IDEAS is a four-year honors program resulting in an integrated Bachelor of Science (BS) Degree—jointly administered by the College of Arts and Sciences and the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science.

Interdisciplinary education in the arts and sciences and engineering is of significant value to students who will pursue a wide variety of careers. The complex challenges and problems confronting us in the 21st century dramatically underscore the importance of liberally educated and technologically sophisticated individuals whose habits of thought are thoroughly and comfortably interdisciplinary. Moreover, Lehigh is one of a small number of universities with the resources necessary to provide such an education. The students in this program will benefit from the integrated strategic leveraging of strengths across college boundaries.

This program cultivates a new breed of cross-disciplinary innovators. It provides an education that produces students well versed in dual focus areas, one in engineering and one in the arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics or natural sciences. This educational environment also cultivates a multitude of thinking styles. It is renaissance thinking for the technological era.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

  1. Admitted students who have expressed an interest when applying will be considered for the IDEAS program. Only a limited number of students will be accepted. Students are invited to join this honors program by invitation.
  2. To remain in the IDEAS program students must maintain a 3.25 GPA. At the end of the first year, a student with a GPA below 3.25 is given two semesters to achieve a GPA of 3.25; otherwise the student will be asked to transfer to a regular degree program.
  3. Students may transfer into the IDEAS program at the end of their first semester or year if space becomes available. A formal application to the program must be filed and approval from the co-directors must be obtained.
  4. Students who are interested in the IDEAS program should indicate that interest when applying.

The IDEAS program is designed so that students who transfer out of the program at the completion of the first year will still be able to complete an arts and sciences or engineering degree in four years. The four-year IDEAS program does not lead to an ABET accredited engineering degree. It is possible for students to complete a BS degree in IDEAS and an ABET accredited BS engineering degree (dual degrees) in one or two additional semesters.