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2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog

Mechanical Engineering (B.S.M.E.)

Program: B.S.M.E.
Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering  
College of Engineering, Technology, and Computer Science

Engineering, Technology, and Computer Science Building 321 ~ 260-481-6965

Mechanical engineering is a broad technical discipline covering the design, development, analysis, control and testing of machines, devices, and processes to improve quality of life for all.

Areas of specialization include engineering mechanics (solid mechanics, machine dynamics and mechanical design), energy systems (thermodynamics, fluid mechanics and heat transfer), manufacturing (materials selection and materials processing), and computer-aided engineering (solid modeling and finite element analysis).

Our students, while drawn from diverse backgrounds, are able and committed to learning. Purdue University Fort Wayne delivers an exceptional educational experience to engineering students, encouraging collaboration and teamwork throughout the curriculum.  In addition to coursework, the department supports and encourage student participation in undergraduate research, co-op and internships, and several active student organizations.

In its recently (2022) released rankings of the best colleges and universities in the United States, U.S. News & World Report deemed the engineering programs at Purdue University Fort Wayne to be among the best in the country.

Educational Objectives:

As a framework for the continuous improvement policy, the Mechanical Engineering program has adopted a set of programs objectives that describe the anticipated accomplishments of our graduates within a few years after graduation.

The Mechanical Engineering program educational objectives are to produce graduates who:

  • Function and communicate effectively both as individuals and in multidisciplinary teams to solve technical problems.
  • Advance professionally to roles of greater mechanical engineering responsibilities and/or by transitioning into leadership positions in business, government, and/or education.
  • Participate in life-long learning through the successful completion of advanced degree(s), professional development, and/or engineering certification(s)/licensure.
  • Demonstrate a commitment to community by applying technical skills and knowledge to support various service activities.

Student Learning Outcomes:

The graduates from the Mechanical Engineering Program will demonstrate that they have:

  • The ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics.
  • The ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social environmental, and economic factors.
  • The ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences.
  • The ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts.
  • The ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives.
  • The ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions.
  • The ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies.

Accreditation:

  • The Mechanical Engineering (BSME) program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, https://www.abet.org, under the General Criteria and the Mechanical and Similarly Named Engineering Programs Criteria.

Program Delivery:

  • The B.S.M.E. program is delivered primarily through on-campus courses; however, some of the required General Education courses are available as hybrid and/or on-line courses and those can be used to satisfy the program requirements. 

Declaring this Major:

Students interested in declaring Mechanical Engineering as their major may do so in one of two ways:

1.  On their application when they first apply to Purdue Fort Wayne

2.  After meeting with a ME faculty advisor, who will determine that the student has the required math background to begin in our program. 

General Requirements:

College Scorecard

The U.S. Department of Education has created a scorecard for each university and its programs.  The scorecard shows data for the university such as graduation rate, average annual cost, and median earnings.  Then, when certain minimum standards have been met, data are available for a specific program.  That data could include median earnings, median total debt, and number of graduates. The link below will help you learn more:

https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?151102-Purdue-University-Fort-Wayne&fos_code=1419&fos_credential=3

Program Requirements:

Mechanical Engineering 4-Yr. Plan:  

In order to start in the Mechanical Engineering program, a student must meet the following criteria:

1.  Math Placement at or above MA 15400

General Education Requirements

A student must earn a grade of C- or better in each course used to satisfy the Purdue Fort Wayne general education requirements.

A student must also have a GPA of at least 2.0 in all general education courses.

Students in the mechanical engineering program will satisfy the Purdue Fort Wayne General Education

Requirements in the following manner:

Category

Competency

Course

Credit Hours

A

1

ENGL 13100 Elementary Composition

3

A

2

COM 11400 Fundamentals of Speech

3

A

3

MA 16500 Analytical Geometry and Calculus I

MA 16600 Analytical Geometry and Calculus I

4

4

B

4

CHM 11500 General Chemistry I

PHYS 15200 Mechanics

4

5

B

5

Select one course from the following approved list

ANTH 10501 - Culture and Society

ANTH 20002 - Language and Culture

ANTH 20003 - Intro to Prehistoric Archaeology

ANTH 44500 - Medical Anthropology

ANTH 47000 - Psychological Anthropology

CDFS 25500 - Intro to Couple & Family Relationships

COM 21200 - Study of Interpersonal Comm.

