Engineering Science
Engineering is a challenging and rewarding profession. It’s a source of expertise for research, design, development, and production, providing the foundation of our technological society. Engineers consistently command the highest starting salaries of all bachelor’s degree graduates.
Our engineering science program is designed for transfer into the junior class at a four-year college or university. This rigorous program emphasizes mathematics and basic sciences. After earning an associate degree at Tompkins Cortland Community College you can major in chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, or mechanical engineering. You may also continue your studies in aeronautical, agricultural, environmental, geological, industrial, and petroleum engineering, or bioengineering.
Careers on Career Coach
While the curriculum of this program is designed primarily for transfer to a bachelor’s degree program, skills learned relate directly to some positions in the engineering science field.
Learn more about related careers:
Transfer Options
The program is compatible with a number of New York state engineering schools; recent graduates have transferred to:
- Binghamton University
- Buffalo State College
- Clarkson University
- Cornell University
- SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
- Rochester Institute of Technology
- SUNY Polytechnic Institute
- Johns Hopkins University
- University of Illinois
This program conforms to the guidelines of the New York State Two-Year and Four-Year Curriculum Study Committee’s Recommendations for Engineering Science Transfer Programs. For specific transfer information, contact the Counseling, Career, and Transfer Services office. You can complete this rigorous program in two years if you have four years of high school mathematics and a year each of high school chemistry and physics. Students who lack this background will require more than two years to finish the program.
Degree Requirements
Note: With the consent of his/her advisor, a student who is interested in Chemical Engineering may replace two of these four courses - ENSC 203, 204, 212, and the Restricted Elective - with CHEM 205 and CHEM 206, Organic Chemistry I & II. A student interested in Bioengineering may substitute BIOL 104 and BIOL 105, General Biology I & II.
Note: A waiver of the minimum number of SUNY GEN ED categories (7) has been approved by SUNY. Students in the Engineering Science program will only meet 5 categories, but will meet the minimum of 30 credits of SUNY GEN ED coursework.
Fall Term 1
Minimum Total Semester Credits: 14CHEM107, General Chemistry I, 4 cr. | Schedule: Sp, Su, Fa, Wi |
CSCI160, Computer Science I, 3 cr. | Schedule: Sp, Su, Fa, Wi |
ENGL100, Academic Writing I, 3 cr. | Schedule: Sp, Su, Fa, Wi |
MATH201, Calculus I, 4 cr. | Schedule: Sp, Su, Fa, Wi |
Spring Term 1
Minimum Total Semester Credits: 18ECON120, Principles of Microeconomics, 3 cr. | Schedule: Sp, Su, Fa, Wi |
ENGL101, Academic Writing II, 3 cr. | Schedule: Sp, Su, Fa, Wi |
ENSC137, Introduction to Engineering, 1 cr. | Schedule: Sp, Su, Fa, Wi |
MATH202, Calculus II, 4 cr. | Schedule: Sp, Su, Fa, Wi |
PHSC211, Physics I (Mechanics and Heat), 4 cr. | Schedule: Sp, Su, Fa, Wi |
Fall Term 2
Minimum Total Semester Credits: 16ENSC204, Mechanics of Materials, 3 cr. | Schedule: Sp, Su, Fa, Wi |
ENSC209, Engineering Mechanics: Statics, 3 cr. | Schedule: Sp, Su, Fa, Wi |
MATH203, Calculus III, 4 cr. | Schedule: Sp, Su, Fa, Wi |
PHSC212, Physics II (Electricity and Magnetism), 4 cr. | Schedule: Sp, Su, Fa, Wi |
Select a minimum of 2 credits from the courses listed below:
Select from: CHEM 108, CONT 202, CSCI 165, DRAF 107, ELEC 121, GEOL 101, or MATH 200. If selected, CHEM 108 should be taken in the second semester, and the Liberal Arts Elective in the third semester. Note that some of these courses are Fall-only or Spring-only offerings. CHEM108, General Chemistry II, 4 cr. CONT202, Surveying, 3 cr. CSCI165, Computer Science II, 3 cr. DRAF107, Engineering Graphics, 2 cr. GEOL101, Introductory Geology, 3 cr. MATH200, Statistics, 3 cr. |
Use Schedule Search for electives |
Spring Term 2
Minimum Total Semester Credits: 18ENGL102, Approaches to Literature, 3 cr. | Schedule: Sp, Su, Fa, Wi |
ENSC203, Electrical Science, 4 cr. | Schedule: Sp, Su, Fa, Wi |
ENSC212, Dynamics, 3 cr. | Schedule: Sp, Su, Fa, Wi |
MATH206, Differential Equations, 4 cr. | Schedule: Sp, Su, Fa, Wi |
PHSC213, Physics III (Waves, Optics and Modern Physics), 4 cr. | Schedule: Sp, Su, Fa, Wi |
SUNY General Education and Tompkins Cortland Liberal Arts courses
Note: The @ symbol represents any course number or discipline. For example, BIOL @ means any course with a Biology course prefix. An @ alone means one course in any course discipline with any course number.
