Tailor Your Education

Focus Areas (FAs) are an excellent way to tailor your undergraduate degree toward your interests. Students also have the option of working with a faculty member to individually design their own FA path. 

Guidelines for FAs

The Focus Area (FA) is a set of 21 semester hours (sh) of elective courses taken during sophomore to senior years that provide undergraduate students with a unique opportunity to acquire advanced education in an area of their choice. FAs are intended to spark the interest of students in a specialty, but they can also make a student more attractive to future employers.

There are two types of FAs:

• Standard FAs (S-FA) are programs that are designed and pre-approved by the department. Currently offered S-FAs in ISE are listed below; they are periodically reviewed by the department. Descriptions of each S-FA can be obtained from the departmental website or office. Each S-FA has a faculty member as a coordinator who can advise a student in more detail.
• Tailored FAs (T-FA) are individualized and career-specific programs designed by the student and approved by the department.