Mechanical Engineering
MS

The Mechanical Engineering Department offers the MS degree in mechanical engineering. Course offerings and faculty interests span the entire range of the mechanical engineering field.

The MS program provides advanced education enabling students to solve complex engineering problems.

The program also offers an option in industrial and systems engineering, in which you will learn the critical tools of optimization, modeling, and quality assurance—allowing you to refine your management skills and support the business objectives of your organization. Learn more: option in Industrial & Systems Engineering

Student success

Mechanical engineering MS student Aysha Asha '23

Aysha Seddika Asha '23

Aysha Siddika Asha '23 came to UMass Dartmouth from Bangladesh to become a research assistant in Dr. Caiwei Shen's lab while pursuing her master's degree in mechanical engineering. She found a supportive, welcoming environment where she could grow as a researcher and an engineer.

"If you want to do research, you need resources, guidance, and support - I found all of that here. I got everything I needed to succeed, including new confidence in my abilities."

College of Engineering graduate degree recipients' starting salary range:
$88,000 - $94,464

NACE AY 2022 NACE Data Collection of Graduate Alumni

Program objectives

Through your master's level studies, you will gain:

an advanced level of understanding in the general areas of mechanical engineering
depth of knowledge and an understanding of advanced topics in your chosen area of specialization

You will have the ability to:

identify and formulate complex engineering problems
develop solutions to complex engineering problems
communicate technical material effectively both orally and through technical reports and publications

Degree requirements

The MS program requires 30 or 33 credits—depending on whether a project or a thesis or a course work option is undertaken—which is 10 or 11 courses. It is expected that full-time students will complete the requirements in 1½ or 2 years.

Courses are offered on a flexible schedule to accommodate the needs of working students.

Industrial & systems engineering option

The total credit requirement is 30 credits and includes:

5 graduate courses (15 credits) from related courses in mechanical engineering
3 graduate courses (9 credits) from Charlton College of Business
professional master's project (6 credits) under the guidance of an academic advisor from the Mechanical Engineering Department or Charlton College of Business

This option makes it possible for you to earn a master’s degree in under 2 years, if you take 2 courses each semester, year round, including the summer.

Research areas

Key research areas within the Department of Mechanical Engineering are:

composite materials
computational fluid dynamics
experimental fluid mechanics
heat and mass transfer
manufacturing systems modeling
materials science
mechanical behavior of emerging advanced materials
nano-composites
quality control
robotics
solid mechanics

A limited number of assistantships are available on a competitive basis. This award is subject to the work needs of the position and department, your satisfactory performance of duties, your academic record, and availability of funds, and may be subject to change.

Learn more about assistantships at UMass Dartmouth

International (F-1) students who receive science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees may be eligible to apply for a 24-month extension of their post-completion optional practical training (OPT). To learn about the eligibility criteria and detailed steps to apply, please review the International Student & Scholar Center (ISSC) OPT page and USCIS resources. F-1 students must consult with the ISSC to apply for STEM OPT.

Graduate admissions requirements

University requirements for graduate admissions

Submit an application via the online portal. Be sure to provide your full legal name and to capitalize the first letter of all proper nouns.
Pay non-refundable $60 application fee (American Express, Discover, MasterCard or Visa) via the online portal. For Nursing applicants, the non-refundable application fee is $75.
Statement of Purpose, minimum 300 words. Unless otherwise indicated in the program requirement details, indicate your graduate study objectives, research interests and experience, and business or industry experience if applicable. If you are applying for a teaching or research assistantship, include any special skills or experience that would assist us in making assistantship decisions.
Resume
Transcripts for all post-secondary institutions attended (regardless of whether a credential is earned or not). Unofficial transcripts are accepted for admissions application review, once enrolled a final official transcript is required. International students applying with an transcript evaluation, please submit that document with your unofficial transcripts. International applicants for Data Science must submit semester-by-semester transcripts as well as consolidated transcripts.
Many programs have specific recommendations/requirements, please see the additional program-specific requirements for more information.
International students: official TOEFL iBT, IELTS, Pearson PTE or Duolingo (if accepted by program) score. Unofficial scores are accepted for admissions application review, once enrolled official scores are required and must be sent by the testing agency (copies/scans not accepted). This is required of any applicant who did not earn a bachelor’s degree or higher degree from an accredited academic institution in the U.S. or accepted English-speaking country, see exemptions for more details. We require an overall/total minimum score of 72 on the TOEFL iBT or BAND 6.0 on the IELTS or a 52 on the Pearsons PTE Academic for entrance to any program and a minimum score of 79 on the TOEFL iBT or BAND 6.5 on the IELTS for consideration for a teaching assistantship. Some programs require higher minimum scores (see program-specific requirements). Most programs also accept the Duolingo with a minimum score of 95. The following programs do not accept the Duolingo: Art Education, Biology/Marine Biology, Nursing (MS, DNP, PhD), Psychology: Clinical, and Public Policy.
All official documents are required for enrollment, please have documents (ie. test scores) sent prior to the expiration.

Program-specific requirements

Candidates must submit the required application materials, university requirements and program-specific requirements, for consideration.

Admission requirements include a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering or a related field from a college or university of recognized standing. Applicants with different backgrounds may be admitted with additional course requirements needed to meet program prerequisites.
Minimum requirements for admission are a 3.0 GPA (out of 4.0), although other evidence of professional competence can be considered for students who do not meet this criteria

Requirements

GRE is recommended.
3 letter of recommendation: from a person in the field of your academic major at the institution most recently attended or from a supervisor familiar with your recent job performance. BS/MS applicants are encouraged to include a recommendation from a department faculty member willing to advise their graduate research. Applicants will be required to provide the recommenders name and email address so we can contact the recommender for the letter of recommendation.