The Department of Mechanical Engineering offers graduate programs leading to Master of Science and PhD degrees in Mechanical Engineering.  Students can choose to pursue a concentration in Aerospace, Offshore Wind Energy, Robotics and Mechatronics, and Smart Manufacturing as part of their MS or PhD program of study. 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, Surface and interface phenomena, 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 can include courses from both mechanical engineering and other 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.  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 five credit hours of thesis research in addition to 24 credit hours of acceptable coursework and one credit of Responsible Conduct of Research. 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://umaine.edu/mecheng/graduate-program/.

The Graduate School                             
5775 Stodder Hall Room 42                         
University of Maine                                            
Orono, ME 04469-5775                                  
207-581-3291                                               
graduate@maine.edu                                     

Dr. Andrew Goupee, Graduate Coordinator
Department of Mechanical Engineering
5711 Boardman Hall, Room 206
University of Maine
Orono, ME 04469-5711
207-581-3657
agoupe91@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 Associate Professor.  Simulation and model testing of floating offshore structures, solid mechanics, structural optimization.

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.

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.

Sharmila Mukhopadhyay, Ph.D. (Cornell University, 1989), Professor. Design, synthesis, characterization and testing of multifunctional nanomaterials; compact lightweight components for energy, environment, and biomedical applications; surface and interface phenomena; Multidisciplinary engineering research and education.

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.

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.

Amrit S. Verma, Ph.D. (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 2020), Assistant Professor. Offshore wind turbine technology, structural testing and analysis of composite and sandwich structures, leading edge erosion of wind turbine blades, probabilistic methods, structural response to impact loads.

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.