Undergraduate Program

Major Requirements

The Department of Mechanical Engineering offers an undergraduate program leading to an accredited BS degree in mechanical engineering (ME). (Accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET)

This page is only meant to be a guide. Students should meet with their advisor for updated department information and for help with academic planning.

Current students should follow the semester-by-semester program schedule for mechanical engineering students when picking courses. 

Requirements

A minimum of 128 credit hours of coursework is required for graduation. Students must also maintain a minimum 2.0 cumulative grade point average (GPA), both in mechanical engineering courses and overall.  

Scheduling Courses

Our program requires students to continue to build on the knowledge they’ll learn throughout their coursework, with many of our courses requiring one or more prerequisite courses. As many required courses are only offered once a year, we ask that all of our students follow the program schedule.

You can also use our program requirement checklist to make sure you’re staying on track.

Foundational Courses (Eight Courses)

Many of these foundational courses must be taken in a specific order to meet prerequisite requirements, so we require all of our students to follow the program schedule when planning courses. 

Students are required to complete all of the following foundational courses or their equivalency:

• PHYS 122: Electricity and Magnetism
• CHEM 137: Chemical Principles for Engineers*
• PHYS 121: Mechanics**
• MATH 161: Calculus 1A***
• MATH 162: Calculus IIA***
• MATH 164: Multidimensional Calculus
• MATH 165: Linear Algebra and Differential Equations
• OPT 210: Circuits

*Students may take CHEM 131 in place of CHEM 137, but it is not recommended.

**PHYS 113 may be taken in place of PHYS 121, but it is not recommended. Students may also consider taking PHYS 141 and 142, the honors series.

***The MTH 140-3 series, though not preferred, can satisfy MATH 161 and 162. Students may also consider taking MATH 170-4, the honors series can satisfy.

Mechanical Engineering Core Courses (16 Courses)

Students are required to complete all of the 16 core courses listed below. Many of these foundational courses must be taken in a specific order to meet prerequisite requirements, so we require all of our students to follow the program schedule when planning courses. 

Students are required to take all of the following courses, following our program schedule:

• ME 121: Engineering Mechanics II
• ME 160: Engineering Computation I
• ME 204: Mechanical Design
• ME 213: Mechanical Systems
• ME 225: Intro to Fluid Dynamics
• ME 240: Fundamentals of Instrumentation/Measurement
• ME 280: Intro to Material Science
• ME 123: Thermodynamics
• ME 205: Advanced Mechanical Design
• ME 223: Heat Transfer
• ME 226: Intro to Solid Mechanics
• ME 241: Mechanics Lab
• ME 251: Heat Power Application
• ME 260: Engineering Computation II
• ME 110: Intro to CAD and Drawing
• ME 120: Engineering Mechanics I

Upper-level writing courses (ME 204, 205, 240, 241) cannot be taken at a different university.

Technical Elective (One Course)

Students are required to complete one technical elective and normally take ME 104 during their first year. Alternately one of the following courses may be taken during any year.

• Biomedical engineering – Any course at the 200 level or higher except BME 201
• Computer science – 170, 171, 172, 173, and any course at the 200 level or higher
• Chemistry – 113 and any course at the 200 level or higher
• Electrical and computer engineering – 112, 114, 140 and any course at the 200 level or higher
• Mechanical engineering – Any course not otherwise required (with the restriction that EAS104/ME104 must be taken in the freshman year)
• Optics – Any course at the 200 level or higher
• Math – 150 and any course at the 200 level or higher
• Statistics – 212 and 213

If taken within the first two semesters, students may take any of the Hajim introductory courses, including BME 101, CHE 150, ECE 101, ME 104, or OPT 101. All of these courses are cross listed as EAS 10X.

AP, IB, or transfer credit cannot be used to satisfy this requirement unless the offering department has granted equivalency. Please speak to the ME undergraduate coordinator if you intend to fulfill this requirement with outside credit.

Writing Requirements (Two Courses)

The primary writing requirement is fulfilled through WRTG 105.  Students explore their professional identity, enhance their communication skills, and learn strategies to fulfill their internship, career, and graduate school goals in WRTG 273. The upper-level writing requirement is fulfilled through upper-level laboratory courses (ME 240, ME 241) and design courses (ME 204, ME 205), all of which are core courses.

• WRTG 105: Introduction to Collegiate Writing
• WRTG 273: Communicating Your Professional Identity

Natural Science Elective Requirement (One Course)

All ME majors must complete one four-credit natural science course to sharpen their skills as thinkers and scientists.

Students can choose from one of the following courses:

• Astronomy – 111, 142 and any course at the 200 level or higher
• Biology – 110, 111, 198 and any course at the 200 level or higher EXCEPT BIO 214
• Chemistry – 132 and any course at the 200 level or higher
• Earth and environmental science – 100, 101, 102, 103, 105, 106, 119 and any course at the 200 level or higher
• Math – 150 and any course at the 200 level or higher
• Physics – 103, 123, 143 and any course at the 200 level or higher

AP, IB, or transfer credit cannot be used to satisfy this requirement unless the offering department has granted equivalency. Please speak to the ME undergraduate coordinator if you intend to fulfill this requirement with outside credit.

Cluster Requirement (Four Courses)

All ME majors must complete a total of four courses* in humanities and/or social sciences. Three of these courses must constitute an approved cluster in humanities or social sciences. See the Cluster Search Engine to explore options.

The most popular clusters for ME majors are:

• American Sign Language
• Applied economics
• Psychology as a social science

The fourth course can be chosen from any humanities or social science discipline and does not need to be related to the cluster. Software and computer courses cannot be used to satisfy the additional course requirement.

*A second major or minor in a humanities or social science area will also satisfy the cluster and additional course requirement.

Free Electives (If Needed)

Free elective courses are only necessary if student will not reach 128 credit minimum needed to graduate.