Minor and Cluster Requirements

The Department of Mechanical Engineering offers three minors:

Courses and Minor Declaration

Students cannot declare a minor until they have been accepted into a major.

As per the University of Rochester academic policy and advising handbook, students cannot elect the satisfactory/fail option for courses submitted for a minor.

No more than two courses from the minor can be used towards a separate major or minor.

Once you’re ready to select your courses, please contact Professor John Lambropoulos, who evaluates and manages all ME minors. Once you have discussed your course selections with Professor Lambropoulos, you can submit the minor declaration form. The declaration administrator for the Department of Mechanical Engineering, will review your submission.

Any questions about these minors should be directed to Professor Lambropoulos or the undergraduate coordinator in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Mechanical Engineering Minor

A mechanical engineering (ME) minor is a great way to prepare for an interdisciplinary career in technology. Students in this minor will gain substantial skills in mechanical engineering, including hands-on experience through an upper-level design or laboratory course.

Understanding mechanics can help create a complete picture for students in other engineering disciplines, showing them how their program, wiring, materials, and mechanics come together to create a complete product. A better understanding of mechanical engineering can also help support physics and earth science majors interested in research careers.

Minor Requirements

Four ME courses at the 200 level or higher with a combined GPA of at least 2.0 in these four courses.
One the following courses must be included:

  • ME 204: Mechanical Design
  • ME 205: Advanced Mechanical Design
  • ME 240: Fundamentals of Instrumentation and Measurement
  • ME 241: Mechanics Laboratory
  • ME 251: Advanced Heat and Power

Note: Prerequisites for upper-level ME courses generally include MATH 161-164, and PHYS 121-122. Some courses may also have additional prerequisites.

Specializations

Students wishing to specialize in a specific area of ME can use the following examples as a guideline.

Fluid Dynamics and Thermal Sciences

ME 223: Heat Transfer
ME 225: Intro to Fluid Dynamics
ME 241: Mechanics Laboratory
ME 251: Heat and Power

Materials and Solid Mechanics

ME 226: Intro to Solid Mechanics
ME 240: Fundamentals of Instrumentation and Measurement
ME 280: Intro to Materials
ME 281: Mechanical Properties of Materials

Fluid Mechanics and Solid Mechanics

ME 225: Intro to Fluid Dynamics
ME 226: Intro to Solid Mechanics
ME 241: Mechanics Laboratory
ME 240: Fundamentals of Instrumentation and Measurement

Mechanical Design

ME 204: Mechanical Design
ME 205: Advanced Mechanical Design
ME 222: Robust Design
ME 226: Intro to Solid Mechanics

Structural Analysis

ME 204: Mechanical Design
ME 226: Intro to Solid Mechanics
ME 254: Finite Elements
ME 440: Mechanics of Structures

Aerospace Engineering Minor

Students in the aerospace engineering (AE) minor will take both foundational and hands-on aerospace courses. This minor is a great way to prepare for a career in the aerospace industry. The AE minor is open to all majors and is particularly compatible with majors in mechanical engineering, physics, optical engineering, chemical engineering, and electrical and computer engineering.

To get an idea of what your schedule might look like with an aerospace minor, see our sample schedules:

Required Courses

This minor requires four courses:

  • Non-Mechanical Engineering Majors: Three aerospace core courses and one mechanical engineering course.
  • Mechanical Engineering Majors: Four aerospace core courses.

Additionally, students not taking a senior design course as part of their major must take ME 205: Advanced Mechanical Design and do the aerospace design project of that class for the aerospace engineering minor. Students can review the Aerospace Engineering Minor Course List PDF to see a list of when courses are usually offered, as well as prerequisits.

Aerospace Core Courses

At least three of the following courses*:

  • ME 205: Advanced Mechanical Design**
  • ME 214/407: Advanced Dynamics
  • ME 222/424: Introduction to Robust Design and Quality Engineering
  • ME 227/427: Introduction to Aerodynamics
  • ME 231/431: Feedback Control of Dynamic Systems
  • ME 232/432: Opto-Mechanical Design
  • ME 246/446: Aerospace Structures
  • ME 254/441: Finite Element Methods

*Mechanical engineering majorsmust choose all four of their minor courses from this list.

