Academic Requirements

Credit Requirements

Degree Requirements
ME/TAM coursework	16 hours minimum
Electives, selected in consultation with an advisor	4 hours minimum
Professional development	4 hours minimum
Total credits	32 hours

You can also earn a graduate concentration in Entrepreneurship and Innovation -- available to both online and on-campus students!

Additional requirements:

A minimum of 12 500-level credit hours must be applied toward the degree, 8 of which must be taken in ME or TAM.
Minimum of 4 hours of elective coursework must be taken outside of the ME rubric.
Maximum of 4 hours of independent study may be applied toward degree requirements.
A course can be applied to more than one requirement simultaneously; the credit hours, however, will only be counted once.
Students in the program must maintain a minimum GPA of 3.0 to remain in good academic standing.

Credit Restrictions

No course used to fulfill any degree requirement may be taken using the “Credit/No Credit”, “Audit”, or S/U graded options. All degree requirements must be fulfilled with graduate-level (400 and 500 level) standard letter grade courses.

Time Limitations

Online students in the M.Eng.ME program are allotted up to five calendar years after their first registration in the Graduate College to finish the degree. On campus students have 3 semesters to complete the program. Time extensions may be requested, if needed, through the Graduate College petition process.

Core Course Offerings

Core Graduate Courses
in MechSE

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Online Courses in
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University of Illinois
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ME and TAM Coursework

All Courses:
ME 400. Energy Conversion Systems
ME 401. Refrigeration and Cryogenics
ME 402. Design of Thermal Systems
ME 403. Internal Combustion Engines
ME 404. Intermediate Thermodynamics*
ME 410. Intermediate Gas Dynamics*
ME 411. Viscous Flow & Heat Transfer*
ME 412. Numerical Thermo-Fluid Mechanics
ME 420. Intermediate Heat Transfer*
ME 430. Failure of Engineering Materials
ME 431. Mechanical Component Failure
ME 432. Fundamentals of Photovoltaics*
ME 440. Kinematics & Dynamics of Mechanical Systems
ME 445. Introduction to Robotics*
ME 446. Robot Dynamics and Control
ME 447. Computational Design & Dynamics of Soft Systems
ME 451. Computer-Aided Manufacturing Systems*
ME 452. Numerical Control of Manufacturing Processes
ME 453. Data Science in Manufacturing Quality Control
ME 455. Micromanufacturing Process & Automation*
ME 458. Additive Manufacturing and Product Design
ME 460. Industrial Control Systems
ME 461. Computer Control of Mechanical Systems
ME 462. Advanced Computer Control*
ME 465. Optics: Theory & Applications
ME 471. Finite Element Analysis*
ME 472. Introduction to Tribology
ME 475. Bioinspired Design
ME 481. Whole-Body Musculoskeletal Biomechanics
ME 482. Musculoskeletal Tissue Mechanics
ME 483. Mechanobiology
ME 485. MEMS Devices & Systems
ME 487. MEMS-NEMS Theory & Fabrication*

ME 496. Honors Project
ME 498. Special Topics
ME 501. Combustion Fundamentals*
ME 502. Thermal Systems
ME 503. Design of IC Engines
ME 504. Multiphase Systems & Processes
ME 510. Advanced Gas Dynamics*
ME 512. Physicochemical Hydrodynamics
ME 520. Heat Conduction
ME 521. Convective Heat Transfer
ME 522. Thermal Radiation
ME 523. Nanoscale Energy Transport*
ME 530. Fatigue Analysis
ME 531. Inelastic Design Methods
ME 540. Control System Theory & Design*
ME 543. Applied Control System Design*
ME 544. Dynamic System Reliability
ME 546. Analysis of Nonlinear Systems
ME 561. Convex Methods in Control
ME 562. Robust Adaptive Control*
ME 570. Nonlinear Solid Mechanical Design
ME 586. Mechanics of MEMS
ME 598. Special Topics*
TAM 412. Intermediate Dynamics
TAM 413. Fundamentals of Engineering Acoustics*
TAM 416. Intro to Nonlinear Dynamics & Vibrations
TAM 424. Mechanics of Structural Metals
TAM 428. Mechanics of Composites
TAM 435. Intermediate Fluid Mechanics*
TAM 445. Continuum Mechanics
TAM 451. Intermediate Solid Mechanics
TAM 456. Experimental Stress Analysis
TAM 461. Cellular Biomechanics
TAM 470. Computational Mechanics
TAM 514. Elastodynamics and Vibrations*
TAM 518. Wave Motion*
TAM 524. Micromechanics of Materials
TAM 529. Viscoelasticity Theory
TAM 531. Inviscid Flow

Detailed course descriptions can be found using the University of Illinois Course Explorer. The Online Course Catalog is available here.