COM 25000 - Mass Communication and Society

COM 30300 - Intercultural Communication+

CRIM 10100 - The American Criminal Justice System

CSD 11500 - Intro to Communication Disorders

ECON 10101 - Survey of Economic Issues & Problems

ECON 12100 - Economics for the Citizen

**ECON 20000 - Fundamentals of Economics

EDUC 34001 - Education and Culture

GERN 23100 - Introduction to Gerontology

**IET 10500 - Industrial Management

LING 10300 - Intro to the Study of Language

**OLS 25200 - Human Relations in Organizations

**OLS 26800 - Elements of Law

POL 10001 - American Political Controversies

POL 10101 - Introduction to Political Science

POL 10300 - Introduction to American Politics

POL 10700 - Introduction to Comparative Politics

POL 10900 - Introduction to International Relations

POL 20800 - Scandals and Conspiracy Theories

POL 21200 - Making Democracy Work

POL 21300 - Introduction to Public Policy

POL 25200 - Sports and Public Policy

POL 30101 - Political Parties and Interest Groups

POL 31900 - The United States Congress

PSY 12000 - Elementary Psychology

PSY 23500 - Child Psychology

PSY 24000 - Introduction to Social Psychology

PSY 33500 - Stereotyping and Prejudice

PSY 35000 - Abnormal Psychology

PSY 36900 - Development Across the Lifespan

SOC 16101 - Principles of Sociology

SOC 16300 - Social Problems

SOC 31701 - Social Stratification

SOC 32501 - Criminology

SOC 36000 - Topics in Social Policy

WOST 21000 - Introduction to Women’s Studies

3

B

6

Select one course from the following approved list

AD 10101 - Art Appreciation

AD 11100 - History of Art I: Prehistoric to Medieval

AD 11201 - History of Art II

CLCS 20500 - Classical Mythology

COM 21000 - Debating Public Issues

COM 24800 - Intro to Media Criticism and Analysis

ENGL 10101 - Western World Masterpieces I

ENGL 10201 - Western World Masterpieces II

ENGL 20201 - Literary Interpretation

ENGL 25001 - American Literature Before 1865

ENGL 25100 - American Literature Since 1865

FOLK 10100 - Introduction to Folklore

FOLK 11100 - Introduction to World Folk Music

FVS 10100 - Introduction to Film

GER 37100 - Special Topics in Germanic Studies

**HIST 10501 - American History I

**HIST 10601 - American History II

HIST 11300 - History of Western Civilization I

HIST 11400 - History of Western Civilization II

HIST 20101 - Russian Civilization I-II

HIST 22500 - Special Topics in History

HIST 23200 - The World in the 20th Century

MUSC 10101 - Music for the Listener

MUSC 10500 - Traditions in World Music

MUSC 20103 - History of Rock and Roll Music

**PHIL 11000 - Introduction to Philosophy

PHIL 11009 - Introduction to Philosophical Topics

**PHIL 11100 - Ethics

PHIL 11101 - Contemporary Moral Problems

PHIL 24000 - Social and Political Philosophy

PHIL 30100 - History of Ancient Philosophy

PHIL 30200 - History of Medieval Philosophy

PHIL 30300 - History of Modern Philosophy

PHIL 30400 - 19th Century Philosophy

PHIL 30500 - Philosophical Theories of Feminism

PHIL 31200 - Medical Ethics

PHIL 32700 - Environmental Ethics

PHIL 32800 - Ethics and Animals

REL 23000 - Religions of the East

REL 23100 - Religions of the West

REL 30100 - Islam

SPAN 27500 - Hispanic Culture and Conversation

THTR 20100 - Theatre Appreciation

WOST 22500 - Gender, Sexuality, and Popular Culture

3

B

7

Select one course from the following approved list

AD 10801 - Introduction to Drawing for Non-majors

AD 13300 - Metalsmithing for Non-majors

AD 16500 - Ceramics for Non-majors

AD 23900 - Painting for Non-majors

ANTH 37001 - Ancient Cultures of South America

ANTH 42100 - Moche Archaeology Seminar

ANTH 42600 - Human Osteology

ARET 12300 - Digital Graphics For Built Environment I

ARET 21000 - Architecture and Urban Form

ARET 22300 - Digital Graph. for Built Environment II

ARET 22500 - Creative House Design

ARET 31000 - Architecture & Urban Form

BUS 10001 - Principals of Business Administration

CM 21100 - History Of Architecture And Building Technology

COM 21001 - Visual Communication

CS 11200 - Survey of Computer Science

EALC 10101 - Elementary Japanese I

EALC 10201 - Elementary Japanese II

EAPS 30000 - Environmental and Urban Geology

EAPS 30500 - Geologic Fund in Earth Science

ENGL 10302 - Introductory Creative Writing

ENGL 20301 - Creative Writing

ENGL 20302 - Fiction

FR 11100 - Elementary French I

FR 11201- Elementary French II

**GEOG 31500 - Environmental Conservation

GER 11100 - Elementary German I

GER 11201 - Elementary German II

INTL 20000 - Intro International Studies

INTD 33000 - Culture & Design

LGBT 20000 - Intro Scholarship in to LGBT Issues

LING 46000 - Language in Society

MARS 20100 - Medieval Encounters

MUSC 14000 - Introduction to Music Expression

MUSC 15300 - Introduction to Musical Therapy

NELC 10000 - Elementary Arabic I

NELC 15000 - Elementary Arabic II

NUTR 40300 - Advanced Nutrition: Farm to Fork

OLS 45400 - Gender and Diversity in Management

PACS 20000 - Introduction to Peace and Conflict Studies

