Spotlight: Mechanical Engineering

Outside of the classroom many mechanical engineers participate in project teams or research labs. Cornell has over 30 projects team building almost every kind of vehicle you can think of and mechanical engineers form the core of many of those projects. When it comes to research, there are a wide range of labs working in fields as diverse as biomaterials, spacecraft, and industrial design seeking mechanical engineering members.
Since I started studying mechanical engineering three years ago, there are parts I have designed, analyzed, and tested that have won 4-hour Baja endurance races and been launched into space. I love that the things mechanical engineers build are often real and tangible. The more I learn in school, the more amazed I am by the hidden complexity in all the machines and vehicles that surround us all.
Mechanical Engineering is one of the most versatile engineering majors and sees demand in almost every industry. I have friends who have graduated and gone on to design and build a huge variety of machines such as rockets, particle accelerators, self-driving cars, and surgical robots.
—Kenny, mechanical engineering