Mechanical engineers are recruited in a variety of industries, including automotive, aerospace, power generation, environmental, electronics, bioengineering, food processing and consulting firms, among many others.
Because of the variety of fields relevant to this profession, UC Merced's undergraduate program covers areas in dynamics, materials, thermal/fluids, vibrations, controls, computer-aided engineering, design and manufacturing.
The innovative curriculum at UC Merced provides hands-on education that exposes students to engineering fundamentals, laboratory work and the use of computational tools to solve realistic engineering problems. The program also prepares students to pursue graduate work in engineering or other disciplines.
Mechanical engineering is an evolving discipline that adapts to the needs of society. Some of the exciting current areas of research include advanced energy systems, sustainable energy, autonomous vehicles, biomechanics and biosensors, nano/micro-technology, computational modeling, design optimization and complex systems.
Careers
Students in Mechanical Engineering can pursue a career as an engineer, consultant or researcher in industry and governmental agencies, or a teacher or professor in educational institutes. Examples include:
- Aerospace engineer
- Fluid dynamics engineer
- Materials engineering consultant
- Robotics engineer
- Thermodynamics and heat transfer engineer
- Automotive engineer
- Nuclear engineer
- Energy system engineer
- Acoustics engineer
- Engineering researcher
- Professor in engineering
* Please Note: Some of these careers require education beyond a Bachelor's degree.
