Engineering BS/BA

The BS/BA in Engineering degree provides students with a unique education in the field of engineering by both educating students across multiple areas of engineering and allowing them to focus on a particular area of interest. Unlike most engineering majors that develop deep knowledge in one discipline, this degree encourages students to complement their comprehensive liberal arts education with a broad technical experience. This provides students with the interdisciplinary perspective and problem-solving skills needed to succeed in a wide range of engineering and non-engineering careers. This major should appeal to students that have broad interests and desire to explore more than one disciplinary area. 

This integrated approach to engineering has three main components:

• math, science, and engineering fundamentals provide a core base of knowledge to support further work in engineering design and analysis

• a concentration or individual plan of study that allows students to develop specialized skills

• additional electives allow students to either take more courses in their concentration area or pursue complementary interests in other areas that will help them achieve long-term career and educational goals

Concentrations are available in Engineering with Artificial Intelligence (EAI), Sustainability (SUST), Engineering and the Law (LAW) and Biomedical Engineering (BME). Students who do not pursue an established concentration will work with their advisor to develop an individual plan of study (IPS) that meets their specific educational and professional goals. 

The educational objectives of the USD BS/BA in Engineering are to develop graduates who:

• apply an interdisciplinary set of technical, leadership, and other professional skills to address important challenges facing society

• practice engineering with a holistic understanding of how engineers engage with stakeholders and impact society

• have a critical awareness of their personal attitudes, behaviors and values and the ways in which these align with their professional aspirations

To achieve these objectives, the BS/BA in Engineering has been designed to ensure that graduates have achieved the following outcomes:

• an ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science and mathematics

• an ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental and economic factors

• an ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences     

• an ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental and societal contexts

• an ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks and meet objectives

• an ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions

• an ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies