ME Department Overview

M.E. Department Mission
To provide the educational environment and individual support necessary to graduate mechanical engineers who are technically competent, ethical, creative and mindful of their responsibility to society.

M.E. Department Vision
To develop the best undergraduate mechanical engineering curriculum.

M.E. Department at a Glance
The mechanical engineering curriculum is designed to prepare students for productive careers in industry, government, education and private consulting as well as for graduate study. Thus, it is based on the fundamental principles of science and engineering. These provide a strong foundation that enables students to apply what they have learned to the complex technological problems of today and to teach themselves the new technologies of tomorrow. Since mechanical engineering is a broad field of endeavor, the curriculum offers a strong technical elective program to allow each student to craft a broad educational experience and to develop the flexibility to pursue diverse career goals.

No less than any professional, the mechanical engineering graduate must work within the social and environmental context of our world. To be effective and successful, he or she must be aware of the roles of engineering and science in solving complex technological and social problems as well as of the impacts of social and environmental factors on engineering activities such as design. To foster this awareness, the curriculum allows the student an unusually wide choice of social science and humanities electives and emphasizes the links between society and engineering through courses such as Engineering Systems Design.

The strength of any department is its faculty and staff. The mechanical engineering faculty and staff are committed to providing a dynamic and innovative learning environment and to maintaining and increasing their technical competence in a rapidly changing world. Stereotype not withstanding, they understand that people are more important than things. Thus, they encourage each student to seek them out when he or she has academic problems or needs guidance in career planning.

The freshman year of the mechanical engineering program includes courses in mathematics, chemistry, humanities and social science as well as introductory courses in engineering and design. The sophomore year features courses in mathematics, physics and the engineering sciences. The final two years of the program stress the design and analysis of systems, machines and their components, and the transfer and transformation of energy. The required courses provide the basic mathematical and scientific fundamentals underlying the practice of mechanical engineering while 8 to 16 units of technical elective courses allow flexibility in adapting the program to the interests and abilities of the individual student. The student is not encouraged to specialize in a particular area but rather to seek a broad background in basic engineering principles. For the student who wishes to pursue a career in the field of Aerospace engineering, however, extensive sequences of courses are available as elective offerings.

The mechanical engineering program is designed to encourage the best students to continue their education at the graduate level. For those who choose to study at Rose-Hulman, graduate work leading to a Master of Science degree is offered by the Mechanical Engineering Department. Options in the general areas of Thermal/Fluid Systems and Solid Systems Design are available. These options are devoted to developing a deeper understanding of engineering and not intended to constrain the student to a high degree of specialization.