Designing Solutions

Like all engineers, mechanical engineers are problem-solvers. They design, develop, and construct internal combustion engines, machinery, power plants, transportation vehicles, and biomedical devices.

They work in manufacturing, marketing, management, research, education, and system design and development. They have plenty of opportunities for challenge, diversity, and advancement in their work.

Lafayette’s Department of Mechanical Engineering offers a comprehensive program of study that prepares students for professional work or further study. The curriculum includes a solid grounding in mathematics, science, and technology, along with technical electives and humanities and social sciences electives.

Design is integrated throughout the mechanical
engineering curriculum. Students are introduced to design as a creative, open-ended process through in-depth projects during their first semester. Design is an integral part of most later engineering courses, particularly during the junior and senior years. Courses in both the thermal sciences and the structures and mechanism areas strongly emphasize design.

Students use contemporary engineering computer software and apply modern manufacturing processes in completing design assignments and projects.

A year-long senior design project is the capstone design experience. Senior projects have included a mini-Baja off-road racer, a basic utility vehicle, a human-powered submarine, a BattleBot, and a radio-controlled airplane that can take off and land while carrying a maximum weight of cargo.

“As a department, we feel it is important for students to have the experience of working together as a team to design and build actual devices and then enter their projects in national competitions,” says Erol Ulucakli, associate professor of mechanical engineering. “It’s a costly endeavor, but worth it.”

Seniors may do independent study or honors thesis research work that includes completing a project and defending it in an oral examination. Students often publish the results of their work in professional journals or give presentations on the topic at national meetings.

Mechanical engineering students may seek election into the student chapters of Pi Tau Sigma, the national mechanical engineering honor society, and Tau Beta Pi, the national engineering honor society.

The mechanical engineering program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, 111 Market Place, Suite 1050, Baltimore, MD 21202-4102; (410) 347-7700.

Excellent Facilities

The new Acopian Engineering Center includes innovative student learning centers, additional laboratories designed specifically for collaborative student/faculty research, and additional high-tech classrooms equipped with the latest instructional technology. The mechanical engineering learning center, laboratories, and faculty offices are grouped together to facilitate interaction among students and faculty.

Mechanical engineering facilities include a modern manufacturing laboratory including CNC equipment; an internal combustion engines laboratory for experimental work and research on a variety of engines; a thermo-fluids laboratory for the study of fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, heat transfer, power generation, and refrigeration; a modern, well-equipped instrumentation and data
acquisition laboratory; a robotics laboratory; and a dynamic systems laboratory for work in vibrations and controls. Space is also available for student and faculty research projects.

Instrumentation and equipment available for student use include: computer workstations; PC-based data acquisition and control systems; PLC systems; digital storage oscilloscopes; spectrum analyzers; a hot wire anemometer system; high resolution digital multimeters; X-Y plotters; numerous pressure and temperature sensors and trans-ducers; a Parr bomb calorimeter; digital scales; subsonic wind tunnels; a water table; a steam turbine/generator system; an experimental refrigeration apparatus; fluid friction experiments; large and small internal combustion engines connected to electric and water brake dynamometers; computer-controlled robots and video equipment; and a variety of manufacturing equipment.

After Graduation

Graduates have found jobs in research, design engineering, experimental engineering, industrial management, mechanical design engineering, product engineering, maintenance engineering, manufacturing, and consulting. Employers who have hired graduates in the last three years include: Accenture, APS Technology, Arrow International, BAE Systems, Continental Airlines, Foster Wheeler Corp., General Electric, Ingersoll Rand, Lockheed Martin Corp., Lutron Electronics, Merck & Co., Northrop Grunman, Picatinny Arsenal, Procter & Gamble, PSEG, Siemens Building Technologies, Sperry Rail Service, and Turner Construction.

Recent graduates have pursued advanced study in engineering, engineering management, and business at Boston University, California Institute of Technology, Duke University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania State University, Ohio State, Oregon State, University of California at Berkeley, University of Southern California, and University of Illinois.

Faculty and Staff

Jeffrey D. Helm, (Home Page), B.A., Lehigh University, B.S., M.S., Ph.D., University of South Carolina,Assistant Professor. Teaching areas: mechanical design and manufacturing. Research interests: precision measurement,mechanical design.

Scott R. Hummel, (Home Page), B.S., University of Hartford, M.S., Stevens Institute of Technology, Ph.D., Lehigh University; Associate Professor and Head of Department. Teaching areas: mechanisms, mechanical design, and manufacturing. Research interests: mechanical design, manufacturing, mechanics, and polymer processing.

Ira M. Katz, Ph.D., Duke University, P.E., North Carolina; Director of Mechanical Engineering Laboratories and Chemical Hygiene Coordinator. Teaching areas: instrumentation. Research interests: fluid mechanics, aerosol deposition in the lung.

Richard A. Merz, B.S., M.S., Ph.D., Rutgers University; P.E., (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio), Associate Professor.Teaching areas: thermodynamics, fluid mechanics,and heat transfer. Interest areas: fluid mechanics, compressible flows, flow separations, aerodynamics of road vehicles.

Steven M. Nesbit, B.S., M.S., Ph.D., West Virginia University; P.E., (Pennsylvania), Associate Professor. Teaching areas: mechanical design, mechanism analysis and design, robotics. Research interests: biomechanics, kinematics, robotics, manufacturing processes and automation.

Karl A. Seeler, (Home Page), S.B., S.M. in C.E., Ph.D. in M.E., Massachusetts Institute of Technology; P.E., (Pennsylvania); Associate Professor.Teaching areas: controls, system dynamics, mechanical design and manufacturing processes. Research interests: mechanical properties of polymers, microcellular polymers, structural stability, machine safety, and systems dynamics.

Jenn Stroud Rossmann, B.S., Ph.D., University of California,Berkeley, Assistant Professor. Teaching areas: fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, heat transfer, biomechanics, and structural mechanics. Research areas: biological fluid dynamics, mechanics, and aerodynamics of baseball.

M. Erol Ulucakli, (Home Page), B.S., M.S., Techinal University of Instanbul, Turkey, Ph.D., University of Michigan; Associate Professor. Teaching areas: thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer. Research interests: thermo-fluid engineering and science; experimental and theoretical heat transfer.

Leonard A. Van Gulick, B.S. in M.E., Newark College of Engineering, M.A., M.S., Ph.D., Princeton university; Professor, P.E. (Pennsylvania); Matthew Baird Professor. Teaching areas: mechanical design, mechanics,finite element analysis and medieval architecture. Research interests: finite element analysis, medieval architecture and structural dynamics. Recipient of Thomas Roy and Lura Forrest Jones Award.

Scott R. Hummel
Head, Mechanical Engineering
(610) 330-5587
hummels@lafayette.edu

For general information:
Office of admissions
Lafayette College
Easton, PA 18042
(610) 330-5100
FAX (610) 330-5355
admissions@lafayette.edu