Mechanical Engineering (Graduate Program)

For information regarding the UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM, click here.    

Program Overview

The research program in the Department has experienced significant growth over the last ten years. Mechanical Engineering faculty members, with extensive scholarly and professional experience, offer high level research and graduate study opportunities to graduate students who are supported through research assistantships, teaching assistantships, or fellowships.

Mechanical Engineering faculty members span general areas of expertise ranging from robotics, control, materials science & engineering, and thermal-fluid science and combustion, to micro/nano-systems (design and fabrication) and molecular-level engineering. The Mechanical Engineering faculty is primarily involved in research related to Energy, Materials & Manufacturing, Aerospace and Bio-Technology applications. Research is funded through grants from federal agencies (NSF, NASA, DoD, DoE, NIH etc.), state government (Louisiana Board of Regents), national laboratories, and various industries. The graduate faculty works closely with graduate students in research projects that cover both traditional and nontraditional areas. Graduate students are engaged in experimental, numerical, modeling, and theoretical studies and can select their coursework from mechanical engineering and other departments, in consultation with their advisory committees. Students have access to excellent laboratory facilities and equipment, as well as to extensive computer systems, both in the department and on the LSU campus. Mechanical engineering graduates are prepared for employment in industry, universities, state and federal government, and the private sector.

Administration

Admission

Applications and supporting materials for all graduate study must be submitted through the online application site for the LSU Graduate School. Official transcripts, official test scores, and other materials that come from third-party sources must be mailed to: LSU Office of Graduate Admissions, 114 West David Boyd Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803. These paper documents are stored electronically and departments have access to all materials submitted by and/or on behalf of a student applying to graduate study.

Applications for admission are received and evaluated by the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. Applicants must adhere to the application deadlines established by the Graduate School.

Evaluation will be completed by the department within two months of receipt. The department’s deadline is generally two weeks before the application deadlines established by the Graduate School. Students seeking admission must submit satisfactory credentials from previous study, acceptable GRE and TOEFL, IELTS, or PTE exam scores, and three letters of recommendation. The admission requirements of the department are in addition to those of the Graduate School and are generally more restrictive.

For MIE graduate programs typically, a minimum undergraduate grade point average of 3.0 (“A” = 4.0) and a GRE (verbal + quantitative) score of 300-310 are required.

Admission to Mechanical Engineering

Applications and supporting materials for all graduate study must be submitted through the online application site for the LSU Graduate School.  For detailed information how to submit official transcripts, test scores, and other materials, please refer to the information provided by the Graduate School.

The Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering receives and evaluates applications for admission. Applicants must adhere to the application deadlines established by the Graduate School.

The department will complete the evaluation within two months of receipt. The department’s deadline is generally two weeks before the application deadlines established by the Graduate School. Students seeking admission must submit satisfactory credentials from previous study, optional GRE scores, English proficiency test results if required, and three letters of recommendation. The admission requirements of the department are in addition to those of the Graduate School and are generally more restrictive.

To pursue an advanced degree in Mechanical Engineering, an applicant must hold a B.S. degree from an engineering department accredited by the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET), or the equivalent. Special programs can be developed if the degree is from another discipline. The graduate faculty of the department must approve these special programs. As a potential graduate student of Mechanical Engineering, you must meet the minimum requirements for admission to LSU’s Graduate School before being considered for admission into the Mechanical Engineering graduate program. The admission requirements of the department are in addition to those of the Graduate School and are generally more restrictive. Typically, a minimum undergraduate and/or Masters grade-point average of 3.0 (“A” = 4.0, “B” =3.0) is required and competitive GRE scores (Quantitative Reasoning GRE score above the 80th percentile) are recommended. As deciding on admissions and assistantships as well as taking care of visa formalities take considerable time, potential students are advised to apply sufficiently early, say six to nine months in advance of the semester in which they wish to enroll.

English Requirements

An applicant whose native language is not English and/or who has been educated outside of the U.S. in a country or province where English is not the only official language must demonstrate proof of English proficiency by submitting a TOEFL iBT, an IELTS, a PTE, a Duolingo, or a Michigan English Language score before the application is evaluated for admission. Please refer to the Graduate School’s Admission site for a list of the required scores. Regardless of test scores submitted, official scores are those reported directly to LSU by the respective testing service at the request of the student.

Additionally, international students must take the LSU Comprehensive English Language Test after arrival on campus and before registration. If the test results indicate a deficiency in English, the student will be required to register for appropriate English language courses. International graduate assistants (teaching, service, or research) must complete ENGL 1051 during their first semester unless a waiver is granted as a result of an interview with the English Department. Repeated registration of such courses may be required until the student can demonstrate sufficient proficiency in English.

