Mechanical Engineering

COLLEGE: Engineering

MAJOR: Mechanical Engineering

DEGREE OFFERED: Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering

HOURS REQUIRED: 129

MINIMUM cumulative gpa: 2.0 for graduation

MINOR AVAILABLE: No

CHIEF ADVISER: Jeffrey Shield

DESCRIPTION

Chair: Jeffrey E. Shield

Associate Chair for Research and Graduate Studies: Mehrdad Negahban

Professors: Barton, Bishu, Chandra, Cole, Dzenis, Farritor, Feng, Gogos, Hallbeck, Negahban, Rajurkar, Reid, Robertson, Shield, To, Turner, Yang

Associate Professors: Baesu, Bobaru, Nelson, Szydlowski, Tan, Williams, Zhang

Assistant Professors: Gu, Huang, Lim, Ryu

Lecturers: Coen-Brown, Dick

Mechanical engineering is a broad field of study that significantly impacts many technologies, including those that expand our energy resources and improve medical care. Mechanical engineers are concerned with all forms of energy conversion and transmission; the flow of fluids and heat; the development, design, manufacturing, and operation of machinery and equipment; material structure and properties; solid and applied mechanics; and transportation processes. The course of study is designed to give the student fundamental preparation to enter the fields of research, design, operation, production, sales, or management.

The mechanical engineering curriculum is structured so that students are well prepared in the fundamental areas of solid mechanics, thermal-fluid sciences, systems and design engineering, and materials engineering. Students can develop an emphasis area of study by concentrating elective courses in specific areas such as aerospace engineering, automotive engineering, robotics, biomedical engineering, computational methods, materials, manufacturing and others depending upon the technical courses available and the interest of the student.

Mission and Objectives

Mission Statement

The mission of the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at the University of Nebraska is to impact society locally and globally through our educational programs, research, and service, developing knowledge and sharing our expertise in the best traditions of land-grant universities. We strive for excellence in teaching and learning at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, seek to develop novel educational opportunities, grow our public and private support for research and education, and expand our scholarship, outreach and service.

Program Educational Objectives

Within a few years of graduation, our mechanical engineering graduates are expected to:

1. have started successful careers based on their education or have completed a professional degree or a graduate degree in engineering or related field;

2. have begun life-long learning and development in order to remain current in their knowledge and skills and to advance in their careers; and

3. have established a record of professionalism, leadership, respect and integrity in working to serve humanity and to use resources responsibly.

Student Outcomes

The educational program leading to the BS in mechanical engineering ensures that students attain the following outcomes:

• an ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering;
• an ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data;
• an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability;
• an ability to function on multidisciplinary teams;
• an ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems;
• an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility;
• an ability to communicate effectively;
• the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context;
• a recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in, life-long learning;
• a knowledge of contemporary issues;
• an ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice.

MAJOR REQUIREMENTS

Requirements for the Degree (Lincoln campus)

First Semester Hours

CHEM 111 Chemistry for Engineering & Technology4

CHEM 109 and 110 may be substituted for CHEM 111. Only 4 credits count toward graduation.

MATH 106 Analytic Geometry & Calculus I5

ACE Electives6

Choose one course from not yet satisfied ACE outcomes 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9.

Total15

Second Semester Hours

CSCE 155N Computer Science I: Engineering and Science Focus3

MATH 107 Analytic Geometry & Calculus II5

MECH 130 Intro to CAD3

PHYS 211 General Physics I4

PHYS 221 General Physics Lab I1

Or, instead, PHYS 222 General Physics Lab II (1 cr) may be taken in the Third Semester

Total16

Third Semester Hours

ENGM 223 Engineering Statics3

ENGR 20 Sophomore Engineering Seminar0

IMSE 206 Engineering Economy I3

JGEN 200 Technical Communication I3

MATH 208 Analytic Geometry & Calculus III4

PHYS 212 General Physics II4

Total17

Fourth Semester Hours

ENGM 325 Mechanics of Elastic Bodies3

ENGM 373 Engineering Dynamics3

MATH 221 Differential Equations3

MECH 200 Engineering Thermodynamics3

METL 360 Elements of Materials Science4

Total16

Fifth Semester Hours

ELEC 211 Elements of Electrical Engineering I3

ELEC 231 Electrical Engineering Lab1

MATH 314 Applied Linear Algebra (Matrix Theory)3

MECH 310 Fluid Mechanics3

MECH 342 Kinematics & Dynamics of Machinery3

Communication Studies Elective3

Choose one course from the following: COMM 210, COMM 283, or COMM 286 (ACE 2).

Total16

Sixth Semester Hours

IMSE 321 Engineering Statistics & Data Analysis or STAT 380 Statistics & Applications3

MECH 300 Thermal Systems & Design3

MECH 343 Elements of Machine Design3

MECH 350 Intro to Dynamics & Control of Engineering Systems3

MECH 380 Mechanical Engineering Measurements3

Total15

Seventh Semester Hours

MECH 370 Manufacturing Methods & Processes3

MECH 420 Heat Transfer3

MECH 446 Mechanical Engineering Design I3

The capstone design sequence must be taken in the order shown in the curriculum and should be taken in the last two semesters of the program (MECH 446 and MECH 447).

MECH 488 Kinematics & Machine Design Lab2

Mechanical Engineering Technical Elective3

Design and technical electives must be chosen from a list of approved 400-level mechanical engineering elective courses. Consult adviser for suggested choices.

