Mechanical engineering involves the application of scientific and engineering principles toward the development of new designs or improvements of existing designs of products and systems. A mechanical engineer needs to consider not only how an object should function but also the environmental forces it may encounter and the manufacturing processes that will create it. Essentially, mechanical engineers are problem-solvers who use the principles of motion, force and energy to create products or systems that are safe, efficient, functional and reliable.
Mechanical engineering touches a wide range of fields and specialty areas, including robotics, automation, space exploration, healthcare, energy, transportation and climate change. A mechanical engineer might work on designing new products or systems intended to improve food production, create more fuel-efficient planes or create more environmentally sustainable energy production systems.
There are many career possibilities within the mechanical engineering field. As a mechanical engineer, you will research, design, develop, build and test tools, engines and machines.
A mechanical engineer may choose to specialize in many different areas. These areas of specialization may include:1
- Vehicle engineering: Vehicle engineering involves the design and production of the specialized equipment and systems that are integral to the movement of vehicles.
- Automotive engineering: A subfield of vehicle engineering, automotive engineering concerns the design and production of road-worthy vehicles.
- Power plant engineering: This subfield of mechanical engineering focuses on thermodynamics and energy. Power plant engineering includes the design of electric, nuclear, solar, wind turbine, thermal and hydroelectric power plants.
- Thermal engineering: This subfield of mechanical engineering focuses on the design and manufacture of heating and cooling systems in closed environments, such as buildings.
If you enroll in a mechanical engineering degree, you will explore the full cycle of an engineering project, from the design to the manufacturing stage. You will be challenged to work through progressively more complex skills and competencies that are intended to help you create solutions to existing problems in order to advance society. You will also be taught professional skills, such as communication (verbal and written), team building and lifelong learning.
In addition, your mechanical engineering program will include an advanced and comprehensive curriculum that integrates chemistry, physics and computer programming with extensive coursework in engineering mathematics. With this STEM program, you will also examine subjects like thermodynamics (heat, energy and work), materials engineering (developing, processing and testing materials) and transport phenomena (fluid mechanics, heat and mass transfer).
These subjects and others provide the foundation for a year-long design project, during which you will be challenged to demonstrate your abilities to perform as a future engineer. During this capstone project (taken in the capstone class by mechanical engineering technology students and mechanical engineering students), you’ll work in a team to develop a project proposal and feasibility study, culminating in your design project. You’ll have opportunities to work with a departmental mentor, who will provide feedback as you work on polishing your project.
