About ME

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Mechanical Engineering Today

Welcome to Mechanical Engineering at Michigan, a department with nearly a 140-year history and a strong, clear vision for the future.

Although today we are a large department with almost 75 professorial and research faculty, 60 staff members, 700 undergraduates, 475 graduate students and over 16,000 alumni, we remain nimble and responsive to the challenges and demands faced by society.

Faculty continually make strides in fundamental science while extending the boundaries in emerging disciplines. With a research budget of $27 million in 2006, faculty put theory into practice, translating breakthroughs in their laboratories into solutions in the following areas:

Biosystems
Combustion & Heat Transfer
Design & Manufacturing
Dynamics & Vibrations
Environmental Sustainability
Fluid Mechanics
Materials & Solid Mechanics
MEMS/Microsystems & Nanotechnology
Systems & Controls

The Department continues to expand with the hiring of new faculty--nine in the past year alone--who are tackling problems in areas as diverse as nanoscale fabrication, photovoltaics and medical device design in enthusiastic, innovative and creative ways.

New courses keep the ME graduate and undergraduate curricula current and relevant. We have recently added three new courses in energy technologies to meet global power needs. In fact a multidisciplinary master's degree program in Energy Technologies is in the planning stages.

Our design program remains one of the most popular and comprehensive in the country, with capstone course Design and Manufacturing III (ME450) highly praised as "an outstanding major design experience." Global Product Development (ME581) provides a unique experience in virtual collaboration among international team members; Global Manufacturing (ME587) helps students learn to put engineering principles into practice within multiple, global contexts. Undergraduatse also have the opportunity to learn about Biomechanics for Engineers (ME406) in one of our technical electives. Although these classes are a small sampling, they exemplify that from manufacturing to biomechanics, the Mechanical Engineering Department at Michigan provides and exciting and diverse educational experience.

Opportunities abound for international study and overseas work experience too. Joint programs with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and TU Berlin offer undergraduates, graduate students and faculty alike the chance to experience new cultures and languages while broadening and deepening their engineering education and research efforts.

Mechanical Engineering alumni hold leadership roles in industry, government and academia the world over. They continue to be a source of knowledge and experience in helping the Department hone its programs and in helping students and new graduates prepare for fulfilling, rewarding and successful careers.

We hope you'll join us!