The Department of Mechanical Engineering offers graduate programs in the fields of thermal science and engineering mechanics. The Master of Science degree may be obtained with or without a thesis. Admission is based on an appropriate baccalaureate degree and the requirements of the Graduate School. Persons holding a bachelor’s degree in another engineering discipline or in a science may be admitted. In such cases it may be required that some undergraduate courses be taken without graduate credit.

An individual program of study is planned by each student in consultation with his or her graduate committee. The program will include courses from both the engineering mechanics and thermal science fields. Ordinarily only six credits of acceptable 400-level courses may be included in the program.

For students with a strong interest in other disciplines, the opportunity exists for a program of study in which at least 60 per cent of the required work is done within the Mechanical Engineering Department. The remaining work may be taken in the other discipline if the student’s advisory committee approves it as part of a coherent degree in Mechanical Engineering.

The Master of Science degree with thesis requires a thesis comprising a minimum of six semester hours of credit as well as 24 semester hours of course work. The non-thesis Master’s degree requires a minimum of 30 semester hours of course work in a meaningful program of study. In addition, a candidate for the non-thesis Master of Science degree must pass a comprehensive examination, either oral or written, which will review the course work and evaluate the student’s ability to apply his or her knowledge to the solution of advanced engineering problems.

The Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering currently emphasizes research in solid and fluid mechanics.  The degree includes course work and requires that an original contribution be made to research in the field of inquiry.  The required courses and the content of the original research are based on the type of support provided for the research as well as the existing literature in the field.  A dissertation proposal written by the student and his or her graduate advisor serves to guide the research. Several graduate research assistantships as well as teaching assistantships are available in the Department. Other financial assistance available is described elsewhere in this catalog.

Graduate Faculty

Donald A. Grant, Ph.D. (Rhode Island, 1969), R.C. Hill Professor and Chair. Vibrations of discrete and continuous systems.

Kiran Bhaganagar, Ph.D. (Cornell University, 2001), Assistant Professor. Computational Fluid Dynamics, Turbulent flows, large scale parallel simulations -DNS, Environmental and Physiological flows.

Michael T. Boyle, Ph.D. (Connecticut, 1984), Associate Professor. Experimental fluid mechanics and heat transfer, three-dimensional flow through gas turbine passages, electronics cooling, thermal modeling of industrial devices.

Vincent Caccese, Ph.D. (Drexel, 1985), Professor. Nonlinear finite element analysis and testing of hybrid composite metal connections, seismic behavior and vibration analysis and design.

Zhihe Jin, Ph.D. (Tsinghua, 1988), Assistant Professor. Mechanical behavior of materials, fracture mechanics and thermal stresses.

Michael “Mick” Peterson, Ph.D. (Northwestern University, 1994), Professor and Graduate Coordinator. Biomechanics, measurement of constitutive behavior of materials, non-destructive testing, and elastic waves in solids.

Justin H. Poland, Ph.D. (Colorado, 1979), Associate Professor. Heat transfer, thermodynamics and fluid mechanics of refrigeration systems, and heating and cooling of buildings.

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

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

Senthil S. Vel, Ph.D. (Virginia Tech, 1998), Associate Professor. Solid mechanics, smart structures, mechanics of composite materials and finite element analysis.