WSE Academic Offerings

Undergraduate Academic Affairs coordinates school-wide academic offerings, such as What is Engineering?, Gateway Computing/Bootcamp courses, Gateway Data Science, Hopkins Engineering Applications & Research Tutorials (HEART) and Hopkins Engineering Research-Opened Investigation Courses (HEROIC), First-Year Seminars, and the Hopkins Semester opportunity (application process launching in Fall 2026 for Hopkins Semester experiences in Fall 2027).

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WSE Academic Offerings

First-Year Seminars

The aspirations of the required first-year seminar are to build cohort and community, to support student success, and to provide early interdisciplinary exploration contextualized in “design.” The Whiting School of Engineering offers two types of first-year seminars. One is an engineering design-based seminar and the other is a discussion-based seminar.

First-Year Seminars

Gateway and Bootcamp Computing

Each of the 3-credit Gateway Computing courses introduces fundamental programming concepts and computational techniques. In these courses, students deploy programming to develop working solutions that address problems in engineering, science, and other areas of contemporary interest. For training in the other programming languages, students may enroll in one of the complementary 1-credit Bootcamp courses.

Gateway and Bootcamp Computing

Course Offerings

Read more about the development of the Gateway Computing curriculum in the article Rethinking the Gateway Computing Curriculum Across Engineering Disciplines by members of JHU faculty and staff.

Gateway Data Science

This course introduces fundamental data science concepts and techniques. It is intended for all who plan work on data driven projects and will serve as a prerequisite for advanced courses in data science and machine learning. Topics covered include linear and nonlinear regression, classification, clustering, and dimensionality reduction.

Gateway Data Science

Course Offerings

Hopkins Engineering Applications & Research Tutorials (HEART)

The Hopkins Engineering Applications & Research Tutorials (HEART) program provides new undergraduate students with a window on cutting-edge engineering research and its applications to society. These small classes are taught by advanced graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Students will be introduced to cutting-edge engineering research and learn how that research impacts society. Upper-division students are allowed to sign up for HEART in August.

Hopkins Engineering Applications & Research Tutorials (HEART)

Hopkins Engineering Research-Opened Investigation Courses (HEROIC)

The HEROIC program provides upper-division undergraduates with a chance to learn about the frontiers of research being explored in Hopkins laboratories. These small classes are taught by advanced PhD students and postdoctoral fellows working on engineering-related projects across the institution who have distinguished themselves as exemplary instructors in the HEART program. Like HEART courses, HEROIC courses are kept small—with a limit of about 12 in each section—so students will have ample time to interact with their instructor and each other.

Hopkins Engineering Research-Opened Investigation Courses (HEROIC)

The Hopkins Semester

In its final report, the Second Commission on Undergraduate Education conceived of the Hopkins Semester program as an optional opportunity in the junior or senior year, designed to be a semester-long, mentored, immersive experience that will give students the time for a focused, deep, and rigorous exploration of one complex subject or endeavor either inside or outside their major department or program. While the Hopkins semester will not be required of every student, it should be available to every student. The commission expects that students themselves will be the driving force of these experiences: that they will propose and complete innovative projects. We plan to launch our first Hopkins Semesters in Fall 2027, with the application process launching in Fall 2026 for Hopkins Semester experiences in Fall 2027.

The Hopkins Semester

Read the Report

What is Engineering?

What is Engineering? is a course of lectures, laboratories, and special projects. Its objective is to introduce students to different fields of engineering and to the analytic tools and techniques the profession uses.