Welcome
On behalf of the faculty and staff of the Department
of Mechanical Engineering at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering,
I want to welcome you to our web site. Since the program was
established in 1983 (with only one full time faculty member),
we have been working vigorously to increase the size and improve
the quality of our educational and research programs. We are
proud of the fact that the Department has grown to the current
size of 19 full time faculty members. Their diverse backgrounds
and internationally recognized research and educational expertise
encompass all major fields in Mechanical Engineering.
The Mechanical Engineering undergraduate curriculum
is designed to provide students with a broad knowledge in basic
engineering science and design, and to build a solid foundation
for professional careers in engineering. Since 1997, we have
been revamping our program to shift emphasis from a topics-based
curriculum to an integrated curriculum that introduces engineering
design earlier in the course of study and integrates it throughout
the curriculum. This new curriculum also offers a year-long
senior "capstone" course focused on product realization
processes with real-world engineering practice issues. Finally,
we have expanded the use technical electives to provide depth
in specific areas of mechanical engineering. Our new curriculum
produces students who graduate with a better appreciation of
the systems approach to engineering, improved written and oral
communication skills, and stronger teamwork capabilities. We
currently have an undergraduate enrollment of about 350 full
time students, of which 50% are underrepresented minorities.
Details of the integrated curriculum and its assessment can
be found in the ME ABET 2002 Self Study Report located under
ABET 2000 link in the Undergraduate Program section.
Recognizing the fact that education is a lifelong
pursuit, our graduate program is designed to provide students
with the skills, knowledge and philosophical grounding that
will enable them to continue to grow throughout their career.
Currently, our graduate student enrollment has reached 77 full-time
students, with 37 pursuing their Ph.D. degrees.
Our research program emphasizes both basic
research, which expands the frontiers of knowledge, and applied
research, which is designed to solve the present and projected
technological needs of society. Major research activities are
focused in four primary areas: Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer,
Structural Mechanics, Material Science and Engineering, and
Dynamic Systems and Controls. Each of these areas is served
by one or more state-of-the-art laboratories. In addition, interdisciplinary
research programs are conducted in cooperation with the National
High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL), the Center for Advanced
Power Systems (CAPS), the Center for Materials Research and
Technology (MARTECH), and the school of Computational Science
& Information Technology (CSIT). A new thrust area of Power
and Energy Conversion is being developed in affiliation with
the newly established CAPS program.
I hope that you will enjoy visiting our web
site and I encourage you to browse through our ABET section,
which contains a detailed report on our undergraduate program.
I would also suggest a visit to our Research Highlights page,
which features several Power Point presentations highlighting
the most recent research activities of our faculty. Feel free
to share your views and comments with us. Your feedback is very
important for us to continuously assess and improve our program.
Thank you.
Chiang Shih
Professor and Chair
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