Monash University: University Handbooks: Undergraduate Handbook 2002: Units indexed by faculty
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Bachelor of Engineering


General information

Course abbreviation: BE
Candidates for the BE degree at Clayton may choose to specialise in one of the five branches of engineering offered on this campus: chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical and computer systems engineering, materials engineering, and mechanical engineering. The common first level of the course enables students to keep open all options of entering any of the eight engineering branches available at Monash. Students are assisted in making a choice of branch by their experience of the various first-level engineering units and by a series of career lectures offered early in second semester which review the eight branches of engineering available.
All core units at level 1 are offered in both semesters at Clayton, but most elective units (including group A units ENG1901, ENG1801 and ENG1701) are only offered in one semester. Once level 1 students have chosen their units, the semester in which they take a particular unit is determined by a computerised timetabling procedure. Alteration of unit enrolment without academic or financial penalty is permitted for two weeks at the beginning of each semester, subject to class size limitations.

Course structure

Second, third and fourth levels

As described above, at the beginning of level 2, students may enrol at Clayton in chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical and computer systems engineering, materials engineering or mechanical engineering. As a result of limitations on teaching resources, there are limits placed on the numbers of students who may enrol in some of these engineering branches. These quotas are determined annually by the faculty. When there are more applications for a particular branch than there are places, admission to the branch is on the basis of academic merit. In recent years, these quota restrictions have had to be applied to places in civil engineering, electrical and computer systems engineering (including places for BSc/BE candidates), and mechanical engineering. Students who are not successful in enrolling in the engineering branch of their first choice will be offered a place in one of their lower preferences.
If a student wishes to change the selected branch of engineering at a later stage of the course, some additional units may be required in order to make the transition. This could extend the duration of the course beyond four years full-time.
In the following section, the nature and content of the BE courses in each engineering branch on the Clayton campus at second, third and fourth levels is briefly outlined. Information about the Bachelor of Computer Systems Engineering, the Bachelor of Environmental Engineering, the Bachelor of Telecommunications Engineering and the double-degree programs involving the Bachelor of Engineering is then provided.

BE degree in chemical engineering

Chemical engineering is concerned with the economic design, operation and management of process systems in which materials are changed in composition or physical state. Chemical engineering has its foundation in chemistry, physics and mathematics; its operations are developed from knowledge provided by these disciplines and by other branches of engineering, applied sciences, biological sciences and economics.
Historically, chemical engineering has been closely associated with the development of the chemical and process industries. Today, many chemical engineers find employment in the fine and heavy chemical, the petroleum and petrochemical, the mineral and metallurgical, pulp and paper, and the food and biochemical industries. Chemical engineers are becoming increasingly involved with pollution control, the protection of the environment and with energy conservation and conversion.
The Department of Chemical Engineering offers a four-year (eight-semester) course which is sufficiently general to enable graduates to enter any of these fields. The aim of the first four semesters is to provide a necessary background in mathematics, physics and chemistry and such engineering areas as electrical engineering, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, materials science and an introduction to chemical engineering.
The final four semesters of the course are taken almost entirely within the department. The course is designed around the core topics of mass, heat and momentum transfer, kinetics, thermodynamics, process control, environmental engineering, process design and safety.
Management studies are introduced and a greater emphasis is placed on synthesis and design culminating in each student completing a plant design project. Each student undertakes a major research project. Technical electives also form part of the final two semesters.
Practical work forms an essential part of all units administered by the department and considerable emphasis is placed on this aspect of the program. Problem solving using computers is an integral part of this course.

BE degree in civil engineering

Civil engineers work in branches such as structural engineering, soil engineering, rock engineering, dam engineering, hydraulic engineering, engineering management, highway engineering, traffic engineering, public health engineering, water resources engineering, town planning, and coastal engineering. In any of these branches, a civil engineer may work in the functional areas of research, investigation, design, construction or operation, and the undergraduate course in the Department of Civil Engineering prepares a student accordingly. The areas of structures, geomechanics, water, management and transport are the major areas of civil engineering activity and form the basis of the department's organisation and teaching.
The intention of level 2 is to develop 'sub-professional' skills, ie the ability to design commonplace engineering artefacts in the context of suitable theoretical treatment. At the same time, students gain some appreciation for the breadth of civil engineering. Theory is developed in parallel with the applications (problems). The theoretical insights are further developed in levels three and four, as more complex scenarios are considered.
Level 3 is designed to develop 'core professional' skills. It includes a management unit, engineering investigation, rural road and water engineering, two structural units, a water unit and a geomechanics unit. The water and geomechanics groups share a groundwater unit.
The level 4 year is seen as a year of specialisation. Each student must take both 'Project A' and 'Civil engineering practice 4' (six credit points each) and a minimum of four civil engineering electives (4 x 6 = 24 credit points) The remaining 12 credit points may be taken anywhere within the university (including the Civil Engineering department), as long as it does not substantially duplicate a unit already studied. Some of the electives are multidisciplinary.
The overall aim of the course is to prepare a well-rounded professional poised for employment in any of a wide range of civil engineering occupations and eager for continuing education to remain abreast of latest developments in his or her discipline.

