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Academics

Students gain first hand experience inside and outside the classroom.

Students gain first hand experience inside and outside the classroom. Holding a wide-open fire hose quickly illustrates the principles of thermal-fluid science.

Educating Christian Engineers

Using science and technology creatively to serve society points to the moral responsibility of the engineer. Christian engineers must use their God-given resources responsibly. They must also know the society in which they live and work so that their solutions to its problems will be appropriate and truly beneficial. Calvin’s engineering program takes this mandate to be creative and responsible technologists seriously. Christian engineers aspire to be sensitive, involved, and effective citizens of God’s world. To blend these qualities with technical skills, engineering students at Calvin also study literature, philosophy, religion, and history — studies that foster a Christ-centered vision of life, a vision relevant and appropriate for Christian engineers.

Your Engineering Degree

The engineering program provides you with a bachelor of science in engineering (BSE) in one of four programmed concentrations. This program is designed to equip students for graduate study, entry-level positions in industry, and life long learning.

At Calvin, engineering students begin to acquire experience in solving design problems by taking a design course in their first semester, which includes a real design project working with real customers. Additional experience is gained through assigned design problems in several regular courses and in the senior capstone design project course. Each year, student teams design and construct projects that represent their solutions to real technical problems. Their work is presented to practicing engineers who can give them valuable criticism and with whom students can exchange ideas. All engineering courses at Calvin aim to cultivate attitudes such as objectivity, sensitivity, and lively curiosity — all of which are essential to successful designing.

Outside of regular course work, engineering students benefit from involvement in student engineering societies. These societies introduce students to the work of various engineers by means of films, lectures, field trips, contests, and mentoring programs.

Calvin's Pre-Architecture Program

The Pre-Architecture Program is an interdisciplinary program coordinated by the Art Department.

Engineering Internships

We offer a very active internship program through which students are placed in engineering positions during the summer months. Opportunities begin with your first-year at Calvin.

International Designation

Students may receive an international designation to their concentration (e.g., "BSE International Mechanical Concentration") by completing two of the following three items:

  1. Complete an international engineering interim course.
  2. Recieve credit for an international internship and demonstrate some ability to speak the language of their internship country.
  3. Recieve credit for an international engineering summer or semester program.

Other procedures and activities may qualify for the international designation. For additional details, please contact the department chair or the department internship coordinator.

Courses

Facilities

The Vermeer Engineering Projects Center and the Prince Engineering Design Center provide engineering students and faculty with state-of-the-art facilities for research, project development, construction of prototypes, and design testing. This facility provides a place where students can take design ideas and test them by building prototypes and models. This building also provides exceptional facilities for student-faculty research.

Departmental laboratories include computer aided graphics and design, chemical engineering, fluid/thermal sciences, vibrations/material science, instrumentation, electronics, and hydraulics/soil mechanics. Computer-driven machine tools are also available. The reading and reference room includes a collection of books, journals, and handbooks dedicated to engineering. Computers are used throughout the program, starting in the first-year Graphical Communication and Concept Design course.

The Faculty

Calvin engineering students receive instruction from dedicated Christian professors, most of whom have doctorates and/or significant industrial experience. Through teaching, research, service projects, and mentoring, Calvin’s engineering faculty reflects a genuine concern for effective instruction and productive interactions with students.