Emphasis Areas

Students may elect to complete one of the below optional emphases within Mechanical Engineering. An emphasis, indicated on the student’s transcript, will indicate high academic achievement in the area of specialization. A student may receive only one emphasis on his/her transcript. Visit the technical elective schedule page to see when courses are scheduled to be offered (subject to change).  Search the course catalog for prerequisites and catalog descriptions. Below are the current requirements, but students with older catalog years may also select from any courses below that are not listed on the degree audit for their catalog year or original requirements. Students wishing to complete a new emphasis that is not available for their catalog year may ask an advisor to change their catalog year. See an academic advisor with any questions. Semesters courses are subject to change depending on instructor availability.

  1. Three (of four required) technical electives must be taken within the emphasis;
  2. A 3.3 GPA (‘B+’ average) must be earned for the three technical electives within the emphasis;
  3. A minimum grade of ‘B’ must be earned in each of the three technical electives within the emphasis.

Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the design, development, testing, and production of aircraft, spacecraft, and related systems and equipment. The field has traditionally focused on problems related to atmospheric and space flight, with two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Aeronautical Engineering focuses on the theory, technology, and practice of flight within the earth’s atmosphere. Astronautical Engineering focuses on the science and technology of spacecraft and launch vehicles (i.e. outside of the earth’s atmosphere). Students with an emphasis in Aerospace Engineering will gain knowledge and skills related to aerodynamics, materials and structures, propulsion, and dynamics and control.

Aerospace Emphasis Requirements for Catalog Years Prior to Fall 2025

Aerospace Emphasis Requirements for Catalog Years Prior to Fall 2027

  • NOTE: All students with a Catalog Year prior to Fall 2027 have the option to switch to the updated emphasis requirements (below).

Select three of the four Aerospace areas and take one course from each of those three areas.

The four Aerospace areas and associated courses are:

Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics

Solid Mechanics

Dynamics

  • ME EN 5410: Intermediate Dynamics
    • Offered: Every Spring
  • ME EN 5960: Flight Mechanics
    • Offered: TBD – Check Schedule
  • ME EN 5960: Orbital Mechanics
    • Offered: TBD – Check Schedule

Systems and Design

Biomechanics is the application of mechanical engineering principles to living organisms. Biomechanics can be examined at different levels: cellular (e.g., response of cells to an externally applied force or deformation), tissue (e.g., strain of soft tissues or bones during motion or trauma), and whole-joint (e.g., joint contact forces during activities of daily living). This biomechanics emphasis will give you knowledge and skills to strengthen your value in biomedical device design, consulting, industrial safety, and biomedical research.

Biomechanics Emphasis Requirements for Catalog Years Prior to Fall 2026

NOTE: All students with a Catalog Year prior to Fall 2026 have the option to switch to the updated emphasis requirements (below).

Take one of the following courses:

Complete at least 2 of the following courses:

Control Engineering (formerly Dynamics & Controls) is designed for students who want to develop the mathematical logic and algorithms that drive modern technology. Control engineering is what allows mechanical systems to move intelligently, safely, and automatically. By completing this emphasis, you will master the foundational skills needed to model dynamic systems and design the feedback loops that calculate how a machine should sense, analyze, and react to its environment in real time. 

Dynamics and Controls Emphasis Requirements for Catalog Years Prior to Fall 2027

NOTE: All students with a Catalog Year prior to Fall 2027 have the option to switch to the updated emphasis requirements (below).

Take these two required courses:

Choose one of the following:

Throughout traditional engineering disciplines, like Mechanical Engineering (ME), employers today commonly seek students who have developed expertise not only in their specific domain but also coupled with scientific computing and data science disciplines.  The Data Science (DS) emphasis in ME is designed to educate students and fill this workforce need.  The desired skills are developed through a multi-disciplinary curriculum, by incorporating technical electives from the School of Computing and Math Departments.  While completing the DS emphasis in ME, students simultaneously complete most of the requirements for the DS Certificate and CS Minor.  Students who plan to emphasize in DS should take MATH 3070 instead of ME EN 2550. Find sample flowcharts here.

Take this required course:

Choose one of the following:

Choose one of the following:

Design and Manufacturing are crucial drivers of innovation and competitiveness. The Design and Manufacturing engineering emphasis provides a flexible and rigorous program in-line with the nationwide resurgence of manufacturing, and encompassing several sub disciplines. The emphasis area covers courses that teach students about a broad range of processes and modeling/simulation/experimentation skills focusing on the conversion of materials into products. This includes advanced mechanical design, conventional manufacturing, semiconductor and nanomaterial processing techniques, and additive manufacturing.

Choose one of the following:

Choose two of the following:

Ergonomics and Safety are scientific disciplines used to engineer better solutions to complex relationship between people and their environments. Ergonomics is the process of designing a task to fit the human, rather than forcing the human to fit the task. Its aim is to design and arrange systems so that systems and humans interact efficiently and safely. Ergonomics also works to assist those people with unique needs following medical events and accidents. Goals include the reduction of musculoskeletal disorders, worker errors, and physical strain and exhaustion through the study of engineering, biomechanics, human factors, anthropometry, industrial design, and user-interface design. Safety Engineering strives to reduce risks posed by hazards encountered by people and society. Risk reduction can be achieved by eliminating hazards or by reducing the severity or probability of any harmful event. Areas within this field of engineering include industrial safety for people at work, system safety for large or complex engineering systems within industrial operations, and product safety for goods and systems encountered by society. In addition to fundamental engineering principles, engineering ethics must also be considered when solving real-world safety problems.

