Minor in Mechanical Engineering

The minor in Mechanical Engineering introduces students to the core areas of the discipline and then allows them to create their own area of focus from our numerous course offerings or to focus in one of four traditional areas: controls, design, manufacturing, or thermal science. Every student in our minor will gain an understanding of moving systems, the transfer and use of energy and the ways materials bend and change as a result of stress. The focus areas allow more advanced study in a particular area of interest. The courses in our minor represent the heart of our discipline and consist of some of the most challenging courses in our department. While students with GPAs above 2.0 are eligible to participate, this minor is really only recommended for students with very strong academic records.

A student who plans to pursue a minor in mechanical engineering must take the following core courses, and then choose one of the paths. These paths are not mandatory; they are proposed to facilitate advising. A minimum of at least 20 credits, of which 9 must be at the upper division (300-400) level, of Mechanical Engineering (MNE) courses must be taken, following a plan of study approved by an advisor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and signed by the Chairperson of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. A minimum 2.000 MNE minor GPA is required for students to graduate with the minor. A minor must be completed at the time of the degree and will be so noted on the student's transcript. A student cannot be readmitted to the University to complete only a minor.

Minor in Mechancial Engineering Tracking Sheet

Core Courses

EGR 241 Engineering Statics
EGR 242 Engineering Dynamics
MNE 252 Mechanics of Materials

CEN majors can use CEN 202 and CEN 212 to meet the MNE 252 requirement. Students from other majors should complete MNE 252.

Total (10) credits

Focus Areas

The remaining 10 or more credits should be chosen based on the student's area of interest. Possible areas include:

Controls

MNE 381 Design of Machine Elements
MNE 491 Advanced Machine Design
MNE 466 Control Theory

Total (10) credits

In this case the student completes the minor in 20 credits.

Design

MNE 381 Design of Machine Elements
MNE 491 Advanced Machine Design

Plus one of the following courses:

MNE 441 Mechanical Vibrations, or
MNE 485 Introduction to the Finite Element Method

Total (10) credits

In this case the student completes the minor in 20 credits.

Manufacturing

MNE 231 Material Science
MNE 345 Design for Manufacturing

Plus two of the following courses:

MNE 446 Finite Element Method in Additive Manufacturing
MNE 476 Manufacturing Quality Control
MNE 481 Computer Aided Manufacturing
MNE 482 Robotics

Total (14) credits

In this case the student completes the minor in 24 credits.

Thermal Sciences

MNE 220 Engineering Thermodynamics
MNE 311 Heat Transfer
MNE 332 Fluid Mechanics
MNE 3xx/4xx course

Total (13) credits

In this case the student completes the minor in 23 credits.

Open

A student does not have to choose any of the above paths. Instead the student must take at least 10 credits of additional MNE courses. Nine of these credits must be at the 300-level or higher. The following is an example:

MNE 220 Engineering Thermodynamics (as prerequisite for MNE 332)
MNE 332 Fluid Mechanics
MNE 381 Design of Machine Elements
MNE 441 Mechanical Vibrations

Total (13) credits

In this case the student completes the minor in 23 credits.