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Minors and Certificates

Minors and certificates afford traditional and well-accepted ways to recognize that a student has completed a significant body of work outside the major requirements.

Students include minors and/or certificates because they may wish to follow up on long time personal interests, to satisfy curiosity generated by introductory courses, to differentiate their program of study from those of fellow students or to enhance there opportunities for employment or for admission to graduate or professional schools.

Minors and certificate programs are offered in the College of Engineering and elsewhere in the university. Students interested in pursuing these programs should consult with their faculty counselor.

Requirements for Minors and Certificates

Each minor will have requirements determined by the college and department awarding the minor. Typical requirements for a minor are:

• Application for admission to the minor should be made after 60 and before 96 credit hours of course work have been completed.  Students who wish to pursue a minor must complete an Application to Add or Drop a Minor, which is available in the Registrar’s office or the Dean’s office or the Undergraduate Advisement Office or web.
• Applicants must meet the minimum admission requirements established for the minor.
• A minor may consist of 15 to 20 or more semester hours of course work, each earned with a grade of C or better, in a recognized disciple or specialty outside the major.
• Most of the courses must be at the junior-senior level or higher (3000-level or higher). And, there may be pre-requisites necessary over and above the specific courses listed for the minor.
• Award of the minor will occur upon certification by the unit offering the minor that the applicant has completed the requirements established for the minor.  Such awards will be noted on the UF transcript.

The requirements over and above those necessary to complete the chemical engineering BSChE degree program vary considerably. Make sure to check out the specific requirements any minor or certificate considered and develop an appropriate academic plan for completing any minor or certificate you choose to pursue.

Planning for a Minor or Certificate

Proper planning to incorporate the required minor courses in degree plans of study can reduce the time required to obtain a minor or certificate along with a degree. Many students are able to complete a considerable portion of the minor and certificate requirements through technical option course credits. In most cases, additional courses will be necessary over and above those required for the BSChE degree.

See Procedures for Adding a Minor below.

Available Minors and Certificate Programs

Chemical engineering majors may opt to complete a recognized minor concentration in a field discipline outside of the department. Chemical Engineering students are eligible for any University of Florida designated minors.  Multidisciplinary Programs in the College of Engineering and Certificate Programs in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and College of Business Administration offer students in good standing an opportunity to broaden their areas of expertise or acquire skills or information beyond their major degree requirements.

Minors that are well suited to chemical engineering majors are described below. The required courses and approved electives and other information are typically available in the departments offering the respective minor.

College of Engineering

See the University of Florida Undergraduate Catalog for a description and requirements of multidisciplinary and certificate programs offered in the College of Engineering.

Biomechanics Minor

This program permits undergraduate students to specialize in biomechanics, a subfield of biomedical engineering, that blends the life sciences with traditional engineering disciplines.

Interested students should check the UF Undergraduate Catalog and the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering web site http://www.mae.ufl.edu/ for additional information and then consult with one of the Engineering Sciences advisers in 226 Aerospace to obtain the required approval of a minor program of study.

Computer and Information Science and Engineering Minor

This minor, administered by the Department of Computer and Information Science and Engineering, provides the academic background necessary to understand the application of computers to scientific and engineering problems and to prepare students for possible graduate study in computer-related disciplines.

Interested students should check the UF Undergraduate Catalog and CISE Department web site www.cise.ufl.edu for additional information and then consult with one of the CISE advisers to obtain the required approval of a minor program of study.

Environmental Studies Minor

A minor (with certificate) in environmental studies is available to anyone with a major in Chemical Engineering.  The program is designed for students concerned with environmental issues. Electives can be structured around a selected environmental theme, to provide in-depth experience in a practical environmental problem of national or international concern.

Students interested in the minor should contact the Environmental Studies Office in 210 Carr Hall and register their intended course of study to ensure that the certificate will be awarded upon graduation.

Materials Minor and Certificate

This minor, offered through the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, is designed for engineering and science students who desire knowledge in materials science and engineering.

Interested students should contact the Department of Materials Science and Engineering program adviser in Rhines Hall for additional information.

Packaging Science Minor

A minor in Packaging Science is designed to help prepare the student for a career in or closely associated to Packaging. To obtain a Minor the student must successfully complete a list of preselected courses that provide a concentrated focus on Packaging related knowledge, technology and skills.

Interested students should check the Packaging Science web site and Minor in Packaging requirements for additional information.

