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Students Collaborate on project in ZEC

First Year Course Sequence

This sequence is comprised of two 4-credit courses:

  • EF 157 – Honors Physics for Engineers I (Fall)
  • EF 158 – Honors Physics for Engineers II (Spring)

Each course meets five days a week on the third floor of the Zeanah Engineering Complex. This time is distributed between fifty minute active learning lectures on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and seventy-five minute recitations on Tuesday and Thursday. The maximum capacities are sixty for each lecture section and thirty for each recitation section.

These courses are co-taught by Engineering Honors and Engineering Fundamentals faculty with the support of graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants. Small class sizes and increased faculty/student ratio allow some content areas to be addressed in more depth. Skills such as teamwork, communication, and design method are stressed during the recitations which are devoted to several different activities:

  • Laboratory exercises which reinforce physics concepts discussed in lecture
  • Project work in which teams of three to four students develop solutions to open-ended design problems
  • Problem solving sessions

The honors engineering sequence is a natural extension of the Jerry E. Stoneking engage Engineering Fundamentals Program at UT which is one of the nation’s most innovative engineering programs. Some of our Honors faculty were instrumental in developing this leading-edge, success-oriented approach to first-year student engineering education.

Course Details

EF 157 – Honors: Physics for Engineers I (4 Credit Hours)
Calculus-based study of basic physics concepts, including vectors, kinematics, Newton’s laws, forces, work-energy, and impulse-momentum. Introduction to team work. Introduction to the engineering disciplines. Examination of engineering principles and design issues. Oral and written presentation skills.

  • Corequisites: EF 105 or Computer Science 102; and Mathematics 141 or higher.
  • Registration Restriction(s): Major in the Tickle College of Engineering or biosystems engineering; enrolled in Engineering Honors Program

EF 158 – Honors: Physics for Engineers II (4 Credit Hours)
Calculus-based study of basic physics concepts, including rotational dynamics, statics, oscillations, waves, fluids, heat and temperature, and first and second law of thermodynamics. Introduction to team work. Introduction to the engineering disciplines, examination of engineering principles and design issues. Oral and written presentation skills.

  • Prerequisite: EF 157 or permission of instructor*
  • Corequisite: Mathematics 142 or higher

Course website are available at https://efcms.engr.utk.edu/efp.

Contact Dr. Kevin Kit (kkit@utk.edu) if you are currently in EF 151 but would like to be considered for EF 158. Permissions will be granted after the Fall semester is completed.

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