ments of admission by the Vanderbilt University Grad-uate School. Information online: www.vanderbilt.edu/gradschool

Graduate Curriculum

The program in mechanical engineering allows con-centration in a variety of areas of mechanical engineer-ing research. Candidates for the master of sciencedegree must complete 24 hours of course work andan acceptable master’s thesis. The course work mustinclude at least 12 hours at or above the 300 level, anda minor of at least 6 hours in courses separate from,but related to, the field of study. The Ph.D. program re-quires 36 hours of course work beyond the bachelor’sdegree (with a minimum of 24 hours completed atVanderbilt) and an acceptable dissertation. This coursework must include a 6-hour minor in an area separatefrom, but related to, the field of study. At least 18hours of the 36 must be at or above the 300 level.

A maximum of 12 hours in independent study maybe included in the 36-hour requirement. The master ofengineering, an advanced professional degree, is of-fered by the School of Engineering. There is also amaster of science/doctor of medicine degree programjoint between the Department of Mechanical Engi-neering and the School of Medicine. Details may beobtained from the director of graduate studies in Me-chanical Engineering.

Financial Assistance

Financial awards are available in several forms, suchas University Fellowships, Graduate Teaching Assistant-

Vanderbilt University’s Graduate School, in collabo-ration with the School of Engineering, offers master ofengineering, master of science, and doctoral degreesin mechanical engineering.

The mechanical engineering department is recog-nized internationally as a research leader in the areas ofbioMEMS, combustion, microscale heat transfer andfluid mechanics, nanotechnology, medical device de-sign, mechatronics, prosthetics, and robotics. The cur-riculum can be designed to achieve both the bachelor’sand the master of engineering within five years. A doc-toral degree prepares the student for a career of inde-pendent research and contributions towards theadvancement of science and technology. Graduate stu-dents have the opportunity to design an interdiscipli-nary curriculum with a mechanical engineering focusarea that will provide a competitive advantage in obtain-ing an academic faculty position, or a leadership posi-tion in research and development at a startup company,government laboratory, or in a leading company in thearea of interest to the student.

Our engineering graduates are widely known andvalued for their expertise, interdisciplinary experience,intellectual independence, communication skills, andleadership, and are thoroughly prepared for the 21stcentury global work environment.

Graduate Admissions

Graduate education is focused on the Ph.D. degree.Selective admissions results in fewer than 15% of ap-plicants admitted. Application fees are waved for on-line applications. To enter the mechanical engineeringgraduate program, you must meet the general require-

ships, Graduate Research Assistantships and Trainee-ships. Virtually all students who are admitted based onmerit are offered a financial support package. The finan-cial support package typically consists of a competitivestipend, a tuition waiver and full health insurance cover-age. Students interested in financial assistance shouldcheck the appropriate box under "Financial Information"on the online application. Information online: www.vanderbilt.edu/gradschool

About Vanderbilt & Nashville

A private research university, Vanderbilt wasfounded in 1873 and named for Cornelius Vanderbilt,who provided the school its initial $1 million endow-ment. Vanderbilt enrolls approximately 12,000 stu-dents from all 50 U.S. states and over 90 foreigncountries in four undergraduate and six graduate andprofessional schools. Several research centers and in-stitutes are affiliated with the university, including theVanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies, FreedomForum First Amendment Center, Dyer Observatory,and Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the onlyLevel I trauma center in Middle Tennessee.

Vanderbilt’s hometown of Nashville (population ofthe Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area is1,582,264) is a vibrant, engaging city known proudlyas "Music City, U.S.A." The Bridgestone Arena is hometo the National Hockey League team, the NashvillePredators. The National Football League’s TennesseeTitans’ home is LP Field in downtown Nashville. Van-derbilt is located near downtown, and the university’sstudents, faculty, staff and visitors frequently citeNashville as one of the perks of Vanderbilt.

The Graduate Program

Contact

DEPARTMENT OF

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Nilanjan Sarkar, Director of Graduate Studies, Mechanical Engineering

Room 509, Olin Hall, Phone: (615) 343-7219, Fax: (615) 343-6687

Email: nilanjan.sarkar@Vanderbilt.Edu | Website: http://engineering.vanderbilt.edu/MechanicalEngineering.aspx

The Laboratory for the Design and Control of Energetic SystemsEric J. Barth, Dynamic systems and control; design, modeling, and control ofmechatronic and fluid power systemswww.vanderbilt.edu/dces

Energetic BioMEMS LabJon F. Edd, Inertial and drop-based microfluidics (BioMEMS),fluid mechanics,heat transfer, non-equilibrium thermodynamics, cryopreservation andcryosurgery, electrical impedance tomography, and irreversible electroporationhttp://research.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/erg

The Center for Intelligent MechatronicsMichael Goldfarb, Design, modeling, and control of electromechanical devicesand systems; design of highenergy-density robotic actuators; control of fluid-powered actuators and deviceshttp://research.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/cim

Micro/Nanoscale Thermal-Fluids LabDeyu Li, Micro/nano scale energyand molecular transport phenomena,nanofabrication techniques, molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulation,micro/nanofluidicshttp://research.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/MNTFL/

Computational Flow Physics LabHaoxiang Luo, Computational fluid dynamics; fluid-structure interaction;biological locomotion; biomedical flows; microfluidicshttp://challenge.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/

Laser Diagnostics of Combustion LabRobert W. Pitz, Laser diagnostics, laminar flames, turbulent combustion,molecular tagging velocimetry, hypersonic propulsion, pollutant formation,Ramanscattering, laser-induced fluorescencehttp://engineering.vanderbilt.edu/Combustion.aspx

The Robotics and Autonomous Systems LabNilanjan Sarkar, Control of electromechanical systems, rehabilitation robotics,human-robot interaction, affective computing, virtual reality, and intelligentsystems for autism interventionhttp://research.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/rasl/index.html

The Advanced Robotics and Mechanism Applications LabNabil Simaan, Medical robotics, robot design, flexible robots, snake robots,parallel robots, sensory-guided surgery, intelligent surgical robots, surgicalassistancehttp://arma.vuse.vanderbilt.edu

The Vanderbilt University Welding Automation LabAlvin M. Strauss, Friction stir welding, wind energy using Flettner rotors, nuclearpropulsion:applications of variational methods, dimensional analysis, and thefractional calculushttp://research.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/vuwal/index.shtml

Science and Technology of Robotics in Medicine LabPietro Valdastri, Capsule robots for wireless or softly tethered operation towardpainless endoscopy and scarless surgeryhttp://research.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/storm

Nanoscale Optics and Materials LabJason Valentine, Optical metamaterials, transformation optics, nanophotonics,nanoimaging, active photonics, solar energy conversion,scalable 3Dnanomanufacturinghttp://research.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/NanOptics

Thermal Engineering LabD. Greg Walker, Ultrasonic pyrometry, thermographic phosphor temperaturemeasurement, nanoscale electrical and thermal transport modeling, energyconversion deviceshttp://telab.vuse.vanderbilt.edu

The Medical and Electromechanical Design LabRobert J. Webster III, Electromechanical design, modeling, and control,medicalsystems, image guided surgery, flexible robots, mobile and legged medicalrobots, biosensors, human-machine interfaceshttp://research.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/MEDLab

Research Areas

Important DatesOctober 22: Last date to take paper-based general GRE

November 19: Last date to take TOEFL (Internationals)

December 1: Last date to take computer-based general GRE

January 15: Application deadline, including all supporting credentials

February 15: Admission offers made

April 15: Deadline to accept admission