Administration
Holmes 240
2540 Dole Street
Honolulu, HI 96822
Tel: (808) 956-7727
Fax: (808) 956-2291
Web: eng.hawaii.edu
Dean: Brennon T. Morioka
Associate Dean: Steven M. Durbin
Assistant Dean: Song K. Choi
General Information
An engineering degree provides an excellent background for seeking solutions to many of the problems in the development and management of technology related to urban demands, the enhancement of our living environment, and the effective utilization of our nonrenewable resources. Engineering curricula include both general and theoretical course work designed to enable graduates to meet the challenges of a technology-oriented society. In addition to classic disciplines of engineering, students may also delve into the fundamentals of sustainability, nanotechnology, microscopic simulation, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other state-of-the-art subjects. College curricula encourage the independent study of novel engineering processes, integrating entrepreneurship, and innovation. Particular emphasis is placed on problems related to sustainability, resilience, and the preservation and enhancement of the environment.
Engineering has been a major program of study at this institution since its founding in 1907. UH Mānoa has granted close to 12,000 engineering degrees, and many of the professional engineers practicing in industry, consulting firms, and governmental agencies throughout the state are graduates of UH Mānoa.
Accreditation
The undergraduate programs in civil, computer, construction, electrical, and mechanical engineering are accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, www.abet.org.
Degrees and Certificates
For information on programs in biological engineering, refer to the “College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience ” section of the Catalog. For information on programs in ocean and resources engineering, refer to the “School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology ” section of the Catalog.
Advising
Student Academic Services Office
Holmes 250, 2540 Dole Street
Honolulu, HI 96822
Tel: (808) 956-8404
Web: eng.hawaii.edu/saso
All students in the College of Engineering must receive approval of their program of courses from their faculty advisors prior to registration each semester.
Updated curriculum check sheets summarizing all of the requirements for each undergraduate curriculum are available online at: www.eng.hawaii.edu/students/current-students/curriculum/.
Undergraduate engineering students who are well-qualified academically are encouraged to participate in the UH Mānoa Honors Programs (see the “Honors Programs” section within the Undergraduate Education Programs).
New Students
Incoming students are encouraged to meet with an engineering academic advisor by scheduling an appointment with the Student Academic Services Office, www.eng.hawaii.edu/saso
Undergraduate Programs
Each of the curricula offered by the College of Engineering provides a fundamental science-oriented university education with coverage of communications, the humanities, and social sciences, as well as the basic physical sciences of mathematics, physics, and chemistry. The curricula also encompass engineering sciences common to all engineering disciplines and project courses that introduce the engineering method of design.
Admission Requirements
Requirements for admission to UH Mānoa are described in the “Undergraduate Education ” section of the Catalog. High school students applying to the College of Engineering should have completed trigonometry, physics, and chemistry and are expected to be calculus ready upon enrollment. The college also uses aptitude tests and high school records in its screening procedure. Successful applicants are initially accepted into Preengineering prior to further screening.
Transfer students must have completed ENG 100 , MATH 241 and MATH 242 , PHYS 170 /PHYS 170L , and CHEM 161 /CHEM 161L and CHEM 162 or their equivalents, and have an overall cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher.
Students who do not meet entry requirements may enroll in Pre-engineering in the College of Engineering and declare into an engineering major at a later time. Pre-engineering students are advised by the College of Engineering and may enroll in lower division engineering courses with no additional approvals needed.
BS Degree Requirements
The undergraduate curricula are designed to be completed in eight semesters.
To receive a bachelor of science degree in engineering, a student must adhere to the following:
- Complete the course work for one of the engineering curricula, which also satisfies all UH Mānoa requirements;
- Maintain a minimum GPA of 2.0 for all registered credit hours; and
- Maintain a minimum GPA of 2.0 for all upper division courses (numbered 300-499) in mathematics, science, and engineering.
Major Requirements
See appropriate departments for specific major requirements leading to a bachelor’s degree.
