Program Overview

The Forest Engineering Undergraduate Program provides an engineering education within a strong forestry context. The program is founded on fundamental principles of forest science and engineering science. Forest Engineering program objectives are to prepare graduates to plan and implement complex forestry and natural resource operations that help meet global demands for wood products while sustaining water, habitat, and other forest resources. It provides "work-ready" graduates for entry into the diverse professional field of forest engineering. Early career accomplishments include harvest unit design, forest road location and design, contract inspection and administration, cost analysis, and forest transportation management. Mid-career accomplishments commonly expand to involve aspects of engineering management, including planning and budgeting, supervision, wood supply procurement, harvest and road design reviews, and scheduling and controlling forest operations.

Program Educational Objectives – Forest Engineering

Specifically, the Forest Engineering Undergraduate Program provides fundamental coverage of the following:

• Fundamental engineering and forestry principles
• Physical and biological aspects of soil and water resources
• Surveying and measurement of land and forest resources
• Analysis and design of the forest transportation system
• Analysis and design of harvesting operations
• Economics and operational planning principles

Integration of these topics enables forest engineering graduates to develop and manage safe, economical, and environmentally sound forest operations. Design experiences that integrate the topics listed above and steadily build on previous course material are distributed throughout the upper-division portion of the program. The Forest Engineering capstone sequence during the senior year provides an opportunity for students to bring together all the topics from the curriculum in a project framework that includes the field and office engineering tasks associated with the planning and design of forest operations. The capstone sequence is integrated with the Forestry capstone sequence to provide realistic interdisciplinary planning and design experience.

Forest engineering graduates are employed by private forestry firms, public forestry agencies, logging and construction companies, engineering consulting firms, and surveying firms. Some graduates establish their own consulting businesses after a few years of field experience. Career progression following graduation can be quite varied. Some graduates gravitate toward technical positions while others move quickly toward management of harvesting and other forest operations, or more broadly defined management of the forest land base.

The Bachelor of Science and Honors Bachelor of Science degrees in Forest Engineering can be earned through completion of the Forest Engineering program or the Forest Engineering-Civil Engineering double degree program. The BS and HBS degrees in Forest Engineering and the BS and HBS Forest Engineering-Civil Engineering dual degrees are accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, http://www.ABET.org. The BS in Forest Engineering is accredited by the Society of American Foresters (SAF).

Completion of the five-year, double-degree Forest Engineering-Civil Engineering program results in a BS in Forest Engineering and a BS in Civil Engineering, offered by the School of Civil and Construction Engineering. The BS and HBS degrees in Civil Engineering are accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, http://www.ABET.org. A more detailed explanation of the design experience and design course sequences is contained in the "Forest Engineering Advising Guide," which may be viewed on the FERM website.

Forest engineering is a licensed profession in the state of Oregon. The BS in Forest Engineering meets the administrative rules established by the Oregon State Board of Examiners for Engineering and Land Surveying (OSBEELS) as evidence of adequate preparation for the Fundamentals of Engineering Examination, the first of two examinations required for professional engineering licensing. The BS in Forest Engineering, with the completion of appropriate program electives, also meets the OSBEELS administrative rules for evidence of adequate preparation for the Fundamentals of Land Surveying Examination, the first of two examinations required for professional land surveyor licensing.