Interdisciplinary students are exposed to the fundamentals of science and engineering, while also developing their skills as leaders, systems thinkers, and engineering designers through engineering leadership and business courses as well as a project-based course sequence. Rather than focusing exclusively on an existing Engineering subfield such as Biomedical, Civil, Environmental, Electrical, Computer, or Mechanical Engineering, this is a unique interdisciplinary program with broad flexibility and a student-guided focus. The core vision of the program's design is to provide a customizable degree for students, so they may optimize their opportunities to enter the workforce, including emergent entrepreneurial businesses. The curriculum aims to develop students into engineering leaders who utilize a systems-perspective to collaborate across disciplines and design innovative, human-centered solutions to local, national, and global challenges. It combines a core encompassing math, sciences, business, communication, and engineering courses from all disciplines along with a secondary field that could include traditional existing engineering areas, or focus on grand challenges such as personalized learning, cybersecurity, and water accessibility
At the time of graduation, students within the Interdisciplinary Engineering program at FIU will be able to demonstrate:
an ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics
an ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors
an ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences
an ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts
an ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives
an ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions
an ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies