Minors & Honors Program

Minors

Environmental Engineering majors may choose to complete one or more of the 122 minors offered by different departments and colleges. Most students can complete a minor within their Environmental Engineering program in 8 semesters provided they work closely with their faculty advisor to carefully plan and schedule their courses. Completion of a minor is noted on the final Cornell transcript as official recognition of academic achievement above and beyond the student’s Bachelor of Science degree requirements. The Minor in Environmental Engineering offered by BEE and CEE is NOT available to Environmental Engineering majors.

Honors Program

The environmental engineering honors program consists of at least nine credits beyond the minimum required for graduation in the environmental engineering major. These nine credits must be drawn from one or more of the following categories with at least 3 credit hours in the first category:

  1. A significant research experience or honors project under the direct supervision of an Environmental Engineering faculty member using BEE 4993 Honors Thesis (3 credits) or CEE 4000: Senior Honors Thesis (1 to 6 credits per semester). A significant written report or senior honors thesis must be submitted to the research advisor as part of this component. Letter grade only.
  2. A significant teaching experience under the direct supervision of a faculty member using a regularly recognized Engineering College course (i.e., Undergraduate Engineering Teaching, BEE 4980 or CEE 4010 [1 to 4 credits per semester]).
  3. Advanced or graduate courses at the 4000 level or above.

No research, independent study, or teaching for which the student is paid may be counted toward the honors program.

Eligibility: students must enter with and maintain a cumulative GPA equal or greater than 3.50.

Application: students must apply no later than the beginning of the first semester of their senior year but are encouraged to apply as early as the first semester of their junior year. All honors program students must be in the program for at least two semesters before graduation.

Note – Latin Honors

  • Cum laude is awarded to all engineering students with an overall GPA >3.50. Cum laude is also awarded to all engineering students who received a semester GPA >3.50 in each of the last four semesters of attendance at Cornell; in each of these semesters, at least 12 letter-grade credits must be taken with no failing, unsatisfactory, missing, or incomplete grades. If the student is an Engineering Co-op student, then the Engineering Co-op summer term will count as one of the last four. Students who were approved for prorated tuition in their final semester will be awarded cum laude if they received a semester GPA >3.50 in their last semester and meet the conditions above in the prior four semesters.
  • Magna cum laude is awarded to all engineering students with a GPA > 3.75 (based on all credits taken at Cornell).
  • Summa cum laude is awarded to all engineering students with a GPA > 4.0 (based on all credits taken at Cornell).
  • All GPA calculations are minimums and are not rounded.