Minor in Renewable Energy
(MRE)
This minor is being offered starting fall semester of 2009. The registration code for it is REGN.
All students wanting to complete the MRE must officially declare their intention to UT. To officially declare the MRE stop in UH 3000 and fill the appropriate form. Alternatively download and fill in the pdf form and send it by email to Ms. Angela Koenigs at Angela.Koenigs@utoledo.edu.
1. Program Structure and Courses
Students seeking the interdisciplinary minor in Renewable Energy must complete at least 21 hours of course work selected as follows.
(a) Four courses form the required core (i) PHYS 3400, (ii) GEPL 2200/ EEES 2200, (iii) CHEM 3810 and (iv) a minimum of 3 hours of internship PHYS 4940. Engineering students can substitute up to three registered credit hours of approved coops in a renewable energy related area for up to three hours of PHYS 4940 provided the coop is accompanied by certain additional requirements listed below (see description of PHYS 4940).
(b) The student must select one course from either ECON 3240 or PSC 4340.
(c) The remaining 6 hours of course work should be selected from courses on the approved list.
Courses A, B and C are required:
Course A
Course B
Course C
The student must select one of the courses D and E:
Course D
Course E
A minimum of 3 hours of internship is required as offered through PHYS 4940.
Course F
1 Course Number: PHYS 4940
2 Credits: 1-4
3 Prerequisites: PHYS 3400
4 Title: Internship in Renewable Energy
5 Description: Experiential learning in an adviser-approved business, industry, non-profit, or academic organization. Maximum of three hours may count toward minor. Credit hours 1-4; may be repeated once for credit. Please see detailed instructions about this course at the end of this document.
6 Status: New course approved by P&A
7 Contact Person: Sanjay Khare, x2292, sanjay.khare@utoledo.edu
The student must select two of the following courses as electives for the minor:
Course G
1 Course Number: PHYS 4400
2 Credits: 3
3 Prerequisites: PHYS 2140 or PHYS 2080; and CHEM 1240; OR equivalents for these.
4 Title: Principles and Varieties of Solar Energy
5 Description: Types and extent of solar energy used in human society including photosynthesis, photovoltaic, solar thermal, and concentrating solar electric; scope of the necessary energy storage and long distance electricity transmission.
6 Status: New course approved by P& A.
7 Contact Person: A. D. Compaan, x 4787, alvin.compan@utoledo.edu
Course H
1. Course Number: MIME 4410
2. Credits: 3
3. Prerequisites: PHYS 2080 or higher.
4. Title: Alternative Energy
5. Description: This course focuses on the technical aspects of sustainable energy technologies, such as wind, solar, biomass, ocean waves/tides, geothermal, and hydropower; it also covers issues and applications related to storage, transportation, distribution, industrial usage, and buildings. The course investigates the progress, challenges, and opportunities of each technology to be both technically feasible and economically viable. Lectures are complemented by experiments in the energy laboratory.
6. Status: Course approved. It was first offered in fall 2008 with an enrollment of 16.
7. Contact Person: Sorin Cioc, x8228, Sorin.Cioc@utoledo.edu, Abdy Afjeh, x8210, Abdollah.Afjeh@utoledo.edu
Course I
Course J
PHYS 4940: Internship in Renewable Energy
Catalog Course description: Experiential learning in an adviser-approved business, industry, non-profit, or academic organization. A maximum of three hours may count toward the minor. Credit hours 1-4; may be repeated once for credit.
Syllabus:
The internship may be paid or volunteer employment in an approved business, industry, governmental agency, or non-profit institution. It may include participation in a university research lab. It may be completed in the summer or on a part-time or full-time basis during the school year. The student must register for PHYS 4940 during the period of service. There is a special exception for engineering students enrolled in a coop program. See below.
The following requirements apply:
1. The internship will be earned at a rate of 1 hour of credit for a minimum of 40 hours of service with a maximum of 4 credit hours earned for a 16 week semester.
2. The internship must be approved in advance by the internship coordinator for PHYS
4940, Prof. Sanjay V. Khare, sanjay.khare@utoledo.edu.
3. At the end of the internship, the on-site supervisor of the internship experience must
supply a one-page letter to the internship coordinator confirming that the student has
completed the appropriate number of hours of work or service.
4. At the end of the internship, the students must write a report, typically 2 to 4 pages
explaining what they did for the internship, what the experience taught them technically
and professionally, and how this experience did (or did not) help them to achieve their
career objectives.
Exception for engineering students doing a coop in a renewable energy area: Such students may use 1 to 3 credits of their registered engineering coop experience to fulfill the requirements for PHYS 4940 provided they satisfy requirements 2, 3 and 4 listed above. This can be done only after prior written permission from the course coordinator of PHYS 4940, Prof. Sanjay V. Khare (sanjay.khare@utoledo.edu), is obtained.
Letter from the coop supervisor can be used for fulfilling requirement 3. All 120 hours may be fulfilled by a single semester of coop experience in a renewable energy area. However 3 registered credits of coop will be necessary to substitute completely the PHYS 4940 credits. Students need not register separately for PHYS 4940 for the credits from the coop that will be used for the MRE. Any coop experience that lies outside the renewable energy area may not be used to substitute for PHYS 4940 credits. If less than 3 credits are applied from the coop experience towards the MRE then the remaining credits have to be obtained by registering for PHYS 4940, through the regular process.
Note: If the coop is not in a renewable energy area the above exception does not apply. These students should follow the regular syllabus for this course.