Research Areas

NanospheresThe Department of Mechanical Engineering includes approximately 20 faculty members, 45 full-time graduate students, and 215 undergraduate students. Research is conducted in five overlapping areas:

To view specific faculty research, please view the virtual open house under our graduate page.

Mechanical engineering faculty members have strong research ties with the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, the Rochester Center for Biomedical Ultrasound, and with various departments within the School of Medicine and Dentistry.

Our small size fosters strong inter-departmental collaborations. Many of our faculty members participate in the Materials Science Program and/or have joint appointments in other engineering and science departments, such as biomedical engineering, the Institute of Optics, and physics and astronomy.

Specific research topics include:

  • Precision grinding and polishing
  • Optical surface metrology
  • Nonlinear finite element analysis
  • Mechanics of the cochlea
  • Mechanics of the heart
  • Mechanics of ancient structures
  • Bubble dynamics
  • Blood cell deformation
  • Computational design of structural materials
  • Material fracture and fatigue
  • Plasticity of amorphous materials
  • Fluid mixing, applied to problems in energy and environment
  • Turbulence
  • Geophysical Fluid Dynamics
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Magnetohydrodynamics
  • Laser fusion
  • High energy density physics

Undergraduate, as well as graduate students, are encouraged to participate in research. Use the links above to find descriptions of the research areas and associated faculty members.