About the Program

What is E-MAP?

The University of Alabama with the National Science Foundation is offering a new summer program to build math skills for students entering engineering.

When and Where is E-MAP Offered?

The Engineering Math Advancement Program, E-MAP, is a five-week summer residence class to be held at The University of Alabama campus that addresses math and engineering pre-requisites for incoming engineering students. The goals of E-MAP are to increase engineering student retention and graduation rates and to increase the number of engineering graduates employed in the state of Alabama. This year the E-MAP program will be held during Summer Term II.

Students who are participating in the Summer E-MAP program may wish to also participate in the fall GES E-MAP 100 class that is now offered at the university. More information can be found here.

You can view past class schedules here.

Who is eligible for E-MAP?

Students accepted into the College of Engineering may apply to participate in the Engineering Math Advancement Program (E-MAP). Eligibility is based on the student's Math Test Placement score, taken through Testing Services at UA. The minimum score needed is a 310 which is the score to place in pre-calculus at UA. A score near 300, with high ACT-Math or high SAT-Math may also be considered.

The math placement exam is required for all freshmen with the following exceptions: You have math transfer credit that has already been approved, You scored a 29 or higher on the ACT math test OR a 640 or higher on the SAT math test AND you have successfully completed a high school calculus course (grade of C- or higher).

As a general guide, students may want to look at their SAT and ACT scores to do an early self determination as to their qualifications for attending E-MAP. This does not apply in all cases, but, in general, applicants who score 26 on the ACT-Math OR 500 on the SAT-Math or above are considered to have skill levels in the range of those needed to excel in E-MAP.

• Costs and dates

Entering freshmen need to have a solid background in calculus to succeed in engineering, and many students do not have the required math classes before they start at the University. The math classes are designed around Pre-calculus, Algebra and Trigonometry. By offering these advanced math classes and living laboratories before students start in the fall, they will be better prepared to excel in engineering.

Few students possess the necessary skills to enter into engineering disciplines. Data collected by UA's College of Engineering revealed a two-fold problem impacting student performance related to math skills and motivation. Roughly half of the entering freshman engineering students required at least one semester of pre-calculus to be considered engineering curriculum ready. This has serious repercussions on the student's progress by delaying the start of core engineering classes by up to a full year.

E-MAP will incorporate important learning principles that ensure knowledge is retained and not just memorized. Students will be encouraged to develop their skills through hands-on experiences, problem solving teaming exercises, and by interaction with engineering professors and instructors through an interdisciplinary "Living Laboratory" program.

Through the Living Laboratory, students will be asked to participate in community service activities demonstrating the importance of social responsibility in technical fields. The laboratory experiments will allow students to use simple calculus in real applications and see what each engineering discipline does in practice.

E-MAP recruiting activities are targeting rural, historically low per capita communities and will reserve 33-40 percent of enrollment space for underrepresented groups. The program will be structured such that any student who has not retained the information learned in high school and bright students with deficiencies in math due to inadequate programs are provided an opportunity to hone their technical abilities before they begin their college career.

E-MAP will also be open to a limited number of K-14 teachers for continuing education credit. Research collaborations will be promoted between higher education and K-14 faculty and staff. Additional information can be found here.

Engineering at UA

In 1837, The University of Alabama became the first university in the state to offer engineering classes and was one of the first five in the nation to do so. Today, the College of Engineering has about 1,900 students and more than 95 faculty. It has been fully accredited since accreditation standards were implemented in the 1930s.