"High-Touch" Engineering Education
The sixteen majors in the School of Engineering at Tufts were designed for collaborative, interdisciplinary thinkers and builders who like to get their hands a bit dirty, and we could not be more excited about you joining this dynamic community of future engineers. Engineers never work in isolation, and that is why we place a heavy value on collaboration and communication both within and across disciplines. We also believe that there is never one right way to do anything, and throughout your time at Tufts, you will develop the skills to troubleshoot and problem solve.
One of the hallmarks of Tufts Engineering is what we like to call the “high-touch education.” As a first-year student, one of your first classes will be a hands-on, non-technical, project based engineering class designed to get you working in a team to begin learning the engineering design process. Some examples of classes taught in the past include The Music & Art of Engineering, Simple Robotics, Climate Change Engineering, Engineering in Crises, and Biomechanics.
Equal parts playful and practical, the projects that students develop in these courses range from educational tools to robotic haunted houses to model buildings that can withstand earthquakes.
This hands-on approach does not end with your first semester. From prototyping medical devices in Biomedical Engineering to designing process control schemes in Chemical and Biological Engineering, project-based learning is at the core of Tufts Engineering.
Research and Maker Spaces
As a student at Tufts, you will be able to take part in research as soon as your first semester. Research at Tufts is focused on undergraduate students, and faculty are always looking to get people involved. In Bray Laboratories, Halligan Hall, the Science & Technology Center, and the Science & Engineering complex, you will find an abundance of lab space where professors and students are carrying out ground-breaking engineering research. From Professor Andrew Ramsburg’s work in groundwater remediation to Professor Ayse Asatekin’s research on self-cleaning membranes for water purification to Professor Sergio Fantini’s work on imaging techniques, faculty and students alike are collaborating to solve tough problems related to human health, sustainability, and the human-technology interface. If you are someone who wants to dive deep and conduct your own research, faculty will help guide you into a project that suits you, and the Tufts Summer Scholars Program can help you secure funding to conduct research for ten weeks in the summer.
If you are someone who enjoys tinkering and building, the newly opened Nolop Fabrication, Analysis, Simulation, and Testing (FAST) Facility in the Science & Engineering Complex is a place where you can indulge your creativity. Equipped with 3D printers, a laser cutter, and various tools, the space is a place where you can quickly prototype a project and work with and learn from your peers. Check it out here!
Arts & Sciences + Engineering: A Seamless Pair
At Tufts, we take pride in the seamless exchange of ideas between the School of Arts & Sciences and the School of Engineering. In your experience as an engineering student at Tufts, you will not feel isolated from the exciting things happening in Arts & Sciences. We like when engineers look at the big picture and the broad implications of their work—we call this engineering with a conscience. With low walls between the schools, students in Arts & Sciences and Engineering are living in the same dorms, eating in the same dining halls, participating in the same extracurricular activities, and in many cases enrolling in the same classes. As a student in Engineering, you also have full access to courses in Arts & Sciences and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA). At Tufts, a high-touch education extends beyond the classroom and into Ceramic, Papermaking, and Welding studios where Engineers can explore different artistic techniques to enhance their engineering design projects.
In your introductory math and science courses, you will encounter peers with a variety of academic interests who will bring a diversity of perspectives to the classroom. No matter which major you land on in Engineering, we hope that your time at Tufts will be contextualized and influenced by the liberal arts.
