Undergraduate Majors

As one of this nation’s premier universities, Johns Hopkins provides outstanding students with an exceptional education through instruction by world-class faculty and access to cutting-edge research.

Personal one-on-one mentoring allows our students to develop close relationships with our faculty. Our students join other outstanding, motivated, and professionally oriented colleagues with whom they study and work.

The Mechanical Engineering Department at Johns Hopkins offers two majors:

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering

This program is ideal for students seeking careers in industry as well as further study in graduate school.

This major emphasizes professional preparation as a mechanical engineer with a substantial core of required engineering courses and a variety of technical and engineering elective courses, as well as the opportunity to participate in a number of engineering extracurricular clubs.

Graduates of this degree will usually…

  • …launch careers in mechanical engineering, entrepreneurship, robotics, engineering management, finance, research and development, academia, and design.
  • …pursue a graduate degree in mechanical engineering or related science and engineering fields.

Bachelor of Science in Engineering Mechanics

With more technical and engineering elective options while retaining the most fundamental of the required core engineering courses and engineering extracurricular club options, this program is particularly suited for students interested in exploring other disciplines with the possibility of earning a minor or double-major.

It offers greater flexibility for students who wish to target specific disciplines while learning a base of Mechanical Engineering skills.

Graduates of this degree will usually…

  • …attend professional school or graduate study in various science and engineering fields.
  • …launch careers in engineering, entrepreneurship, finance, research and development, and design.

Both majors have a strong emphasis on the fundamental principles of mechanical engineering, which will serve students well throughout their careers. Each curriculum exposes students to hands-on experience through laboratory work and design projects.

Undergraduate Tracks

Students do not have to declare a track but simply just take courses that will qualify.

The “tracks” referred to in the Engineering 101 booklet for freshmen refer to both the aerospace and biomechanics tracks as well as a variety of other specialized areas that do not have a formalized recognition process.

Upon completion of the Aerospace or Biomechanics track, the department will send a letter of congratulations of this achievement.

The department received clarification from the Whiting School of Engineering that with Maryland Higher Education Commission requirements, we cannot list track achievements in transcripts or transcript notes. We are happy to provide a letter describing the track and how a student achieved it to another institution, potential employer, or other entity.

A student may specialize in Aerospace Engineering once a solid background in the fundamentals of Mechanical Engineering has been developed through the core B.S. Mechanical Engineering or B.S. Engineering Mechanics courses. This Track develops and requires knowledge and background in several fields including advanced dynamics, flight mechanics, propulsion, aerospace materials and structures, signal processing, control systems, astrophysics and space systems.

Requirements

Students pursuing the Aerospace Engineering Track are required to take at least five eligible courses.  These courses could count toward the requirements of the following:

  • B.S. Mechanical Engineering – the Mechanical Engineering electives and the Technical Electives
  • B.S. Engineering Mechanics – selected Engineering Science and Technical Electives.

A sixth course though not required is highly recommended.

Eligible Courses

These courses count toward the track, listed in anticipated order of their next offerings. It is the department’s goal to offer enough courses in any rolling two-year period to allow students to achieve the track. Note, course offering semesters may vary due to instructor sabbaticals, curriculum changes, and unusual or unforeseen circumstances.

FALL 2024 (confirmed) and FALL 2026 (anticipated)

  • EN.530.424 or EN.530.624 Dynamics of Robots and Spacecraft
  • EN.530.427 or EN.530.627 Intermediate Fluid Mechanics (Fall 2022 only)
  • AS.171.321 Introduction to Space Science and Technology
  • AS.270.318 Remote Sensing of the Environment
  • AS.270.366 Spacecraft Instrumentation Project

SPRING 2025 and SPRING 2027 (anticipated)

  • EN.530.425 Mechanics of Flight
  • EN.530.427 or EN.530.627 Intermediate Fluids (Spring 2025 only)
  • EN.530.438 or EN.530.638 Aerospace Materials
  • EN.530.470 Space Vehicle Dynamics and Control
  • AS.270.366 Spacecraft Instrumentation Project

FALL 2025 and FALL 2027 (anticipated)

  • EN.530.418 or EN.530.619 Aerospace Structures
  • EN.530.424 or EN.530.624 Dynamics of Robots and Spacecraft
  • EN.530.427 or EN.530.627 Intermediate Fluids
  • EN.530.465 Spacecrafts, Submarines, and Glaciers: Solid Mechanics in Extreme Environments
  • EN.530.483 or EN.530.683 Applied Computational Modeling in Aerodynamics and Heat Transfer
  • AS.171.321 Introduction to Space Science and Technology
  • AS.270.366 Spacecraft Instrumentation Project

SPRING 2026 and SPRING 2028 (anticipated)

  • EN.530.432 Jet and Rocket Propulsion
  • EN.530.435 or EN.530.635 Guidance and Control of Flight Vehicles
  • AS.270.366 Spacecraft Instrumentation Project

Aerospace Faculty in Mechanical Engineering

 

A student may specialize in Biomechanics once a solid background in the fundamentals of Mechanical Engineering has been developed through the basic Mechanical Engineering courses. The essence of mechanics is the interplay between forces and motion. In biology, mechanics is important at the macroscopic, cellular, and subcellular levels.

