Engineering (Cooperative) Program

Office: 112 Jewett Hall
(716) 673-3302
Justin Conroy, Director
Email: cooperative.engineering@fredonia.edu
Website: http://home.fredonia.edu/physics

The Cooperative Engineering program takes its name from the academic cooperative agreements between Fredonia and its affiliated engineering schools. The intent is to combine liberal arts and sciences at Fredonia with engineering at another school, thereby maximizing the student’s potential as a member of society and as an employer or employee. The agreements facilitate student transfer and mutual recognition of general education requirements. Fredonia is currently affiliated in a Cooperative Engineering program with the following institutions:

Case Western Reserve University (1)

Clarkson University (2)

Columbia University (3)

Louisiana Tech University (4)

New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred (5)

Ohio State University (6)

Penn State Erie (7)

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (8)

Rochester Institute of Technology (9)

State University of New York at Binghamton (10)

State University of New York at Buffalo (11)

Syracuse University (12)

Tri-State University (13)

The following is a list of the diverse program options available at the engineering colleges, under the Fredonia Cooperative Engineering program, identified by the institution code number given above. As institutions are continually revising and updating their offerings, students are advised to consult with the catalogs of affiliated schools for recent additions and changes.

Aeronautical (2), (9)

Aerospace (1), (12), (13)

Aerospace and Aviation (7)

Applied Physics (3)

Bioengineering (13)

Biomedical (1), (3), (5), (7), (9)

Biomedical Materials Eng. Science (6)

Ceramic (6), (7)

Chemical (1), (2), (3), (7), (9), (12), (13), (14)

Civil (1), (2), (3), (5), (9), (12), (13), (14)

Civil and Environmental (7), (13)

Computer (1), (2), (3), (8), (10), (13), (14)

Computer and Systems (9)

Electrical (1), (2), (3), (5), (7), (8), (9), (10), (11), (12), (13), (14)

Electrical Power (9)

Engineering Administration (14)

Engineering Mechanics (3)

Engineering Physics (1), (7), (9), (12), (13)

Engineering Science (9), (13)

Environmental (3), (9), (12), (13)

Fluid and Thermal Science (1)

Food, Agricultural, and Biological (7)

Geomatics (7)

Glass Science (6)

Industrial (3), (5), (12)

Industrial and Management (9)

Industrial and Operations Research (3)

Industrial and Systems (7), (10), (11)

Interdisciplinary and Management (2)

Manufacturing (13)

Materials (9)

Materials Science (3), (13)

Materials Science and Engineering (1), (3), (6), (7)

Mechanical (1), (2), (3), (5), (7), (8), (9), (10), (11), (12), (13), (14)

Metallurgical (3), (7)

Microelectronic (10)

Nuclear (9)

Operations Research (3)

Operations Research and Industrial Engineering

Polymer Science (1)

Software Engineering (2), (8), (10), (11)

Systems and Control Engineering (1), (7)

Theoretical and Applied Mechanics

Welding (7)

These cooperative arrangements include but are not limited to the popular Three-Two (3-2) option. Briefly, a student in the 3-2 option takes a minimum of 90 credit hours (three years) at Fredonia in a curriculum, modified specifically for this program, in biology, business administration, chemistry, computer science, economics, English, geology, history, mathematics, mathematics physics, philosophy, physics, political science, psychology, or sociology. The student then transfers to an affiliated school and completes at least 60 credit hours (two years) in an engineering discipline. When the student completes this five-year option, he/she obtains a baccalaureate from the engineering institution. Provided the student has satisfied Fredonia’s remaining requirements at the engineering school, he/she obtains a second baccalaureate; this one from Fredonia according to the curriculum there followed. It is possible for students who do not wish to major in any one of the specified departments to enter the Interdisciplinary Studies program, which allows the student to design his/her own Cooperative Engineering curriculum. This curriculum will include, but not be limited to, the engineering core and related courses for the engineering college of the student’s choice. Although the popular 3-2 option is considered the basic option for Cooperative Engineering, 2-2, 2-3, 3-3, and 4-2 options are available. The 2-2 and 2-3 options do not lead to Fredonia degrees; the 3-3 and 4-2 programs do. In many cases the latter will result in a master’s degree in engineering in addition to the bachelor’s degree from Fredonia.

Strongly recommended are courses in computer programming such as Computer Science I (CSIT 121), Modern Physics (PHYS 234), and 3 to 6 credit hours of economics. This core, coupled with the departmental and general university requirements, forms the basic curriculum for the three-year program at Fredonia.

An attractive feature of the 3-2 option is that the final decision regarding the area of engineering usually is not made until the third year, thus providing the student with sufficient experience to make a proper choice. However, it is to the student’s advantage to choose the second institution and the area of engineering as soon as possible so course selections can be tailored to that choice. To transfer, the student first consults with the Cooperative Engineering director and then applies to one of the affiliated engineering colleges or to any other engineering college of his/her choice. Usually, a favorable letter of recommendation from the director is forwarded for highly motivated students with satisfactory academic records. At the affiliated engineering institution, a Fredonia student application is given special consideration. Admission is not, in general, guaranteed. However, for 3-2 students with GPA’s exceeding 2.5, 100 percent have gained admission to an engineering school. Also, it should be noted, that for Columbia University admission is guaranteed to students meeting certain GPA and course distribution requirements.

Since there are more than 60 baccalaureate programs with numerous concentrations available at the affiliated institutions, and since these curricula are frequently updated, it is mandatory that all students registered in Cooperative Engineering meet the director or authorized designee for advisement each and every semester.

• For students interested in transferring to the Cooperative Engineering program either from other Fredonia majors or from other colleges, the following applies:
• The student should have completed sufficient background courses to insure timely completion of the three-year Fredonia component.
• The student should have a cumulative GPA of approximately 2.5 or higher. Students should be aware that engineering schools will not accept students with less than outstanding academic records.

A student organization, the Fredonia Engineering and Physics Society, provides opportunities to travel to conferences and other extracurricular activities including design projects. Recent projects include the design and construction of a magnetically levitated model train, an optical holography table, and a small robot.

A large number of engineering and engineering-related courses comprising most courses typically taught in the first two years at engineering schools are offered at Fredonia. These include Statics, Dynamics and Mechanics of Solids (PHYS 321, PHYS 329, PHYS 322), Circuit Analysis (PHYS 323), Thermodynamics (PHYS 330), Optics w/lab (PHYS 340-PHYS 341), and Electronics w/lab (PHYS 325-PHYS 327).

Students should contact the director of the Cooperative Engineering program for additional details for the following awards:

• Herbert P. Carlyon Scholarship
• Cooperative Engineering Scholarship Award