Mechanical Engineering Areas of Special Interest (ASI) and Minor Programs

For an Area of Special Interest in Mechanical Engineering, the student must complete the following 12 credit hours:

For a Minor in Mechanical Engineering, the student must complete a minimum of 18 credits from the following:

Required Courses (choose three, 9 credits)

Tracks (choose 1)
Robotics, Automation & Design Track (9 credits)

Solid Materials Track (9 credits)

Thermal-Fluids Track (9 credits)

The Additive Manufacturing minor and ASI provides students with the interdisciplinary skills needed to apply cutting-edge manufacturing techniques within a wide range of industries. Throughout the program, students work with state-of-the-art industrial equipment and open-platform fabrication systems with a focus on additive manufacturing. The Additive Manufacturing teaching lab is dedicated to the program, allowing students to explore various equipment and systems. Within this lab, students have the option to work with polymers, metals, ceramics and biological materials, while optimizing structural design and capturing and interpreting important process data.

ASI in Additive Manufacturing: 12 credit hours
Minor in Additive Manufacturing: 18 credit hours

Required Course for ASI and Minor (3.0 credits)

Elective Courses (ASI: 9.0 credits / Minor: 15.0 credits*)

*At least 9.0 of the hours required for the minor or ASI must not be used for any part of the degree other than Free Electives and must be 300-level courses or higher.

Note: if you are seriously considering Additive Manufacturing as a career, you might be interested in the MS-NT in Additive Manufacturing.  You can double count two classes between your UG and Graduate degree, so that leaves 24 CH (8 courses) to finish in one additional year at Mines.

Masters – Non-Thesis in Additive Manufacturing: 30 credit hours
Click here for more information on an MS-NT in Additive Manufacturing.

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In the last decade, the pace of technological innovation in aerospace systems has increased at a fast rate. This formidable progress has been possible by the contribution of a variety of engineering disciplines.  Keenly aware of the strong student interest in this field and of the demand of engineering talent to meet the growing needs of the aerospace industry, Mines has launched the Aerospace Engineering Minor.  This program is aimed at students interested in the design, development, and operation of aerospace systems by introducing them to the fundamentals of aero and astrodynamics, systems engineering, propulsion, space operations, structures, and materials and integrating these disciplines into the design of flight vehicles with a variety of mission goals.

Minor in Aerospace Engineering: 18 credit hours
The following courses will launch the new Aerospace Engineering minor, and a team of faculty in ME will help develop additional courses in coming years to expand the opportunities for electives within the minor. Note that three of the six courses will count toward the ME major, with MEGN451 taken as the Advanced Engineering Science Elective.

• • MEGN 452 Introduction to Space Exploration (3 CH)
  • MEGN 414 Mechanics of Composites (3 CH)
  • MEGN 451 Aerodynamics (3 CH)
  • MEGN 453 Aerospace Structures (3 CH)
  • MEGN 455 Aerospace Systems Engineering (3 CH)
  • MEGN 456 Space Operations (3 CH)
  • MEGN 454 Orbital Mechanics (3 CH)
    

Recommended order of courses

The Biomechanical Engineering Minor applies foundational mechanical engineering knowledge to the human body.  We offer courses in musculoskeletal biomechanics, injury biomechanics, and computational biomechanical modeling.  These courses incorporate fundamental principles of mechanical engineering such as statics, dynamics and mechanics of materials to biological systems.  There are opportunities to evaluate how device design affects biomechanical function, consideration for the non-linear properties of biological tissue, and treatment of individual variation in biomechanical structure and function.  Students in the biomechanical engineering minor also have the opportunity to take courses outside of mechanical engineering such as anatomy and physiology, mathematical biology, introduction to neuroscience, and biomaterials.  This minor is recommended for students who are interested in the medical device industry, post-graduate opportunities in research, or clinical professions.

Minor in Biomechanical Engineering: 18 credit hours

Required Courses (7.0 credits)

Three more courses may be chosen from the proposed list of electives. The list of electives will be modified as new related courses become available.

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