Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering - Energy Conversion Emphasis

Mechanical engineering involves the creation of almost anything that moves or anything manufactured that you encounter, whether it be the car you drive to school, the potato chips you eat at lunch, or the air-conditioning system that keeps you comfortable at home. Mechanical engineers might specialize in manufacturing, controls, dynamics, instrumentation, fluid mechanics, robotics, mechanics, materials, or transportation while others pursue a more general career path or cross-over into other traditional engineering disciplines. Mechanical engineering is one of the broadest engineering disciplines you can enter. S&T's mechanical engineering program is the biggest department on campus; largely because the profession is so flexible and has so many unique opportunities to offer. Where do mechanical engineers work: Quite simply, mechanical engineers work everywhere. Diversity in work environments goes hand-in-hand with the scope of industries from which you can choose. You might find employment in a small, local company doing highly design-oriented office work, or on the plant floor of a large international firm, working closely with a manufacturing operation. If you become a project manager, you'll take projects from initial conceptualization all the way to production, integrating your technical knowledge with management skills. Mission Statement We will provide a rigorous, productive, and relevant academic learning environment for students, faculty, and staff in the mechanical and aerospace engineering department by continually focusing on our core missions of teaching, research, and service. We will ensure that graduating students are well-educated and sufficiently prepared in the fundamentals of mechanical and aerospace engineering practice and science, such that they have the ability to solve open-ended problems in these disciplines and the capabilities required in order to become competent, productive, and well-rounded professionals. We will emphasize scholarship, graduate education, and the development of new knowledge and skills in the traditional areas associated with mechanical and aerospace engineering. Additionally, we will develop cross-cutting multi-disciplinary efforts such that we are widely recognized by local, national, and international research and business communities as respected leaders in research, innovation, and discovery. Program Educational Objectives The mechanical engineering program seeks to prepare its graduates for the following early career and professional accomplishments in their employment by industry, government agencies, academia, or private practice: Demonstrated engineering competence, successfully contributing within their career fields with increasing levels of responsibility and influence Continuous growth in knowledge and capability, within the mechanical engineering field as well as across interdisciplinary boundaries Student Outcomes Students graduating from this program should have: an ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering an ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability an ability to function on multidisciplinary teams an ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility an ability to communicate effectively the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context