Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics PhD

Major: Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics
Degree Awarded: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Calendar Type: Quarter
Minimum Required Credits: 90.0 
Co-op Option: None
Classification of Instructional (CIP) code: 14.1901
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code: 17-2141

About the Program

The PhD degree offered by the Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics (MEM) Department offers courses often associated with one or more areas of specialization: design and manufacturing, mechanics, systems and control, and thermal and fluid sciences. The mechanical engineering field is rapidly changing due to ongoing advances in modern science and technology. Effective mechanical engineers must possess expertise in mechanical engineering core subjects, interdisciplinary skills, teamwork skills, as well as entrepreneurial and managerial abilities. The degree programs are designed so students can learn the state-of-the-art knowledge now, and have the foundation to acquire new knowledge as they develop in future.     

The PhD degree program is offered for full-time students only and is a research intensive program. The research areas include, but are not limited to, bio-engineering, energy systems, high performance materials, nanotechnology, plasma science and engineering and robotics. 

For more information, please visit the PhD in Mechanical Engineering webpage.

Admission Requirements

Applicants must meet the graduate requirements for admission to Drexel University. Students holding a bachelor's degree in a science or engineering discipline other than mechanical engineering are advised to take several undergraduate courses as preparation for graduate studies. Though these courses are not counted toward the required credits for the degree, they also must be listed in the student's plan of study. Outstanding students with a GPA of at least 3.5 in their master’s program will be considered for admission to the program leading to the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics.

Degree Requirements 

Outstanding students with a GPA of at least 3.5 in their master’s program will be considered for admission to the program leading to the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics.

PhD Program Requirements

Candidacy Requirements

The PhD candidacy exam consists of two parts: a course examination part and an oral examination part.

• For the course examination part, an earned grade of A- or higher on 2 courses from the MEM Selected Core Course list is required. These 2 courses should be from a two-course sequence (or any two of a three-course sequence, such as MEM 611 / MEM 612 / MEM 613) in (1) Mechanics, (2) Thermal and Fluid Sciences, and/or (3) Dynamic Systems and Controls Cores. Note that grades earned in (4) Design and Manufacturing Courses cannot be the basis for fulfilling this requirement. However, completion of MEM 619, MEM 687, MEM 678 and MEM 679 may be counted towards the core courses.
• For the oral examination part, the research component examination consists of a written report and an oral presentation. The Candidacy Committee selects three or more research papers in the student’s declared research area for student to conduct a critical review and identify areas for future research and development. In three weeks after the papers have been assigned to the student, the student submits a written report not exceeding 15 single-spaced pages, excluding references. One week after the written report is submitted the student makes an oral presentation. The presentation is followed by questions by the Committee. The goals of the questions are to evaluate the student’s knowledge in the scientific fields related to the research area, including related background and fundamental material, and to assess the student’s ability to integrate information germane to success in research.

The candidacy may be completed at any time following matriculation but must be attempted no later than the end of the second academic year, for full-time students, and successfully completed not later than the end of the third academic year, for full-time students. The composition of the Candidacy Committee should be selected with the approval of the Program Manager of Graduate Studies. Special circumstances should also be discussed with the Program Manager.

Students Entering with MS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Drexel University

†

Because the nature of the research is wide ranging and instruction should be selected to be tailored to the needs of the students, the student must determine the number and selection of courses in a Plan of Study. This plan should encompass the total number of required credit hours. Both the Program Manager of Graduate Studies and the student's thesis supervisor must approve this plan.

 Students Entering with an BS degree in Mechanical Engineering or other STEM field but not an MS degree

*

All students take core courses in the department's areas of specialization as part of a comprehensive and flexible program. Further details can be obtained from the department's Graduate Program Manual.

**

Consult the Thermal and Fluid Sciences area advisor for other options.

***

MEM Graduate Courses

• Students must take 18 MEM course credits (6 courses). Among these credits, 2 courses must be selected from MEM Core Course list and must be in one of the two-course sequences.
• Any MEM graduate course is eligible to serve as MEM courses. This includes those core courses that you do not use as core courses but use as elective courses.  
• This also includes MEM I699 Independent Study and Research.
• Graduate courses at the 600- level from these four College of Engineering Departments (CAE, CBE, ECE and MSE) are automatically approved to serve as non-MEM technical elective courses.  
• Students may register for MEM I699 Independent Study and Research (3.0 credits per term) to serve as electives, up to 9.0 credits.

