Mechanical Engineering Research and Design
There are numerous opportunities for hands-on design and project experience throughout the curriculum. All core courses contain at least one design project. Nine upper level mechanical engineering courses are devoted primarily to design, including:
- EN100: Projects in Engineering Design
- EN123: Instrumentation Design
- EN138: Design of Engineering Structures
- EN172: Design of Engines and Turbines
- EN 174: Computer Aided Design
- EN176: Machine Design
- EN193/EN194: Entrepreneurship
- EN195/196: Independent studies in engineering
All mechanical engineering curricula must contain at least two design courses, including EN100.
Learn more about Undergraduate Research Opportunities here.
The division supports a wide range of state-of-the-art research facilities. These are used for faculty and graduate research, undergraduate independent study, internships and honors thesis work, as well as a few upper level undergraduate courses. Links to some of Brown's research centers and laboratories are listed below.
Major research centers- Brown University Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC)
- Brown Engineering Regional Technology Exchange (BERTEX)
- Center for Fluid Mechanics (CFM)
- Ceramic Materials Laboratory
- Computational Mechanics Research Facility (CMRF)
- Corrosion and Materials Testing Laboratory
- Display and Photonics Laboratories
- Energy and Environmental Laboratories
- Electron Microscopy Facility
- Femtosecond Laser Laboratory
- Fluid Dynamics Laboratory
- Laboratory for Engineering Man-Machine Systems (LEMS)
- Mechanical Testing Facility
- Metallic Materials Research Group
- Microelectronics Laboratory
- Microfluids Laboratory
- Molecular Beam Epitaxial Facility
- Nano & Micromechanics Laboratory
- Optoelectronics and Emerging Technologies Laboratory
- Plate Impact Facility
- SHAPE Lab
- Thin Film Laboratory
Undergraduate students also have opportunities to participate in the teaching activities of the division. Typical projects include designing new class demonstrations or laboratories for a course; developing a course web page; tutoring; demonstrating laboratories and homework grading.
Interested students should contact professors in charge of courses to learn more about such opportunities. Core courses typically offer between 5 and 10 undergraduate teaching assistantships each year, large upper level courses may appoint one or two undergraduate TAs.
SAE Formula Race Car Design Project (EN100, EN195/EN196)
The Society of Automotive Engineers sponsors an annual competition for engineering students to concieve, design and fabricate a racecar from scratch. The restrictions on the car design are selected to challenge the knowledge, creativity and imagination of students.
The cars are built as a team effort over a period of about one year, and are then entered in a competition with schools from across the nation. Students work on every aspect of the car, from raising funding for the project, to computer aided design of the chassis; design and assembly of the power train; developing the fuel injection system; and fabricating and painting the body.
Many students work on some aspect of the car design for course credit, through design or independent study courses. The team is open to all, however, and not all team members are engineers.
