The Production Engineering Certificate (PEC) encompasses development of students’ experiences and knowledge, and the application of engineering and scientific principles, in automotive manufacturing. It enhances capstone senior design projects, promotes student understanding of key automotive production processes, and involves students in capstone projects that develop knowledge of problems in and potential solutions for automotive production process design. Design projects within the Core Courses are developed through proposals from industry or an engineering organization.
The program requires 12 credit hours minimum to be awarded the certificate, which includes 6 credit hours of capstone design and 6 credit hours of elective courses. However, students from departments or disciplines that do not have two semesters (6 credit hours) of capstone design courses can substitute ME 526 - LEAN OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT I (a required prerequisite for the certificate) as an acceptable core course to meet the 6 credit hours requirements. For example, CME/MSE students whose capstone design course is only one semester (3 credit hours), ME 526 - LEAN OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT I , can count for one of the core courses or they will be required to take three elective courses (9 credit hours) to satisfy the total of 12 credit hours required. Students from departments or disciplines that may be interested in the certificate but do not have capstone design as part of their degree requirements, their core course requirement will be assessed by the director on a case by case basis.
Admission Requirements
Students accepted for the PEC Program must be pursuing or have pursued an accredited university degree. For UK students, 24 credits completed and a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.5 are required; in the case of transfer students into UK, 24 credits completed and a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.5 are required from all other institutions.