School of Mechanical Engineering Fact Sheet

Head: Dr. Anil Bajaj, William E. and Florence E. Perry Head of Mechanical Engineering/Alpha P. Jamison Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Associate Head for Undergraduate Education: Dr. James D. Jones, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Associate Head for Graduate Education: Dr. Jay Gore, Vincent C. Reilly Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Assistant Head for Facilities and Personnel: Dr. Peter Meckl, Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Director, Ray W. Herrick Laboratories: Dr. Patricia Davies, Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Director, Maurice J. Zucrow Laboratories: Dr. Robert Lucht, Ralph and Bettye Bailey Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Student Body Size and Statistics:

Undergraduate:

• 1,341 undergraduate students enrolled in Fall 2017
• Ranked #6 best undergraduate program in mechanical engineering (#4 among public universities), U.S. News & World Report
• 15% of enrolled undergraduate students are female
• 39% of enrolled undergraduate students are international
• 98% pass rate on the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam
• 15% of undergraduate students pursue advanced degrees immediately upon graduation
• 40% of our students participate in a global engineering education experience with international partner institutions
• $62,838 average starting salary in industry for our undergraduate students
• ~ $1M in scholarships awards to mechanical engineering undergraduates at Purdue

Graduate:

• 499 graduate students enrolled in Fall 2017
• Ranked #8 graduate program in mechanical engineering (#5 among public universities), U.S. News & World Report
• 40% of graduate students are working toward a Ph.D. degree
• 63% of enrolled students are international, bringing rich diversity to the program
• ~ $1M awarded to graduate students as fellowships, and scholarships

Student Organizations:

• American Society of Mechanical Engineers
• American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)
• OMEGA (Official ME Graduate Association)
• Pi Tau Sigma Honor Society
• Purdue Mechanical Engineering Ambassadors (PMEA)
• Purdue Society of Automotive Engineers
• Purdue Solar Racing Group
• SAE Baja
• SAE Formula
• SAE Formula - Electric Vehicle

Faculty and Research Areas in the School:

• 79 Tenure/Tenure track faculty members
• 4 Research faculty members
• 12 faculty members by Courtesy
• 25 new faculty members in the last 5 years
• Annual research expenditures exceed $22M
• Research Areas:
  • Acoustics and Noise Control
  • Bioengineering
  • Computational Engineering
  • Combustion
  • Design
  • Fluid Mechanics and Propulsion
  • Heat Transfer
  • Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration
  • Manufacturing and Materials Processing
  • Mechanics and Vibration
  • Nanotechnology
  • Robotics
  • Solid Mechanics
  • Systems Measurement and Control

Faculty Accolades in 2017:

• Greg Shaver and Neera Jain receive $5 million NEXTCAR grant for autonomous trucks
• Cagri Savran featured on the cover of Lab on a Chip journal
• Justin Weibel and Kejie Zhao part of $2.7 million grant from the US Navy for alternative energy
• Monika Invantysynova receives honorary doctorate from Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland
• Carl Wassgren receives undergraduate teaching award
• Thomas Siegmund named president of Society of Engineering Science
• Robert Lucht recognized as Outstanding Mentor of Engineering Graduate Students
• Eckhard Groll awarded the Peter Ritter von Rittinger International Heat Pump Award
• Klod Kokini receives the Advocates and Allies Award from Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN)
• Nicole Key, Marisol Koslowski, Guillermo Paniagua, and Xiulin Ruan promoted to full professor
• Hector Gomez wins the Gallagher Young Investigator Award at United States Association for Computational Mechanics (USACM)
• Amy Marconnet named ASME Electronics and Photonics Packaging Division Woman Engineer of the Year

Research Labs:

• Ray W. Herrick Laboratories consists of a $30 million LEED-Gold certified building, hosting research in:
  • High Performance Buildings (Thermal Systems, Refrigeration, Indoor Air Quality, Lighting, Building envelope, Building Simulation, Geothermal, Energy Utilization, Controls, Human Comfort)
  • Acoustics, Vibrations & Dynamics (Noise and Vibration Control, Structural Health Monitoring, Structural Modeling, Characterization of the Dynamic & Acoustical Properties of Materials & Material Systems, Multi-body System Dynamics)
  • Electromechanical Systems (Sensing, Diagnosing, Modeling, Controlling: Engines & Powertrains, Electrohydraulics, Energy Systems, Printers, Morphing Structures, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles)
  • Human Response to Engineered Systems (Perception-based Engineering Design, Effects on People: annoyance, comfort, sleep disturbance, health, human interactions with building systems and controls)
• Maurice J. Zucrow Laboratories is the largest academic propulsion lab in the world. Based on 24 acres by the Purdue Airport, Zucrow Labs hosts research in:
  • Combustion (rockets and rocket fuel)
  • Turbo machinery (jet engines)
  • Aeroacoustics
  • Measurement and control
  • Computational fluid mechanics
  • Particle flow heat transfer
• Maha Fluid Power Research Center is the largest academic hydraulics lab in the country, providing 15,000 square feet to model and test the performance of hydraulic pumps and motors.
• Birck Nanotechnology Center houses 186,000 square feet of interdisciplinary research space for nanotechnology, including the largest academic cleanroom in the world.