I'm Paris Von Lockette. associate professor of mechanical engineering at
Penn State's College of Engineering. Mechanical engineering applies
innovative thinking to develop solutions to both common and rare problems
resulting in the devices and systems we use every day. Mechanical engineering
students learn to design, to analyze, to experiment, to build, and to innovate
better systems as they build their knowledge of thermal and mechanical
systems. Because it is such a broad discipline, mechanical engineers work in
a variety of fields in industries including energy, medicine, transportation,
3d printing, robotics and automation, and aerospace. Penn State mechanical
engineering alumni design and build smart devices, robots, aircraft with new
shapes, turbines that produce electricity and propel planes, and batteries for the
next generation of electric cars and electronics. They work at startup
companies, patent offices, federal agencies, consulting firms, and they lead
large companies in the oil and gas industry, Many go on to graduate school
after which they work in academia or at research laboratories. Penn State's
Department of Mechanical Engineering is shaping our world in a variety of ways,
including through the development of better batteries, more efficient energy
systems, smarter computer tools, and advanced robotics. If you go to the
Bureau of Labor Statistics for the US government, you can find that ME's have
the best job placement rates. ME's, their graduation rates and their
employment rates follow the GDP and so ME's are never without a job. They're never
without a job because planes, trains, automobiles, anything you name, ME's are
there. And ME's are there because ME's get trained and how all these
systems work. When it came to picking mechanical engineering versus you know
one of the other disciplines, I really liked something that was hands-on and
something that was more general so I like to be able to watch something
happen. When we talk about dynamics or we talk about statics, you literally can
push the chair over and calculate what happens. So I wanted something I could
literally see how it was gonna work. You do get to learn about you know classes
like electrical engineering, Industrial Engineering, while still having the
mechanical engineering background. I've been able to take chemical engineering
classes, material science, industrial, electrical. There's definitely research
opportunities for undergrads. There's even research opportunities for
first-year students. If you look for the opportunity it's there. You know
professors are also doing research so build the relationship with faculty and
you may find yourself in their research lab as well. I went into mechanical
engineering because I really wasn't sure what I wanted my career to look like.
It's gonna give you a really good foundation in the maths and Sciences and
will let you move in many different directions after you graduate. A lot of
my friends in mechanical engineering actually went into consulting or even
went into banking. I'm in manufacturing which is kind of a different sect of
engineering while some people go into design and test. Myself I was a
mechanical engineering degree and I went into the oil and gas field. I worked with
a bunch of petroleum geologists and was able to work with them side by side and
learn the basic building blocks of a mechanical engineering degree. Really
allow you to do anything that you want during your career. If I could give students
one piece of advice for deciding on their major I would say to talk to as
many people as you can and try to find as many resources as you can to gather
information and make an informed decision. I would encourage you to talk
to practicing engineers that you might know or engineering students or faculty
and if you can gather up all of that information and compare those long-term
career goals of yours with your interests and skill set I think that
you'll be in a good position to make a decision that's best for you.
ME's change everything. You know, you could make an argument that the first cave
person who came up with the wheel was an ME, why, because ME's develop systems
for transportation that move stuff around. Scientists, physical scientists,
physicists, chemists, they come up with the knowledge. They come up with these
new things but ME's are the people who turn them into the innovations that you use every day.