Undergraduate Programs - Minors

In the College of Engineering, prior to enrolling in a minor a student must consult with the appropriate department chairperson to select the courses most appropriate to his/her background and career goals.

Contact Information for each Department Chair:

• Hemant Pendse – Chemical and Biological Engineering, hpendse@umche.maine.edu, 581-2277
• Eric Landis – Civil and Environmental Engineering, landis@maine.edu, 581-2170
• Donald Hummels – Electrical and Computer Engineering, donald.hummels@eece.maine.edu, 581-2233
• David Batuski – Physics & Astronomy/Engineering Physics, david.batuski@umit.maine.edu, 581-1015
• Mohsen Shahinpoor – Mechanical Engineering, mohsen.shahinpoor@maine.edu, 581-2143
• Scott Dunning – School of Engineering Technology, scott@eece.maine.edu, 581-2349

Minors are open to students who have completed; mathematics through differential equations; a year of physics and at least one course in Chemistry along with the prerequisites required for the individual engineering courses.

College-wide minors are open to all engineering students; however, students cannot receive a minor offered by their major department.

The following list of minors are offered by the College of Engineering with the exception of Innovation Engineering, which is university-wide and not under direct control of the COE. The source for this information is the Undergraduate Catalog, where you can find further information on courses for each minor – online at www.catalog.umaine.edu.

Minor: Biomedical Engineering

The curriculum seeks to introduce engineering students to the growing applications of engineering in the field of biomedical engineering. This minor is important for students who want to get involved with applications of engineering tools to medicine and surgery and especially in connection with robotic surgery and medical implants. The future job prospects look great in connection with these disciplines.

• Minimum number of credits required to earn minor: 19
• Minimum Cumulative GPA required to earn minor: 2.0
• Minimum Grade requirements for courses to count toward minor: No grades below C-.
• Other GPA requirements to earn minor: None.

Minor: Computer Engineering

The Computer Engineering Minor is designed to provide engineering majors outside of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and students from other disciplines an introduction to the wide-ranging content of the computer engineering major. The minor consists of 12-13 credit hours of required courses and a minimum of nine credit hours of ECE elective courses.

PLEASE NOTE: This minor is not available to Electrical Engineering and/or Computer Engineering majors.

• Minimum number of credits required to earn minor: 21-22
• Minimum Cumulative GPA required to earn minor: 2.0
• Minimum Grade requirements for courses to count toward minor: No grades below C-.
• Other GPA requirements to earn minor: None.

Minor: Construction Management Technology

A minor in Construction Management Technology requires at least 18 credit hours in construction management program courses. The courses must include three credits of estimating and bidding and three credits in planning and scheduling. The remaining courses must be selected from construction management (CET) courses required in the Construction Management Technology curriculum. Approval of a course of study by a Construction Management Technology faculty advisor is required.

PLEASE NOTE: This minor is not available to Construction Management Technology majors.

• Minimum number of credits required to earn minor: 18
• Minimum Cumulative GPA required to earn minor: 2.0
• Minimum Grade requirements for courses to count toward minor: No grades below C-.
• Other GPA requirements to earn minor: None.

Minor: Electrical Engineering

The Electrical Engineering Minor is designed to provide engineering majors outside of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and students from other disciplines an introduction to the wide-ranging content of the electrical engineering major. The minor consists of 15 credit hours of required courses and a minimum of six credit hours of ECE elective courses.

PLEASE NOTE: This minor is not available to Electrical Engineering and/or Computer Engineering majors.

• Minimum number of credits required to earn minor: 21
• Minimum Cumulative GPA required to earn minor: 2.0
• Minimum Grade requirements for courses to count toward minor: No grades below C-.
• Other GPA requirements to earn minor: None.

