The Master of Philosophy (MPhil) Program focuses on strengthening students' background in the fundamentals of mechanical and aerospace engineering and exposing them to the environment of academic research and development. A candidate for an MPhil degree is expected to demonstrate knowledge in the discipline and to synthesize and create new knowledge, making a contribution to the field.

The program is offered by the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering with the following research foci, providing rigorous academic and professional training in a wide range of areas.

Research Foci

The Department's research concentrates on energy and environmental engineering, mechanics and materials, mechatronics and manufacturing, and aeronautical engineering. Research covers several major areas:

Solid Mechanics and Dynamics

These are two of the fundamental pillars of Mechanics research. The Department has a diverse faculty with expertise in these fields. Research activities range from applied issues to theoretical problems, and have a marked multidisciplinary nature.

Materials Technology

Materials engineering focuses on characterizing and processing new materials, developing processes for controlling their properties and their economical production, generating engineering data necessary for design, and predicting the performance of products. Research topics include: smart materials, biomaterials, thin films, composites, fracture and fatigue, residual life assessment, materials issues in electronic packaging, materials recycling, plastics flow in injection molding, advanced powder processing, desktop manufacturing, and instrumentation and measurement techniques.

Energy/ Thermalfluids and Environment Engineering

Research in energy, thermalfluids and environmental engineering includes fuel cells and batteries, advanced renewable energy storage systems, thermoelectric materials and devices, nanoscale heat and mass transfer, transport in multicomponent and multiphase systems, innovative electronics cooling systems, energy efficient buildings, and contaminant transport in indoor environments.

Design and Manufacturing Automation

These elements lie at the heart of mechanical engineering in which engineers conceive, design, build, and test innovative solutions to "real world" problems. Research is being conducted in the areas of geometric modeling, intelligent design and manufacturing process optimization, in-process monitoring and control of manufacturing processes, servosystem control, robotics, mechatronics, prime-mover system control, sensor technology and measurement techniques, and bio-medical systems design and manufacturing.

Microsystems and Precision Engineering

Micro ElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) is a multidisciplinary research field which has been making a great impact on our daily life, including various micro sensors used in personal electronics, transportation, communication, and biomedical diagnostics. Fundamental and applied research work is being conducted in this area. Basic micro/ nanomechanics, such as fluid and solid mechanics, heat transfer and materials problems unique to micro/nanomechanical systems are studied.

Aerospace Engineering

Aerospace engineering is a major branch of engineering concerned with research, development, manufacture and operation of aircraft and spacecraft. Within the aerospace engineering group, fundamental and applied research is being conducted in areas such as aerodynamics, aeroacoustics, aircraft and engine noise and performance, combustion dynamics, thermoacoustics, atomization and sprays, and aircraft design and optimization.

Concentrations

• Energy Technology Concentration
• Nanotechnology Concentration
• Scientific Computation Concentration