Approved Outside ME EN Technical Electives

To see a list and tentative schedule of ME EN technical electives, click here.

Technical electives are the final phase of undergraduate education in Mechanical Engineering. Considerable latitude is allowed in the selection of technical electives. The objectives of the technical electives are to synthesize the knowledge and skills acquired in required ME EN courses and to broaden the student’s knowledge in other related technical areas.

Technical Elective Requirements

1. Twelve technical elective credit hours are required.
2. All technical electives must be:
   1. Upper division courses (3000-5999);
   2. Taken for a letter grade (except ME EN 5910 Co-op);
   3. Satisfactorily completed with a ‘C’ or better (C- for students admitted to the major before Fall 2016).
3. Six of the twelve technical elective credits must be completed with in-class 5000-level courses within the Mechanical Engineering department, excluding ME EN 4999, 5910, 5930 and 5950. (This requirement is waived for students pursuing the Data Science Emphasis (pending approval) or Computer Science Minor. These students can complete all 12 technical elective credits from the list of approved courses outside of Mechanical Engineering below.)
4. Each of the nontraditional ME courses (ME EN 4999, 5910, 5930, 5950) are capped at 3 credit hours each.
5. No more than 6 credits total may be taken from the following course numbers: ME EN 4999, 5910, 5930, 5950, plus the below lists of non-ME technical elective courses.

Approved Technical Elective Courses

Non-ME EN courses that are approved for your degree depend on your catalog year, which is the year you were admitted into the Mechanical Engineering major at the University of Utah. Check your degree audit in CIS to find your declared catalog year if you aren’t sure.  To get a course approved that is not on the list above, you may fill out this petition form by November 1st for Spring semester courses, and by April 1st for Summer and Fall semester courses.  Please talk to your advisor about the process before filling out the form. The course will need to fit a few criteria to be approved including being a 3000-level or higher course and be a technically-focused course.

If your catalog year is Fall 2017 or later, the following courses are approved as non-ME EN technical electives:

HNKLY 4922 Internship: National^ (up to 3 credits allowed)Fall, Spring, Summer

* indicates a course that has prerequisites that are not met within the Mechanical Engineering major. Coordinate with your advisor or the other department’s advisor for more information.

^ Hinckley Internships and STRAT 5800 must be approved through this form prior to being eligible for technical elective credit. Students can earn a maximum of three credits from internships (i.e. a maximum of three credits total from HNKLY 49xx and ME EN 5910 combined).

If your catalog year is prior to Fall 2017, these courses are approved as non-ME EN technical electives:

• All 5000-level courses in the College of Engineering (starting with 5*** in BIO EN, CH EN, CS, CVEEN, ECE, ENGIN, MSE);
• MATH 3160, 4200 5010, 5040, 5050, 5080, 5090, 5405, 5410, 5420, 5440, 5470, 5600, 5610, 5620, 5710, 5740, 5750, 5770
• NUCL 3000, 3100
• PHYS 3610, 3620, 3740, 3760, 5010, 5110, 5020, 5450, 5460, 5590
• Miscellaneous courses: BIOL 5665; CH EN 4870, CS 3500, CS 3505, CS 3540, CS 3810, COMP 5360; DES 5710; ECE 3500, 3600, 3710; ENTP 5000, HNKLY 4903, MET E 5600, MET E 5690; PED 5902
  
• Other upper division courses from the College of Science and the College of Mines & Earth Sciences may be petitioned to count for technical elective credit;
• Courses numbered higher than 5999 are generally not acceptable for undergraduate credit unless you are an honors student or have department consent;
• Technical writing courses are not acceptable for technical elective credit unless approved by the department (ME EN 3400 Professional Communication for Mechanical Engineers is an approved technical elective for students with a catalog prior to Fall 2016 or students with a Fall 2016 catalog year following the “old” requirements only).

Co-op, Design, & Research Options

Technical elective credit may be earned for co-op, design, and research experiences through the following courses:

• ME EN 4999 – Honors Thesis/Project
• ME EN 5910 – Cooperative Education
• ME EN 5930 – Undergraduate Research
• ME EN 5950 – Independent Study

These courses allow the student to have experiences not normally available in regularly scheduled classes.