**For ME 205: Advanced Mechanical Design to count as a core aerospace course, the student must do an aerospace design project for the class. A letter certifying that the aerospace design project has been completed will be given by the course instructor of ME 205 to the student. This course is required for students whose major does not require a senior design course.

Mechanical Engineering Courses

One of the following*:

  • ME 204: Mechanical Design
  • ME 213: Mechanical Systems and Vibrations
  • ME 225: Introduction to Fluid Dynamics
  • ME 226: Introduction to Solid Mechanics
  • CHE 268: Fundamentals of Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • ME 280: Materials Science
  • ME 436: Compressible Flow
  • ME 437: Incompressible Flow
  • ME 439: Turbulence
  • ME 440: Mechanics of Structures
  • ME 444: Continuum Mechanics
  • ME 449: Elasticity
  • ME 459: Applied Finite Elements
  • ME 481: Mechanical Properties of Solids

*Mechanical engineering majors must select all four courses from the core aerospace course list.

Materials Science Minor

Materials science is an interdisciplinary field that encompasses aspects of physics, chemistry, engineering, and biology. A minor in materials science provides students with a more holistic understanding of the materials around us and their properties.

Industries such as manufacturing, aerospace, automotive, electronics, and biomedical engineering rely heavily on materials science. Having a minor in materials science can make a candidate more attractive to employers in these fields.

Students will have the flexibility to select relevant coursework in order to customize this program of study to best suit the particular student’s intended area of focus through consultation with a faculty advisor.

Required Courses

ME 280/MSC 202: Introduction to Materials Science*

*This course requires the following prerequisites or permission from the instructor:

  • MATH 163: Differential Equations I
  • MATH 164/ME 164: Multidimensional Calculus
  • PHYS 123: Waves and Modern Physics
  • ME 226: Introduction to Solid Mechanics
  • PHYS 122: Electricity and Magnetism

Plus one of the following courses:

  • MSC 230/PHYS 227: Thermodynamics and Stat Mechanics
  • MSC 455/CHEM 455: Thermodynamics and Stat Mechanics
  • MSC 405/ME 460: Thermodynamics of Solids

Plus two of the following courses, with at least one 400- or 500-level course:

  • MSC 421/BME 420: Biomedical Nanotech
  • MSC 442/BME 442: Microbiomechanics
  • MSC 451/BME 451: Biomedical Ultrasound
  • MSC 462/BME 462: Cell and Tissue Engineering
  • BME 212/BME 412: Visco in Biotissues
  • BME 245: Biomaterials
  • BME 283/483: Biosolids
  • CHE 225: Thermodynamics I
  • MSC 413/CHE 413: Engineering of Soft Matter
  • MSC 454/CHE 454: Interfacial Engineering
  • MSC 458/CHE 458: Electrochemical Battery and Fuel Cell
  • MSC 460/CHE 460: Solar Cells
  • MSC 469/CHE 469: Biotechnology and Bioengineering
  • MSC482/CHE 482: Proc Microelectrical Device
  • MSC 485/CHE 485: Thermodynamics and Stat Mech
  • MSC 404/CHEM 404: Biophysical Chemistry II
  • MSC 416/CHEM 416: X-Ray Crystallography
  • MSC 463/CHEM 423: NMR Spectroscopy
  • MSC 455/CHEM 455: Thermodynamics and Stat Mechanics
  • MSC456/CHEM 456: Chemical Bonds: From Molecules to Materials
  • MSC 423/ECE 423: Semiconductor Devices
  • MSC 437/ECE 436: Nanophot/Nanomech Devices
  • MSC 473/ECE 435: Introduction to Opto-Electronics
  • MSC 520/ECE 520: Spin Based Electronics
  • MSC 424/ME 222: Introduction to Robust Design and Quality Engineering
  • MSC 432/ME 232: Optomechanics
  • MSC 405/ME 460: Thermodynamics of Solids
  • MSC 470/OPT 421: Optical Properties of Materials
  • MSC 465/OPT 465: Principles of Lasers
  • MSC 507/OPT 507: SEM Practicum
  • MSC 420/PHYS 251: Introduction to Condensed Matter Physics
  • MSC 230/PHYS 227: Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics
  • MSC 418/PHYS 418: Statistical Mechanics
  • MSC 420/PHYS 420: Introduction to Condensed Matter Physics
  • EESC 204W: Earth Materials
  • EESC 208: Structural Geology