The 32-credit online MSME was designed to help you gain advanced knowledge for research, analysis, and design in mechanical engineering.
The curriculum offers courses in thermal systems and mechanical systems and includes course work in:
- heat transfer
- foundations of fluid mechanics
- principles of turbomachinery
- automatic control systems
- solid mechanics
- engineering optimization
You must successfully complete 32 course credits; at least 12 of these credits must be 400- or 500-level mechanical engineering courses, and 18 credits must be at the 500 level. A maximum of 3 credits of ME 596: Individual Studies can be counted in this 32-credit total.
As part of the ME 596: Individual Studies course, you will be required to write a paper on a topic that you and your faculty adviser mutually agree is suitable for publication in a professional journal or presentation at a national or international conference, in order to obtain this degree.
Math Requirement: 3 credits of mathematics
- Credits must be chosen from the following courses: ME 512 and ME 550.
- Courses with a specific focus on numerical analysis will not count toward the mathematics requirement.
Collaborative Learning
The online courses are collaborative, allowing you to build strong ties with other students and gain perspectives from other disciplines and industries. The program maintains maximum flexibility in an effort to meet both the professional needs of individual students and quality academic standards.
Course List - Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering
You must successfully complete two 1-credit courses of M E 590 Colloquium, preferably in your first two semesters of the program. The MSME has limited formal course requirements; you and your adviser can tailor the program specifically to suit your needs and educational goals by choosing from the following list of courses.
| Title | Abbreviation | Description | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Principles of Turbomachinery | ME 422 | Application of Newton's laws of motion and basic laws of thermodynamics to analysis of fluid flow in turbomachinery. | 3 credits |
| Introduction to Combustion | ME 430 | Concepts related to laminar and turbulent premixed and nonpremixed combustion with applications to propulsion and stationary systems. | 3 credits |
| Engineering Optimization | ME 444 | Problem formulation, algorithms and computer solution of various engineering optimization problems. | 3 credits |
| Automatic Control Systems | ME 455 | Dynamic analysis of systems involving automatic control of position, speed, power, flow, pressure, temperature, and other physical quantities. | 3 credits |
| Finite Elements in Engineering | ME 461 | Computer modeling and fundamental analysis of solid, fluid, and heat flow problems using existing computer codes. | 3 credits |
| Introduction to Computer-Aided Analysis of Machine Dynamics | ME 481 | Techniques and formulations for computer-based kinematic and dynamic analyses of machines. | 3 credits |
| Heat Transfer — Conduction | ME 512* | One- and two-dimensional conduction heat transfer for steady state and transient systems with varying boundary conditions. | 3 credits |
| Heat Transfer — Convection | ME 513 | Laminar and turbulent flow heat transfer in natural and forced convection systems. | 3 credits |
| Heat Transfer — Radiation | ME 514 | Thermal radiation fundamentals; specular and diffuse systems; differential and integral methods; numerical techniques; industrial applications. | 3 credits |
| Two-Phase Heat Transfer | ME 515 | Heat transfer processes involving evaporation, boiling, and condensation. | 3 credits |
| Compressible Flow II | ME 520 | Two-dimensional subsonic flow; similarity rules; theory of characteristics; supersonic and hypersonic flows; nonsteady flow; oblique shock waves. | 3 credits |
| Foundations of Fluid Mechanics I | ME 521 | First semester of core sequence in fluid mechanics; Navier-Stokes equations, potential flow, low Re flow, laminar boundary layers. | 3 credits |
| Foundations of Fluid Mechanics II | ME 522 | Second semester of core sequence in fluid mechanics; continuation of boundary layers, stability, transition, turbulence, turbulent boundary layers, turbulence models. Prerequisite: M E 421 or M E 521 |
3 credits |
| Numerical Solutions Applied to Heat Transfer and Fluid Mechanics Problems | ME 523 | Application of finite difference methods to the study of potential and viscous flows and conduction and convection heat transfer. | 3 credits |
| Fundamentals of Combustion | ME 530 | Theoretical formulations and methods of solution of engineering problems and physical/chemical processes in various propulsion systems. | 3 credits |
| Turbulent and Two-Phase Combustion | ME 532 | Fundamentals of chemically reacting turbulent flows in homogeneous systems including turbulent flames, spray combustion, ignition, reacting boundary layers. | 3 credits |
| Foundations of Engineering Systems Analysis | ME 550* | Analytical methods are developed using the vector space approach for solving control and estimation problems; examples from different engineering applications. | 3 credits |
| Automatic Control Systems | ME 555 | Advanced problems and techniques in the design of automatic control systems with emphasis on stability, controller design, and optimum performance. Prerequisite: M E 455 |
3 credits |
| Solid Mechanics | ME 560 | Introduction to continuum mechanics, variational methods, and finite element formulations; application to bars, beams, cylinders, disks, and plates. | 3 credits |
| Simulation of Mechanical Systems | ME 581 | Introduces computational fundamentals, including digital logic; programming language, basic numerical analysis and data processing, as applied to mechanical simulation techniques. | 3 credits |
| Colloquium | ME 590 | Continuing seminars that consist of a series of individual lectures by faculty, students, or outside speakers. | 1 credit |
| Individual Studies | ME 596 | Creative projects, including nonthesis research, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses. | 1–3 credits |
* Satisfies the math requirement.
Course Availability
If you're ready to see when your courses will be offered, visit our public LionPATH course search (opens in new window) to start planning ahead.