Mechanical Engineering: What is Mechanical Engineering?

Mechanical engineers work in industry, government, and non-profit organizations to improve the world in which we live. They are involved with all aspects of product development, from concept to design, analysis, testing, and manufacturing. Many graduates choose careers in management, sales, law and medicine.

Mechanical engineering encompasses a wide variety of specialties ranging from machinery, surface and space vehicles, heating and cooling systems, material handling systems, and manufacturing complexes to fluid power and energy conversion and utilization.

Mechanical engineers design the large and the small—from space stations to alternative sources of energy, to air and ground transportation vehicles, to cutting edge micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) that promise to revolutionize fields such as health care. Don’t take it for granted—if you can touch it or see it, there was probably a mechanical engineer involved with its creation.