Sales/Interface Engineering Certificate

This certificate program provides the academic background for career progression in sales, managerial, and entrepreneurial pursuits. It is designed to broaden the scope of students so that, upon graduation, they can more effectively communicate with other professionals and providing the business fundamentals necessary to promote and market new technologies and technical products.

Note that ECH 4604 has been approved by the College of Engineering as satisfying the economics requirement of the Sales Certificate program.

Interested students should contact the Chemical Engineering Advisement Office or the associate dean for academic programs in 312 Weil  to declare their intent to participate in the Sales/Interface Engineering Certificate program or obtain additional information.

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Chemistry Minor

The program is designed for students with a special interest in chemistry. Since Chemical Engineering has a strong basis in chemistry, the minor in chemistry can be satisfied with less credits than any other field. Under the 2002-2003 Undergraduate Catalog, a chemical engineering student only needs to take CHM 3218 Bioorganic Chemistry (4 credit hours) as the Advanced Chemistry Elective and take an additional two credit CHM 2211L Organic Chemistry Laboratory course (2 credit hours) to satisfy the chemistry minor credit requirement.

Interested students should check the UF Undergraduate Catalog and Chemistry Department web site www.chem.ufl.edu for Chemistry Minor Requirements. Then consult with one of the Chemical Engineer Undergraduate Coordinators to complete the Application to Add or Drop a Minor form to obtain the required approval of a minor program of study.

Mathematics Minor

The program is designed to equip students with a deeper understanding of the mathematical sciences. These courses can be useful for those contemplating graduate work in chemical engineering sciences.

Interested students should check the UF Undergraduate Catalog and the Mathematics Department web site www.math.ufl.edu for additional information and then consult with one of the mathematics advisers in 358 Little Hall to obtain the required approval of a minor program of study.

Physics Minor

The physics minor is designed for those students with a strong interest in understanding the fundamental whys and hows of natural phenomena. Students are urged to complete the course sequence PHY 2060-2061-2048L-2049L to gain a deeper understanding of physics while completing the engineering pre-professional requirements. .

Interested students should check the UF Undergraduate Catalog  and Physics Department web site www.phys.ufl.edu  for additional information and then consult with one of the physics advisers to obtain the required approval of a minor program of study. 

Statistics Minor

The program is designed to equip students with the statistical perspectives and computational skills required to quantitatively analyze and understand the increasing quantities of data becoming available through advanced process control and information systems.

Interested students should check the UF Undergraduate Catalog and Statistics Department web site www.stat.ufl.edu for additional information and then consult with one of the statistics advisers to obtain the required approval of a minor program of study. 

Warrington College of Business Administration

Business Administration Minor

Those students seeking a general overview of the major functional areas of business can complete the requirements for a minor in Business Administration. Business and economics courses are classified as social and behavioral sciences. They do not meet the criteria for technical courses and hence they cannot be taken as technical electives.  However, these courses can satisfy general education requirements of the undergraduate degree. For example, the following courses can be taken to satisfy the general education social and behavioral science requirements and at the same time be double counted towards a minor in Business Administration.

• MAR 3023 Principles of Marketing (4 credit hours)
• MAN 3025 Principles of Management (4 credit hours)
• ECO 2013 Principles of Macroeconomics (3 credit hours) or
• ECO 2023 Principles of Microeconomics (3 credit hours)

Check the College of Business section in the UF Undergraduate Catalog and web site www.cba.ufl.edu/upo for additional information on the Minor in Business Administration..

Other Minors

Chemical engineering students are very diversified in their interests. For example, chemical engineers have previously taken minors are in languages, dance, history, and botany.  Students Interested in a minor any field should check the UF Undergraduate Catalog and respective department web site for additional information and then consult with the department advisers to obtain the required approval of a minor program of study. 

Procedure for Adding a Minor

The following steps should be followed to add a minor:

1. Student completes Application to Add or Drop a Minor form
2. Student takes completed form to the Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Coordinator who reviews, signs, files and enters into database
3. Student takes signed form to College of Engineering Dean's Office (311 Weil Hall) which reviews, signs and keeps a copy
4. Student takes signed form to the college offering the minor for signature
5. Student takes signed form to Registrar's Office for addition to official record

Note: If you change your mind and do not plan to complete the minor, you should redo the above process but mark on the form that you wish to drop the minor.  Do not just leave the minor on your record and expect it to go away because you have not completed the requirements.  Your graduation could be delayed if  you do not formally drop a minor that you have added to your graduation requirements list but will not complete before graduating.