Mechanical Engineering, M.S.M.E.

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Point of Contact: Yong Zhu, Ph.D.

Admission Requirements

Applications are invited from individuals who possess a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering or close fields from an accredited institution. Applicants not meeting the requirements may be provisionally admitted and will be required to take sufficient undergraduate courses to make up deficiencies.

To be considered for admission, the applicant must submit the following minimum requirements:

Submit to the Graduate Admissions Office a completed graduate application for admission with payment of appropriate application fee.
Submit two letters of recommendation from previous academic faculty and/or from current or previous supervisors, if employed.
Demonstrate satisfactory performance as an undergraduate by providing a complete set of official undergraduate transcripts.
International students: Refer to the International Students section of this bulletin for additional admission requirements.
To be accepted on a regular basis, candidates for the degree must have obtained a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0. Prospective students with a GPA of less than 3.0 maybe conditionally accepted into the program.

Degree Requirements

The Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering program requires thirty (30) credits of graduate level course work. The program consists of 15 credits of mandatory core courses. Students have the option of a six-credit thesis or a three-credit project with an additional three-credit technical elective. Students may select 9 or 12 additional credits from the list of technical electives.

Typical Course Sequence

First Semester

Second Semester

Third Semester

ME 427 - Transport Phenomena
Technical Elective
Technical Elective (if project option)

Fourth Semester

ME 599 - Thesis/Project
OR
Project (three credits)

Total Credits: 30

Core Courses

Thesis/Project Option:

Graduate students are strongly recommended to select the thesis option to complete their graduate course work. However, they may choose a three-credit hour project option.

Technical Electives

Technical electives may be selected from the technical elective graduate course list. In addition, up to one graduate level course from any engineering or science field is transferable.

Non-thesis option: Three credits of ME 599 are required. Students should submit a well-documented report to the department.

Thesis option: Six credits of thesis ME 599 are required. The thesis shall be defended in an open forum. Three faculty members constitute a thesis committee with the thesis advisor as chair.

Students who opt to complete a thesis may select from posted research topics or proposed areas of interest of the faculty and submit a proposal of their thesis to the Department. Final decision of topic and advisor will be taken by the Department in accordance with Department guidelines. Ordinarily, these topics will touch on one or more of the following areas: Structural Analysis, Thermal Sciences, Finite Element Method, Solid Mechanics, Dynamics, MEMS, Control Systems, Robotics, Mechatronics, and Energy Conversion.

Both full- and part-time students are limited to a maximum of three thesis credits in any single semester.

The minimum acceptable grade point average is 3.0. (See Grade Regulations)

Advanced standing or transfer credit is limited to three (3) graduate credits. Petitions should be submitted to the Mechanical & Electrical Engineering Department, and should document minimum competency defined as relevant graduate course work at an accredited institution with an earned minimum grade of 3.0 (0-to-4 scale) or equivalent expertise.

Financial Aid

A limited number of assistantships are available for full-time students. Applicants should possess superior academic qualifications and provide good scores in the GRE (General and Engineering).

Academic Integrity

At Wilkes the faculty and the entire University community share a deep commitment to academic honesty and integrity.

The following are considered to be serious violations and will not be tolerated:

Plagiarism: the use of another’s ideas, programs, or words without proper acknowledgment.
Collusion: improper collaboration with another in preparing assignments, computer programs, or in taking examinations.
Cheating: giving improper aid to another, or receiving such aid from another, or from some other source.
Falsifying: the fabrication, misrepresentation, or alteration of citations, experimental data, laboratory data, or data derived from other empirical methods.