Independent department on horizon for Mechanical Engineering
November 14, 2018
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – On Nov. 13, Nicolas P. Jones, Penn State executive vice president and provost, on the advisement of the Faculty Senate Council, approved the separation of the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering into two independent departments.
On July 1, 2019, the academic unit will become the Department of Mechanical Engineering once again.
“This parting charts a new path for each of the two departments,” said Karen Thole, distinguished professor and department head of mechanical and nuclear engineering and soon to be the department head of mechanical engineering. “A stand-alone Department of Mechanical Engineering presents an opportunity to continue innovating our research, undergraduate, and graduate programs with a renewed, distinct focus.”
The department merged with nuclear engineering in 1997 by then-Harold and Inge Marcus Dean of Engineering David N. Wormley and Richard Benson, then-department head of mechanical engineering.
Justin Schwartz, the current Harold and Inge Marcus Dean of Engineering, said, “I want to thank Professor Thole for her leadership of the department of mechanical and nuclear engineering for over a decade; it is by virtue of her remarkable success that we are in position to launch two successful departments.”
The future Department of Mechanical Engineering boasts a strong, successful history in research innovations and academic impact. First introduced at Penn State in 1881, the mechanical engineering graduate and undergraduate programs are now considered one of the best in the United States, ranked 17th and 16th respectively by U.S. News and World Report.
Mechanical Engineering, one of the nation’s largest and most successful engineering programs, enjoys great success at Penn State with research expenditures continuing to hit record highs and $26.2 million in funded research during 2017-18.
With 54 faculty members, more than 300 graduate students, 750 undergraduate students, and more than 11,000 alumni, Penn State mechanical engineers are pioneering new ways to impact our health, happiness, and safety, and often change the way we think about the world.
The transformation of mechanical engineering will also build on the strength and the unlimited potential of the discipline. Schwartz said, “Mechanical Engineering at Penn State has a long, proud history of leadership in research and education, dating back to the earliest days of the University. By re-establishing an stand-alone Department of Mechanical Engineering, we are positioning the department for their next chapter of international leadership.”
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Erin Cassidy Hendrick, emc5045@psu.edu
