What is MEMS?
The Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science is the largest in the Swanson School, with more than 40 faculty and three undergraduate degree programs: Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, and Engineering Science.
Mechanical engineers design, analyze, and build the systems and devices that move, heat, cool, and power the physical world - from engines and robots to medical devices and energy systems. Materials science engineers work at the intersection of structure and function, developing and improving the metals, ceramics, polymers, and composites that make those systems possible. Engineering science students build a flexible, interdisciplinary foundation that combines deep work in physics or mathematics with engineering practice, preparing them for careers that cross traditional boundaries.
What connects all three programs is a focus on how things work and how to make them work better. Students take core courses in mechanics, thermodynamics, materials, and design, then specialize through electives, certificate programs, research, and the cooperative education program. With annual research expenditures exceeding $16 million and more than 20 laboratories spanning advanced manufacturing, energy systems, biomechanics, robotics, computational modeling, and nanotechnology, undergraduate and graduate students have extensive opportunities to work alongside faculty on funded research.
MEMS also offers graduate degrees in Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, and Computational Modeling and Simulation, along with graduate certificates in Physical Metallurgy and Nuclear Engineering.