Take this required course:

Choose two of the following:

Fluid mechanics deals with the study of liquids and gases at rest or in motion. Research in fluid mechanics focuses on understanding how fluids move and interact with their surroundings. Fluid dynamics has a wide range of applications, including calculating forces and movements on aircraft, determining the mass flow rate of petroleum through pipelines, predicting evolving weather patterns, understanding nebulae in interstellar space and modeling explosions.

Take this required course:

Choose two of the following:

Industrial Engineering (IE) is the application of engineering, scientific, and mathematical principles to the integration, operation, and optimization of complex systems.  Such complex systems include those involving humans, machinery, materials, manufacturing, transportation, energy, and information.  IE leverages knowledge and skills from multiple disciplines to methodically improve systems through engineering design and analysis, statistical analysis, quality control and reliability, computer simulation, information science, and other technological fields.

Take this required course:

Choose one of the following:

Choose one of the following:

The Mechatronics emphasis is a relatively broad and flexible emphasis area that gives students the freedom to customize their expertise in designing, modeling, controlling, and experimenting with mechatronic systems, integrating skills in mechanical, electrical and computer engineering. Students who want to go more in depth into design of mechatronic systems may elect to take ME EN 6240 or ECE 5780 (being mindful of prerequisites and instructor permission). ME EN 5200, 5205, ME EN 5210, and ECE 5670 are relevant to students with more of an interest in modeling and control of mechatronic systems. ME EN 5250 may be of interest to students who want to gain more experience in computer programming for mechatronic systems. PHYS 3610 and 3620 offer alternatives that focus more on circuitry and bench-top experimentation with mechatronic systems.

Choose any three of the following:

Micro- and nanoscale engineering is at the heart of technology advances in information (e.g. semiconductor processing), health care e.g. “lab-on-chip”), and energy (e.g. solar cells), to name a few examples. Courses in the Micro/Nanoscale Engineering emphasis area provide students with a strong foundation in the fundamental physics and manufacturing of micro- and nanoscale devices, for future careers in research and industry. The University of Utah Nanofab is a worldclass cleanroom facility with state-of-the-art tools for lithography, deposition, packaging, microfluidics, and device characterization. Students in micro/nanoscale engineering lab courses have the opportunity to design, build, and test their own microscale devices while working in the University of Utah Nanofab facility.

Learn more about Micro/Nano Research in the department.

Take these two required courses:

Choose one of the following:

Robotics (formerly Robotics and Controls) is a broad interdisciplinary field combining elements of Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Computer Science. All students choosing this emphasis are required to take ME EN 5220, which introduces students to basic kinematics and trajectory design for robot manipulators. Students are free to choose two additional courses from the approved list, with one course being a ME EN or ROBOT course.

Robotics & Controls Emphasis Requirements for Catalog Years Prior to Fall 2027

NOTE: All students with a Catalog Year prior to Fall 2027 have the option to switch to the updated emphasis requirements (below).

Take this required course:

Choose two of the following (required to take at least one ROBOT or ME EN course):

Solid Mechanics is the study of how structures and materials move, transmit loads, deform, interact, and fail. The field of Solid Mechanics allows us to understand and predict the behavior of structures comprising materials that range from engineering materials (like metals, composites, and concrete) to biological materials (like soft tissues and bones). Specialty areas within Solid Mechanics include fatigue, fracture, mechanics of composites, biomechanics, high strain-rate mechanics, geomechanics, and multiscale mechanics of materials.  A foundational understanding of Solid Mechanics is crucial to the design and analysis of structures found in aerospace, automotive, manufacturing, energy, and biomedical applications.

Choose three of the following:

The Sustainable Energy Emphasis is comprised of classes that will lead to a breadth and depth of understanding of sustainable energy resources, technologies, products and opportunities. Students can explore topics such as optimum wind energy production, geothermal energy use, solar collector and concentrator design, biofuel production and use, and integration of sustainable energy systems into future energy portfolios. Students completing this emphasis will be well-suited for careers in the emerging renewable energy field, or for graduate school in programs emphasizing sustainable energy production and use.

Take this required course:

Choose two of the following:

Systems Engineering is a collection of processes and tools to realize a system from a concept into a useful product and support it through production and eventual retirement. Engineered systems integrate a variety of diverse and complex elements that function together with sufficient coherence to satisfy a certain need or objective.  Students pursuing this emphasis will navigate the theory and practice of the discipline, including relevant processes such as identifying stakeholder needs, system requirements, building models, planning, testing components and final products, building production systems and documenting all design components, procedures, processes, and areas of concern. Systems engineers help ensure that the system is not only built right, but is also the right system. Successful students will have mastered a collection of industry-relevant practices that enable the concept and development of improved products that are produced cheaper and with fewer errors.

Take these two required courses:

Choose one of the following:

The Thermal Systems Engineering emphasis is comprised of classes that provide understanding of a wide variety of engineered systems that involve thermal sciences. Students can explore devices from nanoscale to macroscale with a firm grounding in heat transfer and thermodynamic principles. This emphasis prepares students to contribute in many different areas where thermal energy conversion and thermal energy transfer are important, including: heating, ventilation, air-conditioning & refrigeration; thermal power plant engineering; and thermo-mechanical design. Students completing this emphasis will be able to apply these principles to practical systems in their industry, or continue their studies in graduate school in programs emphasizing thermal science.

Choose one of the following:

Choose two of the following: