Undergraduate Advising Notes for Students and Faculty

The current curriculum requirements as well as a “Check Sheet” that students can use to verify they’ve met requirements can be found online at: Student Resources (pitt.edu)  

All courses used to satisfy degree requirements must be taken as a letter grade (LG) option except for seminar (ENGR 81/ 82 and IE 1085).  

Note that while 6 IE seminars (IE 1085) are not required for graduation (transfer students and co-op students will not have 6 of them), students must register for seminar each fall and spring term they are a full time student.

In addition to the first year requirements, there are currently 16 required IE courses in the curriculum, 3 additional MATH courses, 2 (of 3 approved) ENGR courses, 6 Humanities/Social Science (H/SS) electives, and 5 technical electives.  Students must meet a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0 and a total of 126 credits as well as meet the international requirement.

IE + 

The IE+ program was designed to encourage our undergraduate IE students to earn a minor, certificate, or certification while completing their undergraduate IE degree.  This allows a student to:

  • Pursue a passion in any of the many subject areas in which Pitt offers courses.
  • Elevate the Pitt IE Experience.
  • Build their resume and leverage their degree for a particular industry or organization.

Students can typically “double count” courses taken for a minor or certificate as either H/SS or tech electives.  Details can be found here:  IE+ (pitt.edu)

International Requirement

All IE students must complete the international requirement unless exempt (born and raised in a country other than the United States).  See Undergraduate International Requirement (pitt.edu) for details on this requirement.

Humanities and Social Sciences (H/SS) Electives

  • Students need at least 6 H/SS electives from the SSOE approved H/SS list Approved Electives (pitt.edu)  OR  from categories “Cross-Cultural Awareness”, “Global Issues”, “Second Language” (Excluding ASL courses), or “Specific Geographic Region” in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences (DSAS) General Education Catalog: General Education Requirements | Dietrich Arts & Sciences Undergraduate Studies (pitt.edu)
  • The courses should have breadth and depth. 
    • Breadth Requirement: Students must select courses from at least three different DSAS humanities (e.g., English literature, fine arts, Spanish etc.) and social science (e.g., economics, sociology, psychology, etc.) departments.  Students must select courses from both the humanities and social sciences.
    • Depth Requirement: Students must complete two or more courses from one of the approved departments or programs in DSAS.  A student may also satisfy the Depth requirement by completing two or more courses with a related theme, e.g. courses that focus on a geographic region, historic period, or ideological perspective.  Only one course below the 0200 level may be used to satisfy the depth requirement, except in the departments of Psychology, Linguistics, and languages.
  • All students must have at least one writing course (W).  Note that a student may satisfy the “W” requirement in a course outside of H/SS such as in math or one of the study abroad courses.  These are identified by the "Writing Requirement Course" or “Writing Intensive” designation in the enrollment information in PeopleSoft.
  • Traditional first year students in SSOE take ENGCMP 200 and ENGCMP 0412 which satisfy both depth and the W course.   ENGCMP 210 can be used as an H/SS elective.  For transfer students, ENGCMP 0200 does not meet the “W” nor does it count as an H/SS elective.
  • Depending on whether the student has selected International Requirement Option A (meaning they will travel/study abroad) or Option B (courses only – see the International Requirement link above) they may need 2 of their humanities or social sciences to come from the categories listed above in the DSAS General Education Catalog.  These two courses must be coherent as defined in the International Requirement documentation.
  • If a course is not on one of the approved lists, permission must be obtained from Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
  • Exceptions to the breadth rule can be made if a student is completing a minor or double major in a humanities or social science.
  • No more than two of the required six elective courses can be satisfied via high school Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) credits.
  • Language classes may not be taken in the student’s native language, unless placement is deemed appropriate by the language department in question. 

Technical Electives

  • Students need at least 15 credits of technical electives (5 courses) and current list of pre-approved courses can be found here:  Technical Electives (pitt.edu)
  • Unless a student is earning a minor or certificate in another technical area, at least 2 of the 5 courses should be IE tech electives (IE catalogued).
  • If a student minors in one of the technical area listed in the requirements, it is acceptable for all five of their technical electives to come from that area.
  • Any ENGR course offered by our own IE faculty or IE faculty at other institutions are considered IE Tech Electives…. this includes (but is not limited to) ENGR 1050, ENGR 1066, ENGR 1080, ENGR 1450, ENGR 1451, ENGR 1453, ENGR 1600, ENGR 1625, ENGR 1228.
  • Other ENGR courses are considered non-IE technical electives.
  • SSOE policy is that some of the international/study abroad courses that contain strong humanities/social science components (including ENGR 1600) can be counted either as an H/SS elective or technical elective.
  • If a student co-ops with at least 3 rotations (completed 3 – 1 credit ENGR 1090s OR 2 – 1 credit and 2 - .5 credit ENGR 1090s – 3 credits total) and completes the co-op report, they will get credit for one 3 credit non-IE technical elective.
  • We can approve courses coming from a variety of areas as technical electives including: all of the other engineering disciplines, mathematics, statistics, computer and information sciences, biology, chemistry, physics, some business courses, and some economics courses.  These courses should not duplicate content in courses that the student is already taking in our department. 
  • Any Math course above the 400 level can be taken as a non-IE technical elective as long as it does not significantly overlap with any required IE course.  For example, MATH 1100 Linear Programming is not approved because it overlaps with the material in IE 1081 and MATH 1510 Mathematical Probability is not approved because it overlaps with the material in IE 1070 Probability, Random Variables, and Distributions.  Students should have MATH courses approved by their advisor before taking them as a technical elective.
  • Please confer with the IE Undergraduate Program Director if you are unsure as to whether the course should count as a technical elective.

