Technical Electives

AREN students must complete 12 credits of technical electives from the following categories.

  Technical elective requirements and approved courses vary by major/department.  Courses that are approved technical electives for other majors may not be accepted for your degree.  Make sure you're referring to the information below when choosing technical electives, and contact your advisor with questions.

AREN Electives & Opportunities for Specialization

At least two technical electives (6 credits) must be selected from this list, from any emphasis area(s).  Some technical electives are offered intermittently, and are not guaranteed to be offered every year.

Graduate versions of combined courses (e.g. CVEN 5728 instead of CVEN 4728) are also accepted.

Strongly recommended

  • AREN 4606 Construction Project Execution & Control (AREN 4506) – spring
  • CVEN 3256 Construction Equipment & Methods (CVEN 3246) – fall and spring

Other options

  • AREN 4315 Masonry Design (CVEN 3525) – intermittent
  • CVEN 3708 Geotechnical Engineering 1 (CVEN 3161) – fall and spring
  • CVEN 3718 Geotechnical Engineering 2 (CVEN 3708) – fall and spring
  • CVEN 4565 Design of Wood Structures (CVEN 3525) – spring every other year

Note: Students are encouraged to consider CVEN 2012 Intro to Geomatics as a basic engineering or free elective.

Strongly recommended

  • AREN 4130 Optical Design (AREN 3540) – fall
  • AREN 4580 Daylighting (AREN 4130, 4550) – spring
  • AREN 4620 Adaptive Lighting Systems (AREN 4550) – fall, intermittent

Recommended

  • AREN 4530 Advanced Lighting Design (AREN 4550) – spring
  • AREN 4560 Luminous Radiative Transfer (AREN 3540) – spring, intermittent
  • AREN 4010 Energy System Modeling & Control (AREN 4110) – fall, intermittent
  • AREN 4040 Building Energy Audits (AREN 3010) – fall, intermittent
  • AREN 4890 Sustainable Building Design (AREN 3010) – intermittent
  • AREN 4990 Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Analysis (AREN 2120, APPM 2360) – intermittent
  • AREN 5080 Computer Simulation of Building Systems (AREN 3010) – intermittent

Strongly recommended

  • CVEN 4545 Steel Design* (CVEN 3525) – spring
  • CVEN 4555 Reinforced Concrete Design* (CVEN 3525) – fall

*Can only be taken as a technical elective if not used to fulfill the Structural Design requirement.

Recommended

  • CVEN 4565 Design of Wood Structures (CVEN 3525) – spring
  • CVEN 4728 Foundation Engineering (CVEN 3718) – spring

Other options

  • AREN 4315 Masonry Design (CVEN 3525) – spring every other year
  • AREN 5660 Embodied Carbon in Buildings (instructor consent) – spring
  • CVEN 4161 Mechanics of Materials II (CVEN 3161) – fall

General Technical Electives

The remaining 6 credits of technical electives may be chosen from the following:

  • Any upper-division (3000+) AREN or CVEN course
  • Any course listed on the CEAE Approved Technical Elective List
  • Up to 3 credits of independent study (must be approved by the CEAE Department)

Any other course must be petitioned and approved by the CEAE Department to count as a technical elective.  Contact your academic advisor for guidance.  Technical electives must be upper-division (3000+) and are generally math, science, or engineering courses with technical content.