Research Overview

The Department of Mechanical Engineering actively conducts research to generate new knowledge that will strengthen and support undergraduate and graduate education at Penn State, in the United States, and the world. See the links on the right for more information on each of our research areas.

Our research is enormously collaborative and our faculty participate in interdisciplinary research with national and international universities as well as many of the academic colleges, research centers, and consortia within Penn State. Visit our collaborator’s page for a list of some of the Penn State units with which our faculty work closely.

Department research expenditures total approximately $29.5 million annually. This funding supports student research and helps purchase state of the art equipment for faculty laboratories. Primary research funding comes from industry and government sources, such as the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Army, the Air Force, and NASA.

The department's research is also heavily supported either through direct funding or collaboration with industry partners, such as Lockheed Martin, Pratt & Whitney, and Solar Turbines.

The mechanical engineering department has numerous state-of-the-art research facilities where students can experience hands-on experimental techniques as well as modern computational simulations. Our students and faculty also have access to the Materials Research Institute, which houses numerous experimental facilities. Find out more about ME's lab facilities and research centers.

Several faculty members also serve as directors of University-wide research centers, harnessing the strength of mechanical engineering while drawing upon the interdisciplinary strengths of Penn State as a whole.