Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular semester. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the Student Link for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

• ENG ME 549: Structures and Function of the Extracellular Matrix
  This is an introductory course dealing with the detailed structure of the basic units of the extracellular matrix including collagen, elastin, microfibrils, and proteoglycans as well as the functional properties such as elasticity at different scales from molecule to fibrils to organ level behavior. The biological role of these components and their interaction with cells is also covered. Interaction of enzymes and the matrix in the presence of mechanical forces is discussed. Mathematical modeling is applied at various length scales of the extracellular matrix that provides quantitative understanding of the structure and function relationship. Special topics include how diseases affect extracellular matrix in the lung, cartilage, and vasculature. The relevance of the properties of native extracellular matrix for tissue engineering is also discussed. Meets with BE 549 and MS 549.
• ENG ME 555: Fabrication and Materials
  This course will explore the world of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and NEMS. This requires an awareness of design, fabrication, and materials issues involved in micro/nanosystems. We will go over this through a combination of lectures, case studies, and individual homework assignments. The course will cover fabrication technologies, material properties, structural mechanics, basic sensing and actuation principles, packaging, and MEMS markets and applications. The course will emphasize the fabrication and materials of micro/nanosystems. This is not because the other parts aren't important. Instead, it is because with fabrication and materials expertise there is something concrete you can do that will always help. When we exam special topics and case studies, a lot of these other pieces will be put together.
• ENG ME 557: Additive Manufacturing
  This course will teach the fundamentals of Additive Manufacturing (AM) theory and how AM is being used in industry to accelerate product development and replace more traditional low-volume and high volume manufacturing processes. Topics will cover the technologies, methods and applications or a range of additive methods including FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling), SLA (Sterolithography) and MLS(Metal Laster Sintering), methods for designing for additive will be covered, and implications of additive manufacturing in the complete product life-cycle. We will use the equipment in EPIC to demonstrate and practice the design and production of additive parts.
• ENG ME 560: Precision Machine Design and Instrumentation
  This interdisciplinary course teaches the student how to design, instrument, and control high-precision, computer-controlled automation equipment, using concrete examples drawn from the photonics, biotech, and semi-conductor industries. Topics covered include design strategy, high-precision mechanical components, sensors and measurement, servo control, design for controllability, control software development, controller hardware, as well as automated error detection and recovery. Students will work in teams, both in-classroom and out-of-classroom, to integrate and apply the material covered in class to a term-long multi-part design project in PTC Pro-Engineer or other comparable CAD system, culminating in a group presentation at the end of the class.
• ENG ME 566: Advanced Engineering Mathematics
  Introduces students of engineering to various mathematical techniques which are necessary in order to solve practical problems. Topics covered include a review of calculus methods, elements of probability and statistics, linear algebra, transform methods, difference and differential equations, numerical techniques, and mathematical techniques in optimization theory. Examples and case studies focus on applications to several engineering disciplines. The intended audience for this course is advanced seniors and entering MS engineering students who desire strengthening of their fundamental mathematical skills in preparation for advanced studies and research.
• ENG ME 570: Robot Motion Planning
  Provides an overview of state-of-the-art techniques for robot motion planning. The emphasis is on the algorithms. It covers topology of configuration spaces, potential functions, roadmaps, cell decompositions, sampling-based algorithms, and model checking approaches to robot motion planning and control.
• ENG ME 571: Medical Robotics
  This course will be composed of lectures, tutorials, and group work. We will study the design, mechanics, materials, manufacturing, and control of robots and associated technologies for medical applications. We will cover theory, on medical robotics and case studies, including examples from medical companies and research groups.This class is aimed toward graduate students in engineering; no medical background is required. We will study and explore design principles of different mechatronic components and systems for medical robots. We will cover in-depth especially the meso-scale actuators, sensors, and body construction methods.
• ENG ME 579: Nano/microelectronic Device Technology
  Physical processes and manufacturing strategies for the fabrication and manufacture of microelectronic devices. Processing and device aspects instrumental in silicon, including the fabrication of doping distributions, etching, photolithography, interconnect construction, and packaging. Future directions and connections to novel devices, MEMS, photonics, and nanoscale structures will be discussed. Emphasis will be on "designing for manufacturability." The overall integration with methods and tools employed by device and circuit designers will be covered. Same as ENG EC 579; students may not receive credit for both.
• ENG ME 580: Theory of Elasticity
  An introduction to the general theory of solid deformation; small deformation emphasized. Topics include: Cartesian tensors, indicial notation. Introduction to continuum mechanics: deformation of continuous media, deformation gradient, strain definitions. Stress, Cauchy's postulate, Cauchy and Piola-Kirchhoff stress tensors. Balance laws. Constitutive equations, strain energy and Green's postulate. Linear Elasticity: Two dimensional problems, Airy stress function, in plane loading of strips, St. Venant's principle, complex variable methods, Goursat-Muskhelishvili representation, stress concentrations around holes and cracks. Three dimensional problems, Kelvin's solution, the Boussinesq problem, Hertzian contact, Eshelby's energy-momentum tensor. Meets with ENGMS580. Students may not receive credit for both.