Specialized Courses

In addition to the regularly offered curriculum, M.Eng.ME students can enroll in specialized 500-level courses developed for the M.Eng.ME program.

Examples of 500-level courses designed specifically for M.Eng.ME students

ME 543: Applied Control System Design and Analysis, taught by Dr. Kevin Wise of The Boeing Company and Innovative Control Technologies, LLC. Offered in the Fall semester, this course is the pre-requisite for Dr. Wise's more advanced course ME 598 Advanced Robust Control. This course covers advanced design and analysis of control systems by state-space methods: classical control review, Laplace transforms, review of linear algebra (vector space, change of basis, diagonal and Jordan forms), linear dynamic systems (modes, stability, controllability, state feedback, observability, observers, canonical forms, output feedback, separation principle and decoupling), nonlinear dynamic systems (stability, Lyapunov methods). Frequency domain analysis of multivariable control systems. State space control system design methods: state feedback, observer feedback, pole placement, linear optimal control. Design exercises with CAD (computer-aided design) packages for engineering problems. Key to the course are the applied/real-world examples and CAD homework problems used to teach and reinforce the learnings of the material. Aerospace control system pose some of the most difficult and challenging control system design problems. In addition to designing feedback control system gains, the course teaches filtering techniques needed in real-world implementation of flight controls systems.

ME 598: Advanced Robust Control, taught by Dr. Kevin Wise of The Boeing Company and Innovative Control Technologies, LLC. This course covers advanced robust control methods including optimal control using observer feedback, Linear Quadratic Gaussian, Kalman Filtering, H-infinity optimal control, static and dynamic projective control, and the Loop Transfer Recovery process to recover state-feedback frequency domain properties in observer based designs. None of these methods are covered in the ME562 course. The course then introduces adaptive augmentation to the optimal control observer-based architectures in which the observer becomes a closed-loop reference model. This adaptive control methods is completely different from the L1 Adaptive Control method conceived by Hovakimyan and Cao.

ME 598: Computational Modeling of Industrial Transport Processes, taught by Professor Emeritus and Research Professor Pratap Vanka, an expert in computational fluid dynamics and computational heat transfer. Recently updated, this course is highly recommended for M.Eng.ME students, in particular those specializing in Manufacturing or Energy.

ME 598: Electronics Cooling, taught by Dr. Winston Zhang. Introduction to microelectronics packaging from chip to system levels and the challenging thermal issues. Introducing concepts such as junction temperature, heat flux density and Moore’s Law. Fundamentals of various heat transfer modes and fluid mechanics with applications to microelectronics cooling systems.

ME 598: Applied Heat Transfer, taught by Dr. Winston Zhang. Review of fundamentals of convective heat transfer, boiling and condensation with industrial applications, heat transfer principles for heat exchanger design and/or performance evaluations, convective heat transfer in porous media with industrial applications and numerical methods in convective heat transfer.

ME 598: Structural and Computational Mechanics for Aerospace Application taught by Dr. Alexander Tessler, Distinguished Research Associate, NASA Langley Research Center. The objective of this course is to familiarize graduate-level students with a number of advanced concepts and analysis methods in the field of multilayered composite and sandwich structures. The course material will enable the student to expertly apply and further advance the novel techniques and modeling concepts in the areas of static and dynamic behavior of multilayered composite and sandwich beam, plate, and shell structures. The textbook for the course is: Mechanics of Laminated Composite Plates Theory and Analysis. Author: Reddy, J.N. (Author) Publisher: CRC Press. Please note that 2nd edition of book is available online through Grainger Library for registered students in the class. Outline of course and Instructor CV.

