The undergraduate program leading to the B.S. degree in mechanical engineering is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). It has been designed to take advantage of the unique and outstanding liberal-arts education provided by Columbia College. There are 27 points of nontechnical credit within the B.S. degree requirement. Undergraduate students can choose from an extensive list of available courses both within the department and engineering school, as well as at Columbia College. Many faculty members in the department have received outstanding teaching awards. There are numerous opportunities for undergraduates to participate in research projects, working with faculty and graduate students in our state-of-the-art labs. Most undergraduate students also participate in clubs such as the ASME, Solar-Splash, SAE, and AIAA. The mechanical engineering undergraduate program is designed to provide a broad background in all areas of mechanical engineering while allowing flexibility for students to choose electives from within the Mechanical Engineering Department as well as other departments.

Mechanical engineers are especially well-prepared to play central engineering and management roles in industries that involve parts in motion and energy conversion, such as the automotive, aerospace, biomedical, and manufacturing industries. Most high-growth areas, such as fuel cell power generation and semiconductor manufacturing rely heavily on mechanical engineers to develop high-performance and cost-efficient systems. Mechanical engineers are often responsible for taking concepts to market and taking care of mechanical, thermal, and fluidic design, as well as manufacturing. Due to the broad and global perspective of the mechanical engineering curriculum, mechanical engineers often take top-level roles such as leading the system-level design of products as well as management positions. The following is a partial list of companies which have hired our graduates within the last five years: Air Products Andersen Consulting AT&T Boeing Computer Science Corp. Ernst & Young Ford Motor Co. General Electric General Motors Honda, OH IBM Lucent Technology Merrill Lynch Open Microsystems Pratt and Whitney Procter and Gamble Corp. Stone & Webster Texas Instruments Weidlinger Consulting In addition, about one-quarter to one-third of our students go on to graduate study.