Mechanical Engineering, B.S.

Program Coordinator: John Sarris, Ph.D.

Mechanical engineering represents a wide diversity of pursuits including the analysis, design, and testing of machines, products, and systems essential to everyday life — everything from doorknobs, tennis rackets, and fishing reels to power plants, skyscrapers, and automobiles. Mechanical engineers work in a variety of fields such as aerospace, utilities, materials processing, transportation, manufacturing, electronics, and telecommunications.

Program Mission and Educational Objectives

The mission of the Mechanical Engineering program is to graduate professionally competent and responsible students who can meet industry’s current and future needs in the general area of mechanical engineering.

In order to achieve its mission, the Mechanical Engineering program must ensure that its graduates will be able to:

• Utilize modern techniques to solve mechanical engineering problems within the context of engineering practice
• Design, develop, test, analyze and/or manufacture mechanical engineering components, systems, and/or processes
• Function productively as team members and effective communicators
• Appreciate and address contemporary issues, including ethical, safety, and environmental concerns related to mechanical engineering
• Strive for continuous self-improvement

By the time they graduate, mechanical engineering students should be able to:

• Apply knowledge in mathematics (through multivariate calculus and differential equations, with familiarity with statistics and linear algebra)
• Apply knowledge in science (chemistry and calculus-based physics, with depth in physics)
• Apply knowledge in engineering, including the formulation and solution of engineering problems
• Use techniques, skills, and tools (contemporary analytic, computational, and experimental) necessary for modern engineering practice
• Design, conduct, and analyze results of experiments
• Actively participate in teams, including multidisciplinary teams
• Communicate effectively
• Accomplish design and realization of thermo/fluid and mechanical systems, components, and processes
• Understand the professional and ethical ramifications of engineering solutions within the context of modern society
• Cultivate a lifelong capacity for learning

Recognizing current knowledge-based demands on graduating engineers and responding to input from the program’s stakeholders, the Mechanical Engineering Department has embraced the concept of a multidisciplinary foundation to discipline-specific education. Thus, the bachelor of science in mechanical engineering (B.S.M.E.) curriculum includes a sequence of ten (EAS prefix) foundation courses.

Mechanical engineering classes are small (rarely more than twenty students) and are taught almost exclusively by full-time faculty. Restricted and technical elective courses offer the opportunity for further learning in areas such as fluids, energy, design, heat transfer, numerical analysis and computers, aerospace sciences, and control systems.

Experienced practitioners from industry may also contribute their expertise in selected courses. Faculty and students work with industry in research and design projects.

Academic Performance

Mechanical engineering majors who complete their first twelve credits of ME-prefixed engineering courses with a cumulative grade point average for these courses of less than 2.0 will have their academic records reviewed by the entire ME faculty on a regular basis. An ME-prefixed course may not be taken more than twice unless consent is granted by the program coordinator.

An undergraduate student already enrolled at the University of New Haven who wishes to transfer to mechanical engineering will normally be expected to satisfy the standards of the program for admission by transfer.

The coordinator of the Mechanical Engineering program reserves the right not to award transfer credit for technical courses taken at any institution more than ten years prior to a student’s matriculation in the bachelor of science degree program in mechanical engineering at the University of New Haven, if it is determined that knowledge acquired in those courses is either inadequate or obsolete.

Exceptional students having an overall average of 3.5 or better are invited to join the Delta Zeta Chapter of the Pi Tau Sigma mechanical engineering honor society, which provides the opportunity for closer relations with faculty and other prominent individuals in the field for the purpose of further professional development, involvement in faculty research, and varied social and intellectual activities.

Internship

It is recognized in the Mechanical Engineering program that experiential work by undergraduate students is a valuable tool in launching a successful professional career. It is desirable, then, for mechanical engineering majors to spend time prior to graduation performing engineering-related duties at a manufacturing company, consulting firm, technical organization, government agency, or other appropriate setting.

Interns are required to complete a minimum of 300 hours of practical experience in an area or technical project closely related to mechanical engineering. The requirement may be satisfied through appropriate work experience, part- or full-time employment, a summer job, or an apprenticeship or volunteer work at any time during a student’s undergraduate studies. Registration, proof of compliance, or a request for waiver must be submitted to the Department only after completion of 75 credits toward the B.S.M.E. degree. The internship is graded on a Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory basis and carries no academic credit.

The B.S.M.E. program has been nationally accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (EAC/ABET) for over 40 years.