Masters of Science in Mechanical Engineering

Accredited by the UAE Ministry of Education

A mechanical engineering master's degree that focuses on the in-depth examination of dynamics, robotics, nanotechnology, biomechanics, and energy systems to prepare you to enter a career in industry or research.

Overview

The Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering is a 30-credit hour degree program. The program allocates twenty-four credit hours of course work, distributed in core, focus area and elective groups, and six credit hours of thesis work. Three focus areas, specializations, are offered at RIT Dubai: Sustainability, Thermo/Fluids Engineering and Mechanics & Design. Special curriculum may be designed to fulfil the needs of certain individuals with proper approvals from the main campus. The program follows evening classes model to better serve the working engineers who strive to further their expertise.

Typical Job Titles

Research and Development Engineer	Mechanical Engineer
Software Engineer	FEA Engineer
Packaging Engineer	Thermal Engineer

Mission Statement

The mechanical engineering masters produces graduates who are leaders in their respective fields who are ready to tackle high-level problems as practicing professionals. Designed for students who desire advanced training in specific areas of mechanical engineering, the master of science acts as a prelude to a career in either research or industry. Students can choose to focus on a variety of disciplines including sustainability, mechanics & design or thermo-fluids engineering. The program has been designed to develop innovative approaches to solve different kinds of mechanical engineering problems. The graduates from the program learn and gain knowledge and skills required for a wide range of engineering career challenges and practice. Furthermore, collaborative environment is created while educating the students to perform novel research as well as embrace creativity, interdisciplinary thought, critical thinking and social liability. It also prepares the candidates to successfully pursue graduate degrees at the doctoral levels.

Program Educational Objectives

The Mechanical Engineering Program Educational Objectives (PEO) are broad statements that describe what graduates are expected to attain within a few years of graduation. Program educational objectives are based on the needs of the program’s constituencies.

The Mechanical Engineering faculty, in conjunction with its constituents, has established the following program educational objectives:

PEO 1: Practice mechanical engineering in support of the design of engineered systems through the application of the fundamental knowledge, skills, and tools of mechanical engineering.
PEO 2: Enhance their skills through formal education and training, independent inquiry, and professional development.
PEO 3: Work independently as well as collaboratively with others, while demonstrating the professional and ethical responsibilities of the engineering profession.
PEO 4: Successfully pursue graduate degrees at the doctoral levels, should they choose.

Program Learning Outcomes

Demonstrate a depth of knowledge of mechanical engineering.
Complete an independent research project, resulting in at least a thesis publication.
Demonstrate knowledge of contemporary issues in their chosen field of research.
Demonstrate an ability to defend their research work to a panel of experts.

Curriculum

Typical Course Sequence

Total Credit Hours - 30

Course		Sem. Cr. Hrs.
MECE-707	Engineering Analysis This course trains students to utilize mathematical techniques from an engineering perspective, and provides essential background for success in graduate level studies. An intensive review of linear and nonlinear ordinary differential equations and Laplace transforms is provided. Laplace transform methods are extended to boundary-value problems and applications to control theory are discussed. Problem solving efficiency is stressed, and to this end, the utility of various available techniques are contrasted. The frequency response of ordinary differential equations is discussed extensively. Applications of linear algebra are examined, including the use of eigenvalue analysis in the solution of linear systems and in multivariate optimization. An introduction to Fourier analysis is also provided.	3
MECE-709	Advanced Engineering Mathematics Advanced Engineering Mathematics provides the foundations for complex functions, vector calculus and advanced linear algebra and its applications in analyzing and solving a variety of mechanical engineering problems especially in the areas of mechanics, continuum mechanics, fluid dynamics, heat transfer, and vibrations. Topics include: vector algebra, vector calculus, functions of complex variables, ordinary differential equations and local stability, advanced matrix algebra, and partial differential equations. Mechanical engineering applications will be discussed throughout the course.	3
MECE-799	Thesis Proposal Seminar The seminar course provides a structured context to enable students in the MS degree program to prepare a formal thesis Proposal as a prerequisite for entering the final course in the program, MECE-790- Thesis. Activities includes researching and defining a real world, mechanical engineering problem or opportunity and proposing a solution to the defined problem. The final deliverable is a proposal that consists of a problem statement, a set of deliverables, a timeline, and required resources and budget. The student shall also establish a formalized mentor/mentee relationship with a faculty with relevant subject matter expertise who can guide and evaluate the student’s work.	0
MECE-795	Graduate Seminar This seminar course presents topics of contemporary interest to graduate students enrolled in the program. Presentations include off campus speakers, and assistance with progressing on your research. Selected students and faculty may make presentations on current research under way in the department. All graduate students enrolled full time (whether dual degree or single degree) are required to attend a designated number of seminars.	0
MECE-790	Thesis Prior to completing 24 semester credit hours of graduate work, students should prepare and present a formal thesis proposal to their faculty advisor. An acceptable proposal (including a statement of work, extensive literature search, and proposed timeline), signed by the student and approved by their faculty advisor and department head, is required prior to registering for thesis credits. Students must form a graduate thesis committee in coordination with their advisor and present their proposal to their committee for review and approval during the first semester in which they have registered for thesis credit. Students are required to deliver a successful written and oral presentation of their thesis.	6
	Graduate Focus Area Courses	9
	Graduate electives	9

Focus Areas

Sustainability (Choose 3 of the following)

