The Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics offers undergraduate students numerous opportunities in research, hands-on experience, and real-world client work.
Learning on—and from—the Lake
Transported on our state-of-the-art, floating laboratory—Research Vessel (RV) Agassiz—students, scientists, and educators study air and water quality in the Earth's largest freshwater ecosystem.
A Hands-On Curriculum
In their second and third years, undergraduate students enroll in a four-course sequence that provides exposure to hands-on learning, open-ended problems, computational tools, teamwork, and communication. Students also have opportunities for specialization in their senior year.
Undergraduate Research Opportunities
Opportunities exist for undergraduate students to become involved in research projects lead by mechanical engineering-engineering mechanics faculty. These research projects often require help from students for running simulations, taking data, analyzing results, etc. Participation in research projects provides students with experience that strengthens their technical skills, enhances their resumes, and provides a glimpse into graduate school. These opportunities may be paid, depending on the availability of funds on the particular project.
Students interested in participating in undergraduate research should consult with ME-EM faculty to find available opportunities. To get technical elective credit for the research, students should refer to the ME-EM advising center.
Senior Design
The Senior Design Program in mechanical engineering builds on our lab-based, hands-on curriculum to provide students with “their first job,” a project supplied by companies and entrepreneurs. A capstone project span two semesters. Proceeding through concept generation and selection, and then through the system- and component-level design stages, each team ultimately produces a working prototype that is tested and refined to meet the project objectives.
Enterprise
Enterprise teams are student-driven, multidisciplinary, and work like companies on real-world client projects. The deliverable could be an innovative product, a pioneering solution, or a much-needed service. The hallmark of the Enterprise Program is the experiential training it provides to students. The program gives teams of students from varied disciplines the opportunity to work for several semesters in a business-like setting to solve real-world engineering problems supplied by industry partners.