The Department provides Mechanical Engineering majors a high-quality engineering education and contributes new knowledge through research in Mechanical Engineering and allied disciplines. In addition, the department seeks to maintain recognition through scholarly work and service to the college, the university and the external community.

The Department of Mechanical Engineering offers dynamic educational programs and a faculty poised to deliver a quality engineering education. The department also offers studies leading to the Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, Master of Engineering (Mechanical Engineering/Atmospheric Science and the Ph.D. The ME and Ph.D. also include interdisciplinary degrees in Atmospheric Sciences and Materials Sciences.

Lists of all Mechanical Engineering undergraduate and graduate course descriptions are available on separate pages.

Mechanical engineering deals with power, its generation and application. To produce power requires that the rate of change or motion of some entity undergo a change.

Mechanical engineers apply the principles of mechanics and energy to the design of machines and devices. Mechanical engineers must be able to control mechanical systems and usually work with other professionals in designing these systems. Automobiles, engines, heating and air-conditioning system, gas and steam turbines, air and space vehicles, trains, ships, servomechanisms, transmission mechanisms and pumps are a few of the systems and devices requiring mechanical engineering knowledge.

The Department provides Mechanical Engineering majors a high-quality engineering education and contributes new knowledge through research in Mechanical Engineering and allied disciplines. In addition, the department seeks to maintain recognition through scholarly work and service to the college, the university and the external community.

The Mechanical Engineering curriculum contains offerings in the basic sciences, mathematics and the engineering sciences. In addition extensive practice is given in applying principles and fundamental knowledge to engineering analysis, design and experimentation. Elective sequences are available in applied mechanics, design engineering and CAD/CAM, energy systems, manufacturing engineering and aerospace engineering. This program is accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc. (Read the department's educational objectives for the undergraduate program.)

Applied mechanics is concerned with the motion and causal effects of forces on this motion. Engineers in this area apply principles of mechanics to the study, design and development of systems and components, which transmit, motion, forces, power or any combination of these.

Design engineering and CAD/CAM applies working knowledge of materials and components to the creation of systems and products. and also addresses the complexities and economics of assembling these components into products and systems.

Energy systems use reciprocating and rotating engines, which utilize gas combustion, steam pressure, or nuclear energy solar energy to generate power which is transmitted through shaft motion. This shaft power may be used in power plants to generate electrical power or it may be used to drive the wheels in ground transportation vehicles or to drive the propellers and turbine blades in airplanes and jet engines.

Manufacturing engineering includes systematic planning, design and arrangement of processing methods and equipment so that a product may be manufactured economically. Computers have had a tremendous impact in this area. Computer-aided design and manufacturing has revolutionized both the workplace and the engineer's work.

Aerospace engineering is the study of the motion of planes, missiles, satellites and rockets.

The total minimum credit hours required for graduation is 139 including 9 to 12 credits in technical electives, 18 credits in humanities or social science electives and 4 credits of physical education or ROTC. Students admitted with academic deficiencies may be required to complete additional credit hours of work.

Candidates for this degree take 34 credits in the first year, 36 in the second, 37-38 in the third, and 32-34 in the fourth as follows:

First year: Fall semester-EGPP-101 and MEEG-103, MATH-156, CHEM-003, ENGL-002, a 3-credit Social Science or Humanities elective, ROTC or Physical Education; Spring semester-MEEG-102, MATH-157, PHYS-013, and PHYS-023, ENGL-003, ROTC or Physical Education, SYCS-165.

Second year: Fall semester-CIEG-202, MATH-158, PHYS-014, PHYS-024, ROTC or Physical Education, two 3-credit Social Science or Humanities electives; Spring semester-MEEG-204, MEEG-206, CIEG-302, MATH-159, PHYS-015, PHYS-025, and a 3-credit Humanities elective.

Third year: Fall semester-MEEG-301, MEEG-303, MEEG-305, MEEG-307, MEEG-309, ELEG-310, ELEG-204 and ROTC or Physical Education; Spring semester: MEEG-302, MEEG-306, MEEG-312, MEEG-314, a technical elective and a 3-credit Social Science or Humanities elective.

Fourth year: Fall semester-MEEG-401, MEEG-403, MEEG-407, MEEG-419, MEEG-441, and a technical elective; Spring semester-MEEG-408, MEEG-418, MEEG-420, MEEG-442, a technical elective and a 3-credit Social Science or Humanities elective.

For complete course descriptions, see the undergraduate course description page.

The thesis option for the Master of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering requires 24 credit hours of course work plus 6 credit hours for the thesis; the nonthesis option requires 33 credit hours, at least 3 credit hours of project work, and a comprehensive examination.

Such students must complete a minimum of 33 credit hours of course work, of which 30 must be spent in graduate or approved undergraduate course work in Mechanical Engineering or allied fields, and at least 3 in project work culminating in a written project report. These students must pass a comprehensive examination after successfully completing 24 credit hours of course work with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0. All graduate students are required to enroll in Graduate Seminar each semester. The seminar requirement is in addition to the minimum number of approved credit hours of course work, and cannot be used as a substitute for course work.

Students interested in dynamics and controls of aerospace systems, fluid and thermal sciences, applied mechanics, CAD/CAM and robotics, take one of the following course sequences:

• Aerospace Engineering: MEEG-505, MEEG-506, and MEEG-610

• Fluid and Thermal Sciences: MEEG-503, MEEG-505, MEEG-507, MEEG-508, and MEEG-504 or MEEG-509 or MEEG-510.

• Applied Mechanics: MEEG-505, MEEG-507 or MEEG-508, MEEG-512 elasticity and two other elective courses in structural mechanics.

• CAD/CAM and Robotics: MEEG-505, MEEG-532 and MEEG-606.

A minimum of two higher-level courses in advanced engineering mathematics is required for all students, normally, Electrical Engineering ELEG-502 and ELEG-503. With special permission, Mathematics MATH-245 and MATH-246 may be substituted.

Complete descriptions of all graduate courses offered by the department are available on the graduate course description page.

Post-Graduate Program

The Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering requires 72 credit hours beyond the bachelor's degree (60 credit hours course work plus at least 12 credit hours for the doctoral thesis); four semesters of residence and full-time study (two of the four semesters must be consecutive); a passing grade on a comprehensive examination; and either demonstrated reading skill in French, German, Russian, or another language that the advisory committee considers useful or successful completion of approved courses in technical writing and speech.

Major areas of study on the Ph.D. level are fluid-thermal sciences, solid mechanics and aerospace engineering.

Proceed to the following pages for a more detailed description of the doctoral program.