PHIL 12000 - Critical Thinking

**PHIL 15000 - Principles of Logic

PHIL 27500 - The Philosophy of Art

PHIL 32600 - Business Ethics

PHIL 35100 - Philosophy of Science

PHIL 35200 - History & Philosophy of Science

PHIL 43500 - Philosophy of Mind

PHIL 46500 - Philosophy of Language

PHYS 13600 - Chaos and Fractals

PHYS 30200 - Puzzles, Strategy Games, & Problem

POL 27500 - Politics and Film

POL 30701 - Indiana State Government and Politics

POL 28500 - Science and Politics

PSY 42600 - Language Development

PSY 44400 - Human Sexual Behavior

REL 11200 - Religion and Culture

REL 30000 - Religions of the Ancient World

SOC 20900 - Community and the Built Environment

SOC 31401 - Social Aspects of Health and Medicine

SPAN 11101 - Elementary Spanish I

SPAN 11201 - Elementary Spanish II

SPAN 11300 - Accelerated First Year Spanish

THTR 11200 - Introduction to Dance

THTR 13400 - Fundamentals of Performance

THTR 32510 - History of Modern Drama

WOST 24000 - Topics in Feminism

***PHYS 25100 cannot be used to fulfill B7 General Education course***

3

C

8

Senior Design I (ENGR 41000 or ME 48700)

3

 

 

Total Credit Hours =

35

 1) This plan satisfies the competency requirements and the credit hour requirement.

 2) This list of ME approved courses is posted on at www.pfw.edu/cme.

3)Starred courses have been recommended by the Industry Advisory Board as being beneficial for mechanical engineering students.

Major and Supporting Courses Required for the BSME

Core and Concentration Courses Required for the BSME

Technical Elective Courses: Credits 12

Students must select at least three (3) courses from Group 1 and may select at most one (1) course from Group 2.

New courses approved and added to the curriculum in future Catalogs may satisfy Technical Elective requirements.

Group 1*

Group 2*

Required Electrical and Computer Engineering Course: Credits 3

GPA Requirement

The required courses (ENGR, ME, and ECE) and technical elective courses must have a combined minimum GPA of 2.0.

For the latest information please visit www.pfw.edu/cme

Total: Credits 120

Probation/Dismissal Policy of BSME Program

  • A student enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering program shall be placed on Mechanical Engineering (ME) core probation if his/her ME core GPA at the completion of any semester (excluding summer) falls below 2.0.
  • The ME core GPA is the overall GPA of ME core courses listed in Table 1.  These courses are required by the ME program.  Technical elective courses are not included as the purpose of having this probation policy is to promote student preparedness early in his/her academic career.
  • Freshmen are not subjected to the ME core probation policy, and grades in ENGR 127 and ENGR 128 are used to compute their ME core GPA.
  • A student placed on ME core probation status shall complete an Action Plan for Success and sign a probation agreement with his/her academic advisor and the department chair.  The advisor may limit the number of credit hours so that the student can focus on improving his/her ME core GPA.  Failure to do so by the assigned deadline shall drop the student from the CME courses.
  • A student on ME core probation shall be removed from that standing at the end of the first subsequent fall or spring semester in which he/she achieves ME core GPA >= 2.0.
  • Three Strike Policy 1: If a student is on ME core probation for three semesters, the student shall be dismissed from the ME program and shall not be considered for readmission to the mechanical engineering program at Purdue University Fort Wayne.
  • Three Strike Policy 2: If a student fails the same ME core course three times, the student shall be dismissed from the ME program and shall not be considered for readmission to the mechanical engineering program at Purdue University Fort Wayne.

 

Table 1.  ME core courses

FYE

ENGR 127

ENGR 128

ME 16000

Sophomore

CS 22700

ECE 20100

ME 20000

ME 25000

ME 25100

ME 25200

Junior

ME 29300

ME 30100

ME 30300

ME 30400

ME 31800

ME 31900

ME 32100

ME 33100

ME 33300

ME 36100

ME 36900

Senior

ME 32200

ME 48700 / ENGR 41000

ME 48800 / ENGR 41100
 

 

Student Responsibility

You are responsible for ensuring that you satisfy all graduation requirements specified for each selected program.  Thus, it is essential that you develop a thorough understanding of the required courses, academic policies, and procedures governing your academic career.  If you cannot complete all program requirements by your stated graduation date but fail to remove those from your plan of study, the Registrar’s Office in consultation with your academic advisor will remove unmet pursuits from your plan of study. Changing curricular records during the graduation term of application may affect state or federal financial aid awards. All requests for exceptions to specific requirements must be made in writing and may be granted only by written approval from the appropriate chair or dean.