Student Showcase
Grad of Note - Ryan McElfresh
Why did you choose to attend Tompkins Cortland?
I chose to attend Tompkins Cortland after making the decision to cease my studies in physics at Wells College to study Engineering Science at TC3. My oldest sister attended TC3 as well before transferring to Cornell, which had a great influence on my decision.
Who at TC3 had the greatest positive impact on your experience?
That is a difficult question to answer because there are so many professors and administration at TC3 who are so passionate about what they do. One of the most influential professors I’ve had during my time at Tompkins Cortland is Janet Swinnich, whom I worked closely with on my coursework and who would frequently give me advice on how to succeed, not only in the classroom but as a professor. I immediately grew fond of Janet and thought of her as a mentor as I venture into the engineering field. I want to thank Tim Putnam as well for his tremendous impact on my education at TC3 as well. Tim was my advisor both years at TC3, and I can’t say enough about how impactful he was on my education, specifically learning fundamental math skills. I still remember how he would relay information to us in lecture, fueling my passion for calculus etc.
Lastly, I want to give a huge thanks to professor Schultz who taught Physics 3 my last semester at TC3. The Spring 2020 semester was Ben’s first semester at TC3, and although it was nerve-racking not knowing anything about him at the start, Ben quickly set the tone for class and became one of the most notable professors I’ve had. Ben is incredibly talented at what he does. It was crazy sitting in lecture and learning concepts that were so abstract and thought provoking. Ben really pushed me to limits that I had not yet been, in my experience, that’s when students see success!
I also would like to take a moment to also thank a couple of people who had positive impacts on me outside of my major. First off, I want to thank Tim McCabe, my economics professor the spring semester of 2019. There are some moments in college that resonate and stick with you throughout. I remember vividly the first day of microeconomics Tim lectured on different paradigms in which people have the option to view the world. The motivation I had after that speech made me so fired up I wanted to run through a wall. Professor McCabe brought a passion to the classroom that pushed me to make him proud of my accomplishments. I heard he’s pretty decent at golf, too.
Another person at TC3 who had a positive impact for a short amount of time is Richard Grossman. Although I only met him a few times for advice on managing the intense course load I was experiencing, every time we met Rick was very pleasant to work with and always gave meaningful and useful advice.
What were your extracurricular involvements at and how did they contribute to your college experience/future aspirations?As far as extracurricular involvements, I worked in the Baker Center Tutoring for Math and Science. It was quite rewarding and felt good to help my peers. It has opened up doors for me that I would never have imagined. I was able to give back to the TC3 community and find opportunities that certainly benefited me looking forward in my career.
What are your next steps after graduation (employment, transfer, etc) and how did the College prepare you for that?After graduation I will be transferring to SUNY Binghamton to study electrical engineering in hopes to make positive contributions to the robotics field and implementation of robotics in the health or other applicable fields. TC3 prepared me for this next step simply by having a fundamentally sound engineering department and also other influences such as the transfer office, mentors (Scott Bennet was a huge help in mentoring and providing connections for me to use while considering colleges) and lastly the ability to perform meaningful, hands-on lab experiments that made me understand that what we learn in lecture applies directly.
Daniel Kim
Four Tompkins Cortland students took honorable mention at the prestigious New York State Business Plan Competition - Southern Tier Division, for their business plan to fund, develop, promote, and sell Breath of Life. Breath of life is a sophisticated solution to the issue of treating pneumothorax injuries (chest cavity punctures leading to collapse of lung(s), which often occur in combat and in car crashes.
The team, consisting of, from the left, Daniel Kim (Engineering Science), Thomas France (Biology), Clark Young (Entrepreneurship), and Alex Barraclough (Business Administration) completed in the Science Technology division at the competition held at Binghamton University.