Graduate Faculty

701-231-8671

Iskander S. Akhatov, Ph.D.
Lomonosov Moscow State University, 1983
Research Interests:
Fluid Dynamics, Multiphase Systems, Micro/Nanofluidics

Sherman P. Goplen, Ph.D.
Texas A & M University, 1977
Research Interests:
Applied Thermodynamics, Technology Transfer

Alan R. Kallmeyer, Ph.D.
University of Iowa, 1995
Research Interests:
Theoretical, Computational, and Experimental Solid Mechanics, Fatigue and Fracture of Engineering Materials, Composite Materials

Ghodrat Karami, Ph.D.
Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London, 1984
Research Interests:
Multiscale Computational Solid Mechanics, Biomechanics, Cellular Mechanics, Micromechanics Characterization of Composites, Continuum Mechanics, Structural Mechanics, Nonlinear and Large Deformation and Analysis, Thermoelastic Analysis.

Zakaria Mahmud, Ph.D.
University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, 2003
Research Interests:
Experimental Fluid Mechanics/ Aerodynamics, Energy Technology, gas Turbine/ Turbo Machinery, Scramjet Combustion and Propulsion, Laser Based Diagnostics, Active and Passive Flow Controls and High-speed Gas Dynamics.

Robert V. Pieri, Ph.D.
Carnegie-Mellon University, 1987
Research Interests:
Design, Materials and Nanomaterials Characterization, Instructional Pedagogy, Fracture Mechanics, Measurements, Alternative Energy, and Industrial Support

Michael Stewart, Ph.D.
University of Illinois, 1979
Research Interests:
Computational Fluid Dynamics, Heat and Mass Transfer in Porous Media

Majura Selekwa, Ph.D.
Florida A&M University, 2001
Research Interests:
Robotics, Machine Intelligence, Softcomputing Applications, Numerical Methods and Numerical Optimization, Optimal and Robust Control, Smart Actuation Control Systems, Real-Time Control in Mechatronics.

Yildirim Bora Suzen, Ph.D.
Wichita State University, 1998
Research Interests:
Computational Fluid Dynamics, Aerodynamics, Modeling of Industrial Transport Processes, Transition and Turbulence Modeling, Active/Adaptive Flow Control, Turbomachinery, Multiprocessor CFD

Annie X.W. Tangpong, Ph.D.
Carnegie Mellon University, 2006
Research Interests:
Vibrations and Dynamics, Tribology, Friction Damping in Rotating Structures, Friction Damping in Nano- and Bio-materials.

Chad A. Ulven, Ph.D.
University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2005
Research Interests:
Advanced Composites Materials Development, Environmentally Friendly Materials Processing, Nondestructive Evaluation, Impact/High Strain Rate Characterization of Advanced Materials

Mariusz Ziejewski, Ph.D.
North Dakota State University, 1986
Research Interests:
Impact Biomechanics, Human Body Dynamics, Head and Neck Trauma, Impact Trauma, Human Brain Modeling, Statistical Methods.

Program Description

The Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics offers graduate programs leading to the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees. Graduate work may be concentrated in engineering mechanics, fatigue and fracture, biomechanics and biomaterials, thermal engineering, fluid mechanics, automatic controls, or engineering materials with an emphasis on plastics and composite materials. Students with a B.S. degree in physics or mathematics may pursue a special graduate program of studies and earn an M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Admissions Requirements

In addition to minimum Graduate School admission requirements, applicants must have a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or in a closely related field. International students must provide both TOEFL (or IELTS)and Graduate Record Examination general test scores before their applications will be considered.

Financial Assistance

Research and/or teaching assistantships may be available to qualified students. Applicants are considered on the basis of scholarship, potential to undertake advanced study and research, and financial need. To be considered for an assistantship, a completed Graduate School application, official transcripts, and three letters of reference must be submitted to The Graduate School. For international students, TOEFL (or IELTS)and GRE results are also required. Research and teaching assistantships are available contingent upon current funding.

Degree Requirements

The minimum total semester credits required for the M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering is 30. The M.S. degree can be earned with either of two options: the thesis option or the comprehensive study option. With the thesis option, a student must complete a core curriculum of 9 credits (three courses) of graduate courses in mechanical engineering, a master's thesis of 6 to 9 credits of ME 798, and the remaining credits from other approved graduate level courses. At the conclusion of the graduate program, the student will be examined orally on the thesis and coursework. With the comprehensive study option, a student must complete a core curriculum of 9 credits (three courses) of graduate courses in mechanical engineering, a master's paper of no more than 3 credits of ME 797, and the remaining credits from other approved graduate level courses. At the conclusion of the graduate program, the student must pass a comprehensive oral examination on the Master's paper and coursework. For more detailed information on the requirements for the M.S. degree, contact the department.

