Industrial Engineering Honors Program

The INEG Honors Program is an optional program designed for INEG undergraduates who are also enrolled in the University of Arkansas Honors College.

This program is designed to give honors students the opportunity to pursue unique coursework opportunities and research experiences. Participation in, and completion of, the INEG Honors Experience is optional.

Students interested in the Honors Program should contact Dr. Kelly Sullivan at 575-2563 or email him at ksulliv@uark.edu prior to completing 100 semester hours.

Honors students have the option to participate in the Honors Research Experience for Industrial Engineers (HREIE) course curriculum, which consists of a two-credit course (GNEG 3712H) to be taken in the spring of sophomore year and a one-credit course to be taken in the fall of junior year. The aims of the curriculum are to pair students with a research topic and faculty mentor early in a student’s undergraduate career and assist students through the process of submitting a research proposal. In the process, a focus is given to developing students’ writing and presentation skills via incorporating frequent peer review and critique of each other’s work.

College of Engineering Requirements

Admission requirements for the Engineering Honors Program are as follows:

  • Entering first-year students must have a 3.75 high school GPA and either a 28 composite score on the ACT or 1310 composite SAT score.
  • Entering transfer students must have a 3.5 GPA on their transfer work.
  • Students not qualifying for the Engineering Honors Program initially are eligible after one semester if they earn at least a 3.5 GPA.
  • The “Honors Advising Form” must be submitted to the Engineering Dean’s Office (Bell 3189) prior to a student earning 90 semester hours.

Students must formally apply for admission to the Engineering Honors Program. Once accepted into the program, Honors students must:

  1. Take a minimum of 12 hours of Honors courses
    1. A minimum of 6 of these 12 hours must be upper-level engineering courses. The available engineering honors course options are found in the Industrial Engineering Requirements section.
    2. For the honors courses outside of engineering, there are many options that will count toward your engineering degree requirements. Many courses on the approved humanities/social science elective list have honors sections available. Calculus and physics honors sections are also available.
  2. Participate in undergraduate research and write an undergraduate thesis.
  3. Fulfill any additional department requirements.

Once a student has been admitted to the Honors Program, that student must maintain a UA cumulative GPA of at least 3.50. If a student’s cumulative GPA drops below 3.50 following either the fall or spring semester, that student will receive a warning by email that they have not met Honors Program requirements. If the student’s cumulative GPA remains below 3.50 for two consecutive semesters (excluding summer sessions), the student will be removed from the Honors Program and instructed that they may reapply once their cumulative GPA is at least 3.50.

Industrial Engineering Requirements

To graduate from Industrial Engineering with honors, an undergraduate student must, upon completion of his or her degree (BSIE) requirements,

  • be a member of the Honors College
  • have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.50 on all courses attempted at the University of Arkansas
  • have completed at least 12 hours of honors coursework with at least 6 of those hours being
    at the 3000-level or above in the College of Engineering
  • have completed an honors thesis

The following options are available for completing honors coursework at the 3000-level or above:

    1. The student may complete up to four hours from the following list of courses, which must be instructed by a full-time member of the Industrial Engineering faculty
      • INEG 400VH: Honors Thesis
      • INEG 3812H: Honors Industrial Engineering Research Experience II
      • INEG 4812H: Honors Industrial Engineering Research Experience III

 A maximum total of four hours across these three courses may also be counted towards the Industrial Engineering
 technical elective requirement.

  1. The student may complete up to three hours of INEG 411VH Honors Individual Study. The instructor must be a full-time member of the Industrial Engineering faculty. Up to three hours of INEG 411VH can also be counted towards the Industrial Engineering technical elective requirement.
  2. The student may take INEG and/or OPAN 5000-level courses for honors hours. The student must fill out an out-of-career registration form from the Graduate School, and receive their instructor's and their advisor’s approval to enroll in the course. These 5000-level courses may count as Industrial Engineering technical electives.
  3. The student may take any upper-level engineering honors course for honors hours. Such courses may count as technical electives provided they meet the technical elective requirements. These courses will be designated with an “H” in the Catalog of Studies. A number of honors course sections have been created for both required and elective Industrial Engineering courses.

The honors thesis is a written document that summarizes the student’s individual research effort conducted under the supervision of a full-time member of the Industrial Engineering faculty. This research may or may not be funded by the faculty mentor. It is expected that the student will begin their honors thesis no later than his or her junior year. This includes identifying a faculty member to supervise his or her research based on common faculty and student interests. The written document and a corresponding oral presentation (defense) must be approved by the faculty mentor and a second, fulltime member of the Industrial Engineering faculty.

College of Engineering Honors Program