†

Because the nature of the research is wide ranging and instruction should be selected to be tailored to the needs of the students, the student must determine the number and selection of courses in a Plan of Study. This plan should encompass the total number of required credit hours. Both the Program Manager of Graduate Studies and the student's thesis supervisor must approve this plan.

Students Entering with an MS degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or other STEM field from an institution other than Drexel University

*

All students take core courses in the department's areas of specialization as part of a comprehensive and flexible program. Further details can be obtained from the department's Graduate Program Manual.

**

Consult the Thermal and Fluid Sciences area advisor for other options.

***

MEM Graduate Courses

• Students must take 18 MEM course credits (6 courses). Among these credits, 2 courses must be selected from MEM Core Course list and must be in one of the two-course sequences.
• Any MEM graduate course is eligible to serve as MEM courses. This includes those core courses that you do not use as core courses but use as elective courses.  
• This also includes MEM I699 Independent Study and Research.
• Graduate courses at the 600- level from these four College of Engineering Departments (CAE, CBE, ECE and MSE) are automatically approved to serve as non-MEM technical elective courses.  
• Students may register for MEM I699 Independent Study and Research (3.0 credits per term) to serve as electives, up to 9.0 credits.

†

Because the nature of the research is wide ranging and instruction should be selected to be tailored to the needs of the students, the student must determine the number and selection of courses in a Plan of Study. This plan should encompass the total number of required credit hours. Both the Program Manager of Graduate Studies and the student's thesis supervisor must approve this plan.

Further details can be obtained from the department's Graduate Programs Manual.

Sample Plan of Study

Students entering with MS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Drexel University

Students Entering with and MS degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or another STEM field from an institution other than Drexel University

Students entering with BS degree in Mechanical Engineering or other STEM field but not an MS degree

Facilities

Nanobiomaterials and Cell Engineering Laboratory
This laboratory contains a fume hood with vacuum/gas dual manifold, vacuum pump and rotary evaporator for general organic/polymer synthesis; gel electrophoresis and electroblotting for protein characterization; bath sonicator, glass homogenizer and mini-extruder for nanoparticle preparation; centrifuge; ultrapure water conditioning system; precision balance; pH meter and shaker.

Ceramics Processing Laboratory
This laboratory contains a photo-resist spinner, impedance analyzer, Zeta potential meter, spectrafluorometer, piezoelectric d33 meter, wire-bonder, and laser displacement meter.

Layered Solids Laboratory
This laboratory contains a vacuum hot-press; creep testers, Ar-atmosphere glove-box, high-speed saw, and assorted high temperature furnaces; metallographic preparation facilities; high temperature closed-loop servo-hydraulic testing machines.

Mechanical Testing Laboratory
This laboratory contains mechanical and closed-loop servo-hydraulic testing machines, hardness testers, Charpy and Izod impact testers, equipment for fatigue testing, metallographic preparation facilities and a rolling mill with twin 6" diameter rolls.

Macromolecular Materials Laboratory
This laboratory contains a hybrid rheometer, inert environment glove box, size exclusion chromatography with multi-angle laser light scattering, HPLC and RI detector & MALS, centrifuge, rotovapor, and vacuum oven used for developing innovative synthetic platforms to generate functional soft materials with complex macromolecular architectures.

Mesoscale Materials Laboratory
This laboratory contains instrumentation for growth, characterization, device fabrication, and design and simulation of electronic, dielectric, ferroelectric and photonic materials. Resources include physical and chemical vapor deposition and thermal and plasma processing of thin films, including oxides and metals, and semiconductor nanowire growth. Facilities include pulsed laser deposition, atomic layer deposition (ALD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), sublimation growth, and resistive thermal evaporation.  Variable-temperature high-vacuum probe station and optical cryostats including high magnetic field, fixed and tunable-wavelength laser sources, several monochromators for luminescence and Raman scattering spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy with electron beam lithography, and a scanning probe microscope.

