Mechanical Engineering

The Department of Mechanical Engineering offers graduate programs leading to Master of Science and PhD degrees in Mechanical Engineering. Current areas of research include 3D Printing/Bio-Printing, Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, Biomimetics, CAD/CAM, Composite Materials and Structures, Computational Mechanics, Controls and Dynamic Systems, Design Optimization, Digital Manufacturing, Fluid Mechanics, Heat Transfer, Marine Propulsion Design, Marine Renewable Energy, Nanomaterials and Devices, Offshore Engineering, Reduced-Order Modeling, Robotics, Smart Materials, Solar Thermal Energy, Solid Mechanics, Thermal Sciences, Uncertainty Quantification, and Engineering Education. Admission is based on an appropriate baccalaureate degree and satisfying the requirements of the Graduate School at UMaine. Applicants holding a bachelor’s degree in another science or engineering discipline may be admitted; however, some undergraduate courses may be required without graduate credit.

Each graduate student, in consultation with his or her graduate committee, prepares an individual program of study. The MS degree program will include courses from both the engineering mechanics and thermofluid science fields. The PhD degree program is more narrowly focused on a topic of interest to the student and the faculty advisor. For students with a strong interest in other disciplines, excellent opportunities exist for an interdisciplinary program of study in which up to 40% of the MS degree credit is earned in another department in the university. Interdisciplinary PhD research is performed in collaboration with faculty in other disciplines as a part of a coherent graduate degree program in Mechanical Engineering.

The Master of Science degree with thesis requires a minimum of six credit hours of thesis research in addition to 24 credit hours of acceptable coursework. The non-thesis Master’s degree requires a minimum of 30 credit hours of coursework and a comprehensive examination. Application submission deadlines are July 31 for spring semester admission and February 15 for fall semester. Prospective students are encouraged to contact the mechanical engineering faculty to discuss their interest when submitting an application. The department offers a limited number of teaching assistantship positions. Research assistantships may be offered by the individual faculty. Other forms of support through external fellowships are strongly encouraged. Faculty research interests are found on the departmental and individual faculty web pages at: http://www.umaine.edu/mecheng/.

The Graduate School                               Dr. Zhihe Jin, Graduate Coordinator
                                                          Department of Mechanical Engineering
5775 Stodder Hall Room 42                   5711 Boardman Hall, Room 219
University of Maine                                 University of Maine
Orono, ME 04469-5775                           Orono, ME 04469-5711
207-581-3291                                          207-581-2120
graduate@maine.edu                              zhihe.jin@maine.edu

Graduate Faculty

Vincent Caccese, Ph.D. (Drexel University, 1985), Professor. Nonlinear finite element analysis, hybrid connections, seismic behavior and vibration analysis and design, fatigue analysis, impact resistant materials for personal protection.

Sheila Edalatpour, Ph.D. (University of Utah, 2016), Assistant Professor. Near- and far-field radiative heat transfer, computational heat transfer, electromagnetic wave scattering, high performance computing.

Wilhelm Alexander Friess, Ph.D. (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1997), Associate Professor. Engineering education, energy efficiency in buildings, experimental fluid mechanics, sports engineering.

Andrew J. Goupee, Ph.D. (University of Maine, 2010), Libra Assistant Professor. Simulation and model testing of floating offshore structures, solid mechanics, structural optimization.

Donald A. Grant, Ph.D. (University of Rhode Island, 1969), Emeritus Professor, Vibrations of discrete and continuous systems.

Babak Hejrati, Ph.D. (University of Utah, 2016), Assistant Professor. Control and dynamic systems, robotics, biomechanics, haptics.

Zhihe Jin, Ph.D. (Tsinghua University, 1988), Professor. Fracture mechanics, thermal stresses and thermal shock behavior of advanced materials, energy efficiency of thermoelectric materials, mechanics problems in geophysics.

Aaron Joy, Ph.D. (University of Kansas, 2017), Visiting Assistant Professor. Computational mathematics; error estimation, convergence, and adaptivity in finite element processes; classical and non-classical continuum mechanics; constitutive theory; fluid-solid interaction.

Bashir Khoda, Ph.D. (University at Buffalo, 2013), Assistant Professor. Digital manufacturing, bio-manufacturing, advanced manufacturing processes, computer aided design & manufacturing (CAD&M), 3D printing.

Richard Kimball, Ph.D. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2001), Professor. Marine renewable energy, offshore wind energy, marine propulsion design, diesel engines testing and emissions, advanced diesel fuel development.

Justin Lapp, Ph.D. (University of Minnesota, 2016), Assistant Professor. Solar thermal energy and thermochemistry; numerical heat transfer modeling for high temperature systems; thermal radiation; material behavior under solar thermal cycling; and thermal material properties.

Olivier Putzeys, Ph.D. (University of California, Berkeley, 2007), Lecturer. Combustion and fire science; smoldering combustion and the transition to flaming; combustion in oxygen-enriched atmospheres; thermal modeling of animals using infrared thermography.

Masoud Rais-Rohani, Ph.D. (Virginia Tech, 1991), Department Chair and Richard C. Hill Professor. Structural and multidisciplinary design optimization, crashworthiness, lightweight and composite structures, structural reliability and uncertainty quantification, reduced-order and surrogate modeling.

David Rubenstein, Ph.D. (The Pennsylvania State University, 1995), Research Associate Professor. Mathematical and dynamic simulation development, sensor fusion and estimation algorithms and software, guidance, navigation and control (GN&C) system design, autonomous systems, turbine control technologies.

Richard Sayles, Ph.D. (Brown University, 1981), Associate Professor. Fluid mechanics and heat transfer.

Mohsen Shahinpoor, Ph.D. (University of Delaware, 1970), Professor. Smart/intelligent materials, biomimetics and artificial muscles, mechatronics, electroactive polymers, advanced nanocomposites, biomedical engineering.

James Sucec, M.S. (University of Connecticut, 1963), Emeritus Professor. Transient forced convection heat transfer, heat transfer across turbulent boundary layers.

Senthil S. Vel, Ph.D. (Virginia Tech, 1998), Arthur O. Willey Professor. Solid mechanics, composite materials, finite element and meshless methods, simulation-based design of advanced material systems, smart structures, structural optimization.

Qian Xue, Ph.D. (Johns Hopkins University, 2012), Assistant Professor. Computational fluid dynamics, biofluids, microfluidics.

Yingchao Yang, Ph.D. (University of South Carolina, 2013), Assistant Professor. In situ mechanics of low-dimensional nanomaterials, structural and multifunctional nanocomposites, design and fabrication of micro-/nano-devices.

Xudong Zheng, Ph.D. (George Washington University, 2009), Associate Professor. Fluid mechanics, computational fluid dynamics, flow structure interaction, biofluids.