The Ph.D. program requires the completion of 90 credit hours of graduate study beyond the baccalaureate degree (60 credits beyond the M.S. degree). In addition to the credit requirements for the M.S. degree, the Ph.D. degree requires a minimum of 24 course credits and a minimum of 24 credits of research-based dissertation. The remaining 12 credits may consist of any approved graduate level credits. Each student is required to pass a series of written qualifying exams on core subjects within 24 months of enrollment in the Ph.D. program. After the majority of coursework has been completed, an oral preliminary exam will be administered focusing on the student's proposal for the dissertation research. At the conclusion of the Ph.D. program, each student is required to pass a comprehensive oral final examination primarily focused on the dissertation, but which may also cover material from coursework, particularly courses fundamental to the dissertation. For more detailed information on the requirements for the Ph.D. degree, contact the department.

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Courses Offered

612 Engineering Measurements* 3

Principles and characteristics of instruments used for engineering measurements, statistical analysis of data, signal conditioning, data acquisition systems. Includes laboratory. Recommended: ECE 303, ME 223.

621 Theory of Vibrations* 3

Fundamentals of vibrations; free, forced, and damped vibration of single and multiple degrees-of-freedom systems.Recommended: ME 213, 222; Math 266.

633 Composite Materials Science and Engineering 3

This course covers composite materials science and technologies which are combinations of raw materials, interfacial issues, curing science and basic relationship between raw materials and properties of composites. Recommended: ME 331.

635 Plastics and Injection Molding Manufacturing 3

See Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering for description.

642 Machine Design I* 3

Application of engineering mechanics, material properties, and failure theories to the design of reliable machine components. Recommended: ME 213, ME 331, ME 423.

654 Heat and Mass Transfer* 3

Principles of heat transfer by conduction, convection, and radiation. Introduction to mass transfer principles. Recommended: ME 213, 352; Math 266.

*Courses 612, 621, 642, and 654 are not acceptable for credit in graduate programs in Mechanical Engineering (M.S. or Ph.D.).

 

671 Stress Analysis 3

Coordination of mathematical and modern experimental analysis as applied to engineering materials. Includes laboratory. Recommended: ME 223, ME 331.

672 Fatigue and Fracture of Metals 3

Causes and effects of fatigue failure and fracture of metals, analytical methods for fatigue design and fatigue life prediction, fatigue crack initiation and propagation, fatigue testing and validation. Recommended: ME 442.

673 Polymer Engineering 3

Mechanical and thermal properties of plastics materials as needed to design and manufacture plastic components to support constant and time-varying loads. Recommended: ME 331.

674 Mechanics of Composite Materials 3

Materials, properties, stress, and strength analyses; engineering design and manufacturing aspects of short and continuous fiber-reinforced materials. Recommended: ME 423.

675 Automatic Controls 3

Introduction to industrial automatic controls. Theory and applications of pneumatic control, continuous process control, and programmable logic control. Demonstrations and discussion of the current industrial practice. Recommended: Math 266.

676 Mechatronics 3

Design and development of mechatronic systems that require an integrated knowledge of mechanical engineering, electronics, computer science and control theory. Recommended: ME 412 or ME 475

677 ME Finite Element Analysis 3

Introduction to the finite element method and its application to problems in mechanical engineering, including stress analysis. Recommended: ME 423 and ME 213 or ABEn 255.

679 Fluid Power Systems Design 3

Fluid dynamics principles and fluid properties are applied to the study of function, performance, and design of system components and systems for power transmission and control purposes. Recommended: ME 222, 352.

680 Advanced Fluid Dynamics 3

Formulation and solution of advanced problems in fluid dynamics: fluid dynamical phenomena in biological systems; analysis of cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Recommended ME 352.

681 Fundamentals of Energy Conversion 3

Introduction to electric power generating systems and their major components, such as turbines, boilers, condensers, and cooling towers. Recommended: ME 353.

682 Fuel Cell Science and Engineering 3

This course describes the fundamental principles, technologies, and applications of fuel cells, and emerging class of energy storage/conversion devices. Prereq: CHEM 121 and ME 351.

683 Introduction to Computational Fluid Dynamics 3

Introduction to the methods and analysis techniques used in numerical solutions of fluid flow, heat and mass transfer problems of practical engineering interest. Recommended: ME 352

684 Gas Turbines 3

Theory and design of gas turbines and components. Recommended: ME 454.

685 Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning 3

Application of the basic fundamentals of thermodynamics, heat transfer, and fluid flow to heating, ventilating, and air conditioning. Recommended: ME 353, ME 454/654.

686 Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials 3

See Civil Engineering for description.

687 Internal Combustion Engines 3

Theory and practice of power and propulsion engines utilizing gas as a working substance. Study of gas turbines, spark, and compression ignition engines. Recommended: ME 351.