ACE Elective3

Choose one course from not yet satisfied ACE outcomes 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9.

Total17

Eighth Semester Hours

ENGR 400 Professional Ethics1

MECH 447 Mechanical Engineering Design II2

MECH 487 Thermal Fluids Lab2

Mechanical Engineering Design Elective3

Design and technical electives must be chosen from a list of approved 400-level mechanical engineering elective courses. Consult adviser for suggested choices.

Senior Elective3

Senior electives may be either another mechanical engineering technical elective, another mechanical engineering design elective, or, with prior written approval of your adviser, a 300 or higher level engineering, science, or math course.

ACE Elective6

Choose one course from not yet satisfied ACE outcomes 5, 7, 8, or 9.

Total17

Total Credit Hours Required129

OTHER

Admittance to Degree Program

Students are expected to meet minimum college entrance requirements. After being admitted to the college as pre-mechanical engineering students, students wishing to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering must further be admitted to the degree program. Students who have completed 43 credit hours applicable to their mechanical engineering degree are considered for formal admission to the mechanical engineering degree program. Typically, this occurs the semester the student is enrolled in MECH 200 or METL 360. Those exceeding 61 credit hours must receive formal admission to the mechanical engineering degree program if they are to continue to take mechanical engineering courses. Transfer students must have at least 12 credit hours of course work from the University of Nebraska on record before an application will be considered. Applications are judged on a competitive academic performance basis; consult your adviser or the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering for specific details.

Hands-on Opportunities

One major focus of the Department is to provide students with many hands-on opportunities both within the curriculum (through formal laboratory courses) and through extracurricular activities. Brief descriptions of some of the laboratories in the department are given below.

The Materials Laboratory is designed to study the development of microstructures during processing, and to correlate the properties of materials with the observed structures. Undergraduates utilize arc melting facilities for solidification processing and alloy formation, rolling mills for deformation processing, and a variety of furnaces for thermal treatments. Characterization facilities include x-ray diffractometry and optical microscopy, while property measurements are completed using hardness testing (including microhardness), tensile testing, and impact testing facilities. Other facilities associated with the materials laboratory include rapid solidification processing facilities and electron microscopy facilities.

The Measurements Laboratory is associated with the required MECH 380 Mechanical Engineering Measurements course which includes two hours of lecture and two hours of laboratory work each week. The course covers the fundamentals of mechanical engineering measurements including data analysis (statistics, graphing, spectral analysis), signal conditioning, data readout, and the measurement of length/displacement, rate of rotation, stress/strain, temperature, pressure, fluid velocity, fluid flow rate, vibration/acceleration, and sound. The MECH 380 Lab has four workbenches. Each workbench has set of basic measurement equipment including a digital oscilloscope, an electronic counter, a digital multimeter, a DC power supply, a function generator, and a computer-based data acquisition system consisting of a personal computer with data acquisition software and interfaced analog-to-digital converter and digital counter cards. In addition, on a week-to-week basis, specialized equipment is brought out of the cabinets and set up for each of the nine (some one week, some two week) labs.

The Kinematics and Machine Design Laboratory is a teaching laboratory for undergraduate students. The laboratory consists of equipment and instruments for conducting experiments in kinematics and machine design. One piece of major equipment is the rapid prototyping machine, which accepts design specifications from a computer and forms a prototype of the design using plastic injection. This machine provides the student with experience in design integration from concept to product. We have also recently upgraded the rapid prototyping laboratory with the acquisition of the MakerBot Thing-O-Matic 3-D printer kit. This 3D printer uses ABS plastic to create rapid prototyped objects with better than 1 mm feature resolution; it accepts standard CAD models converted to g-code and is a low-cost alternative to high-end rapid prototyping services or equipment. Accessories in this laboratory include desktop computers, a wide-carriage printer, and other instruments. Kawasaki also donated a retired robot that is now utilized in this laboratory.

The Thermal Fluids Laboratory involves design, execution and evaluation of physical experiments in the areas of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer. There are three major, heavily-instrumented experiments: 1) a two stage air-compressor with intercooling, 2) a versatile air conditioning unit, and 3) a Ford gasoline engine with a Superflow water brake dynamometer, supported with a data acquisition system. The course involves design, execution and evaluation of physical experiments in the areas of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer. In addition, the facilities include “table top” instrumentation for viscosity measurement, measurement of pressure distribution on an airfoil, flow visualization and head loss across a valve on which students conduct experiments.

The Mechatronics Laboratory is well-equipped for teaching courses in mechatronics and robotics. It is used primarily for MECH 457, but is also used for other courses, and by both undergraduate and graduate students working on research projects. The laboratory contains desktop computers, modular robots, digital oscilloscopes, function generators, computer controllers, soldering systems, and many other accessories.

The Department also has computational facilities available to students. The computer lab has a suite of personal computers with a full complement of computing resources available to students.

Research Laboratories. These laboratories, extensions of those described above, are equipped for research in the fields of fluid mechanics, heat transfer, thermodynamics, turbulence, flow visualization, fluid mechanics, measurements, turbomachinery and engine research, combustion, materials, mechanical design, dynamics, computational, solid and applied mechanics, biomedical engineering, and controls. Many of our undergraduate students gain valuable experience working on research projects under the guidance of professors. These are funded by research grants or the University’s UCARE program.

Some of the extracurricular opportunities for students to gain hands-on engineering experience include SAE Baja, SAE Formula (both through Husker Motorsports), NASA microgravity, AIAA competitions, and others.