As deciding on admissions and assistantships as well as taking care of visa formalities take considerable time, potential students are advised to apply as early as possible, usually six to nine months in advance of the semester in which they wish to enroll. 

Financial Assistance

Financial assistance is available to some students. Support may be available through the department in the form of research or teaching assistantships. To ensure consideration for financial aid, all application materials should be submitted in accordance with deadlines established by the LSU Graduate School. Research assistants take active part in research activities and projects as directed by relevant faculty members advising the assistants. Research assistantships are negotiated and eventually offered through direct discussions between the student and faculty members.

Some departmental/programmatic assistantships are available for qualified students and are awarded each semester, based on programmatic needs and student qualifications. Except in unusual cases, no master’s candidate will be awarded a departmental/programmatic assistantship for more than four semesters. A doctoral candidate may be awarded a departmental/programmatic assistantship for up to six semesters. Faculty who have funded research projects provide additional assistantships for participating graduate students. Faculty members also recommend students for fellowships and stipends when these become available.

Laboratories, Centers and Facilities

Visit the departmental website for more information on the following:

• Research Laboratories
• Center & Institutes

Graduate Faculty

(check current faculty listings by department here)

Corina Barbalata (6A) • Marine robotic systems, Autonomous mobile-manipulation, Cooperative robotics, Multi-body control and planning theory, Underwater perception systems and algorithms
Ram Devireddy (M) • Bioheat and mass transfer, tissue engineering, biological fluid flow, cryopreservation of cells and tissues
Manas Ranjan Gartia (7M) • Plasmonics, Nanophotonics, Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS), Advanced
Nanofabrication and Nanomanufacturing, Biosensors Development, Biomedical Research, Nuclear Forensics, Materials Characterization, Mobiled and Wireless Integrated Sensing
Hunter Gilbert (7M) • Robotics and autonomous systems, medical devices, flexible and soft robots
Keith Alan Gonthier (M) • Theoretical and computational fluid dynamics, combustion, continuum mechanics, multi-phase flow, gas dynamics
Shengmin Guo (M) • Fluid sciences, thermal engineering
Robert Herbert (6A) • Biomedical devices, implantable and wearable soft electronics, cardiovascular sensors, soft robotics, multifunctional elastomers, printing and additive manufacturing, in-space applications
Michael Khonsari (M) • Tribology, rotating machinery performance analysis, heat transfer, numerical analysis, modeling and simulations
Guoqiang Li (M) • Composite materials and composite structures
Christopher Marvel (6A) • Grain boundary complexions. high entropy alloys, structural ceramics, nanocrystalline metals, additive manufacturing, atomic resolution electron microscopy, grain growth simulations
Wen Jin Meng (M) • Plasma-based materials processing, nanostructure ceramic coatings, and micro/nano fabrication
Shyam Kumar Menon (7M) • Combustion and fuel-based applications
Dorel Moldovan (M) • Materials modeling and simulation, microstructure evolution and deformation in nanocrystalline materials, thin films and interfacial materials
Michael C. Murphy (EM) • Biomechanics, microsystems, system dynamics and control
Dimitris E. Nikitopoulos (M) • Experimental and numerical fluid dynamics, two-phase flow and microfluidics
Ope Owoyele (6A) • Computational fluid dynamics (CFD), turbulent combustion, scientific machine learning (SciML), engineering design optimization, reduced-order modeling and digital twinning, high-performance computing (HPC), and biofluid dynamics
Genevieve Palardy (7M) • Composite materials with a focus on thermoplastic matrices, Manufacturing, characterization and joining of composites, Repair and recycling mechanisms, Experimental and computational techniques, Additive manufacturing of composites
Sunggook Park (M) • Nanofabrication technology and applications, Nanoimprint lithography, BioMEMS/NEMS, bioengineering, polymer photonic devices, liquid crystal displays, and surface coatings
Ingmar Michael Schoegl (7M) • Combustion, thermochemical energy conversion (fuel reforming, gasification), and alternative fuel sources (biofuels, biomass)
Kshitiz Upadhyay (6A) • Mechanics of soft materials, constitutive modeling, high strain rate characterization, scientific machine learning, and brain biomechanics
Muhammad Wahab (M) • Fatigue and fracture mechanics, stress analysis, computational plasticity, and structural integrity
Ying Wang (M) • Energy conversion and storage systems, electrochromic displays, nanostructured materials, functional ceramics, atomic lay deposition and chemical vapor deposition
Harris Wong (M) • Fluid mechanics, heat transfer, interfacial phenomena, solid films, two-phase flow in porous media, human tear film, spectral and boundary integral methods 

Programs

• Mechanical Engineering, M.S.ME

• Mechanical Engineering, Ph.D.