From Computer Science to Solar Energy Engineering

[SolarGirl]

I'm currently studying computer science, but I'm convinced solar engineering is where I'm supposed to be. I have some robotics courses coming up junior and senior year, but I would like to know what are some of the engineering courses I could take during the summer to prepare me for a graduate program focusing on solar engineering?

I'll have two full summers to rack up on courses during undergrad, and 'd like to be prepared for a grad program and not have to take prereqs before I can take my grad level courses.

TIA!

 

[mp3car]

If you're studying CS, you probably don't have advanced of math classes as you will for an "engineering" degree, perhaps courses such as Calc 3, Differential Equations and Linear Algebra... At my school, it seemed no matter what the "engineering" degree (mechanical, electrical, civil, computer, etc) all of them required those math courses, but some friends majoring in CS didn't need higher than calc 1 nor diff. eq. if I recall.

Also, I would suggest you take some EE courses, at least the basics like Circuits 1, etc. Physics 1 and 2 with calculus, and certainly advanced chemistry classes couldn't hurt (I think most universities have two chem and physics courses, they have "general physics" 1&2 and then they have "university physics" 1&2, with the latter being the one that Engineers needed (same was true for chem, there was "general" and "university"), also something like organic chem might help? I'm the first to reply so we'll see what other people think!

 

[leontd]

Good choice my friend. Computer Science is very complicated field, and most of the jobs are usually being seek by those that have years of experience in the IT field. It is one of those field that are very unstable in these time, many IT companies are going out of business, due to the increase hackers population.

I haven't heard much about solar engineering, but if you want to pursue in a career to build robots and machinery, then mechanical would suit you perfectly.

 

[SolarGirl]

Thanks guys for your replies.

Believe it or not, I've already had 3 calc. courses, diffierential equations and I took linear algebra one summer. I've also had physics up to e&m and I've also had a circuits course. (I had a lot of IB and AP credits so I dove into some more challenging courses) I'm thinking I'll need courses like thermodynamics and some ME courses to give me a good foundation for a master's geared toward solar engineering.

I'll be speaking with some program directors at my top choice grad schools in the coming weeks, so hopefully they can provide more insight.

Thanks again, guys!

 

[Topher925]

I don't think there's really such a thing as "solar engineering". Photovoltaics is a multidisciplinary technology that requires technical knowledge from several fields. What is it exactly that you want to do with PV's? If you want to invent new ones, go into chem, material science, or P. chem. If you wan to design PV systems, lean towards electrical. If you want to deal with the thermal or structural aspects, then you should focus on mechanical.

 

[sujiro]

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