MechSE Department Facts

Enrollment

The MechSE Department has approximately 1,100 undergraduate students, majoring in Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Mechanics. The department has approximately 400 graduate students working on thesis-based MS or PhD degrees in mechanical engineering and theoretical and applied mechanics.  Our M.Eng.ME non-thesis professional degree program will welcome approximately 100 new students in Fall 2024.

Degrees Granted

In 2021, MechSE awarded 264 bachelor of science degrees.  227 of these bachelor of science degrees were in Mechanical Engineering and 37 were in Engineering Mechanics.  In 2021-22 the department awarded 62 masters degrees and 47 PhD degrees.

Faculty

MechSE’s approximately 60 full-time faculty are active in research and teaching, and they consistently publish in high-impact journals, such as Science, Nature, Applied Physics Letters, and others. Grainger Engineering faculty are ranked first among our peers in the number of publications per faculty. 

Research

Research expenditures of approx. $25 million allow faculty and students to advance knowledge in the key fundamental areas of biomechanics, fluid mechanics, solid mechanics and materials, thermodynamics and heat transfer, applied physics, dynamics and controls, computational science and applied math, and chemistry.

Rankings

MechSE's undergraduate program is currently ranked #9 in the U.S., our graduate program is ranked #7, and our online master's program in mechanical engineering is ranked #3, (US News & World Report). 

Other Statistics

The median ACT composite score of undergraduate students entering the department is 32.4 in 2020; however, test scores were not required for the 2021 nor 2022 admission cycle.  As of 2017, the average GRE percentile for enrolled graduate students was 90 (Quantitative). However, the GRE has been waived for grad applicants the last several years.