshore wind farms can have 500 ton generators and 120m long blades supported on 200m tall towers/foundations. This course will provide a first look at the physics, engineering challenges, and societal impact of wind energy. Topics in physics will include aerodynamics, hydrodynamics, mechanics, and hurricanes. Topics in engineering will include structural design, fabrication, installation, and infrastructure (ports, vessels, electrical grid). Topics on Societal Impacts will include climate change, economics, and energy policy, as well as energy justice and environmental impacts. (Dan Kuchma, Civil and Environmental Engineering)
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