MAE 1170

Introduction to Mechanical Engineering

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2025-2026 Catalog.

Introduction to fundamentals of mechanical and aerospace engineering. Students learn and understand topics such as stress and strain, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, automotive engineering, and engineering design and product development. Emphasis is placed on critically examining problem solutions to begin developing engineering intuition. Key components of the class include in-class discussions, homework, laboratory experiments, and a group design project.

Last 3 terms offered 2024FA, 2023FA, 2022FA

Learning Outcomes REF-FA25

• Students will be able to gain a basic understanding of four major areas of the mechanical engineering curriculum: statics, mechanics of materials, fluid mechanics, and thermal sciences.
• Students will be able to identify a system and its interactions with surroundings; they will use this approach to solve problems in both mechanical and thermal/fluids systems.
• Students will gain experience with unit conversion, estimation, approximations, and critical thinking.
• Students will be able to design and build a device (e.g. a small battery-powered car), and perform and document laboratory experiments.
• Students will be able to become aware of current problems, issues, successes, entrepreneurship opportunities, design trade-offs, and failures in the mechanical and aerospace field.

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