Other Requirements
Undergraduate engineering students are subject to the policies of academic probation, suspension, and dismissal of UH Mānoa as specified in the Catalog. In addition, engineering students with either a cumulative GPA of less than 2.0 or an upper division GPA of less than 2.0 may be placed on academic probation. The student must maintain a semester GPA of 2.0 or higher for each probationary semester. Failure to meet any of the above conditions may result in suspension or dismissal. Students who are suspended must reapply for admission to the Office of Admissions within specified deadlines. Students who do not take courses after being suspended for the required one semester are eligible to be readmitted to the College of Engineering. Suspended students who attend another institution (including other UH system campuses) will be considered “transfer” students when reapplying to UH Mānoa and must meet the transfer requirements of the College of Engineering.
Graduate Programs
See appropriate department for specific description and requirements.
Combined Bachelor’s & Master’s Degree (BAM) Pathways
Combined Bachelor’s & Master’s Degree (BAM) Pathways afford a way for highly motivated students to efficiently complete a Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree in a shorter time frame by double-counting course work, up to 3 courses, at the undergraduate tuition rate. In most cases, pathway students graduate with the Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree within 5 years (total). Students must indicate their interest in the BAM pathway in their junior year.
Student Organizations
Student chapters of professional engineering societies are active at the college, and all students are encouraged to participate. Honorary societies are represented in all three departments.
Honors and Awards
The College of Engineering and its departments provide scholarships and awards to exceptional students. For a list of these scholarships, see the “Tuition, Fees, and Financial Aid “ section of this Catalog.
Programs
Hawaiʻi Advanced Wireless Technologies Institute
The Hawaiʻi Advanced Wireless Technologies Institute (HAWTI) is a multidisciplinary research center established by the legislature and approved by the Board of Regents in 2000. Currently, with federal, state, and private funding, HAWTI continues to serve as the leading center for innovative research in the broader areas of wireless technologies conducting joint research and educational activities that promote national and international collaboration and partnership with industry. The institute has tenured faculty, full-time researchers, and graduate students working towards their MS and/or PhD degrees in electrical engineering.
Past and current sponsors of the research activities in the institute include federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), Army Research Office, Office of Naval Research, Army CERDEC, SPAWAR, as well as a large number of corporate sponsors, such as Raytheon, Agilent Technologies, BAE, L-3 Communications, Motorola, L3 Technologies, Orbital ATK, and Hawaiian Electric Company.
Faculty in the institute have been recognized with several national and international awards, including the 2012 IEEE AP·S Distinguished Educator Award, 2013 IEEE MTT·S Distinguished Educator Award, and both the UH Regents Medal for Excellence In Research and the UH Regents Medal for Excellence In Teaching. The institute director, Dr. Magdy Iskander, is the founding Editor·ln·Chief of Computer Applications In Engineering Education by Wiley, was the 2002 President of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society, and has received the ASEE Curtis W McGrew Award for Research and the ASEE George Westinghouse Award for teaching excellence. Some of the institute’s ongoing research is included in the recent publication, The World of Applied Electromagnetics by Springer.
National and International Collaboration: The institute is a member of the NSF Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC), and has international partnership agreements with The State Key Lab on Microwave & Digital Communications, Tsinghua University, China; The Centre National De La Recherche Scientifique, University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France; Communication Research Center, Yuan Ze University, Taiwan; and Department of Signal Theory and Communications, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain.
Research Areas: Research areas include advanced multifunction and ultra wideband antenna designs, propagation modeling and characterization of wireless communication channels, digital signal processing (DSP) for smart antennas, ground penetrating radar technologies for UXO and IED detection and classification, microwave methods for biomedical applications (in collaboration with JABSOM), the development of radio frequency tunable devices for reconfigurable antennas cognitive radio, solar energy harvesting applications, reinforcement learning and optimization with applications in renewable energy and smart grids. Recent research projects include a microwave stethoscope for monitoring patient vital signs and measuring changes in lung water content, the development of antennas for directional networks, use of genetic programming for the design of ultra-wideband metamaterials, the development of textile antennas for medical and military applications, optimization of Hawaiʻi electric power grids using reinforcement learning, and development and application of genetic programming in electromagnetics.
