Seventeen outstanding mechanical engineering students, under the guidance of Dr. David J. Bayless (formerly of Missouri Tau Lambda), petitioned for membership in Pi Tau Sigma in the fall of 1995. The petition had the full support of the all the mechanical engineering faculty, including Dr. Jay S. Gunasekera, Chair, and Dr. T. Richard Robe, Dean of Engineering. Following favorable action, Ohio University Alpha Omicron was installed on May 10, 1996, by Dr. Edwin Griggs (Tennessee Sigma Nu) President of Pi Tau Sigma and Dr. Mistree (Georgia Tech Nu). The charter class of Ohio Alpha Omicron consisted of 33 students, including Matthew Kence (President), Jeffery Mallory (Vice President), Brandy Barker (Treasurer), and Stephen Welty (Secretary).

The Department of Mechanical Engineering is one of five fully accredited engineering department in the Russ College of Engineering and Technology, located in Stocker Center. The areas of interest in the department include computer-aided design and manufacturing, microcomputer controlled systems, automated manufacturing systems, finite element analysis, materials processing, composites, combustion, air pollution control, spatial mechanism, Stirling cycle machines, thermal stress, thermo-fluid systems, thin film, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, biomolecular design and modeling and biomedical applications, control and dynamics of multi-degree-of-freedom mechanical systems, optimal control, robotics, mobile vehicles, spatial mechanisms, and mechanical design. Graduate courses cover all major divisions of mechanical engineering, including traditional and nontraditional areas.

The Master of Science program offers both thesis and project options. Minimum requirements for the thesis option are 33 credits of course work, including 20 credits in the area of specialization and 12 credits of thesis work, which includes attending the graduate seminar. For the project option, the student must complete 42 credits of course work, including 27 credits in the area of specialization and six credits of special investigation. The program of study must include fundamental courses in areas of design and thermofluids.

Through the Integrated Engineering Program, the department offers a Ph.D. in the areas of materials processing and intelligent systems. These areas include such topics as materials processing; solidification, extrusion, rolling; computer-aided design/manufacturing; combustion, energy engineering and management; silicon production, thermo-fluid systems, composites, heat transfer, fluid mechanics; robotics, mobile vehicles, mechanical design, optimal control and dynamics and control of multi-degree-of-freedom systems.

A detailed profile of the Mechanical Engineering program can be accessed on the world-wide-web at the address: http://www.ent.ohiou.edu/me

The Department of Mechanical Engineering houses the following Centers and Research Laboratories: Center for Advanced Materials Processing (focusing on interdisciplinary manufacturing applications for both traditional and new, high-technology materials); Mechanical Systems Laboratory (studying the optimal control of linear and nonlinear dynamic systems, free-floating robots, many degrees-of-freedom manipulators and mobile vehicles); Combustion and Air Pollution Laboratory (affiliated with the Ohio Coal Research Center--areas of research include emissions control and combustion characteristics and the feasibility of small scale combustion); Biomolecular/Biomedical Laboratory (constructing/ developing 3-D solid models of the human anatomy for engineering analysis and biomolecular design of proteins); and CAD/CAM Laboratory (studying solid modeling, finite-element analysis, and computer numerical control).

The current enrollment (by class) is Freshman:65, Sophomore:64, Junior:43, Senior:85, M.S.:36, and Ph.D.:14. For the last five years, the enrollment is shown below.

Degrees Granted

Student Information

The Mechanical Engineering Department currently has 257 undergraduates and 50 full-time graduate students, including 14 Ph.D. students. The graduate population includes a good mix of American students and international students from all parts of the world.

Students in the Department of Mechanical Engineering participate in many activities including

Society of Woman Engineers
Society of Black Engineers
Tau Beta Pi
American Society of Mechanical Engineers
Society of Manufacturing Engineers
Society of Plastic Engineers
Electric Bobcat Racing Team
Theta Tau
National Society of Professional Engineers

Faculty

O.E. Adams, Jr., Ph.D., P.E., Lehigh University, Emeritus Professor: Stress analysis, vibrations analysis. Honors include: Undergraduate Teacher Award, 1988.

Khairul Alam, Ph.D., P.E., California Institute of Technology, Professor: Synthesis and production of advanced materials such as composites and coatings; casting; thermal stress; aerosols; CVD; emission control; thermal manufacturing. Honors include: NASA Certificate of Recognition, 1987; Russ Research Award, 1987. E-mail: alam@bobcat.ent.ohiou.edu.

David J. Bayless, Ph.D., P.E., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Assistant Professor: Power plant engineering; combustion; air pollution; fluid mechanics; aerosols; heat transfer. Honors include: Link Foundation Energy Fellow, 1994-95; NSF Fellowship, 1991-94. His web page is http://www.ent.ohiou.edu/~bayless E-mail: bayless@bobcat.ent.ohio.edu.

Mohammad M. Dehghani, Ph.D., P.E., Louisiana State University, Associate Professor: Experimental and theoretical investigation of material-forming processes; P/M processing and finite element analysis of manufacturing processes. Honors include: Undergraduate Teacher Award, 1991. E-mail: dehghani@bobcat.ent.ohiou.edu.

Gary M. Graham, Ph.D., Texas Tech University, Associate Professor: Analytical and experimental studies of unsteady airfoils experiencing aerodynamic stall; fluid dynamics of reacting flows for the production of optical fibers; finite element methods in heat transfer and fluid flow.

Jay S. Gunasekera, Ph.D., P.E., University of London, Moss Professor, Chair: CAD/CAM /CAE; manufacturing processes such as extrusion, rolling, P/M processing, casting, and polymer- composite processing; analytical modeling, including FEM; application of expert systems to design and manufacturing. Honors include: Moss Professor of Mechanical Engineering; Fritz and Dolores Russ Research Award, 1991. E-mail: gsekera@bobcat.ent.ohiou.edu..

Kenneth R. Halliday, Ph.D., P.E., University of Massachusetts, Associate Professor: Expert systems for conceptual design of mechanical systems; dynamics and control of vehicles; design for manufacture; high-energy-rate forming processes. E-mail: halliday@bobcat.ent.ohiou.edu.

Roy A. Lawrence, Ph.D., P.E., Southern Methodist University, Emeritus Professor. E-mail: roy@bobcat.ent.ohiou.edu..

Bhavin V. Mehta, Ph.D., Ohio University, Assistant Professor: Biomolecular design; FEM and its application to material processing and biomedical engineering; CAD/CAM and artificial intelligence. E-mail: mehta@bobcat.ent.ohiou.edu..

Hajrudin Pasic, Ph.D., Stanford University, Professor: Solid body mechanics; fatigue and fracture; advanced mathematics; structural and vibration analysis. Honors include: Yugoslav Award in Applied Mechanics, "Rastko Stojanovic", 1976. E-mail: pasic@bobcat.ent.ohiou.edu..

T. Richard Robe, Ph.D., P.E., Stanford University, Professor, Dean, Russ College of Engineering and Technology, Moss Professor of Engineering Education. E-mail: robe@bobcat.ent.ohiou.edu..

Israel Urieli, Ph.D., Witwatersrand University, Associate Professor: Analysis, computer simulation and experimental studies on Stirling cycle machines; development of interactive computer language/operating systems for microcomputer control applications. E-mail: urieli@bobcat.ent.ohiou.edu..

Robert Williams II, Ph.D., Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, Assistant Professor; Kinematics; dynamics; controls; robotics. Honors include: NASA Certificate of Outstanding Performance, 1993; NASA Superior Accomplishment Award, 1992. E-mail: bobw@bobcat.ent.ohiou.edu..