The department curriculum offers a five-year cooperative (CO-OP) education program and five-year combined bachelors-masters programs. CO-OP weaves two 7-month industrial internships into the normal four-year program by combining a summer with either a fall or spring semester to form the 7-month industrial experiences. Students apply to participate in the middle of the sophomore year and nominally begin the internship in the spring semester of the junior year. After completing the second internship, students return to campus in the spring or fall to complete their final year of study.

Alternative to the CO-OP 5-year program, is the 5-year combined bachelors/masters program in which a student can, by double counting 9 credit hours (nominally graduate level courses), complete a bachelor of science degree in anyone of the department’s three degree programs as well as a master of science degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering with a thesis by the end of the fifth year. Application to this program is initiated in the spring of the junior year with the department’s graduate student programs office. A minimum grade point of 3.2 is required for consideration for this accelerated program.