Lehigh's First-Year Rossin Engineering (FYRE) curriculum is built around a series of immersive, project-based modules that give first-year students real engineering experience, beginning in their very first days on campus. Each FYRE academic module blends technical fundamentals with hands-on design, experimentation, and teamwork, allowing students to explore different disciplines before declaring a major.
These seven-week, half-semester modules are designed to make the first year of engineering both engaging and meaningful—helping students understand how engineering impacts the world and where they fit within it. Each FYRE module offers students a chance to learn by doing—a core value of Lehigh’s approach to engineering education.
Through project-based teamwork, exposure to multiple disciplines, and early engagement with professional tools, FYRE ensures that first-year students begin to develop a engineering skills and mindsets from "day one."
Design and Make Foundations
Build the core making skills that every engineer relies on. Students learn to turn ideas into prototypes using modern makerspace tools, practicing iterative design, automation, and teamwork. Working in Lehigh's Wilbur Powerhouse Design Labs, FYRE students gain the hands-on confidence to take on open-ended engineering challenges across disciplines.
Instructors: Christina Viau Haden, Brian Slocum, Kelly Zona
Engineering Against Natural Disasters
Learn how engineers protect communities from earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, and other hazards. This module introduces the principles of disaster resilience, showing students how infrastructure is designed, modeled, and strengthened to withstand extreme events. Working in teams, FYRE students analyze real-world risks and propose engineering solutions that make the built environment safer.
Instructors: Paolo Bocchini, Sushreyo Misra, Parv Venkitasubramaniam
Engineering Solutions for Plastic Remediation
Tackle one of the world's most pressing environmental challenges: plastic waste. This module brings together chemical, biomolecular, and environmental engineering as students investigate sustainable materials, biopolymers, and the science of how plastics break down. Through experiments in degradation kinetics and remediation, FYRE students explore practical, science-based approaches to reducing plastic pollution.
Instructors: Angela Brown, Thomas Gartner, Diego Gonzalez, Inês Seabra
Foundations of Energy Storage
Step into the science of batteries and sustainable energy. Students design and test electrochemical energy storage cells, characterize the materials that store and release energy, and examine the environmental impacts of storage technologies. Through wet-lab experimentation, FYRE students connect classroom concepts to global challenges like renewable energy and electrification.
Instructors: Fei Lu, Joseph Menicucci, Jennifer Schuler
Harnessing Agentic AI
Learn about artificial intelligence by building with it. Starting with no prior coding experience, students pick up Python fundamentals and explore how large language models work, then design their own chatbots and AI agents. By the end of the module, FYRE students have built a working AI agent that solves an engineering problem they choose, gaining practical skills and a grounded understanding of what AI can and cannot do.
Instructors: Charalambos Marangos, Eric Obeysekare
Human-Machine Interface
Explore how the human body can control machines. Students work at the intersection of bioengineering and robotics, learning how biological signals are captured, processed, and turned into commands that drive robotic systems. Through hands-on work in signal processing and controls, FYRE students build and test bio-controlled devices and see how engineers design technology that responds to people.
Instructors: Juan Aceros, Dhruv Seshadri
Sensing the World
Discover how engineers build the sensors and chips that let technology perceive the world. Students gain hands-on experience with sensor fabrication and device integration, learning how raw materials become working electronic components. By the end of the module, FYRE students understand how sensing devices are made and how they connect the physical and digital worlds across every engineering field.
Instructors: Jennifer Schuler, Nicholas Strandwitz, Jennifer Winikus
Sustainable Energy Systems for AI and Microgrid Applications
Examine how we will power an AI-driven world sustainably. Students explore renewable energy sources, microgrid design, and the fast-growing energy demands of artificial intelligence and data centers. Through hands-on projects, FYRE students learn how electrical and energy engineers balance clean power generation with the needs of modern computing.
Frequently Asked Questions About FYRE Modules
What are FYRE academic modules?
FYRE academic modules are short, hands-on engineering courses for first-year students in Lehigh's Rossin College. Each module combines technical fundamentals with project-based design and teamwork, letting students learn engineering by building, testing, and solving real problems.
How long is each FYRE module?
Each module runs seven weeks, so students can experience more than one engineering area per senester.
Do I need prior experience to take a FYRE module?
No. The modules are designed for first-year students and start from the fundamentals. The Harnessing Agentic AI module, for example, begins with no prior coding experience required.
How do FYRE modules help students choose a major?
By rotating through multiple modules, students explore several engineering disciplines before declaring a major, helping them find the field that fits their interests and strengths.