I would try CASE its a program part of RPI. You work with the architecture firm SOM while studying so their is practical knowledge. It is a M.Arch i think. Also Stevens has a M.Eng. but from seeing the facilities, the lack of sponsorships, and the degree the student work has fallen. It may not be attractive, worth checking out for your situation.

I worked with a guy from Arup that had the graduate degree below from MIT. Seems like it could be what you are looking for:

link

I am currently a dual bachelor and master of architectural engineering student at Penn State- If you are looking at the University of Pennsylvania and not penn state, there is a pretty big difference between the two schools.

Penn State, however has the top ranked and oldest AE program in the country, but has a mediocre architecture school (subject to improve with recent donations). UPenn is Ivy and is a very well respected architectural design school, but average with respect to engineering. I am considering UPenn for M.Arch in the future, and have worked with many UPenn architects- many UPenn students go the extra mile to differentiate themselves from their midstate neighbor, PSU.

A lot of the other AE programs that I looked at are kind of all over the place- i suggest looking at Penn State and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for longstanding programs. If you are interested in lighting/ electrical, PSU may be the better choice- PSU actually snaked some nebraska professors from their L/E department, and now PSU is essentially viewed as the only game in town for lighting and electrical design. The two L/E department heads are both IES Fellows, and are pretty influential in the field.

I had an internship as a lighting designer at a major arch firm, and I can say that I was well prepared after studying L/E design at PSU.

I have not specialized in L/E design, but those that do typically have zero problems getting a job. Most typically work for design firms like Cannon, Smithgroup, SOM, HOK, and Schuler Shook or manufacturers like Lutron. We have a career fair every year exclusively for AE students with about 130-150 A/E/C firms hiring- I believe in my year there are 13 L/E specialty students in my year (a class of about 110), so the odds are in your favor.

The bad thing about PSU is that outside of engineering, the academic reputation of the school is that it is a party school. This may or may not be of interest to you- I personally hated it. The AE building is over 100 years old and is most certainly dated and particularly uninspiring. The campus is also in the middle of nowhere, and the winters there are pretty bad.

Unfortunately, I cannot offer too much feedback on Lincoln- but I hear it is similar to PSU. There is a large disparity between PSU/ Nebraska and the other schools that offer AE programs, almost as if the AE programs there were cobbled together from various engineering departments or as an offshoot of architectural design while the aforementioned two schools offer it as a dedicated, well respected major.

Let me know if you have any questions, I am graduating this year and would be happy to answer anything you may have.

Everyone: thanks so, so much for the great responses. They will definitely help me a great deal with my decision. I appreciate it a huge amount.

J roche,

I'm not sure about the details of your situation, but are you sure you need to go on for this advanced degree? In my previous job I worked at a full service firm of about 100 people. We had quite a few electrical engineers with bachelors degrees, in fact, i'd say it is the norm. The masters won't hurt you, but my suspicion is that your not finding a position is mostly just a function of the down turned economy. If you have the money and do really want to add mechanical systems knowledge to your training, go for the architectural engineering program, but if you want to get into lighting engineering, with a focus on sustainability, I think you'll find your degree is more than adequate. It is tough to find work these days, but there are many firms outside of big names like Arup, that do this kind of work, so if you keep up the search, you will find positions available to you.

Good luck!