DREXEL UNIVERSITY'S ARCHITECTURAL ENGINEERING PROGRAM

Drexel University is located in a major city, Philadelphia. Thanks to our location and our Cooperative Education (Co-Op) program, virtually all our students graduate with one and a half years of real-world work experience. In the classroom they learn the theoretical concepts and tools necessary to prosper as an engineer. Equally important, they learn the business and practical skills necessary to career success during their three, six-month, paid Co-Op jobs.

We bring the workplace into the classroom by inviting speakers from the large number of AE and construction firms in Philadelphia, the same firms that give our students jobs. We also take the classroom into the workplace by visiting construction sites and professional offices as part of class work.

Our students graduate as professionals in either structural or air conditioning (HVAC) design. Thanks to Co-Op and the curriculum they also understand the roles and concerns of all who make a successful building in coordination with their own specialty: Architects, Electrical Engineers, Civil Engineers, Contractors, and many more. They know those concerns because they take courses taught by those professionals. Even more, they know them because they've already designed buildings that integrate all those systems. Design starts in the freshman year in our award-winning TDEC engineering curriculum. It continues every year, progressing in complexity as students learn more skills. It culminates in the year-long Senior Design project in which teams of four students work closely with a faculty advisor to define, design, and detail a unique building. In the course of that design experience they polish essential communication skills by writing three detailed technical reports and formally presenting their project at three stages. When they graduate they are truly ready to work.

The Drexel AE degree is valuable. Employers tell us that our students are more prepared than other graduating engineers, both because of their Co-Op work experience and because they see beyond their narrow specialty. Most graduates, of course, work for AE design firms defining the structure of a building or the HVAC system. Many continue for advanced degrees. A significant number work for contractors, or for government agencies. Others have used their skills to branch into manufacturing, acoustical engineering, real estate development and even web design (we use computers extensively throughout the curriculum) and many others.

To learn about the AE program visit our departmental website:http://www.cae.drexel.edu/AE/index.htm

To see unedited examples of student work visit: http://files.irt.drexel.edu/courseweb/Mitchell_Courses/DB/ClassDB/index.htm

To apply to Drexel visit: http://www.drexel.edu/em/

James E. Mitchell - Associate Professor & Director of the AE Program
Department of Civil, Architectural & Environmental Engineering
Alumni Engineering Labs - Room 280H
Drexel University
3141 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
(215) 895-1374- (215) 895-1363 Fax
James.Mitchell@Drexel.edu
http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~mitcheje