Mechanical Engineering

Primary Contact

ME Graduate Program Manager
megrad@mines.edu

Professor and Department Head

Anthony J. Petrella, Department Head

Professors

Alexandra Newman, Director of Operations Research with Engineering Program

Carl Frick, Professor and Dean of Graduate Studies

Cristian Ciobanu

Gregory Jackson

John Berger, Dean of Energy and Materials

Mohsen Asle Zaeem

Neal Sullivan

Robert Braun, University Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of Mines/NREL Advanced Energy Systems Program

Robert Kee, George R. Brown Distinguished Professor

Associate Professors

Andrew Petruska

Anne Silverman

Anthony J. Petrella, Interim Department Head

Joy Gockel

Leslie Lamberson

Mark Deinert

Nils Tilton

Owen Hildreth

Paulo Cesar Tabares-Velasco

Ruichong "Ray" Zhang

Steven DeCaluwe, Director of Graduate Studies

Veronica Eliasson

Xiaoli Zhang

Assistant Professors

Aashutosh Mistry

Andrew Osborne

Denis Aslangil

Rajavasanth Rajasegar

Samantha "Sam" Webster

Frankie Zhu

Professors of Practice

Angel Abbud-Madrid, Director of Space Resources Program

Brian Gockel

Christopher Dreyer

Craig Brice, Director of Additive Manufacturing Program

George Sowers

Teaching Professors

Derrick Rodriguez

Kristine R. Csavina, Director of Capstone

Ventzi Karaivanov

Teaching Associate Professors

Daniel Blood, Director of Undergraduate Studies

Jeffrey Ackerman

Jeffrey Wheeler

Oyvind Nilsen

Teaching Assistant Professors

Adam Duran

Elijah Kuska

Gary Nave

Jim Wong

Kelly Rickey

Mathew Johnson

Polina Brodsky

Siby Thomas

Stephen Geer

Affiliate Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Mike Mooney

Research Associate Professors

Sandrine Ricote

Huayang Zhu

Research Assistant Professors

Omid Babaie-Rizvandi

Carolina Herradon Hernandez

Garrison Hommer

Research Professor

Brian Thomas

Emeriti Professors

Joan Gosink

Graham Mustoe

Robert King

Terry Parker

Emeriti Associate Professors

Dave Munoz

Joel Bach

John P.H. Steele

Program Details

The Mechanical Engineering Department offers the degrees Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering. The master's program is designed to prepare candidates for careers in industry or government or for further study at the PhD level; both thesis and non-thesis options are available. The PhD degree program is sufficiently flexible to prepare candidates for careers in industry, government, or academia. The following information provides details on these degrees.

Mines's Combined Undergraduate / Graduate Degree Program

Students enrolled in Mines’s combined undergraduate/graduate program may double count up to six credits of graduate coursework to fulfill requirements of both their undergraduate and graduate degree programs. See Graduate section of the Catalog under Combined Undergraduate/Graduate Degree Programs for specific details on what types of courses are allowed and under what conditions. These courses must have been passed with “B-” or better, must not be substitutes for required coursework, and must meet all other University, Department, and Program requirements for graduate credit.

Students are advised to consult with their undergraduate and graduate advisors for appropriate courses to double count upon admission to the combined program.

Program Restrictions

Transfer Courses: Graduate-level courses taken at other universities and passed with a grade equivalent of "B" or better will be considered for transfer credit into the Mechanical Engineering Department. Approval from the Advisor and/or Thesis Committee and ME Department Head will be required as appropriate. 

Internships: The Mechanical Engineering Graduate Program does not accept Internships (such as SYGN: 598I) for Graduate Credit.

Master of Science Degree Requirements

The MS degree in Mechanical Engineering requires 30 credits. Requirements for the MS thesis option are 24 credits of coursework and 6 credits of thesis research. The MS non-thesis option requires 30 credits of coursework. 

Advisor and Thesis Committee: Students must have an Advisor from the Mechanical Engineering Department Faculty to direct and monitor their academic plan, research, and independent studies. The MS graduate Thesis Committee must have at least three members, two of whom must be permanent faculty in the Mechanical Engineering Department.

MS Non-Thesis Degree

Time Limit: As stipulated by the Mines Graduate School, a candidate for a Masters degree must complete all requirements for the degree within five years of the date of admission into the degree program.

An online modality is also available for Masters Non-Thesis.

MS Thesis Degree

Thesis Defense: At the conclusion of the MS Thesis Option, the student will be required to make a formal presentation and defense of their thesis research to their Advisor and Thesis Committee.

