Engineering Programs (Poly)

About this opportunity

The Polytechnic School (TPS) focuses on project-based and hands-on curriculum to solve real-world challenges through student, faculty and industry collaborations. We believe how you learn and teach is as important as what you learn and teach, and we committed to creating public value with the education and research undertaken by over 7,000 students, faculty, and staff. 

Our programs thrive through the comprehensive expertise in many of the most important technological challenges that society faces. Many bring considerable industrial experience to enhance their teaching and research. 

Specialization areas include automotive systems, electrical systems, mechanical systems, and robotics. The Engineering program within TPS also emphasizes applied projects that connect fundamental concepts to prototyping and implementation. 

Please look at the Engineering research themes within TPS for potential topic areas, and also the corresponding list of Engineering faculty that you should search and contact as a potential mentor. 

Thesis

The honors thesis should represent a body of work performed independently by the student or a small team of students under the guidance of a mentor. The mentor will normally be a regular faculty member, but adjunct faculty, faculty associates or other qualified professionals may chair the thesis committee. The thesis committee is composed of the chair plus one "reader" who is another qualified professional that provides guidance to the student. Honors research and thesis writing must be work performed above and beyond the normal coursework required for the BS degree. The senior capstone design project or other projects done as a normal part of a course are not eligible to be used as the honors research.

Academic Preparation

Students should be in their junior or senior year, and may be expected to have completed certain upper-level courses in the topic as guided by their thesis mentor.

Honors courses EGR 492 and EGR 493 are required as part of your thesis work. 

Recommended Timeline

Students commonly reach out to faculty during their junior year. Some projects take more time, some less time, depending on thesis topic and time availability of the student. Please plan for 6-12 months when speaking with faculty mentors.

Review the thesis deadlines for Barrett here.

Other Honors Opportunities

Most courses in EGR are offered for honors credit through the honors enrichment contract. Students wishing to receive honors credit should confer with the course instructor at the beginning of the semester in order to develop a mutually acceptable plan for the honors contract activity. Most honors contracts involve either a project that extends the ideas and techniques covered in the course or outside research on topics relevant to the course work. Students have the responsibility to apply for the honors contract through Barrett, The Honors College. The Honors College contacts the instructor to approve the contract only after the student has initiated the process. Some courses have honors sections. Honors credit should be conducted in conjunction with an active faculty member, and the faculty member should be qualified to evaluate your performance in your selected project.

Courses that are part of the Engineering Projects in Community Service program (FSE 104 EPICS Gold I and FSE 404 EPICS In Action) automatically count for honors credit.

In addition, students admitted to the Grand Challenge Scholars Program will automatically earn honors credit for the program’s required courses (FSE 150 Perspectives on Grand Challenges for Engineering, FSE 250 GCSP Gold, FSE 350 GCSP Maroon).