STEM Outreach: HAWTI has received significant grants from the State of Hawaiʻi, National Science Foundation, and corporate sponsors to launch its STEM outreach program for middle schools in Hawaiʻi (Research Experience for Teachers, RET).
Laboratory Facilities: HAWTI has developed four state-of-the-art laboratories to support the ongoing research activities. This includes an indoor antenna range, a wireless communications testbed, microwave measurements and network analysis lab, and the RF devices fabrication and probe station for characterization lab.
For graduate studies, all students/applicants need to fulfill the requirements of the Graduate Division, manoa.hawaii.edu/graduate/, as well as those of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. For availability of research opportunities, as well as visiting scholar and graduate fellowships at HAWTI, contact Magdy Iskander, Director of HAWTI and professor of electrical engineering at magdy@hawaii.edu.
Hawaiʻi Space Flight Laboratory
The Hawaiʻi Space Flight Laboratory (HSFL) was established in 2007 as a multidisciplinary research and education activity bringing together individuals from diverse areas to explore, study, and advance the understanding of the space environment. Among HSFL’s goals are to provide the infrastructure for collaborative space and science research, encourage entrepreneurship and industrial relations, and provide students with a rich and exciting education for careers in space science and engineering.
Hawaiʻi’s unique location opens the door for it to become a low-cost gateway to space and positions UH Mānoa as the only university in the world to have both satellite fabrication capabilities and unique, direct access to orbital space. These features can enable many experiments that study the earth’s oceans and continents, as well as test numerous engineering experiments in the hostile environment of space. In this way, HSFL merges research interests in the College of Engineering and the School of Ocean and Earth Sciences and Technology.
NHSEMP at UH Mānoa
NHSEMP at UH Mānoa began in 2001 as a joint initiative between UH Mānoa’s College of Engineering and Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies. NHSEMP provides assistance, opportunities, and community for students to excel in the STEM fields with a goal of creating leaders in the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Island communities through academic excellence in STEM.
NHSEMP provides a suite of opportunities at the PreK-12, pre-college, and university levels including summer bridge programs, tutoring, supplemental advising, leadership/mentorship opportunities, financial assistance, a STEM Center, STEM outreach and recruitment, and other student support services. NHSEMP partners with UH departments, agencies, and industry to provide undergraduate research experiences and internships. Additionally, NHSEMP’s ʻOi Ka Naʻauao Spotlight Series provides opportunities to engage in professional development, mentorship, and cultural awareness, understanding, and identity. For more information, visit the NHSEMP website: nhsemp.eng.hawaii.edu or contact nhsemp@hawaii.edu.
Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Program
The University of Hawaiʻi is part of the Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Consortium, which was started by the Georgia Institute of Technology. VIP programs seek to foster projectbased learning to engage students and better prepare them for future careers. VIP teams are vertically integrated: they consist of a faculty mentor, graduate student researchers, and undergraduates of all levels. The teams are large (10 to 20 undergraduates), and projects are long-term (at least 5 years in scope), and based on an externally funded research topic. Undergraduates in VIP teams earn academic credit for their participation.
Our VIP efforts are organized around the following themes:
- Robotics: The College of Engineering robotics program spans microrobotics to marine (submersible and surface) robotics to aerospace (drones and small satellites) and surgical robotics;
- Astronomy: UH Mānoa has an exceptionally strong astronomy program, with access to real telescope time for developing astronomical instruments. Student-built nanosatellites have been constructed and launched three times since 2006;
- Rapid Prototyping: The UH System has also made it a priority for its students to be part of the “Maker Movement,” inspiring our third VIP focus area to be in rapid prototyping and re-manufacturing. Goals and objectives include cultivating and promoting innovation and entrepreneurship at UH Mānoa by providing the learning resources, tools and facilities to cultivate innovation and entrepreneurship and serving as a conduit to the local startup ecosystem; and
- Sustainability: Our fourth focus area is in sustainability. As the most isolated land mass in the world, Hawaiʻi has a vested interest in sustainability in many areas: architecture, energy, food, water, and transportation. Indeed, this focus allows for rich cross-disciplinary VIP opportunities across many academic disciplines throughout campus.
Departments and Programs
