New Student Orientation and Advisor Meeting Schedules

We look forward to meeting you at our New Student Orientation for Freshmen and Transfer Students for the BS Mechanical Engineering and BS Engineering Mechanics majors, undecided engineering students with interest in these majors, and students who recently transferred to JHU. The August 2025 meeting date, time, and location will be announced later.

Important Information...

Please view these websites for information:

Check out this welcome letter and other useful information from our Director of Undergraduate Studies, Prof. Steven Marra, the instructor for EN.530.107 MechE Undergraduate Seminar, EN.530.111 Intro to MechE Design and CAD, and EN.530.115 MechE Freshman Lab I.

Unless you have AP Chemistry credit, please register for the course 030.101 Introductory Chemistry. This 3-credit course alone will fulfill the intro to chemistry requirement.

Neither the Mechanical Engineering nor Engineering Mechanics degrees require the Intro to Chemistry Lab, so it is not necessary to take the lab section of the course.

The Mechanical Engineering department recommends PCs over Macs. This is because many of the software programs used in our curriculum will only run on the Windows operating system. Mac users would have to create workarounds for some programs, usually partitioning their hard drives, which can create other problems.

Our alumni recommend these attributes for your computer:

  • RAM: at least 16 GB and preferably 32 GB
  • CPU: At least 4 cores and at least 3.5 GHz
  • Hard drive: Solid-state hard drive (SSD) with at least 512 GB
  • Video card: A dedicated graphics card (e.g. NVIDIA GTX) is better than an integrated card, especially for CAD work with at least 3 GB.
  • Monitor: A 14-inch screen is fine, and a large second monitor for home use is ideal.
  • Mouse: You must have a wireless mouse for CAD work.

The University offers a discount student rate for laptops and other hardware.

Suggested software:

  • Microsoft Office or an Open Office equivalent.
  • SolidWorks
  • MATLAB – you can download a free copy from the University.

Visit the JHU Mechanical Engineering “Info for Undergraduate Students” page’s section on Computing and select the “Computers and Software” tab for info on this software.

Questions?

Contact Director of Undergraduate Studies, Prof. Steven Marra. If you or your family would like to have an individual meeting, contact Prof. Marra to schedule one.

Professor Steven Marra

Director of Undergraduate Studies