Master's in Mechanical Engineering
Graduate students in WPI’s master's in mechanical engineering program don’t just ask “why,” they ask “why not?” If you’re a passionate innovator, builder, and problem solver, the collaborative and inspiring environment will help you tackle society’s most critical engineering challenges whether in research or industry.
The mechanical engineering graduate program receives significant funding, including support from such sources as the National Institutes of Health, NASA, the National Science Foundation, and Sandia National Labs.
Our world-class, dedicated faculty members invite MS in mechanical engineering students into their research projects in our various cutting-edge labs. And in our classrooms, you’ll gain a depth and breadth of understanding mechanical engineering practices to assume leadership roles in the industry. Whatever your goals are in our mechanical engineering degree program, our faculty will push you to forge your path and realize your ambitions.
Curriculum
The course work for our mechanical engineering master's degree will include mechanical engineering, mathematics, electives, and a graduate seminar. You may choose to complete a thesis or non-thesis option, the latter requiring more courses in mechanical engineering to replace the thesis requirements.
MS in Mechanical Engineering graduate students may choose from five fields of study to allow the most opportunity to work on current research with WPI faculty. These diverse areas of study include the following:
- Biomechanical engineering
- Dynamics and controls
- Manufacturing and design
- Structures and materials
- Thermal and fluid sciences (fluids engineering)
Whether your interests lean toward structures and materials or toward fluids and thermal engineering, WPI’s mechanical engineering graduate program allows you to shape your studies according to your career goals.
Faculty in WPI’s mechanical engineering department pursue research in areas that are varied, but all have an important impact on humanity.
Mechanical engineering includes studies in areas including aerospace and materials science.
Research possibilities include collaborations with local industries working on immediate healthcare needs or with NASA on future space exploration and technology.
Students and faculty work collaboratively on well-funded research projects, opening up valuable opportunities and possibilities for internships, collaborations, and potential employment.
Well-equipped facilities and accessible research labs let you focus on your research at hand.
Research Facilities
Our comprehensive facilities offer an open and collaborative environment where you’ll work on new discoveries with engineers from across disciplines. We offer five centers and more than 20 research laboratories run by renowned faculty, supported by industry partners, and outfitted with innovative equipment and instruments.
Graduate Studies Series
Learn from our enrollment team members and other guests by attending quick and convenient 30-minute webinars we designed to highlight popular topics when starting grad school. Take a deep dive into specific areas of interest such as how to funding, how to ace your application, student services, and more!
Faculty Profiles
I enjoy teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Teaching is very rewarding, and it allows me to interact with the students. My teaching portfolio includes undergraduate and graduate level courses in the areas of heat transfer, fluid mechanics, liquid/vapor phase change, thermodynamics, and design of thermal systems.
Autonomous vehicles – aircraft, cars, rovers, over- and underwater vehicles that can move in the real world by themselves without human pilotage – have gained immense importance not only due to the broad spectrum of their potential military and civilian applications, but also due to the concurrent development of sensor technology and embedded systems that enable the realization of true autonomy.
Professor Fischer is the William Smith Dean's Professor and a faculty member in Robotics Engineering with a appointments in Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at WPI. He received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering in 2008 from Johns Hopkins University, where he was part of the NSF Engineering Research Center for Computer Integrated Surgery. At WPI he has been an integral part of developing the Robotics Engineering program and teaches primarily junior-level and graduate courses in Robotics.
My research is aimed towards understanding fundamental aspects of reacting flows at thermodynamic conditions of relevance to aircraft, rocket, and automobile propulsion. Reacting flow phenomena occurring in engines are complicated as a result of turbulent flow, interaction with solid boundaries, and extreme thermodynamic conditions. In order to understand and simulate combustion phenomena under such conditions, there is a necessity to develop accurate chemical kinetic and molecular transport models in addition to fluid mechanics models.
My research bridges the gap between human-robot interaction and human movement science. I am particularly interested in the design of human-robot interfaces and assistive robot autonomy, based on the understanding of the perception-action coupling of humans and cyber-human systems. At WPI, I primarily work on tele-nursing robots and assisted teleoperation interfaces. I also have extensive experience in exoskeletons for rehabilitation and tele-surgical robots.
The overarching theme of my research is light-matter interactions and their applications in microscale and nanoscale. Particularly, my research interests include optical trapping, optofluidics, nanophotonics, cavity optomechanics, and fiber optic sensing systems, with an emphasis on optical actuation, damping, and sensing of mechanics in micro-/nano-scale structures and biological specimens. The potential applications of my research include on-chip disease diagnosis, in vivo disease treatments, motion detection in consumer electronics, health monitoring, and biomechanics.
Dr. Panchapakesan is the director of the Small Systems Laboratory (SSL) which is dedicated to the development of multi-functional materials, devices and systems at the macro-, micro-, meso- and nanoscales. Our work spans in multiple areas bridging multiple disciplines and multiple length scales. Facilities at SSL include fabrication and characterization units for advanced materials, device processing and testing and biomaterials characterization. Access to the clean room facilities around the Boston area adds to the excitement of student learning as well as experimentation.