Suggested Courses for the Professional Development Requirement

ENG 572 Professional Practicum
Credit: 1 - 4 (this is usually taken for 4 credits)
Internship or equivalent experience as it relates to the student's field of study. Student will complete a comprehensive written report, develop a website, and/or give an oral presentation that relates to his/her internship experience. This course is to be taken in conjunction with an internship if a student wants to get credit for the experience. Prior to registering for this course, student must submit a proposal and receive site supervisor and instructor approval.

ENG 573 Capstone Project
Credit: 4 hours.
Design project pertinent to student’s field of study. Student will complete a comprehensive written report, develop a website, and/or give an oral presentation that relates to his/her project. Note: Prior to registering for this course, student must receive approval from industry partner.

IE 431 Design for Six Sigma
Credit: 3 hours.
Quality Engineering principles and the Six Sigma Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control (DMAIC) process. Application of concepts and methods of statistical process control, designed experiments, and measurement systems analysis to cases of quality and productivity improvement; application of the fundamentals of quality engineering and the Six Sigma to areas of produce development, service enterprise, and manufacturing processes.

ME 597 Independent Study
Credit: 1 - 4 hours
Department approval required. Independent study of advanced problems related to mechanical engineering.

TE 450 Startups: Incorporation, Funding, Contracts, & Intellectual Property
Credit: 3 hours.
Explores how legal tools may be used in the construction and successful operation of your company to deliver the next great product to market. Topics covered in the class include: issues with business formation, funding, intellectual property, non-disclosure agreements, contracts, and other corporate legal issues particularly impacting startups.

TE 460 Lectures in Engineering Entrepreneurship
Credit: 1 hour.
Fundamental concepts of entrepreneurship and commercialization of new technology in new and existing engineering and high-tech businesses. Guest speaker topics vary, but typically include: evaluation of technologies and business ideas in general; commercializing new technologies; financing through private and public sources; legal issues; product development; marketing; international business issues.

TE 461 Technology Entrepreneurship
Credit: 3 hours.
Critical factors affecting technology-based ventures: opportunity assessment; the entrepreneurial process; founders and team building; preparation of a business plan including market research, marketing and sales, finance, and manufacturing considerations.

TE 466 High-Tech Venture Marketing
Credit: 2 hours.
Cornerstone marketing concepts for innovators and engineers to enable analysis of products and technologies from a marketing perspective: engineering product development and adoption life cycle; objectives and strategies; marketing management; communication skills; sales process and tactics; special considerations for new high-tech engineering products and innovations.

TE 498 Special Topics
Credit: varies by topic.
Subject offerings of innovation, creativity, technology and entrepreneurship intended to augment the existing curriculum. See class schedule or departmental course information for topics and prerequisites.

TE 510 Advanced Creativity
Credit: 4 hours.
Exploration of concepts and theories in creativity and innovation with application of techniques and processes in order to enhance creativity skills. Emphasis on personalized learning objectives based on individual fields of study culminating in a major project with the opportunity to move a technical idea from vision to reality.

TE 565 Technological Innovation & Strategy
Credit: 2 hours.
Concepts and frameworks for analyzing how firms can create, commercialize and capture value from technology-based products and services. Business, commercialization, and management aspects of technology. Emphasis on reasons that existing firms or startups which have successfully commercialized products or services fail to sustain their success as technology changes and evolves.

TE 566 Finance for Engineering Management
Credit: 2 hours.
Cornerstone financial concepts for engineering management to enable analysis of engineering projects from a financial perspective: income statements; the balance sheet; cash flow statements; corporate organization; the time value of money; net present value; discounted cash flow analysis; portfolio theory.

Students may choose from other graduate-level leadership, entrepreneurship, or business-related courses. Please check with your academic advisor for approval of a class not listed.

Need more guidance?

Download a Plan of Study template

Download the M.Eng.ME Handbook

Questions? We're here to help!

Susan Roughton
M.Eng.ME Program Coordinator
mechse-meng@illinois.edu or roughton@illinois.edu

Professor Quinn Brewster
M.Eng.ME Program Director
mechse-meng@illinois.edu or brewster@illinois.edu