688 Introduction to Aerodynamics

Introductory aerodynamics, aerodynamic characteristic of airfoils, and other components subjected to inviscid-incompressible flows; dynamics of compressible fluids; shock waves, one-dimensional flow, expansion waves in two-dimensional flow, and compressible flow over aerodynamics bodies. Recommended: ME 352

689 Vehicle Dynamics 3

Fundamental science and engineering underlying the design and operation of vehicles. Use of previous knowledge of statics, kinematics, dynamics, and machine design. Recommended: ME 213.

711 Advanced Engineering Analysis 3

Mathematical analysis and numerical treatment of engineering problems, eigenvalue problems in lumped and distributed parameter systems, advanced mathematics applied to engineering design. Departmental approval.

712 Advanced Finite Element Analysis 3

Application of finite element methods to problems of plasticity, viscoplasticity, fracture, vibrations, fluids, material and geometric nonlinearity, and heat transfer. Recommended: ME 477/677.

717 PC-Based Measurements and Controls 3

Introduction to digital electronics. Discussion of sensors, personal computers, signal conditioning, analog to digital converters, and digital to analog converters; selection of commercial hardware and software. Recommended: ME 412/612.

720 Continuum Mechanics 3

See Civil Engineering for description.

721 Advanced Dynamics and Vibrations 3

Kinematics and dynamics of a particle, a system of particles, and a rigid body, orbital motion. Lagrange's equations, vibration theory. Recommended: ME 421/621.

722 Mechanics of Deformable Solids 3

Special problems in theories of failure, contact stresses, thick-walled cylinders, thin tubes, curved beams, energy methods. Recommended: ME 223.

723 Experimental Stress Analysis 3

Measurement of deformations that are of significance in the engineering design of load resisting members. Use of optical, electrical, and mechanical instrumentation; brittle coating and photoelastic techniques. Includes laboratory. Recommended: ME 471/671.

725 Advanced Mechanics and Failure of Composites 3

Concepts in static, dynamics, impact, and thermal analysis of anistropic elastic materials are covered. Different failure theories, laminated theories, and micromechanics formulations of composites are reviewed in detail. Recommended: ME 474 and 477.

726 Fracture Mechanics

LEFM, energy release rate, stress intensity factor, fracture mechanics, j-integral, elasto-plastic fracture, crack tip plasticity, crack propagation, fracture fatigue crack growth, fracture tests, fracture in polymers, fracture in ceramics, composite fracture, delamination. Recommended: ME 423, ME 477.

731 Mechanical Behavior of Materials 3

Fundamental concepts of eleastic, viscoelastic, and plastic deformation of materials; emphasizing atomic and microstructure-mechanical property relationships. Theory of static and dynamic dislocations; fracture, fatigue, and creep as well as strengthening mechanisms in materials. Recommended ME 331 or basic materials science course.

734 Smart Materials and Structures 3

This course describes the physics, chemistry, engineering principles and applications of smart materials and structures. Recommended: Any basic materials science (ME 331), solid state physics class (PHYS 401, 402, or 485), or P&C 472/672 and 474/674.

743 Biomechanics of Impact 3

The course will describe the fundamental sciences of engineering and human anatomy that form the basis of biomechanics of soft tissue and bone under dynamic conditions. Recommended: ME 223, ME 331.

751 Advanced Thermodynamics 3

Rigorous treatment of thermodynamic principles. Emphasis on the concept of availability methods as applied to various engineering systems. Recommended: ME 353.

753 Gas Dynamics 3

Fundamental concepts of fluid dynamics and thermodynamics are used in the treatment of compressible flow, frictional flows, and flows with heat transfer or energy release. Prereq: ME 352.

754 Boundary Layer Theory 3

Fundamental laws of motion of a viscous fluid are derived and used in the consideration of laminar boundary layers, transition phenomena, and turbulent boundary layer flows. Recommended: ME 352.

755 Multiscale Fluid Dynamics 3

Fundamental principles of fluid dynamics in micro and nano scales, with applications to nanotechnology and biotechnology. Recommended: ME 352.

761 Heat Transmission I 3

Advanced study of heat conduction in solids. Analytical, graphical, and numerical evaluations of the temperature field. Use of advanced mathematical methods in the solution of boundary value problems. Recommended: ME 454/654 or equivalent.

779 Selected Topics in Mechanical Engineering 3

Topics or studies require departmental approval.

The following variable credit courses are also offered:

790 Graduate Seminar 1-3

793 Individual Study/Tutorial 1-3

795 Field Experience 1-10

696/796 Special Topics 1-5

797 Master's Paper 1-3

798 Master's Thesis 1-10

799 Doctoral Dissertation 1-15