At the macroscopic length scale biomechanics of both soft and hard tissues plays an important role in computer-integrated surgical systems and technologies, e.g., medical robotics. At the cellular level, issues such as cell motility and chemotaxis can be modeled as mechanical phenomena. At the subcellular level, conformational transitions in biological macromolecules can be modeled using molecular dynamics simulation, which is nothing more than computational Newtonian mechanics; statistical mechanics, or using coarse-grained techniques that rely on principles from the mechanics of materials.

In addition, much of structural biology can be viewed from the perspective of Kinematics, e.g., finding spatial relationships in data from the Protein Data Bank.

Students who pursue the Biomechanics track will, in consultation with their academic advisor and faculty mentor, choose the set of course electives that best match their interests. These courses could count toward the requirements of the following:

  • B.S. Mechanical Engineering – the Mechanical Engineering electives and the Technical Electives
  • B.S. Engineering Mechanics – selected Engineering Science and Technical Electives.

Requirements and Eligible Courses

Students pursuing the Biomechanics Track are required to take a certain number of courses.

Beginning Fall 2024, the number of courses required has changed for all current and future students.

  • Mechanical Engineering majors are required to take at least five eligible courses. Two courses should be chosen from the biomechanics-oriented courses, indicated by an asterisk (*).
  • Engineering Mechanics majors, in consultation with their academic advisors and faculty mentors will choose a set of five elective bio-oriented courses that best matches their interests.

The courses are listed in anticipated order of their next offerings. It is the department’s goal to offer enough courses in any rolling two-year period to allow students to achieve the track. Note, course offering semesters may vary due to instructor sabbaticals, curriculum changes, and unusual or unforeseen circumstances.

FALL 2024 (confirmed) and FALL 2026 (anticipated)

  • EN.520.495 Microfabrication Laboratory
  • EN.530.443 or EN.530.643 Fundamentals, Principles and Applications of Microfluidic Systems
  • EN.530.468 or EN.530.668 Locomotion Mechanics: Fundamentals (Fall 2026 only)
  • EN.530.473 Molecular Spectroscopy and Imaging (Fall 2026 only)
  • EN.530.474 or EN.530.674 Effective and Economic Design for Biomedical Instrumentation (Fall 2026 only)
  • EN.530.493 or EN.530.693 Fabrication of Biomaterials, Engineered Tissues and Food
  • EN.530.610 Quantitative Cell Mechanics
  • EN.580.452 Cell and Tissue Engineering Laboratory

SPRING 2025 and SPRING 2027 (anticipated)

  • EN.530.410 Biomechanics of the Cell*
  • EN.530.431 Biomechanics of Development
  • EN.530.448 Biosolid Mechanics*
  • EN.530.468 or EN.530.668 Locomotion Mechanics: Fundamentals (Spring 2023 only)
  • EN.530.469 or EN.530.669 Locomotion Mechanics: Recent Advances* (Spring 2025 only)
  • EN.530.480 Image Processing and Visualization
  • EN.580.452 Cell and Tissue Engineering Laboratory

FALL 2025 and FALL 2027 (anticipated)

  • EN.520.495 Microfabrication Laboratory
  • EN.530.429 Musculoskeletal Biomechanics*
  • EN.530.443 or EN.530.643 Fundamentals, Design Principles and Applications of Microfluidic Systems
  • EN.530.448 Biosolid Mechanics* (Fall 2025 only)
  • EN.530.468 or EN.530.668 Locomotion Mechanics: Fundamentals
  • EN.530.474 Effective and Economic Design for Biomedical Instrumentation
  • EN.530.493 or EN.530.693 Fabrication of Biomaterials, Engineered Tissues and Food
  • EN.580.452 Cell and Tissue Engineering Laboratory

SPRING 2026  and SPRING 2028 (anticipated)

  • EN.530.410 Biomechanics of the Cell*
  • EN.530.426 Biofluid Mechanics* (Spring 2026 only)
  • EN.530.431 Biomechanics of Development*
  • EN.530.441 Introduction to Biophotonics* (Spring 2026 only)
  • EN.530.469 or EN.530.669 Locomotion Mechanics: Recent Advances*
  • EN.530.480 Image Processing and Visualization
  • EN.530.672 Biosensing and BioMEMS*
  • EN.580.452 Cell and Tissue Engineering Laboratory

Details about these courses are available in the University’s Arts and Sciences and Engineering Course Catalog. For additional information about the track, contact Professor Jeff Wang.

Biomechanics Faculty in Mechanical Engineering

Earn a Minor along with our degree!

With careful planning you can earn minors in a variety of specialties in both engineering and the arts and sciences. Visit the university’s Majors and Minors page to learn more.