I graduated from a 3-2 physics-engineering program at Manhattan College
in Bronx, NY. The program was designed for students who first spend 3
years studying physics at a smaller liberal arts college and then spend
2 years studying engineering at Manhattan College, but I completed the
entire program at Manhattan College, graduating with a B.S in physics in
1982 and a B.E. in electrical engineering in 1983.
Having experienced a 3-2 program only from the perspective of a student,
I can answer only the third question listed below.
I enjoyed simultaneously learning the scientific aspects of solids and
electromagnetism in physics and the engineering aspects of circuits and
electronics in electrical engineering. The double major gave me a
significantly deeper appreciation for both fields than I would have
gotten by majoring in one field and minoring (or at least dabbling) in
the other.
The one complaint that I have is that I was required to take a couple of
engineering courses that were basically watered down versions of physics
courses that I had already completed. In particular, engineering
thermodynamics was a waste after having studied statistical mechanics,
and engineering dynamics was a waste after having studied junior
mechanics in physics. At least they didn't require me to take
engineering statics. Engineering thermo and dynamics were easy A's, but
I would have preferred taking more electives, instead.
Daniel Crowe
Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics
Ardmore Regional Center
dcrowe@sotc.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Forum for Physics Educators [mailto:PHYS-L@list1.ucc.nau.edu] On
Behalf Of John SOHL
Sent: Friday, September 24, 2004 11:44 AM
To: PHYS-L@LISTS.NAU.EDU
Subject: [PHYS-L] 3-2 physics and engineering programs
Hi All:
We are considering the possibility of starting a 3-2
physics-engineering program.
For background information: Weber State University (Ogden, Utah) has a
vocational technical program (essentially a 4-year technician degree)
but no engineering college. The two nearby research I institutions are
each located about 40 to 50 miles away and both have extensive
engineering programs. There is also a large private university (BYU, ~70
miles away) with a solid engineering school. Here at Weber, we currently
have three versions of the physics major: regular, applied and
teaching.
My questions for the members of PHYS-L:
1. Are there any national standards or guidelines for 3-2 programs by
organizations such as IEEE, APS, AIP or AAPT?
2. Have you recently started such a program and if so how did you
approach the engineering schools that you are working with?
3. For the 3-2 program(s) that you might be familiar with, are there
any particular things that worked or didn't work well that you would
like to change?
4. Has the program been of any value to your department? If you were to
start over, would you do it again?
5. Are there any "model" programs that we should consider as a template
to base our program on?
Thanks!
John
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
John E. Sohl, Ph.D., Professor of Physics
Weber State University, 2508 University Circle
Ogden, UT 84408-2508
voice: (801) 626-7907, fax: (801) 626-7445
e-mail: jsohl@weber.edu
web: http://physics.weber.edu/sohl/