Department of Mechanical Engineering
With an enrollment of nearly 420 students, the Department of Mechanical Engineering is among the largest in the College of Engineering. In fact, over the last 20 years, the passing rate of the department’s students in the Fundamentals of Engineering Examination has been more than 90 percent – among the highest in the college and the nation.
For students to excel, they need access to top facilities, and the Department of Mechanical Engineering certainly boasts that.
There is the Materials Characterization Facility, or MC2, which is a University-wide used facility for the microstructural, structural, and chemical characterization of materials. The facility was originally established in 1999, and the Department of Mechanical Engineering is its host department.
Another highly recognized facility is the Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices, or CAMD. CAMD is a high-tech synchrotron research center whose role is to provide equipment, expertise, and infrastructure for research and development in the area of microstructures and microdevices. Additionally, CAMD is a center where X-ray spectroscopy and microscopy is being used to provide powerful analytic tools for materials research, industry, and the environment.
In addition to its resources, the Department of Mechanical Engineering is able to boast a top-flight faculty. In the last six months, two faculty members have been recognized nationally for their work – Sunggook Park and Su-Seng Pang
Park is the recepient of a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award. The CAREER Program “is a foundation-wide activity that offers the NSF's most prestigious awards in support of the early career-development activities of those teacher-scholars who are most likely to become the academic leaders of the 21st century.”
Pang was named Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He was honored under the association's education section for distinguished contributions to teaching and research, and for mentoring underrepresented students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. AAAS is the world's largest general scientific society. In 2006, Pang was also named Fellow of the Society of Plastics Engineers and received an Honorary Doctorate from China.
