Your First Year Courses
There have been some changes to the engineering curriculum over the past couple of years, which have resulted in the two elective courses which used to be taken by our students in the first year being moved to year two. The recommended set of year one courses is now the same for everyone, which makes your registration much easier. All engineering students who have been offered normal admission to the program, will register for the following courses:
| TERM 1 | TERM 2 | |
|
APSC 1073: Introduction to Engineering This course provides students with basic skills and knowledge that will used through their professional life. The primary topic is technical communications (report writing, referencing sources, unit analyses, data acquisition and interpretion, effective presentations). The history and disciplines of engineering, the code of ethics, and engineer's responsibility for safety in the workplace and environmental awareness are also covered. (1h tutorial). APSC 1223: Design 1 An introduction to the engineering design process focusing on the role of graphics in design. Students are instructed in the use of modern CAD software for the production of mechanical drawings and learn standards for same. Free hand sketching, 3-D visualization techniques and report writing are also covered. Students complete a major design project and submit a set of drawings with a written report to obtain a significant portion of their grade. (3h lab) CHEM 1013: General Chemistry 1 An introductory treatment of the fundamentals of chemistry: atoms, molecules, ions, chemical equations, stoichiometry, enthaply, electronic structure and periodic properties of the elements, chemical bonding, and molecular structure, acids and bases, and gases. (3h lab) MATH 1013: Introductory Calculus 1 Limits, tangent lines and derivatives, exponential, logarithmic and inverse functions. Application of the derivative to rates, extrema, curve sketching, indeterminate forms. Hyperbolic functions and parametric curves if time permits.(3h lecture, 1.5h studio) PHYS 1013: Introductory Physics 1 Classical mechanics, including kinematics, dynamics, energy, systems of particles, rotational motion, oscillations, waves and sound. Topics are developed using vectors and elementary calculus. (3h lecture/3h studio) |
APSC 1113: Statics This is a first course in engineering mechanics, focusing on the analysis of various simple static structures. Topics include force and position vectors, dot and cross products, directed force vectors, equivalent force and moment systems, particle and rigid body equilibrium, two and three force elements, trusses, frames, machines, friction, centroids and moments of inertia. Students complete a major design project for part of their grade. (3h lab) APSC 1413: Computer Programming 1 for APSC This course covers the fundamental programming principles of flow control, modularity and structured programming. The student will implement significant programs in the "C" programming language to solve a variety of engineering problems. (3h lab) CHEM 1023: General Chemistry 2 Properties of gases, liquids, solids, and solutions, chemical kinetics, Chemical equilibria, acids and bases, thermochemistry, entropy and free energy, electrochemistry, and organic chemistry. (3h lab) MATH 1023: Introductory Calculus 2 Antiderivatives, the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, techniques of integration, applications such as volumes, arc length, improper integrals, sequences, series, power series, Taylor series, Taylor polynomials. (3h lecture, 1.5h studio) PHYS 1023: Introductory Physics 2 Electric and magnetic fields and modern physics. Topics include Gauss's law, electric potential, capacitors, Ohm's law, D.C. circuits, Faraday's law, inductance, and topics in modern physics. (3h lecture/3h studio) MATH 1323: Matrix Algebra Systems of linear equations, matrices, vectors in two and three dimensions, row reduction and echelon forms, linear independence and span, linear transformations, matrix operations, Invertible Matrix Theorem, subspaces, determinants, Cramer's Rule, eigenvectors and eigenvalues; a computational approach, with applications. |
This is the complete set of courses you need to complete the recommended first year, so you shouldn’t have to do anything more to complete your registration if you are following the standard program. If you have AP credits from high school that are applicable to the engineering program (or have been admitted under some special conditions), you might have to adjust your registration from the standard set of courses to complete the registration process. In this case, it might be a good idea to contact the Engineering office for further advice.
When you first go on-line to register for courses, do not forget that many of these courses have a lab/tutorial section. Labs and tutorials are listed under a separate, but related number to the main course. It will probably look like you are registered for more than 11 courses at first glance when you are done.
We recommend that all students follow the same first year, regardless of which of the two academic programs (CAS or BASc) you have been initially admitted to. Students absolutely committed to the three year BASc program do not have to take 6 courses in the second term of the first year, but CAS students do. By everyone registering for all eleven courses you will keep your options open to switch between them once classes are under way. Dropping the “extra” course at Christmas is easier than trying to add it later, and can be done at anytime during the fall term. More information concerning relative strengths and weaknesses of the CAS and BASc programs can be found on our web site, and will be discussed as classes go along as well. Students can go on to complete full engineering degrees after doing either program.
Should you have any questions at all about all of this, we would be more than happy to assist you. Just call the office at (902) 585 -1206 to speak with the Administrative Assistant or The Director. Most requests can be handled quickly over the phone or in person. Some of the more involved questions may take a day or two to sort out, but we will always do our best to handle them as quickly as we can.