February 14th 2013

Tasks Determine requirements of institute core given recent changes Gauge student response to proposed changes in ME Core Curriculum Investigate state of research in the ME major Investigate interest in seminar classes Investigate any issues in the ME major

Data Survey sent out to all registered ME undergrads Responses (45.8% response rate): 22 from ’13 10 from ’14 11 from ’15 1 from ’16

Outline Effects on sophomore year Institute core changes ME core changes Effects on junior/senior year ME core changes Seminars Research Please hold questions until the end of each section

Institute Core - Math Ma 2a ODE’s: averaged 1.76 Will require this class Suggest to take it sophomore year Ma 2b Probability and Statistics: averaged 2.87 Comments: relevant to a few junior and senior year classes or research Not require it but is one of the options for additional math classes (more on this in a later slide)

Institute Core - Physics Waves: averaged 3.11 Quantum: averaged 3.76 Stat. Mech.: averaged 2.74 Comments: students found different terms important in different classes Require 2 out of 3 terms of the same sequence (Ph 2 or Ph 12), not necessarily sophomore year Provide suggestions in the catalog as to which terms are relevant to which areas in ME (thermo, fluids, materials, control, etc.)

Institute Core - Physics

ME Core – ME Fundamentals “ME 11”, “ME 12” Synthesize introductory ME classes into two three-term courses to be taken sophomore year ME 11: current ME 35 + some ME 19 ME 12: current ME 18 + ME 19 Student response: averaged 2.29 Comments: “This will help streamline the process”

Sophomore Year – Potential Schedule Sophomore Year FallWinterSpring ME 119 units ME 129 units Math 2a & ACM 95bc 9 units12 units Physics(9 units) Humanities9 units ME units Questions?

ME Core – ME 96 Expand current ME 96 to two terms, adding more methodology, design and modeling and less “blindly doing experiments” Department is very aware of faulty equipment and TA issues Student response: averaged 1.95 Overall, students very unhappy with current structure of ME 96 and welcome any change

ME Core – Other classes Comments on relevance or quality of CDS 110a, ME 65, and ACM 95a Department is looking at a more open requirement structure for junior and senior year Additional math courses: pick two from Ma 2b, ACM 95a, ACM 118 ~5 advanced ME electives, increased from current 2 Remove CDS 110a and ME 65 requirements but leave them as options for advanced engineering

Junior Year – Potential Schedule Junior Year FallWinterSpring ME 729 units 0 ACM 95a12 units00 Math 2b or ACM units0 Physics(9 units) Humanities9 units ME electives9-18 units Questions?

Overall Idea Between , there were 130 ME graduates 27 completed a second option (BEM, CS, H, etc.) 20 completed a minor (Ae, CDS, H, PH, etc.) Want to continue providing the flexibility in the option to accomplish this Goal: get the fundamentals of ME covered by the end of sophomore year to provide more freedom in junior and senior year to do what you want

Seminars – ME 10 “Pizza” class with presentations from ME faculty geared towards freshmen and sophomores to inform them about the ME research done at Caltech Student response: 87% would have been interested in this class Suggestions: lab tours, food, JPL involvement, variety of topics for the presentations, professor enthusiasm

Seminars – Grad Seminars 58% had never heard of these seminars, 89% have never attended one but 80% would be interested in attending them Also useful to see what research is being done on campus More appropriate for juniors and seniors as it covers material at a more advanced level Announce these to the undergrads, hopefully some will go to a couple that appeal to their research interests Questions?

Research - Data Overall experience trying to secure an ME/Aero/MS/APh SURF averaged 2.16 on a scale from 1 (positive) to 5 (negative) 72% spent at least one summer doing research 39% spent at least one summer doing an internship 20% have a preference towards research, 51% towards internships 33% have researched during the school year – can research outside SURF program here!

Research - Conclusions Have to REALLY put effort to secure a SURF ing the professor is not enough Research the professors’ group pages Talk to grad students in the lab (very helpful) Go to seminars for information ME has few faculty so should really try to interact one on one Questions?

Acknowledgements Students: Sebastian Rojas Mata (chair), Rachel Deghuee, Puikei Cheng, Harry Golash Faculty: Guillame Blanquart (co-chair), Melany Hunt, Kaushik Bhattacharya, Jose Andrade, Joel Burdick Administrative Assistants: Chris Silva, Leslie Rico, Cheryl Geer, Carolina Osegura, Maria Koeper

Any further concerns or suggestions the chair, Sebastian Rojas Mata