Bachelor of Science, Sustainable Design Engineering

The Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering at UPEI offers a progressive and innovative four-year Bachelor of Science in Sustainable Design Engineering degree which recognizes the need for a broad and balanced engineering education. The program follows current trends in engineering education and focuses on student outcomes. Small class sizes within an activity-based learning environment allow faculty and staff to be student-centric and to provide specific and timely input to individual students.

Students are exposed to a broad base of knowledge and skills in engineering science, natural science, mathematics, and complementary studies in concert with an applied project-based design stream simulating the engineering profession. Students entering the degree program will be actively engaged in the profession of engineering from day one, providing creative and sustainable solutions to society’s problems. The degree program is designed to provide a highly flexible learning environment that is responsive to the dynamic needs of students and the industries that employ them.

Meet Prabhakar Bholah, fifth-year Sustainable Design Engineering student

Students, UPEI Viewbook

Following his father's advice to study in North America, Prabhakar travelled from Mauritius to join UPEI's unique engineering program.

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In addition to fundamental science, engineering science and mathematics courses, students are required to develop skills in engineering design, communication, analysis, project management, professional ethics and more. With a solid grounding in these fundamentals, students in Program Years 3 and 4 can enhance their technical knowledge by choosing an engineering focus area:

• mechatronics
• sustainable energy
• bioresources

Please refer to our Welcome and Advisement package to help with first-year registration, and the four-year degree course matrix, five-year degree course matrix and the five-year degree course matrix (Winter start) for planning.

Our student experience

You'll draw on the experience of your classmates, other senior students, professors, and knowledgeable industry experts to solve real-world problems for clients representing all industries and sectors.

Our first-year students are introduced to design engineering in an intimate, activity-oriented, project-based environment. Dedicated faculty members work closely and interactively with clusters of students to solve design problems in a controlled environment for community organizations and private enterprises.

Second-year students work on projects related to mechanical and/or electrical design using the same iterative design process experienced during their first year, but with the increased responsibility of ongoing client consultations, reporting requirements, design drawings, analysis, and prototype development.

In students' third year, project work shifts to industry projects related to mechatronics—designing and building functioning prototypes and conducting in-depth quality analysis—to produce industry-sponsored prototypes capable of deployment for testing in an actual industrial environment.

Fourth-year students work on projects that involve the design and optimization of systems in a wide variety of applications related to bioresources, sustainable energy, and mechatronics. These projects have the potential for higher quality design, prototypes, patents, and, in some cases, commercialization.

Engineered by design

It is increasingly recognized that understanding basic science and mathematics are only two of the many areas that are essential to professional engineering practice. Engineering students in this program must make responsible decisions based on good judgment and an ability to justify decisions within a structured analytical framework. Based on this generalist philosophy, this program is designed to develop a student’s ability to think. This fundamental requirement of engineers to think critically in response to ever-changing and complex situations is accomplished through a design stream core which relies heavily on inquiry-based learning supported by traditional lecture-based knowledge. The progression in complex thinking skills occurs over the duration of the four-year program and beyond through appreciation of lifelong learning and professional development.

An integrated, stream of project-based design clinic courses through all four-years of the program provides students with the opportunity to develop knowledge and skills through working on real community and industry-based projects. Traditional content courses are delivered via an integrated and timely approach so that professional practice skills are developed in a simulated workplace environment. This program emphasizes design as an essential element of engineering as reflected in the Community Design Program (Year 1), and the Junior Design (Year 2) and Senior Design (Years 3 and 4) Clinics.

The following core design courses must be taken in succession to support the students' developing skills.

Community Design Program (Program Year 1)

1. Engineering 1210—Engineering Communications
2. Engineering 1220—Engineering Analysis

Junior Design Clinic (Program Year 2)

3. Engineering 2210—Engineering Projects I
4. Engineering 2220—Engineering Projects II

Senior Design Clinics (Program Years 3 and 4)

5. Engineering 3710—Project-Based Professional Practice I
6. Engineering 3720—Project-Based Professional Practice II
7. Engineering 4710—Project-Based Professional Practice III
8. Engineering 4720—Project-Based Professional Practice IV