Department of Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering

The Department of Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering offers undergraduate degree programs in Mechanical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering. The Aerospace Engineering program is designed to provide a broadly-based foundation in aeronautics and astronautics, including topics such as aerodynamics, propulsion, aerospace structures and materials, flight dynamics, and control and performance.

The Mechanical Engineering program is designed to provide a broadly-based foundation in thermofluids, mechanical systems and materials, including topics such as solid mechanics, machine design, vibrations, CAD/CAM/FEM, feedback control and mechatronics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, and structure and properties of materials.

Both programs seek to convey an understanding of the fundamental principles of science and engineering, to stimulate curiosity and creativity, to provide hands-on experience in laboratories, and to prepare students to design systems which solve current and relevant societal problems. The design experience begins in the freshman engineering courses and grows throughout the curricula with increased emphasis on student creativity, open-ended problems, materials selection, design methodology, feasibility considerations, alternative solutions, and concurrent design, and culminates in the senior capstone design courses. The use of computers and written and oral communication are part of the design experiences throughout the programs.

Mission: Aerospace Engineering

In support of the University and College missions, the Aerospace Engineering program at UCF is committed to:

1. Provide the highest quality aerospace engineering professionals and leaders.
2. Through cooperative efforts with regional aerospace industry and the Florida Space Institute, our graduates will be well prepared for their role as aerospace engineers in society and will have an awareness of ethical, environmental, economic, safety, and quality issues.
3. They will be educated to be lifelong learners, pursuing their personal and professional development.

Through these characteristics our graduates will be able to rise to positions of prominence in the technical society of tomorrow.

Educational Objectives

1. Career Preparation: The program prepares graduates for employment as engineers in aerospace or allied disciplines, and for graduate study in engineering, business, or allied areas. Students will emphasize aeronautical systems or space systems, and will have a command of corresponding engineering principles. Among the obvious career opportunities are the design and development of aircraft, missiles, and spacecraft systems. Aerospace technologies are also important and applicable to power applications such as turbomachinery. Also, many environmental problems associated with wind effects on buildings, structures, etc., are appropriate to the methods and technology of aerospace engineering.
2. Skills: To prepare graduates with skills enabling them to be productive in their chosen career. These tools include understanding contemporary topics in aerospace technology, command of modern engineering tools, design experience, and professional experience appropriate to their post-graduation goal.
3. Professionalism: To produce graduates who communicate effectively, who understand and undertake professional responsibilities, and who function effectively as members and leaders of multidisciplinary teams.
4. Lifelong Learning: To produce graduates who believe that their undergraduate aerospace engineering education was a wise investment and who desire to continue to develop their knowledge and skills throughout their careers.

Program Outcomes

1. An in-depth understanding of engineering principles and aerospace concepts in a core area of engineering. Students emphasizing aeronautics will have a command of aerodynamics, aerospace materials, structures, propulsion, flight mechanics and stability and control. Students emphasizing astronautics will have the command of topics such as orbital mechanics, attitude determination and control, launch processing, space structural dynamics, etc.
2. A broad understanding of engineering, and scientific principles & responsibilities, and the ability to apply these principles to design and analysis.
3. A broad understanding of social, cultural, and ethical principles and responsibilities.
4. An ability to identify, define and solve complex problems that cut across disciplines.
5. An ability to apply math, science, and engineering to problems at the interface between component design and system design.
6. An ability to communicate effectively using appropriate technology and efficiently use information resources.
7. An ability to work collaboratively in multidisciplinary teams and understand team dynamics.
8. The ability to generate questions and hypotheses, design experiments that will provide meaningful answers, and collect and interpret measurements from aerospace engineering applications.
9. The ability to adapt to sociological and technological change.
10. A significant professional or research experience prior to graduation demonstrating their ability to describe a range of design options, to evaluate the tradeoffs for each option, to understand the need to design for manufacturability and production, and to integrate these concepts to select the best option.
11. The ability to use modern engineering tools in experiments, analysis and design, and to assess the appropriateness of these tools.
12. An understanding of contemporary aerospace engineering applications of technology and their uses in engineering practice.

Mission: Mechanical Engineering

In support of the University and College missions, the Mechanical Engineering program at UCF is committed to:

1. Provide the highest quality engineering professionals and leaders.
2. Through cooperative efforts with regional industry, our graduates will be well prepared for their role as mechanical engineers in society and will have an awareness of ethical, environmental, economic, safety, and quality issues.
3. They will be educated to be lifelong learners, pursuing their personal and professional development.

Through these characteristics our graduates will be able to rise to positions of prominence in the technical society of tomorrow.

Educational Objectives

1. Career Preparation: The program prepares graduates for employment as engineers in mechanical or allied disciplines, and for graduate study in engineering, business, or allied areas. Students will emphasize mechanical systems, energy systems, or materials, and will have a command of corresponding engineering principles. Among the career opportunities are power generation, mobility engineering, manufacturing, nuclear applications, from zipper to space shuttle.
2. Skills: To prepare graduates with skills enabling them to be productive in their chosen career. These tools include understanding contemporary topics in mechanical technologies, command of modern engineering tools, design experience, and professional experience appropriate to their post-graduation goal.
3. Professionalism: To produce graduates who communicate effectively, who understand and undertake professional responsibilities, and who function effectively as members and leaders of multidisciplinary teams.
4. Lifelong Learning: To produce graduates who believe that their undergraduate mechanical engineering education was a wise investment and who desire to continue to develop their knowledge and skills throughout their careers.

Program Outcomes

1. An in-depth understanding of engineering principles and mechanical concepts in a core area of engineering. Students will concentrate on mechanical systems, energy systems or material engineering with an emphasis on design.
2. A broad understanding of engineering, and scientific principles & responsibilities, and the ability to apply these principles to design and analysis.
3. A broad understanding of social, cultural, and ethical principles and responsibilities.
4. An ability to identify, define and solve complex problems that cut across disciplines.
5. An ability to apply math, science, and engineering to problems at the interface between component design and system design.
6. An ability to communicate effectively using appropriate technology and efficiently use information resources.
7. An ability to work collaboratively in multidisciplinary teams and understand team dynamics.
8. The ability to generate questions and hypotheses, design experiments that will provide meaningful answers, and collect and interpret measurements from mechanical engineering applications.
9. The ability to adapt to sociological and technological change.
10. A significant professional or research experience prior to graduation demonstrating their ability to describe a range of design options, to evaluate the tradeoffs for each option, to understand the need to design for manufacturability and production, and to integrate these concepts to select the best option.
11. The ability to use modern engineering tools in experiments, analysis and design, and to assess the appropriateness of these tools.
12. An understanding of contemporary mechanical engineering applications of technology and their uses in engineering practice.

Program Academic Learning Compacts (student learning outcomes) for undergraduate programs in the College of Engineering and Computer Science are located at: http://oeas.ucf.edu/alc/alc_students_coecs.htm