The department of Mechanical Engineering currently recognizes two 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 recently received clarification from the Whiting School of Engineering that with Maryland Higher Education Commission requirements, we can no longer list track achievements in transcript notes. We are happy to provide a letter to another institution, potential employer, or other entity a letter describing the track and how a student achieved it.
A student may specialize in Aerospace Engineering once a solid background in the fundamentals of Mechanical Engineering has been developed through the core Mechanical Engineering or 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.
Students pursuing the Aerospace Engineering Track are required to take at least five eligible courses, which count toward the requirements of the Mechanical Engineering electives and the Technical Electives in the general Mechanical Engineering program. A sixth course though not required is highly recommended.
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.
SPRING 2021 (confirmed) and SPRING 2023 (anticipated)
FALL 2021 (confirmed) and FALL 2023 (anticipated)
SPRING 2022 and SPRING 2024 (anticipated)
FALL 2022 and FALL 2024 (anticipated)
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.
Each student who pursues the Biomechanics track will, in consultation with his or her academic advisor, choose the set of Technical and Mechanical Engineering course electives that best matches the student’s interests.
Students pursuing the Biomechanics Track are required to take a certain number of courses:
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.
SPRING 2021 (confirmed) and SPRING 2023 (anticipated)
FALL 2021 (confirmed) and FALL 2023 (anticipated)
SPRING 2022 and SPRING 2024 (anticipated)
FALL 2022 and FALL 2024 (anticipated)
Details about these courses are available in the University’s Arts and Sciences and Engnieering Course Catalog. For additional information about the track, contact Professor Jeff Wang.