The mission of the Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering Department undergraduate program is to produce high-quality baccalaureate graduates who are capable of contributing valuable engineering skills and knowledge toward areas of mechanical and nuclear engineering by:

offering a modem curriculum accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology that prepares students for lifetime careers;
acknowledging that professional education is a shared responsibility between both students and faculty;
providing well-prepared and presented courses that challenge students;
advising undergraduate students to help them negotiate obstacles in their educational path, and to tailor their education to their strengths and interests;
recruiting and attracting top high school graduates and transfer students; and
producing an environment within the department that motivates students to fully develop their engineering education through participation in professional societies, student government, extracurricular activities, design competitions, etc.

Curriculum

The curriculum includes engineering science courses in the sophomore and junior years and engineering application courses in the junior and senior years. Laboratory courses and humanities and social science electives are found throughout the curriculum. The laboratory and application courses provide opportunity for development of student creativity, use of design methodology, and other aspects of engineering design. The entire curriculum serves as preparation for the senior design laboratory, where a team of three to five students is assigned to work on a realistic engineering problem supplied by an industrial sponsor. This brief internship gives new mechanical engineering graduates the experience and confidence to move quickly into productive and satisfying careers. Because of the broad and fundamental nature of the curriculum, mechanical engineering provides an excellent background for careers in such fields as law, medicine, social services, urban design, and business management.

The electives in the curriculum provide the opportunity for students to develop skills of individual interest. Students with clear career objectives may be permitted to substitute appropriate courses for some of the required courses. For example, students interested in the aerospace industry can choose elective courses in propulsion, aerodynamics, aircraft stability and control, and composite materials. A special interest in automobiles may prompt students to choose elective courses in internal combus tion engines, machine vibrations, composite materials, and thermodynamic analysis. The combinations are extensive.