Minor: Electrical Engineering Technology

A minor in Electrical Engineering Technology provides students with a thorough, hands-on approach to electrical systems. From troubleshooting to basic design skills, this minor covers such topics as circuit theory, electronics, and industrial control systems – all taught with a focus on practical application. Through classroom interaction and a significant laboratory component, students with an Electrical Engineering Technology Minor are prepared to be immediately productive in such fields as Power and Energy as well as Industrial Manufacturing.

PLEASE NOTE: This minor is not available to Electrical Engineering Technology majors.

• Minimum number of credits required to earn minor: 18-19
• Minimum Cumulative GPA required to earn minor: 2.0
• Minimum Grade requirements for courses to count toward minor: No grades below C-.
• Other GPA requirements to earn minor: None.

Minor: Engineering Entrepreneurial

The Engineering Entrepreneurial Minor provides engineering students with a “big-picture” perspective on business and how to approach non-technical issues in today’s work environments. Initially requested by several key industry advocates, this minor shows engineering students how their skills may be best utilized in a business situation. With a focus on such coursework as project management, business law, economics, and small business management, students are provided with a unique business perspective that makes them highly valuable in today’s workforce.

• Minimum number of credits required to earn minor: 18
• Minimum Cumulative GPA required to earn minor: 2.0
• Minimum Grade requirements for courses to count toward minor: No grades below C-.
• Other GPA requirements to earn minor: None.

Minor: Engineering Leadership and Management

The Engineering Leadership and Management Minor provides undergraduate engineering and engineering technology majors with skills that are essential to long-term career advancement. Moreover, the carefully selected skills that comprise the minor are highly sought after by employers of our graduates. The capstone for the minor is an Engineering Leadership and Management Internship where students will put their skills to the test in real-world businesses. Students will learn how leaders deal with people and inspire others to enthusiastically and willingly achieve the vision and goals of the organization. Students will learn how leaders play a fundamental role in setting the organization’s vision and goals. As a manager, students will learn how to effectively apply relevant experience, knowledge, and resources for the efficient and timely completion of operations or tasks to achieve success for the organization.

Note: Most of the courses included in this minor have prerequisites. Some of the prerequisites qualify as Human Values and Social Contexts (HVSC) electives. Students should strategically use their HVSC electives to satisfy these prerequisites.

• Minimum number of credits required to earn minor: 18
• Minimum Cumulative GPA required to earn minor: 2.0
• Minimum Grade requirements for courses to count toward minor: No grades below C-.
• Other GPA requirements to earn minor: None.

Minor: Innovation Engineering

The Minor in Innovation Engineering teaches students from any major to create, communicate, and commercialize or otherwise realize meaningfully unique ideas in any field.  The Minor in Innovation Engineering is a university-wide program; courses in Innovation Engineering have been developed by faculty in the colleges of Liberal Arts & Sciences, Engineering, Business Public Policy and Health, Education, Natural Sciences Forestry and Agriculture, and the Division of Lifelong Learning.

Objectives of the Minor in Innovation Engineering: to give students the tools and confidence to create their own opportunities, and to realize a prosperous and sustaining future within or outside organizations, businesses, or institutions.

Outcomes of the Minor in Innovation Engineering: students will be able to lead change within their education, their careers, their affiliations, their communities and their personal lives.

PLEASE NOTE: This minor University Wide and not under direct control of the College of Engineering.

• Minimum number of credits required to earn minor: 18
• Minimum Cumulative GPA required to earn minor: None.
• Minimum Grade requirements for courses to count toward minor: None.
• Other GPA requirements to earn minor: Students who wish to continue in the Innovation Engineering Minor once they have declared it must maintain a grade point average of 2.9 in courses within the Minor.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Minor: Power Engineering

The objective of Power minor is to educate students about generation and delivery of electric energy. There are four core sources from which the first two provide fundamental knowledge in understanding electrical circuits and networks and the last two deal with generation and conversion, transmission and distribution, design and analysis of power and energy systems. The optional courses provide complementary and related knowledge in design, control, and application of power and energy systems. Taking this minor will prepare students for working in the power utility industry, construction industry, submarine and aircraft manufacturing, and/or attending graduate school for research and development in smart grid and other electric energy related technologies.