BE degree in electrical and computer systems engineering

The Bachelor of Engineering in electrical and computer systems engineering course has been developed to provide students with a broad scientific training in fundamental studies in a number of branches of electrical and computer systems engineering.
The title of the course reflects the increasing importance of computer systems in many branches of engineering and in society at large. Furthermore, employment prospects for electrical engineers generally continue to grow rapidly.
The course may normally be completed in four years of full time study. The first three years, or levels, of the course provide a broad foundation in electrical and computer systems engineering and in the physical sciences such as physics, chemistry and mathematics. The first of two management units is studied at level 3. At level 4, students, while completing their core units and the second management unit, are able to choose from a large number of electives in electrical power systems, computer systems, control engineering, electronics, telecommunications engineering, biomedical engineering and robotics. These units build upon material studied in earlier levels. Electives comprise approximately 60 per cent of level 4.
The design and thesis projects at level 3 and 4 build self-reliance and planning capabilities in both individual and team-based environments. Projects are often related closely to the department's exceptionally strong research and collaborative industry programs within its research centres.
The course is accredited by the Institution of Engineers, Australia (IEAust). The course is recognised internationally under the Washington Accord and other agreements.

BE degree in materials engineering

The dominant role that materials have played throughout history is evidenced by the designation of eras such as the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. In the future, materials will continue to play a dominant role in developments both in technology and in society itself. This arises because of the critical importance of energy on the one hand and the need to conserve materials on the other. The fact that most methods of producing energy economically are materials-limited will mean that increasing attention must be given to developing new materials with improved properties. So far as conservation is concerned, more emphasis must be given to materials selection, corrosion and protection, as well as to the expanding field of recycling of materials.
Materials engineering is concerned with the extraction, manufacture, fabrication and economic utilisation of materials for use in a wide range of technologies. Materials engineering enhances traditional fields such as metallurgy, corrosion engineering, ceramic engineering and polymer (plastics and rubber) technology. The work of the materials engineer follows on from that of the mining engineer and chemical engineer with respect to the utilisation of metals, ceramics, polymers and composites. Since materials are of basic importance in all other branches of engineering, materials engineers are required to collaborate with engineers in other disciplines. They may also be involved with chemists, physicists and economists. Their general awareness of the broad spectrum of engineering often leads to managerial responsibilities.
A materials engineer may become involved in the investigation of the structure of a material by techniques such as electron microscopy or X-ray diffraction, the development and evaluation of new materials for new processes or applications, the investigation of methods for shaping and fabrication, or materials selection and evaluation of service performance. Trained materials engineers participate in all stages of development of a new product or process, from the original basic research in the laboratory, through the development, pilot plant or prototype stages to full-scale production. Because of this wide range of employment situations, a career in materials engineering is equally attractive to both men and women.
Following completion of the common first level, students are introduced at level 2 to fundamental aspects of the structure of materials and its relationship to engineering properties, along with further training in mathematics and other essential skills.
In the third and fourth levels, the units involve aspects of both materials science and materials engineering in which a wide treatment is given to the properties of metals, plastics, rubber and ceramics. In the final two semesters, special attention is given to topics such as materials design and selection, optimisation of properties, mechanical behaviour including shaping and fabrication, and the performance of materials in service. Practical work forms an essential part of most units and a substantial research project in a field of materials (metals, plastics, rubber or ceramics) of their own choosing is carried out by students in their final two semesters.

BE degree in mechanical engineering

Mechanical engineering is the practice that has arisen from the need to generate, transmit and control mechanical energy. This practice brings with it the need to study methods of design generation, transmission and control, and increasingly to employ scientifically and technologically based tools. Today, mechanical engineering has as its core the interaction of people and machines and the control of that interaction. Mechanical engineers will be found designing, manufacturing and commissioning mobile and fixed machinery, controlling physical environments, dominating aerospace development, exploring forms of transportation, devising new machines and ways of controlling new machines, and concerning themselves with all aspects of mechanical handling systems and methods of production of anything to be manufactured. They will be found not only in factories, research establishments or in consulting practices, but also in the mineral resource, chemical process and agricultural industries. They will regard their function as one of design, production, operation, consulting, technical management, general management, research and/or development.
The undergraduate course is designed to provide a fundamental and broad training to allow a graduate to steer a course into any of these areas as they now exist or as they might develop in future. The course offers a sound training in engineering design and in the physical and engineering sciences. Comprehensive studies in engineering practices are provided in which the analytical tools are brought to bear in a synthesis which accounts satisfactorily for economic, organisational, managerial and human factors. A mentor program is available to selected students to work with companies on real mechanical design projects in hierarchical teams of postgraduate, fourth, third and second-year students in master --apprentice relationships. The use of computers in data reduction and in system modelling is studied. During the final year, either a major experimental project or substantial participation with a design team actively engaged with practising engineers is arranged. The results are presented by thesis and orally.
The design of the course attempts also to acknowledge the interdisciplinary nature of modern engineering and to provide the graduate with a facility for expanding his or her own development into related fields. It provides a working knowledge of the elements of controls, stress systems, electronic instrumentation, microcomputers and managerial procedures.
Following on from completion of the common first level, the second year focuses more directly on units dealing with the practice of engineering and on the engineering sciences. While the course is identified at this stage as a mechanical engineering one, there is a good deal of overlap with the courses of the other streams of engineering.
In the third year, some units probe more deeply than others and encourage more independent learning. Contact hours are reduced in these units, and greater use is made of learning resources.
During the fourth year, the program allows for some choice in the units. Thus the students pursue a set of core units but are also able to select from a number of elective units, which permit some limited specialisation in the areas of fluids, energy, design and mechatronics. At that stage, there is also the opportunity to study a unit from another faculty as well as to carry out a small independent investigation in an area of interest to the student.
Students enrolled in the second, third or fourth levels of the course will be required to complete at least one elective unit in business or economics. A list of approved interfaculty units is published in November each year.
The course provides an excellent foundation for entry into the profession or for further study towards a higher degree. Graduates are eligible for admission to membership of the Institution of Engineers, Australia.

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