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Introduction
The BS-MS program is a combined undergraduate-graduate
program leading to the simultaneous award of the BS and MS degrees.
This program is designed for five years of full time study.
It provides students with a unique opportunity to combine advanced
undergraduate and graduate studies in mechanical engineering
with practical, real-world, product-oriented experience in the
engineering of mechanical systems. Students
in the BS-MS program cover the same scope and level of subjects
as those in the regular MS program, and it is expected that
they will have equivalent qualifications and opportunities for
advanced graduate study programs. Successful completion of the
fourth year of the five year curriculum will give the student
enough credit and breadth of subject matter to satisfy university
requirements for the BS degree, should individual circumstances
arise that preclude a student from taking the fifth year.
The program was established by this college,
and a number of other engineering colleges in the United States,
because of industry requirements. It has become clear in recent
years that industry needs people who not only have a sound education
in mathematics, basic sciences, and engineering science, but
who also have knowledge and experience in the solution of real
world, product-driven problems. This means that students need
to learn communication skills suited to the engineering workplace.
They also need to experience team design projects that produce
real products to satisfy real requirements. These
increasing demands upon the undergraduate engineering curriculum,
both for greater depth of knowledge in an expanding technical
field, and for practical, product-oriented experiences, could
not be satisfied within the parameters of a traditional four
year undergraduate curriculum. The five year BS-MS program was
created to satisfy the industry need, by coordinating the curriculum
in the fourth undergraduate year with that in an additional
fifth graduate year and industrial experiences.
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