• ENG ME 582: Mechanical Behavior of Materials
  Fundamental concepts of modern materials behavior and materials engineering. Emphasis on analytical and numerical methods for predicting material properties and behavior, as well as some discussion of the relationships between solid structure and material properties. Topics include: constitutive relations, fracture, fatigue, plasticity, creep, damping, impact, and deformation. Elastic, plastic, and viscous behavior. Some discussion of the effects of processing--thermodynamics, kinetics--may be addressed. Specific examples from ceramics, metals, polymers, and composites is given, with the emphasis changing for each offering. Meets with ENGMS582. Students may not receive credit for both.
• ENG ME 583: Product Management
  Planning and execution of the process of bringing new tangible and intangible products to market. Review of the new product development process. Establishment of the new product specification. Setting of financial expectations. Formation and dynamics of the product implementation team. Organization of the new product introduction project including matrixed management and financial control. Contingency planning and risk management. Taught through case-based discussions, lectures, and readings.
• ENG ME 584: Manufacturing Strategy
  Strategic decision-making for technical people in manufacturing companies. Provides practice in applying financial, organizational, and operational concepts through analysis and discussion of case situations. Topics include process alternatives and their implications; interactions among product design, process design, worker skill and worker motivation; supplier relationships; interfaces with marketing and finance; introduction of new technology; capacity planning; and competitive analysis. Taught principally by in-class discussion plus guest lectures.
• ENG ME 606: Industrial Practicum
  The industrial practicum practicum is a semester-long team project based on problems with industrial relevance. Conducted in an industrial environment, the goal of the practicum is to provide students with hands-on experience to supplement their theoretical knowledge, and to help them further develop professional competencies. Oral presentation and written project report required.
• ENG ME 690: Advanced Product Design
  An eight credit, two term course. Advanced Product Design is focused on the tools and skills driving smart engineering decisions which anticipate user, societal and technological trends. A "proactive" mechanical engineer creates products and systems that are appropriate, effective, fail-resistant, and economically successful. Students are expected to perform original research on design and engineering trends, apply advanced engineering methods to case studies, defend their conclusions, and ultimately create a manufacturable design prototype.
• ENG ME 700: Advanced Topics in Mechanical Engineering
  Specific prerequisites vary according to research topic.
• ENG ME 701: Optimal and Robust Control
  This course is aimed at an introduction (with rigorous treatment) to the fundamentals of optimal and robust control. It will be divided roughly into two parts. The first will cover aspects of robust control including model reduction, H_2 and H_ infinity control, and feedback control of uncertain systems. The second will delve into optimal control including topics such as the linear quadratic regulator, the calculus of variations, the maximum principle, and the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation. Meets with ENG EC701 and ENG SE 701; students may not take both for credit.
• ENG ME 702: Computational Fluid Dynamics
  Numerical techniques for solving the Navier-Stokes and related equations. Topics are selected from the following list, although the emphasis may shift from year to year: boundary integral methods for potential and Stokes flows; free surface flow computations; panel methods; finite difference, finite element and finite volume methods; spectral and pseudo-spectral methods; vortex methods; lattice-gas and lattice-Boltzmann techniques; numerical grid generation.
• ENG ME 704: Adaptive Control
  This course provides a theoretical foundation for developing adaptive controllers for dynamic systems. Topics include system identification, model reference adaptive control, adaptive pole placement control, and adaptive control of nonlinear systems. Meets with ENG SE 704. Students may not receive credit for both.
• ENG ME 707: Finite Element Analysis
  An introduction to the finite element method with emphasis on fundamental concepts. Variational equations, Galerkin's method. Finite element applications to linear elliptic boundary value problems in structures, solid and fluid mechanics, and heat transfer. Optimality, convergence, function spaces and energy norms. Isoparametric elements. Mixed methods, penalty methods, selective reduced integration; applications may include Kirchoff plate theory, incompressible elasticity, Stokes flow. Thick and thin beams, plates, and shells. Implementation: element data structures, numerical integration, assembly of equations, element routines, solvers. Advanced topics may include dynamic analysis, stabilized methods, eigenvalue problems, and hybrid analytical methods.
• ENG ME 710: Dynamic Programming and Stochastic Control
  Introduction to sequential decision making via dynamic programming. The principle of optimality as a unified approach to optimal control of dynamic systems and Markovian decision problems. Applications from control theory and operations research include linear-quadratic problems, the discrete Kalman Filter, inventory control, network, investment, and resource allocation models. Adaptive control and numerical solutions through successive approximation and policy iteration, suboptimal control, and neural network applications involving functional approximations and learning. Meets with ENGEC710 and ENGSE710. Students may not receive credit for both.

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