Information
Guiding Strategies
The programs in the department of engineering at Cedarville University blend the academic subjects required of all accredited engineering and computer science programs with "hands-on" experience through extensive laboratory work and design projects.
Our objective is to produce technical professionals ready for the work place. The integration of course-work, team involvement, professional association, and industrial collaboration makes graduates employable for a variety of industry positions and prepared for graduate school, either immediately or in the future.
Liberal Arts Heritage
All Cedarville students take communications, natural and social sciences, humanities, and a Bible minor, along with their major course of study. Success in national competitions has already demonstrated the value of this approach. The "broadening courses" other engineering schools struggle to add-on are the foundation on which we build.
Program Distinctives
Whereas many recent H.S. graduates are undecided when it comes to selecting a major in college, our programs exhibit some measure of flexibility. First-year students trying to decide between computer science (CS) and computer engineering (CpE) will be enrolled in at least two courses common to both programs. First-year students looking at either electrical engineering (EE) or CpE as a major will be encouraged to take their first programming course with the CpE and CS students. All first-year engineering students will take the same three freshmen-level engineering courses as a part of their program.
The terms "hands-on" and "back-to-basics" are often used to describe the Cedarville program. At Cedarville you will see many of the practical aspects of an engineering education that have disappeared from other programs.
Facilities
The Department of Engineering is in a building completed in 1992 to house the new engineering program. Classrooms and labs include the latest technology. For example, all classrooms, faculty offices, and dorm rooms are connected by CEDARNET. CEDARNET is the campus wide fiber optic based network that puts INTERNET and approximately 200 application programs in every student room. Of special interest to the engineers are mathematical and computational packages (Maple, MATLAB, TK Solver), word processors, spreadsheets, CAD, 24-hour access to most libraries in the world, engineering standards, graphics packages, statistical processors, simulation tools and general research aids. Is it used? There are an average of 12,000 e-mail messages a day! Cedarville is one of six schools given national recognition for their advanced student computer systems.
Our modern laboratories include the following: fluids lab with an 18-inch cross-section wind tunnel, heat transfer, refrigeration, mechanics, materials testing, internal combustion engine dynamometers, CNC manufacturing, vibrations, dynamics of machines, electrical machines, feedback controls, circuits, electronics, communications, digital logic design, microprocessors, surface-mount soldering, and a parallel computing cluster. We also have extensive PC-based laboratories in which the students use computer-based circuit design , 3-D solid modeling, FEA, CFD, CNC, and Industry-standard IDE software.
Awards and Accomplishments
We seek opportunities for students to practice and demonstrate their skills. Competitions promote teamwork, simulate real-world problems and provide a means of comparative assessment. Cedarville has done very well in national and regional competitions with big name institutions. Cedarville took first place in the SAE Supermilegae (2000), SAE Aerodesign West (2003), ASME Solar Splash (2004), and the ASEE Robotics competition (2001, 2002, and 2003). The 2004 team of computer science students placed 13th out of 128 teams in the ACM Regional Programming Competition following a 2nd place finish at a competition held at the University of Cincinnati. Visit the competition page for details.
Missions Involvement
Far from being a mutually exclusive alternative to missions, the engineering profession enjoys increasing opportunities as more and more areas are closed to traditional missions approaches and more mission boards include technical elements in their strategies. Our students are involved with a variety of mission teams. Engineering technical assistance teams have gone to Africa. A number of our graduates have elected to teach in China (English, Mathematics, and Physics) for up to two years rather than starting their professional career.