ENGR Electives

Students are required to take two ENGR courses from the following (6 credits):

ENGR 0022 (Materials) OR ENGR 0135 (Statics & Dynamics) OR Any Introductory Circuits Course (ECE 0031, COE 0031, MEMS 0031, ECE 0101, ECE 0201, BIOENG 1310)

Other Notes on Course Offerings

For transfer students, the following equivalencies apply:

  • ENGR 15 AND 16 = ENGR 11 AND 12
  • CHEM 110 AND 120 or 410 and 420 = CHEM 960 AND 970
  • MEMS 0024 = IE 1051
  • MEMS 0040 = IE 1052
  • IE 0000 = IE Technical Elective
  • ENGR 0000 = Technical Elective

Keep in mind that most but not all of our core courses are offered both fall and spring:

Fall only:

  • IE 1051 – with the exception of Fall 2024, will be offered Spring 2025
  • IE 1070

Spring only:

  • IE 0015
  • IE 1071
  • IE 1082

These courses are offered both fall and spring terms:

  • IE 1035
  • IE 1040
  • IE 1052
  • IE 1054
  • IE 1055
  • IE 1061
  • IE 1072
  • IE 1080
  • IE 1081
  • IE 1083
  • IE 1090
  • ENGR 0022*

These courses have traditionally been offered fall, spring, and summer:

  • ENGR 0135*
  • Introductory Circuit Courses*
  • All required MATH, PHYSICS, and CHEM courses*
  • H/SS electives*
  • Technical Electives*

*Note that these courses are controlled by other departments that may or may not consult with us if the offerings change.

Transfer Credit and C or better rule for Technical Electives

As mentioned above students can use AP Test Credit (which shows as Transfer Credit on the transcript) to satisfy up to two H/SS electives.  The first year program or the undergraduate program director takes care of transfer credit for courses taken at other institutions and if it shows as transferred to SSOE on the transcript for a particular elective or required course then it can be used to satisfy that requirement.   Courses cannot be transferred unless the student earns an equivalent “C” or better at the other institution.

For students wishing to use technical courses taken while they were a student in another program (other engineering or from another school) at Pitt (so the course already appears on their transcript) they must have earned a C or better in that course.  So, for example, a student transferring from Bioengineering can use any bioengineering course as a technical elective as long as they earned a C or better in that course.  The Chemical Engineering Foundations courses that are six credits can be used to satisfy two technical electives as long as the student earned a C or better. 

Concentrations

Our program now has six areas of concentrations: Operations Research & Computer Modeling, Product Development & Manufacturing Systems, Engineering Management, Health Systems Engineering, Engineering Data Analytics and Customized Research. Technical elective courses may be taken in any of these areas. Those students wishing to complete a Concentration in one of these areas must take three out of their five required technical electives in that area.   Students are not required to select an area of concentration and those wishing to gain a breadth of experience may choose to take a series of courses from two or more of the four areas.  Details on courses that fall into various areas can be found here:  Concentrations (pitt.edu). Note that the HSE and Research concentration have additional requirements.

Co-op Schedules

Students that choose to co-op must complete a schedule (typically during their sophomore year) that is approved by an IE co-op advisor (currently Dr. Karen Bursic or Dr. Renee Clark).  The student is responsible for providing the co-op office and their faculty advisor with the approved schedule (most of these are now done electronically.)

The standard co-op schedules are available on our website for students to download: Cooperative Engineering Education (pitt.edu)

Students that complete three one credit ENGR 1090 co-op rotations or two one credit and two half credit ENGR 1090 co-op rotations (all with “S” grades)  can count them as one 3 credit non-IE technical elective once they write and submit a co-op report.

Minors, Certificates, and other Majors

With the IE+ program we are trying to achieve a high percentage of IE students that earn a minor or certificate.  A faculty advisor can encourage efforts to complete a minor, certificate or a double major and assist students in scheduling the necessary coursework.  However, it is ultimately the student’s responsibility to ensure they meet the requirements for such programs and IE faculty advisors are not expected to know the requirements of other programs.

Graduate School Interest

Students that express an interest in graduate school are encouraged to take more theoretical and advanced technical electives and include a graduate course as one of their technical electives.  They are also strongly encouraged to pursue the Customized Research Concentration.  The Department can provide funding for an undergraduate student to work with a faculty member on their research should the faculty not be able to support an undergraduate.  In addition, SSOE offers a 4+1 program to obtain the bachelors and masters in five years to any student that maintains a 3.5 or better GPA.  Both the undergraduate and graduate coordinators can assist a student seeking to apply for this program.

Graduation

Students must submit a Graduation Application when scheduling classes for their final semester.  The undergraduate program director meets with graduating seniors the first week of both the fall and spring semesters to help them verify that they have met all requirements for the bachelor degree.