Mechanical Engineering

Carnegie Mellon’s Department of Mechanical Engineering (MechE) continues to evolve, creating emerging technologies and tools to educate future generations and develop solutions to the field’s most significant challenges. The department prides itself on its multidisciplinary approach to hands-on, real-world problem-solving. With cutting-edge, nontraditional research areas, the department is defining the next generation of mechanical engineering. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are integrated into nearly every research area. From additive manufacturing and Softbotics to neuroscience and nanoengineering, MechE's faculty and students are making breakthrough discoveries in traditional MechE disciplines as well as non-traditional ones.

Innovate

Programs

Undergraduate

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering

Master’s

Ph.D.

Welcome to MechE

MechE graduates go on to...

Work at companies like:

Amazon
Apple
Boston Consulting
Deloitte
Ford Motor Company
General Motors
Google
Huawei
Intel
Naval Nuclear Lab
Space X

Pursue graduate degrees or careers in academia at universities like:

Carnegie Mellon University
Columbia University
Dartmouth University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
University of Pennsylvania
Stanford University
University of Southern California
Yale University

Research areas

Advanced manufacturing

Bioengineering

Computational engineering

Energy and environment

Machine learning and AI

Micro/nanoengineering

Product innovation

Robotics

News

Dec 26

News & Events

Ph.D. students run “Cup of Wontons” stall at market

Darren Cheng, Chase McDonald, and Jenny Chang have been running a successful wonton stall at the Squirrel Hill Farmers Market since fall 2023.

Carnegie Mellon’s College of Engineering hosted the 2024 IEEE Vehicle Validation Conference, welcoming experts and innovators from around the world.

Experts gather at CMU to shape the future of automated vehicles

Dec 13

Artificial Intelligence

The trend is your friend … and so is machine learning

Grasping both general market trends and finer details, a new, hybrid machine learning model from researchers in the Department of Mechanical Engineering predicts financial market volatility with increased accuracy.

Dec 10

Energy & Environment

Domestic, circular supply chain for EV batteries

SeaLion Energy, a CMU-led startup, received funding from the U.S. Department of Energy ARPA-E to extend EV battery life and facilitate repair and reuse to reduce waste.

Nov 29

Artificial Intelligence

Multimodal machine learning model increases accuracy

Researchers have developed a novel ML model combining graph neural networks with transformer-based language models to predict adsorption energy of catalyst systems.

Nov 18

Artificial Intelligence

Presto joins Health Effect Institute’s Energy Review Committee

Albert Presto has joined the Health Effect Institute's Energy Review Committee with the mission to protect public health as the oil and natural gas industry grows.

Nov 12

Health & Biomedicine

Biological neural circuits critical for neurodegenerative disease therapy and biohybrid robot control

To support the development of new therapies for neurodegenerative disease and advance biohybrid robots, Jessica Zhang and Victoria Webster-Wood will lead a project to develop computational tools to predict neuron growth and transport regulation.

When faculty and students in the College of Engineering create intellectual property, our culture supports their efforts to form startups.

Engineering entrepreneurs find their way

Nov 1

Energy & Environment

Robotics for environmental innovation

A team of Carnegie Mellon University researchers is seeking to understand how robotics can help engineers address environmental challenges, such as monitoring affected soils.

Watch the Video

Research paper

Oct 29

Artificial Intelligence

Putting the ghost in the machine

To build AI teammates that better reflect human designers, Chris McComb is emulating cognitive styles in large language models.

Research paper

Oct 24

Artificial Intelligence

Making magic with materials to enhance human well-being

Liwei Wang joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering as an assistant professor at the beginning of the fall 2024 semester. His lab is working on applications that can enhance human well-being and extend human capabilities such as mechanical protective cloaks and minimally invasive surgery.

Oct 16

Artificial Intelligence

Paleobionics: Dinosaurs are back

Carmel Majidi, Aaron Johnson, and Aja Mia Carter explain the intersection of paleontology, robotics, and artificial intelligence.

Ding Zhao is teaming up with the City of Pittsburgh to improve road safety and eliminate traffic fatalities using AI.

Safe AI for safe streets for all

Oct 7

Energy & Environment

US industrial policy may strengthen EV battery supply chain

The Inflation Reduction Act offers incentives for diversifying the EV battery supply chain and reducing US dependence on China, but the potential impact of loopholes remains to be seen.

Oct 7

Energy & Environment

MechE hosts 2024 Rising Stars Workshop

Rising Stars in Mechanical Engineering supports female graduate students and postdocs who are considering careers in academia.

Oct 2

Health & Biomedicine

Carnegie Mellon lands ARPA-H award for implantable bioelectric medicine project

A CMU-led project team secured an award of up to $42M from ARPA-H to accelerate the development of implantable bioelectronic devices that deliver patient-specific therapy and monitor disease status.

Sep 30

News & Events

Ride-hailing apps mitigate impact of racial discrimination

Uber and Lyft are dramatically reducing wait-time disparities for Black riders, but the impact of systemic segregation persists.

Sep 18

News & Events

Boeing Visiting Professorship Program facilitates new research and education opportunities

This summer, Chris McComb spent three weeks exploring AI in the aerospace industry as part of Boeing’s Visiting Professorship Program. Now, he is eager to continue the collaboration and bring students into the mix.