ENME E3332: A First Course in Finite Elements

Course Overview

This course offers a comprehensive introduction to the Finite Element Method (FEM), emphasizing both its theoretical foundations and practical applications in engineering. You will explore FEM's role in solving linear elliptic problems such as heat conduction, potential flow, and elasticity. The course combines lectures and computer lab tutorials to guide you through the mathematical framework, algorithmic structure, and programming implementation of FEM. Key components include hands-on experience with commercial FEM software (ABAQUS), enhancement of skills in linear algebra, differential equations, data analysis, and completion of a practical engineering project. An optional final project allows you to develop your own FEM solver in MATLAB or Python for a practical engineering problem. Lectures will be tablet-based, and assignments will integrate both analytical and computational elements to foster a deep understanding of FEM in real-world contexts.

Course Instructor

Haim Waisman

Professor and Chair of the Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics

Haim Waisman is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at Columbia University. His research interests lie in computational mechanics, where he develops advanced finite element methods for modeling fracture and damage in materials, as well as novel design-optimization approaches for structures subjected to extreme conditions.

Waisman earned his BSc and MSc in Aerospace Engineering from the Technion — Israel Institute of Technology, and his PhD in Civil Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in 2005. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Scientific Computing Research Center (SCOREC) at RPI and in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University before joining Columbia University in 2008.

Waisman is the recipient of the 2012 DOE Early Career Award, the 2014 Leonardo Da Vinci Award from the Engineering Mechanics Institute (EMI) of ASCE, and several best paper awards. In 2022, he was elected Fellow of the ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute, and in 2025 was named Fellow of the United States Association for Computational Mechanics (USACM).

He currently serves as an associate editor of the ASCE Journal of Engineering Mechanics and is on the editorial board of Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, among other journals. Previously, Waisman served as Chair of the ASCE-EMI Computational Mechanics Committee and was a member of the Executive Board of the US Association for Computational Mechanics.