Course Description: The objectives of the course are to learn about economic analysis tools and communication skills for engineers. The economics component places an emphasis on engineering problems and projects, where measures of merit such as present worth, rate of return, and benefit / cost ratio are used in problem solving. Written communication techniques, for improving the clarity of technical documents are discussed, along with systematic methods to improve oral presentation skills.

Course Overview: This course is designed to provide the engineering student with the decision making skills necessary to evaluate the economic feasibility of investment projects. As the capital outlays may be significant and affect the productive potential of a firm over the long term, it is important to understand the time value of money. The course emphasizes on measurements of economic worth, after tax cash flow analysis, replacement analysis, and supplemental analysis; including break even, sensitivity, and risk analysis. A final project consisting of evaluating a real world investment project is performed and submitted as a report and presented at the end of the course.

This is a writing-intensive course, which means a number of assignments will be focused on developing your ability to communicate effectively (in English). The assignments will consist of case studies taken from real world examples and be designed to prepare you for future courses such as Senior Design that will require you to do detailed cost analyses.

Course Learning Objectives (CLO):

1. Identify, formulate, analyze, and solve engineering economic problems (SO E).
2. Communicate effectively (SO A).
3. Recognition of the need for, and the ability to engage in lifelong learning (SO I).

Course Topics: Refer to the CLOs above to understand how these topics relate to our stated program outcomes.

1. Time Value of Money (CLO 1).
2. Present and Future Worth Analysis (CLO 1).
3. Rate of Return (CLO 1)
4. Depreciation (CLO 1)
5. Implementation in Microsoft Excel (CLO 2)
6. Case Studies (CLO 2)
7. Fundamentals of Engineering Exam Preparation (CLO 3)