Alright, alright, alright. After my terribly vague EngSci intro, I thought I should follow with some super specific deets. That is, the Semester 1 review; highlighting BIOMENG 221, ENGSCI 233 and, of course, ENGSCI 211.
Quick note: semester 2 so far has been in no way reflective of semester 1.
BIOMENG 221: Mechanics of Engineered and Biological Materials
This paper is essentially a combined carryover of CHEMMAT 121 and statics from ENGGEN 121. While interesting and engaging, this course is far from easy. Now I didn’t exactly do my research before I threw myself into EngSci so this course caught me off guard a little. I mean biology? Excuse me?
It just shows I really didn’t know anything about EngSci because this paper is part of the basis for continuum mechanics (one of the two paths you can go down in your fourth year). Don’t let that (or the bio) throw you off though, it ended up being my favourite paper, with as much “bio” as 140. Dodged the biology bullet once again.
ENGSCI 233: Computational Techniques and Computer Systems
The computer systems half in a nutshell was based off all the easy stuff from ELECTENG 101 (binary, logic gates, etc). By the end of this section you’ll understand how computers store information and how to code a lego robot. Bonus! Check out the snap down below of our boy Boris the Robot!!
The computational techniques part involves weekly intensive and time consuming labs that will be on the back of your mind for entirety of the week. Eventually I grew accustomed to these labs and began to thoroughly take pride and pleasure in their completion. Although, they’re not as bad as you’ll hear! Overall, once you take the time to understand the concepts, the work becomes more meaningful, enjoyable and practical.
I won’t discuss the horrors of python just to keep this short, though incorporating python into 233 does add value to our skillset upon graduating so I guess it’s not all bad.
ENGSCI 211: Mathematical Modelling 2
Based off ENGSCI 111, no question about it, this was a great paper! Assignments for the most part were enjoyable and the lecturers made the tests a smooth ride.
The lecturers mention applications for the equations we learn constantly throughout the semester but of course as students we’re trained to learn the bare minimum. However, for engineering science students these applications are given more context and are comprehensively explored in upcoming papers. To EngSci’s this paper’s main purpose is to simply enhance the mathematical tools we have at our disposal.
This isn’t the EngSci paper……yet.
The last paper taken in semester 1 is either ENGSCI 255 (an optimisation paper; keep a look out for my Sem 2 review!) or an elective, chosen from an extensive range of possible science and engineering papers alike.
In EngSci, we take 2 electives in our second and third years. Our last year consists of 5 electives! Just one of many EngSci perks. You can find an easy to follow courses rundown here: https://courses.foe.auckland.ac.nz/course/map/2/ just be aware electives are not restricted to this list alone.
This is just one of the reasons EngSci trumps all other specialisations; you don’t have to compromise when deciding a specialisation or career path…. when the time comes.
– Marah