Mechanical Engineering

Overview

Graduates are prepared for challenging and rewarding employment in high-technology industries, research organizations, consulting firms and government agencies. These programs are also designed to serve both full-time and part-time graduate students. The department is closely associated with area industries, consulting firms, government agencies and research laboratories, which add relevance to the graduate engineering curricula, creating a stimulating environment for the pursuit of graduate studies. The students also benefit from the University’s affiliation with NASA Langley Research Center, the Jefferson National Laboratory, the National Institute of Aerospace, and the Virginia Modeling Analysis and Simulation Center. All degree programs offered by the department can be utilized as components within the linked Baccalaureate-Master’s and Baccalaureate-Doctoral degree programs offered through the Batten College of Engineering and Technology.

The Master of Science degree is a research degree requiring a written thesis. The thesis constitutes 6 semester credit hours within the 30 semester credit hour requirement. Students are given a verbal examination, administered as the student’s thesis defense, under the direction of the faculty advisor with support from the Thesis Advisory Committee. The examination consists of two parts, a student presentation of their thesis research followed by a closed session where the Thesis Advisory Committee further questions the student. The committee concentrates on research presented in both oral and written formats, but may expand questioning to include related course work. The thesis should be formatted with guidelines established by the College.