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Overview

All engineering students begin with the General Engineering Curriculum. This provides a key foundation before deciding which program fits your interests and goals. With several majors to choose from, the General Engineering Curriculum allows you to explore what each degree means and the type of research you could be involved in and showcases possible career paths for your future.

The General Engineering Curriculum provides a key foundation before deciding which program fits your interests and goals.

Hands-on projects in your first semester allow you to apply skills from the beginning and build upon them throughout your time at Clemson University. Depending on your chosen specialty, you will need to become familiar with various software programs that serve to enhance your ability to plan, design, and test ideas.

Excel classworkEngineering Disciplines and Skills (3 credits): Provides foundational engineering problem-solving skills. Students demonstrate problem-solving techniques with an emphasis on dimensions and units, create and utilize spreadsheets for analysis, employ modeling techniques, and interpret the validity of experimental results. Includes exploration of various engineering disciplines. This introductory course involves the use of Microsoft Excel.

matlab classworkProgramming and Problem Solving (3 credits) Students formulate and solve engineering problems using computer applications; estimate answers for comparison to computed solutions; read, interpret and write programs, instructions, and formatted output; create and interpret plots and trendlines; evaluate and compose conditional statements and looping structures; and debug. MATLAB is used.

solidworks classworkEngineering Graphics and Machine Design (2 credits): Introduction to engineering graphics and machine design. Sketching and CAD tools are used to visualize, communicate, and analyze engineering problems. Solidworks software is used. 

autocad classworkComputer-Aided Design and Engineering Applications (2 credits): Introduction to graphics applications for engineering and related professions. Two-dimensional drawings and CAD tools are used to visualize, communicate, and analyze engineering problems. Engineering applications include contour plots, hydrology, transportation, architectural, and site plan drawings. AutoCAD software is used. 

Creative Inquiry

Creative Inquiry began in 2005 to allow students to practice their skills of problem-solving, critical thinking, and research on faculty-led projects. Over the course of 2-4 semesters, teams utilize creative approaches to problems around them, whether professor-prompted or steaming from the groups' observation of the world.

Creative Inquiry magazine

Decipher Magazine


The accomplishments of past groups of Creative Inquiry teams have been highlighted in the Decipher Magazine, an undergraduate-produced blog. Projects are in reverse chronological order and filterable by College.  

View Magazine

Course catalog descriptions of each of our courses are as follows. For more information, please see the current course catalog.

ENGR 1020

Engineering Disciplines and Skills: 3 credits (contact hours:  2 lectures, 2 labs)

Provides foundational engineering problem-solving skills. Students demonstrate problem-solving techniques with an emphasis on dimensions and units, create and utilize spreadsheets for analysis, employ modeling techniques, and interpret the validity of experimental results. Includes exploration of various engineering disciplines. Introduces professional issues appropriate to engineering. Various forms of technical communication are emphasized. Includes Honors sections.

ENGR 1410

Programming and Problem Solving: 3 credits (contact hours: 2 lectures, 2 labs)

Students formulate and solve engineering problems using computer applications; estimate answers for comparison to computed solutions; read, interpret and write programs, instructions and formatted output; create and interpret plots and trendlines; evaluate and compose conditional statements and looping structures; and debug. Various forms of technical communication are emphasized. Includes Honors sections. (Not required for Chemical Engineering students)

These courses might be mandatory for a student to be enrolled in the engineering discipline that they choose. If you are not going into one of these engineering disciplines, you may still take the class to learn the skills that are taught in them.

ENGR 2080

Engineering Graphics and Machine Design: 2 credits (contact hours: 1 lecture, 2 labs)

Introduction to engineering graphics and machine design. Sketching and CAD tools are used to visualize, communicate, and analyze engineering problems. Solidworks software is used. Mandatory for Biomedical Engineering, Material Science Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering students. Industrial Engineering students must take either ENGR 2080, ENGR 2090, or ENGR 2100. 

ENGR 2100

Computer-Aided Design and Engineering Applications: 2 credits (contact hours: 1 lecture, 2 labs)

Introduction to graphics applications for engineering and related professions. Two-dimensional drawings and CAD tools are used to visualize, communicate, and analyze engineering problems. Engineering applications include contour plots, hydrology, transportation, architectural, and site plan drawings. AutoCAD software is used. Mandatory for Biosystems Engineering, Environmental Engineering, and Civil Engineering. Industrial Engineering students must take either ENGR 2080, ENGR 2090, or ENGR 2100.

These courses are not mandatory but can teach students essential skills they may eventually use.

ENGR 1000

Major Discovery Seminar: 1 credit (contact hours: 2 lectures, half-semester)

Introduction to the engineering majors offered by Clemson University. Includes information about the engineering profession and potential career paths. Invited Presenters and faculty to provide lectures and demonstrations. Taken Pass/No Pass only. Meets twice weekly for a half-semester. Offered in Fall 1.

ENGR 1900

Creative Inquiry: Credits vary

Individual or group projects in engineering. Projects may be interdisciplinary in nature and may involve analysis, design, and/or implementation. Instruction in the use of necessary tools and test equipment is included when appropriate.

There is no holding section for Spring registration. Students may either add themselves to a project during registration or contact the instructor directly if consent is required. Some project times and locations are TBA. Meeting times will be determined based on participants' class schedules and room availability after classes start.

For any questions, contact Monica Sint in 107 Holtzendorff Hall or by email at msint@clemson.edu.

For a list of creative inquiries for the Spring 2025 semester, please click here. 

ENGR 2210

Technology, Culture, and Design: 3 credits (summer course, contact hours: 3 lectures, 0 labs)

If you want to change the world, first, you need to understand how others have changed it before you. In this course, students learn about the history of interesting products and technologies from early mankind to the present and how they have changed society. After taking this class, students will be better prepared to change society themselves! Through readings and discussion of contemporary essays on the value and meaning of technology and designed objects in relation to user needs, obsolescence, consumerism, environmental impact, and other issues, students will be able to express their own views on these topics and synthesize the views of various authors. After an introduction to the theory and methodology behind research into design history, including the relationship of design history to art history and the history of technology, students will be able to present their own research into an interesting product and its history, meaning, and impact on society.

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Chris Porter

Christopher H. Porter, Ph.D.
Director, Undergraduate Recruitment
✉ cporter@clemson.edu
☏ 864-656-7870

As the Director of Undergraduate Recruitment, I am here to assist with any questions you have regarding the College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences at Clemson University.