Undergraduate Programs Guide
Honors
According to the Brown University Faculty Rules, “The University shall, at graduation, grant Honors to students whose work in a field of concentration has demonstrated superior quality and culminated in an Honors Thesis of Distinction.” Eligibility for the honors program in The Division of Engineering is determined based on the student’s academic performance at the end of the first semester of the senior year. Students may apply for admission to the Honors Program on a form available in the Engineering Student Affairs Office. The application must be submitted to that office prior to November 10 of the student’s senior year. The application form includes a section on academic performance and another section on the proposal for the candidate’s Honors Thesis. The proposed thesis project must be endorsed by an Engineering faculty member who will also act as the Honors Advisor to that student. The minimum grade point average for admission to the Engineering Honors Program is 3.4/4.0 on graded coursework. This GPA will normally be calculated based on the courses that are required to satisfy engineering concentration requirements and which are listed on the applicant’s approved engineering concentration form. No more than one of the required engineering courses may be independent studies (EN195/196) and courses not taken for a grade will not be included in the GPA calculation. It is expected that, whenever possible, honors candidates will have taken nearly all the required technical courses (other than EN0030) in their concentration for a grade. The Honors application form will be reviewed by the Honors Committee to determine admission to the Honors Program.
Honors thesis work may be fulfilled in part by work done during the senior year in an “Independent Studies in Engineering” course (ENGN 1950 and/or 1960). In such cases, course credit will also be given to the student upon successful completion of the independent studies course(s). The requirements for the Honors Program may also be fulfilled without enrolling in a course, in which case it will carry no course credit. A written thesis, in the required format, must be submitted to the honors committee one week prior to the thesis defense. The honors committee consists of the Honors Chair, appointed by the Division of Engineering, the student’s honors research faculty advisor, and a faculty (or appropriate equivalent) reader. The thesis defense will be scheduled with the Engineering Student Affairs Office near the end of the spring semester. The thesis defense consists of a 20-30 minute presentation followed by questioning by the student’s thesis committee. Please note that all Honors requirements must be successfully completed no later than the beginning of the Reading Period of the spring semester in order to receive Honors at graduation. Admission to the Honors Program does not guarantee that a student will receive Honors upon graduation. Recommendation for this distinction by the Division of Engineering requires that the candidate continues to demonstrate academic excellence in the spring semester, completes an “Honors Thesis of Distinction,” and successfully defends his/her thesis in an oral examination. It is only when all three of these requirements have been fulfilled that a recommendation for Honors will be submitted to the College Curriculum Council of Brown University. Additional details on the Honors program are available in the Engineering Student Affairs Office. See the Honors Application pdf here.
