Gateway to Science and Engineering for Sustainable Solutions

ENCE 50 Subject & Catalog Number

Description

This course is for students who want to help solve the energy and environmental challenges that will define the coming decades — with real depth as scientists and engineers. ENCE 50 is a spring-semester gateway course that is required for the track on Science and Engineering for Sustainable Solutions (SESS) in the concentration on Energy, Climate, and the Environment (ENCE). Co-taught by three faculty from applied physics/physics, electrical and computer engineering, and environmental science and engineering, ENCE 50 tackles real-world problems through hands-on, solutions-focused modules: building and decarbonizing our energy systems, making computing sustainable, mitigating the health effects of pollution, cleaning up the chemical industry, and forecasting environmental risk. Through lectures, lab sections, and problem sets, students start to build rigorous foundations in physics, chemistry and materials science, environmental science and engineering, electrical and computer engineering, and applied math and statistics.

What sets SESS apart is depth, not generalism. ENCE 50 starts students out on a path toward genuine mastery of a core discipline while they build fluency across the complementary fields: a student drawn to nuclear power gains the grounding of a physics major, one focused on the electric grid the depth of an electrical engineer, and one focused on toxic chemicals the skills of an environmental engineer — mastery that travels into any career, in sustainability or beyond. Most of all, ENCE 50 is a roadmap for the SESS track: students see the full range of the track, discover where their interests lie, and choose a “braid” — a carefully scaffolded course sequence that carries them from these foundations into true disciplinary depth.

Course Notes

ENCE 50 is required for students in the SESS track. ENCE 50 counts as a distribution class for other ENCE tracks. Course includes a roughly 3-hour section weekly.

Recommended Prep

ENCE 10 (prior) is recommended. Math 1b or 21a (prior or concurrent) is required. No prior physics or chemistry is required; ENCE 50 introduces these disciplines in the context of each module's central sustainability challenge.