Undergraduate Program in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Mechanical Engineering
The Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET. www.abet.org
For information on the Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering Progam and Objectives and Student Outcomes, please visit BSME Program Objectives and Student Outcomes
Mechanical engineers generally deal with the relations among forces, work or energy, and power in designing systems to improve the human environment. They may work to extract oil from deep within the earth or to send a spacecraft to the moon. The products of their efforts may be automobiles or jet aircraft, nuclear power plants or air conditioning systems, large industrial machinery or household can openers. They are involved in programs to better utilize natural resources of energy and materials as well as to lessen the impact of technology on the environment.
Mechanical engineers, while strongly oriented towards science, are not scientists. Science is a search for knowledge. The science of mathematics extends abstract knowledge. The science of physics extends organized knowledge of the physical world. In each of these, consideration can be limited to a carefully isolated aspect of reality. The mechanical engineer must deal with reality in all its aspects. He or she must not only be competent to use the most classical and the most modern parts of science, but also must be able to devise and make a product which will be used by people. Moreover, the engineer must assume professional responsibility insofar as the safety and well-being of society are affected by those products.
A program in Mechanical Engineering will be a most stimulating and rewarding undergraduate experience for the great majority of students entering this field. Such a program is established by an educational environment created by men and women in contact with the world of people and industry. Engineering education is being called upon to produce graduates well versed in rapidly advancing science and who can lead industry and the public into the new world which engineering will make possible.
Engineers will often discover in science, through their own research and invention or through the findings of scientists, those things which can be put to human use. In any engineering achievement, a new or better product is the objective; and all means available to the intellect of man will be employed to reach that objective. Science and its application remain a part, but only a part, of any great engineering advance. Young people who can respond to this kind of challenge are needed now, and they will be needed as never before in the years ahead.
The Rice Mechanical Engineering program is also designed to prepare the student to succeed in graduate school. Many of our graduates continue on for advanced study in areas such as business, engineering, law, and medicine.
For Mechanical Engineering advising, please see:
Transfer students or approval for transfer credit: Houchens
5th year students and others: Houchens
Materials Science
Materials science is a modern-day engineering program concerned with the production, fabrication, and properties of materials used by society. These include metals and their alloys, semiconductors, ceramics, glasses, polymers, and composites of various materials.
All matter is made up of atoms of the elements found in the earth’s crust. These atoms are combined in different ways in each of the various classes of materials. This results in materials exhibiting different electronic, atomic, molecular, and crystalline structures. A material’s internal structure often consists of various chemical phases and crystalline regions of different orientation in space, both of which are connected by interface boundaries of atomic dimensions. The internal structure of a material can be further altered, for example, through heat treatment and/or deformation (as the turn-of-the century metallurgist would say, “heats it and beat it”). It is precisely the internal structure of a material which determines the solid’s response to external mechanical (will it fracture?), electrical (will it conduct electricity?), or chemical (will it corrode?) forces.
The materials scientist primarily involves himself or herself with producing the correct class of materials and subsequently altering the internal structure within the means available so that the component will perform satisfactorily in the application for which it is intended.
Four factors have been instrumental in bringing together this study of these different classes of materials in one curriculum:
1. Thousands of new commercial compositions of metallic alloys, semiconductors, glasses, plastics, ceramics, and composites have appeared during the past few decades. This rapid growth demanded the education of broadly based materials scientists to develop and select the materials required by today’s technology. Consequently, people working in various areas of the materials field began to think and work together in an interdisciplinary manner.
2. Similar underlying mathematical, physical, and chemical concepts are now realized to form the basis for studying materials.
3. The basic ingredient of many high-technology developments is the semiconductor. This material, as well as other electronic materials, has to be produced and processed to form the transistors, microcircuits, and computer memory devices of the communication and information industries. It requires a fundamental knowledge of materials science.
4. The demand for products incorporating the best characteristics of different materials has led to the development of composites. A composite, for example graphite-epoxy, is a piece of matter in which two or more classes of materials are mechanically melded into a single structural or electrical component with the most desirable properties.
The materials scientist is not an applied mathematician, physicist, or chemist -- but, rather, a combination of all three. The materials scientist is interested in applying the basics of these three areas so that he or she may ultimately design, produce, fabricate, and utilize the materials necessary for the engineering requirements of today and tomorrow.
Industrial companies, such as those involved with the production and/or manufacture of metals, electronic parts, ceramics, glasses, polymers, or with materials fabrication, employ professional materials scientists. So do utility companies, consulting firms, governmental agencies, research institutes, educational institutions, and even publishing firms. For the potential engineer or scientist who asks, “Why does this material behave this way?” the broad-based study of materials science attempts to teach him or her how to answer this question.
In the next decade, the United States will commence to experience materials shortages beyond those of crude oil. Shortages in chromium and cobalt, for example, are anticipated. Industries need well-trained materials engineers to design, devise, and fabricate new materials to do the job previously accomplished with alloys or composites made-up of materials wherein no shortage in supply existed. This job market will undoubtedly be very demanding. The phenomenal rise of the electronics industry has created a demand for engineers with a strong background in the processing of and the properties of electronic materials, such as semiconductors.
The curriculum provides the student with the requisite skills and educational background to contribute to the solution of many materials problems, allow him or her to work in a fascinating field, and make it possible to become a leader in one of the most challenging technologies of today.
For Materials Science advising, please see:
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