Doctor of Philosophy Degree Requirements

The PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering requires 72 credits of coursework + research credits. A minimum of 30 credits of course work and 30 credits of research credits must be completed. A minimum of 12 of the 30 credits of required coursework must be taken at Colorado School of Mines. 

Advisor and Thesis Committee: Students must have an Advisor from the Mechanical Engineering Department Faculty to direct and monitor their academic plan, research, and independent studies. The PhD graduate Thesis Committee must have at least four members; at least two members must be permanent faculty in the Mechanical Engineering Department, and at least one member must be from outside the department. This outside member must chair the committee.  Students who choose to have a minor program must select a representative from the minor areas of study to serve on the Thesis Committee.

Qualifying Exam: Students enrolled in the Mechanical Engineering PhD program will be required to pass a Qualifying Exam.   PhD students with a minimum graduate grade point average of 3.0 are eligible to take the qualifying exam.   Students must have completed at least four 500-level courses before taking the qualifier.

The Qualifying Exam assesses some attributes expected of a successful PhD student, including:

• ability to review, synthesize and apply fundamental concepts;
• creative and technical ability of the student to solve open-ended and challenging problems;
• technical communication skills.

Exam results of Pass, Conditional Pass or Fail will be provided to the student in a timely manner by the Qualifying Exam Chair. A Conditional Pass will require the student to take a remedial plan. Students have two attempts to pass the exam.  If the student fails the exam on their first attempt, they must retake the exam in the following semester. One-semester extensions may be granted by the Qualifying Exam Chair.

Research Proposal: After passing the Qualifying Examination, the PhD student will prepare a written Research Proposal for the Dissertation and present it formally to the Dissertation Committee, which is selected by the student and the student's advisor and approved by the Department Head. This Research Proposal gives the Committee an early chance to discuss the work and to help the student more clearly define the work and identify the salient aspects. The research proposal must be completed before admission to candidacy.

Degree Audit and Admission to Candidacy: PhD students must complete the Degree Audit form by the posted deadlines and the Admission to Candidacy form by the first day of classes of the semester in which they want to be considered PhD candidates.

Additionally, full-time PhD students must complete the following requirements within the first two calendar years after enrolling into the PhD program:

• have a Thesis Committee appointment form on file in the Graduate Office;
• complete all prerequisite and core curriculum course requirements;
• pass the qualifier; and
• be admitted into full candidacy for the degree.

Preliminary Defense: Prior to the final Dissertation Defense, the PhD student will make an oral presentation to the student’s Committee to summarize research accomplishments and remaining goals and work plan.  This meeting serves as a final check to assess if the student's progress is on schedule for graduation. The student must give no more than a 45-minute presentation that summarizes the work already accomplished, including their relevant publication(s) and a proposed plan of the work needed to culminate in a formal defense and graduation.  The Committee will provide feedback and, as necessary, revisions to the proposed work plan such that its completion should lead to a successful Dissertation Defense and publication record in a realistic time frame.  The time period between the Research Proposal and the Preliminary Defense can span a few years, but the Preliminary Defense should take place 12 months and no less than 6 months prior to the date of Dissertation Defense.

Required Number of Publications and Presentations: The required and recommended journal publications for PhD students prior to graduation are listed below.  Students wanting to defend before meeting these requirements must submit a one-page petition with a reasonable explanation to the ME Graduate Curriculum Committee.

Journal publications -  Required: Minimum of one first-author paper accepted or published (DOI is required) in a peer-reviewed journal (recognized as high quality in the research field), before Dissertation Defense.  Recommended: Three or more first-author papers accepted or published in peer-reviewed journals.

Presentations - Required:  Minimum of one research presentation (poster or podium) at an external technical conference before the Dissertation Defense. Recommended: Two or more conference presentations (poster or podium), before the Dissertation Defense in which the student is the first author on these presentations.

Thesis Defense:  At the conclusion of the student’s PhD program, the student will make a formal presentation and defense of her/his thesis research.  A student must pass this defense to earn a PhD degree. The Dissertation document should be submitted to the Dissertation Committee at least 10 days prior to the Defense. The Committee will perform a post-presentation review of the Dissertation, technical contributions, and publications with the student.  The Committee may request revisions to the Dissertation and additional work that requires subsequent review by the advisor and or the Committee.

Time Limit: As stipulated by the Mines Graduate School, a candidate for a doctoral degree must complete all requirements for the degree within nine years of the date of admission into the degree program.

Courses