Advising

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The Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering sponsors an Undergraduate Advising Party each semester (when there is not a pandemic in progress) approximately one week before registration begins (watch for it in the CHME calendar).  Students attending this party enjoy dinner on the department while being advised about course requirements for the next semester by the CHME faculty and student leaders.  Watch for a post with details to the electronic calendar in advance of the event.

Listserv

Get on the CHME listserv to receive information critical to CHME majors.  

Students who are registered on census date and have declared a major of CHME are automatically added each semester.  The complete list of CHME students for the semester can be found here: https://chme.nmsu.edu/personnel/chme-students/ 

Learn how to subscribe/unsubscribe here:

STudent Academic Requirements (STAR) audit system

 
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Set “Format” to “PDF” to save your audit in a format for upload to the Online Advising Form.

You can see your progress towards the BSCHE using the STAR Audit System.  After logging into the STAR audit system, populate the dropdown menus as shown in the screen shot.  Select “Catalog Year” to be the year in which you started in CHME (i.e., declared CHME your major), or any year after that time (if the requirements change and it is to your advantage to use a new catalog, you are welcome to do so).

Note that the STAR system is a tool, not the law.  Errors do occur in the system and thus the audit should be interpreted by an advisor.  Discuss suspected errors in your audit with the CHME Department Head, who will request exceptions to correct them.

When selecting the catalog year of your audit, you may follow the catalog of the year you began at NMSU or any subsequent catalog; however, you are not permitted to apply catalogs from years prior to your admission to NMSU. Undergraduate CHME students will find relatively simple to follow flowsheets for the BSCHE degree from catalogs under the /Curricula/Undergrad/ link above.

Be sure to set “Format” to PDF.  DO NOT take screen shots and assemble them into a *.docx file.

 

CHME Advising

CHME advises students in a group event (a party) prior to the start of registration for the subsequent semester.  The Department supplies food and spends a 3-4 hour period advising all undergraduates in the program.  CHME has found synergy in having all students present at the same time as students can compare notes about which professors are preferred for various support courses, lower class students learn more about the curriculum from the upper class students, and the networking camaraderie of the event always leads to the formation of new friendships.  

Students receive two “receipts” that show the courses CHME has advised them to take, one for their personal records, and one to bring to their CAASS advisor (if needed).

 

Registration errors/problems

Undergraduate students, If you encounter difficulty adding courses through my.nmsu.edu after you have been advised to take them (for instance, because the system indicates you have a prereq restriction that is incorrect or has been waived), FORWARD the email that shows the department has approved you to take these courses to your CAASS advisor.  Include the course prefixes (e.g., CHME), course numbers, and CRNs of the course(s) you are unable to add. 

Graduate students should contact Dr. Samar Khalil with questions concerning registration difficulties.

Removing AP Credit

A student wishing to rescind AP credit to take the course at NMSU to contribute to the student’s financial aid credit hour total can email registra@nmsu.edu to request that the credit be rescinded.

Alternate General Chemistry sequence

CHEM 1216/1226 is the preferred Chemistry sequence for Chemical Engineering students.  CHEM 1215G/1225G is an alternate sequence that can be substituted.  Please talk with the department or your advisor to figure out which is the best fit for you.

Courses with labs

A number of the required courses for CHME students require a lab component.

When registering for CHEM 1215G, 1225G, 1216, or 1226, you will select a lecture section (shown below as M01) and a lab section
(shown as M1A and M1B).  This is a single course that has two components, but leads to one 4-credit hour grade.

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When registering for PHYS 215, 215L, 216, and 216L or BIOL 211G and 211GL, you must select both a lecture and lab,
but these are two independent courses.
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Adding/Dropping a course

To add a course after the ADD deadline or drop a course before the W deadline, you will need to complete the Change of Schedule form, get all instructor signatures, then bring it to the CHME office.

Viewing a Wider World (VWW) classes for CHMEs

CHMEs are only required to take 3 credits of VWW courses because the “9-credit hour rule” can be used to waive the other three (click here and scroll to the bottom).  The sequence of courses CHEM 313/314/433 represents nine credit hours from the College of Arts & Sciences.  As such, the remaining course for CHME students cannot come from A&S and cannot be a CHME course.  

Retroactive Registration Changes

  1. Complete a Petition for Retroactive Registration Changes and an add/drop slip.
  2. Original signature from the instructor and advisor is required on both add slip & form for approval of request to be processed.
  3. Hand-deliver form & add slip to COE Registration, Goddard Hall Room 106

Career Advice

CHME careers options are diverse and literally unlimited.  There is no one-stop shopping location to find career advice.  CHME students are encouraged to seek career advice from many sources:

  • Faculty role models whose work you find interesting are always happy to talk about their career path.  Schedule an appointment to talk about what they do and how they got there.
  • Alumni mentors come back to campus for many purposes, including the Career Expo; as speakers at student organizations; or to participate on the Industrial Advisory Board and/or Academy.  Often, their primary purpose of visiting is to reach out to CHME students for just this purpose, so don’t be shy about asking them for advice.
  • Employment recruiters are on campus to represent their company and find suitable matches to fill vacant positions.  However, they also are more than willing to assist students in developing a professional presence that will lead them to career opportunities of their choice.  Attend info sessions, ask questions, stay after the formal presentation and wait for an opportunity to talk individually with them.
  • Career Services is an office on campus dedicated to helping students find employment.  Become familiar with the resources available both on the careerservices.nmsu.edu website and visit their office in Garcia Annex.  Don’t wait until you’re nearing graduation, start as a freshman as Career Services can also help find internships and cooperative education opportunities over the course of your academic training.
  • CHME students possess a body of experience through internships and co-ops that can be valuable to fellow students.  Get involved with student organization meetings (AICHE, AMA, BMES, NSPE, SWE, E-Council, ASNMSU, etc.) where you will find many peer from CHME.  Gain leadership experience through service in these organizations, a highly desirable trait of employers seeking students.  Learn from your CHME peers how they went about securing practical experience and employment.

Graduate Students

CHME Graduate Students should seek advice about core courses from the Graduate Student Coordinator (Dr. Zhou).  Graduate elective courses should be selected in coordination with the student’s research advisor to compliment the thesis/dissertation research.