The department of Mechanical Engineering offers a four-year-program leading to a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering. The program is designed to prepare students with an understanding of how to apply laws of basic science, while simultaneously stimulating the development of creative thinking, professional attitude, and economic judgment. The flexibility and interdisciplinary aspects of the program, as depicted in the elective concentration, are intended to meet the needs of those students whose future interests may lie in the pursuit of graduate studies in Mechanical Engineering, or in one or more interfaces between engineering and the sciences. There is a total of 135 hours in the mechanical Engineering Curriculum.
The undergraduate enrollment is about 260 students mostly African American and of Louisiana residents. There are 18 full-time faculty members consisting of seven professors, six associate professors, and five assistance professors. The department offers a well-balanced program in mechanical engineering with emphasis in engineering design and manufacturing, and materials and thermal sciences. Course offers also are aimed at providing a rigorous engineering education for students who may seek employment in engineering areas or in related interdisciplinary fields where technical and non technical factories exert significant influence on the success of the chosen career. Applications of modern techniques in computers and computer aided design are encouraged in Mechanical engineering courses.
The department has more than ten instructional and research laboratories that are equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, instrumentation, and computing facilities. Research activities has grown significantly and mechanical engineering faculty are currently engaged in more than 25 educational and basic engineering research projects funded over 5 million dollars through grants from state government, federal agencies, and industry. Faculty research areas include: (1) Manufacturing: Computer Integrated Manufacturing, Data Dependent systems, Machine Vision/Image Processing, Manufacturing, Mechatronics, Metrology, Robotics and Statistical Data Processing, (2) Materials: High Temperature Testing, Industrial Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Materials Processing, Mechanical Behavior of Materials/Microstructure and Nanocrystalline Materials, (3) Thermal Science/Fluids: Combustion and Reacting Flows, Computational Fluid Dynamics and Heat Transfer, High Heat Flux Applications and Multi-phase Transport Processes and Phase change in Porous Media and in Manufacturing Processes; (4) Energy Conservation: HVAC, Solar Energy System Design, Alternative Energy, Computer-based Preventative Maintenance, Energy Management Control System Analysis, and Computer Simulation of Buildings; (5) Composite Materials: Chemical Characterization and Surface Analysis, Composites Manufacturing, Mechanical and Impact Testing, Thermal Analysis; (6) Experimental Solid Mechanics: Thermal Stresses, Mechanics of Materials and Material Properties (7) Failure Criteria and Stress analysis: Solid Modeling & Finite Element Analysis.
The mechanical Engineering program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of the Accreditation Board for Engineering Technology (ABET). |
