Department Profile

A Tradition of Excellence

Our commitment to our mission of hands-on education of our students, by world-class faculty, through innovative teaching, mentoring, and knowledge creation is evidenced by the following rankings:

  • Our Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Program is ranked 34th nationally by the 2020 U.S. News Best Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Programs among all doctoral granting universities in the Top 10% of all ME programs in the United States.
  • Our Mechanical Engineering program is ranked 16 out of 272 ME programs nationwide in 2019 by College Factual on average early-career. and average mi-career earnings. This places Michigan Tech's ME program in the Top 10% of all ME programs in the country reviewed by College Factual for value.
  • The Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics Vision: Be a nationally recognized mechanical engineering department that attracts, rewards, and retains outstanding faculty, students, and staff.
  • Our GRADUATE PROGRAM is RANKED 63rd nationally among the 180 (top 35%) doctoral-granting Mechanical Engineering Departments in the U.S. by the 2023 U.S. News: Best Graduate Schools (ranked in 2022).
  • Our department is 5th in MSME enrollment, 16th in MSME degrees awarded, 21st in PhD degrees awarded and 26th in PhD enrollment in the U. S. (latest ASEE Data - 2018)
  • The National Science Foundation (NSF) ranks Mechanical Engineering in RESEARCH EXPENDITURES at Michigan Tech 18th in FY2020 (latest rankings) with $20.255 Million among all Mechanical Engineering programs in the U.S.
  • Our UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM is currently 24th in BSME degrees awarded in the U.S (latest ASEE data). We have been in the top 27 in BSME degrees awarded for the past 37 consecutive years.

Improving Quality of Life

Our society is becoming increasingly complex. We must provide more food, water, and energy for a rapidly growing population, and we must limit damage to the environment in the process. Mechanical engineering will play a key role in meeting these challenges. So can you.

As a mechanical engineer, you can make a difference in the world by using the latest technologies to help solve today’s grand challenges in

  • Health care
  • Energy
  • Transportation
  • World hunger
  • Space exploration
  • Climate change
  • And more…

The Student Experience

Rigorous curricula, diverse disciplines, state-of-the-art laboratories, and faculty members who are world-class mentors, researchers, and teachers, and who maintain an open-door policy, will make your educational experience at Michigan Tech one-of-a-kind. Students benefit from

  • Hands-on learning in over 50,000 square feet of labs and computer centers, in the 13-story R. L. Smith Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics Building.
  • Twenty-plus labs available to undergraduate students.
  • Thirty-three technical electives available to seniors.
  • Working on industry-sponsored, real-world design projects as part of the curriculum cornerstone, Senior Design.
  • Faculty attention in class—each and every course is taught by faculty.

Starting Your Career

Graduates from our department are known for their “hands-on ability,” or the capacity to hit the ground running. Our graduates have experienced a job placement rate above the national average: 92 percent over the last four years.

Once again, welcome to the ME-EM department. Michigan Tech is a great university—and one that I am very proud to be a part of.

Jason R. Blough, PhD

Interim J. S. Endowed Department Chair and Distinguished Professor
jrblough@mtu.edu