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MechE Features

Amy Smith: Service Engineering

Amy B. Smith is an inventor who creates useful technologies for others. Yet before she could do that, she had to invent something else: a way to channel her skills into a path that was meaningful to her. "When I was working towards my bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering here in the 1980s, the chief focus in the field seemed to be cars and bombs," she says. "I don't drive and I don't like war, so I had to find my own way."


Center for Ocean Engineering: Anchors Away

Originally established in 1893 as the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering (NA&ME), and rechristened the Department of Ocean Engineering in 1970, the program officially merged with Mechanical Engineering on January 1, 2005. Thus also emerged the Center for Ocean Engineering (COE).


Course 2-A: Customized Curriculum

To borrow the tagline from a famous computer maker's advertising campaign, some of our undergraduate students "think different". In fact, many of them do, and for them MechE offers Course 2-A: SB in Engineering as recommended by the Department of Mechanical Engineering.


Ian Hunter: Innovator Actuator

Professor Ian Hunter has high standards for his students. Of the six areas of knowledge required for his Bioinstrumentation Lab - biology, optics, mechanics, mathematics, electronics, and chemistry (which he dubs BOMMEC) - he expects his students to be proficient in at least three. Hunter seeks, in his own words, "Renaissance types who are broadly trained and can march across disciplines to find solutions."


Energy Science & Engineering: Power Surge

The subject of energy - where it comes from, what it costs, its environmental footprint, how we use it, and how long current sources will last - is of primary importance today and will be one of the most critical areas of investment and research for decades to come. Energy Science & Engineering (ESE) focuses on discovering and refining technologies for clean, efficient, and safe energy conversion and utilization.


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