Nanomaterials Laboratory
This laboratory contains instrumentation for synthesizing, testing and manipulation of nanomaterials carbon and two dimensional carbides under microscope, high-temperature autoclaves, Sievert’s apparatus; glove-boxes; high-temperature vacuum and other furnaces for the synthesis of nano-carbon coatings and nanotubes; tube furnaces for synthesis of carbides and nitrides; potentiostat/galvanostat for electrochemical testings; ultraviolet-visible (UV-VIS) spectrophotometry; Raman spectrometers; Differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) up to 1500 °C with mass spectrometer, Zeta potential analyzer; attrition mill, bath and probe sonicators, centrifuges; electro-spinning system for producing nano-fibers.

Functional Inorganic Materials Synthesis Laboratory
The laboratory contains equipment for the synthesis of inorganic and hybrid materials, including gas cabinets for NH₃ and H₂, a CVD furnace, and spin-coater; UV-Vis spectrophotometer; and a photodegradation test station with Xe 1000 W lamp.   

Films and Heterostructures Laboratory
This laboratory contains an oxide molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) thin film deposition system; physical properties measurement system (PPMS) for electronic transport and magnetometry measurements from 2 to 400 K, up to 9 T fields; 2 tube furnaces; spectroscopic ellipsometer.

Powder Processing Laboratory
This laboratory contains vee blenders, ball-mills, sieve shaker + sieves for powder classification, several furnaces. 

Soft Matter Research and Polymer Processing Laboratories
These laboratories contain computerized thermal analysis facilities including differential scanning calorimeters (DSC), dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA) and thermo-gravimetric analyzer (TGA); tabletop tensile tester; strip biaxial tensile tester; vacuum evaporator; spin coater; centrifuge; optical microscope with hot stage; liquid crystal tester; microbalance; ultrasonic cleaner; laser holographic fabrication system; polymer injection molder and single screw extruder.

Natural Polymers and Photonics Laboratory
This laboratory contains a high purity liquid chromatography (HPLC) system; refractometer; electro-spinning and touch-spinning systems for producing nanofibers.

X-ray Tomography Laboratory
This laboratory contains a high resolution X-ray micro-tomography instrument and a cluster of computers for 3D microstructure reconstruction; mechanical stage, a positioning stage and a cryostage for in-situ testing.

MSE Undergraduate Teaching Laboratory
Contains an FTIR spectrometer, metallographic sample preparation, equipment, polymer 3D printers, polymer extruder and injection molder, Vickers hardness tester, inverted metallograph, multiple  furnaces.

Materials Characterization Core (MCC)
The Department of Materials Science & Engineering relies on the Materials Characterization Core facilities within the University for materials characterization and micro- and nano-fabrication. These facilities contain a number of state-of-the-art materials characterization instruments, including high resolution and variable pressure field-emission scanning electron microscopes (SEMs) with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) for elemental analysis, Orientation Image Microscopy (OIM) for texture analysis, various in-situ and in-operando stages (cryo mat, heating, tensile, 3- and 4-point bending, and electrochemistry); two Transmission Electron Microscopes (TEMs) with STEM capability and TEM sample preparation equipment; a dual-beam focused ion beam (FIB) system for nano-characterization and nano fabrication; a Nanoindenter; an X-ray Photoelectron Spectrometer (XPS)/Electron Spectroscopy for Chemical Analysis (ESCA) system; X-Ray Diffractometers (XRD); and an X-ray microscope (NanoCT) with an in-situ tensile/compression temperature controlled stage.

More details of these instruments, information on how to access them, and instrument usage rates can be found at Drexel University’s Materials Characterization Core webpage.

Program Level Outcomes

• Demonstrate the ability to conduct independent research on a timely topic of modern Mechanical Engineering.
• Acquire a broader and deeper knowledge in the student’s sub-discipline/field of specialization.
• Demonstrate the ability to express research content and findings orally and in writing.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship of their work to published literature.
• Demonstrate the ability to interact effectively with colleagues.
• Demonstrate the ability to utilize experimental, theoretical, and computational tools for one’s research. 

Mechanical Engineering Faculty

Emeritus Faculty