The Common First Year
Fall Semester
- First-Year Seminar
The First-Year Seminar, which is required of all students, is designed to introduce students to intellectual inquiry through engaging them as thinkers, speakers, and writers. Each seminar focuses intensively on a special topic that is articulated with related cocurricular activities.
Limited to 16 students per section, the First-Year Seminar includes significant reading, writing, discussion, and presentation and is affiliated with the College Writing Program. Students are also introduced to use of the library for research.
During the summer, all entering first-year students receive, as part of the registration materials, a list of the seminars to be given in the following fall. Students are asked to indicate their first five choices; every effort is made to place students according to their preferences.
- MATH 161. Calculus I
- CHEM 121. General Chemistry
- ES 101. Introduction to Engineering
Spring Semester
Allowable Science, Technical, and Humanities-Social Science
Electives
Students are required to take Humanities and Social Science courses
which expose them to the breadth of knowledge outside of engineering
and natural science.
This is in accord with the recommendations of the Engineering
Accreditation Commission of Accreditation Board for Engineering
and Technology.
Electives List
Engineering in a Liberal Arts Environment
More than 90 percent of Lafayette's 2,300 students, from 42 states and 72 countries, live on campus and can participate in more than 250 groups and clubs including 23 Division I sports.
A large number of these involvement opportunities are showcased at the annual Activities Fair held in the Farinon College Center during the first week of classes.
In addition to its regular academic programs, Lafayette offers a variety of opportunities and programs ranging from student/faculty research projects and honors work, to study abroad, internships, and intensive short-term courses during January interim.
Collaborative/Team Projects
Integrating and synthesizing what students have learned in classrooms and labs. Some examples are:
- spending six weeks in Uganda, examining issues related to the wetlands surrounding Lake Victoria with peers there in a research program funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
- designing and manufacturing a human-powered submarine. The vessel competed in the seventh annual International Submarine Races hosted by the Naval Surface Warfare Center’s Carderock facility in Bethesda, Md.
- designing, building, and testing a radio-controlled aircraft that can take off and land while carrying the heaviest possible cargo. The team competed in the Aero Design Competition sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers in Cocoa Beach, Fla.
- creating a 209-pound robot for entry in the nationally broadcast Comedy Central program BattleBots.
- creating a mini-baja off-road vehicle through the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) competition.
- SAE contest involving creation of small, formula-style racecars.
| 