PLEASE NOTE: This minor is not available to Electrical Engineering and/or Computer Engineering majors.

• Minimum number of credits required to earn minor: 21
• Minimum Cumulative GPA required to earn minor: 2.0
• Minimum Grade requirements for courses to count toward minor: No grades below C-.
• Other GPA requirements to earn minor: None.

Minor: Process Engineering

The objective of the Process Engineering minor is to prepare students to work in process manufacturing industries such as semiconductors, foods, pharmaceuticals, plastics, petrochemical, pulp and paper, and bioprocessing. The first course covers basic process calculations used to account for materials and energy used in production processing. The subsequent courses cover design of unit operations such as pumps, heat exchangers, chemical reactors, and chemical separators. Students completing this minor will be able to understand the operation of and analyze the performance of process equipment in a production facility. For science and engineering major outside the traditional process industries the minor will give a broad understanding of the considerations involved in process engineering analysis.

PLEASE NOTE: This minor is not available to Chemical Engineering majors.

• Minimum number of credits required to earn minor: 21
• Minimum Cumulative GPA required to earn minor: 2.0
• Minimum Grade requirements for courses to count toward minor: None.
• Other GPA requirements to earn minor: None.

Minor: Renewable Energy Engineering
The Renewable Energy Engineering minor provides students an introduction to the wide-ranging issues concerning the production, distribution, consumption, and impacts of energy, with a particular focus on the design and implementation of existing and emerging technologies.  This program complements numerous engineering majors and helps to prepare students for careers in this innovative field.  The minor includes 18 credit hours of coursework, 9 hours of which are required core courses.

• Minimum number of credits required to earn minor: 18
• Minimum cumulative GPA required to earn minor: 2.0
• Minimum grade requirements for courses to count toward minor:  None.
• Other GPA requirements to earn minor:  None.

Minor: Robotics

The robotics minor is designed to provide a fundamental understanding of robotic operation and preliminary training in design and use of robots. This minor is intended to equip the students with some fundamental knowledge and information on robotic manipulators, structures, systems and related applications. In particular, statics, kinematics, dynamics and control of robots will be covered in this minor. Robotic systems have wide application in modern technology and manufacturing. The students choosing this minor can also specialize, by completing special projects within the various courses, in certain aspects of intelligent robotics such as mobile walking robots, robotic vision, robotic surgery and surgical microrobots as well as the design and applications of robots for hazardous tasks and environments.

• Minimum number of credits required to earn minor: 21
• Minimum Cumulative GPA required to earn minor: 2.0
• Minimum Grade requirements for courses to count toward minor: No grades below C-.
• Other GPA requirements to earn minor: None.

Minor: Surveying Engineering Technology

The objective of the minor in Surveying Engineering Technology is to provide majors in a related discipline with the necessary knowledge for licensure as a land surveyor in Maine. As an example, an engineer could perform design, boundary survey, and construction survey in a development. A forester could survey a wood lot’s boundary lines as part of a forestry function. A minor in Surveying Engineering Technology requires at least 18 credit hours in surveying program courses. The courses must include three credits of plane/basic surveying, three credits in advanced or construction surveying, and three credits in boundary law. The remaining courses must come from surveying, engineering, engineering technology, technical, legal , or ethical courses approved as program electives in the Surveying Engineering Technology curriculum.  Approval of a Surveying Engineering Technology minor course of study by a surveying engineering technology faculty is required.

PLEASE NOTE: This minor is not available to Survey Engineering Technology majors.

Minimum number of credits required to earn minor: 18

• Minimum Cumulative GPA required to earn minor: 2.0
• Minimum Grade requirements for courses to count toward minor: No grades below C-.
• Other GPA requirements to earn minor: None.