Career Impact
Courses in the M.Eng.ME program are taught by renowned MechSE faculty and highly regarded industry experts, bringing their real-world experiences to the classroom. Capstone projects showcase student-developed engineering solutions for leading industrial partners, and professional internships for course credit are an option.
In addition to receiving a top education in mechanical engineering, you will have access to Engineering Career Services in The Grainger College of Engineering -- where they offer personalized resources to assist you in your professional job search.
Other career and professional development resources are available through the Graduate College at Illinois. The Graduate College provides workshops to enhance and support your job search process—from starting your search and preparing your application materials to negotiating your job offer. And there are many career fair opportunities each semester that allow you to connect with corporate recruiters in person.
Additionally, staff in the MechSE Graduate Programs Office and the M.Eng.ME Program send email notifications about any career opportunities we are aware of.
Average Salaries
- M.Eng. Mechanical Engineer (from University of Illinois): $79,117 with an average signing bonus of $5,666
- B.S. Mechanical Engineer (from University of Illinois): $67,567
- B.S. Mechanical Engineer (national average): $63,630
Our graduates are employed at companies such as:
- Abbott Laboratories
- Amazon
- ASM
- Boeing
- Caterpillar
- Connelly Electric Co.
- Dow Chemical
- Delphi Technologies
- Exponent
- Intel
- John Deere
- Microsoft
- Milwaukee Tools
- NASA
- Navistar
- Nevada Gold Mines
- Northrop Grumman
- Ontario Power Generation
- Redwood Materials
- Sandia National Laboratories
- Siemens
- SpaceX
- Tesla
- Trane Technologies
- U.S. Air Force
They have accepted positions such as:
- Application Engineer
- Design Engineer
- Controls Engineer
- Electrification Engineer
- Engineering Consultant
- Patent Analyst
- Product Engineer
- Project Leader
- R&D Scientist & Engineer
- Research Aerospace Engineer
- Robotics Engineer
- Safety Engineer
- Senior Associate Software Engineer
- Senior Product Development Engineer
- Vehicle Engineering Associate
M.Eng.ME graduates are also more likely to be hired in or promoted to leadership or senior engineering positions.
“M.Eng.ME has been a stepping stone in my life and career. Being part of this program helped me grow my skills in fields I never had a chance to advance before. It made it possible for me to gain more hands-on experience and dive deeper into the robotics f ield by taking courses such as Mechatronics, Robot Dynamics and Control and an independent study in Humanoid Robotics. This helped me immensely in landing an internship and a job in the industry after graduation. Additionally, the program facilitated building a valuable professional network with peers who went on to work at major industry leaders.”
- Saba Setayeshi, M.Eng.ME alumnus 2024 (with concentration in Entrepreneurship and Innovation),
Mechanical Engineer at LifeFoundry
Alumni Features and News from the M.Eng.ME Program
Are you an industry partner?
Contact us about how you can connect with our Master of Engineering students. We would be happy to arrange a partnership for any/all of the following:
- Looking to hire? Send us your job posting and we will share it with our students.
- Have a project in mind? Contact us to learn about setting up a corporate capstone project.
- Have employees seeking a master’s degree? The M.Eng.ME degree can be pursued on campus or online as well as part-time or full-time, making it a viable option for your employees.
For any of these opportunities, contact M.Eng.ME Program staff at mechse-meng@illinois.edu.
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