Course		Sem. Cr. Hrs.
MECE-629	Renewable Energy Systems This course provides an overview of renewable energy system design. Energy resource assessment, system components, and feasibility analysis will be covered. Possible topics to be covered include photovoltaics, wind turbines, solar thermal, hydropower, biomass, and geothermal. Students will be responsible for a final design project.	3
MECE-733	Sustainable Energy Management This course, Sustainable Energy Management, provides an overview of mechanical systems within energy intensive applications such as power plants, automobiles, and buildings with an emphasis on advanced thermodynamic analyses of sub-systems which possess the most visible energy signature in terms of energy usage, energy inefficiency, thermoeconomic costing, and exergy destruction. Fundamentals of system operation are explored as well as various sustainability measures. In addition, the interrelationship between energy intensive applications and public policy instruments and strategies are examined. Students will explore methods by which engineers evaluate energy-intensive systems to assess alignment with sustainability and communicate findings to inform the public policy process cycle.	3
MECE-739	Alternative Fuels and Energy Efficiency This course provides an overview of the potential alternative fuels and energy efficiency technologies for powering current and future vehicles. Alternative fuel production technologies and utilization of fuels such as biodiesel, ethanol, and hydrogen will be covered. The primary technical and environmental issues associated with these alternative fuels will be discussed. Approaches to improving vehicle efficiency will also be explored. Students will be responsible for a final design or research project.	3
ISEE-786	Lifecycle Assessment This course introduces students to the challenges posed when trying to determine the total lifecycle impacts associated with a product or a process design. Various costing models and their inherent assumptions will be reviewed and critiqued. The inability of traditional costing models to account for important environmental and social externalities will be highlighted. The Lifecycle Assessment approach for quantifying environmental and social externalities will be reviewed and specific LCA techniques (Streamlined Lifecycle Assessment, SimaPro) will be covered.	3
MECE-689	Special Topics: Fundamentals of Sustainable Engineering	3
MECE-689	Special Topics: Air Conditioning in Hot and Humid Conditions	3
MECE-789	Special Topics: Design of Thermal Systems	3
MECE-789	Special Topics: Water Desalination	3

Mechanics and Design (Choose 3 of the following)

Course		Sem. Cr. Hrs.
MECE-752	Tribology Fundamentals This course provides an overview of the role of fluid-film lubrication in mechanical design, with strong emphasis on applications. Various forms of the Reynolds equation governing the behavior of lubricant films for planar, cylindrical, and spherical geometry are derived. Mobility and impedance concepts as solution methods of the Reynolds equation are introduced for the performance assessment of lubricated journal bearings under static and dynamic loading. Short, long, and finite bearing assumptions are discussed. Finite element methods for the analysis of fluid-film bearings of arbitrary geometry will be introduced.	3
MECE-623	Powertrain Systems and Design This course will introduce the analysis and design of power transmission systems. Topics covered include power transmission shafts: spur, helical, bevel, and worm gears drives; planetary gear systems; belt and chain drives. Students will use this foundation to complete a design project for a powertrain system that will contain detailed calculations of its different components.	3
MECE-785	Mechanics of Solids This course provides a more advanced treatment of stress and strain concepts pertaining to the mechanics of deformable media and provides a theoretical foundation for a concurrent or follow-on course in finite elements. Topics include stress and strain transformations, two-dimensional theory of elasticity, stress functions, torsion, plate bending, and energy methods.	3
MECE-605	Finite Elements This course focuses upon theoretical and applied concepts pertaining to the finite element method. Direct and weighted residual formulation methods are derived and applied to problems in the area of structural analysis, fluid flow, and heat transfer. Foundational topics include shape functions, element formulation, element assembly, boundary conditions, matrix solution methods, mesh refinement, and convergence. The use of a standard commercial finite element software package is introduced.	3
MECE-620	Introduction To Optimal Design This course is an introduction to basic optimization techniques for engineering design synthesis. Topics covered include: techniques, the general problem statement, necessary conditions of optimization, numerical techniques for unconstrained optimization, constrained optimization through unconstrained optimization, and direct methods. Numerical solutions are obtained using MATLAB.software. A design project is required.	3
MECE-644	Introduction To Composite Materials This course is an introductory course to the fundamentals and applications of composite materials. Topics covered include constituents of composite materials, fabrication techniques, micromechanical analysis, macromechanical analysis, and the use of composites in design. Some laboratory work is to be performed, and a design project is required.	3
MECE-657	Applied Biomaterials This course provides an overview of materials used in biomedical applications. Topics covered include structure and properties of hard and soft biomaterials, material selection for medical applications, material performance and degradation in hostile environments, and typical and abnormal physiological responses to biomaterials/environments. Some experiments will be performed in class and a major project is required.	3

Thermo-Fluids Engineering (Choose 3 of the following)

Course		Sem. Cr. Hrs.
MECE-751	Convective Phenomena This course introduces the student to the flow of real incompressible fluids beginning with a review of ideal flows. The differential approach is used to develop and solve the equations governing the phenomena of mass, momentum, and heat transfer. The material in the course provides the necessary background for a study of computational fluid dynamics. Students should be familiar with concepts of ideal flows. MECE-738 is recommended.	3
MECE-756	Boiling and Condensation The course covers selected topics in boiling and condensation. The fundamental aspects will be introduced in the class. Fundamentals of phase change process will be emphasized. Several design examples will be covered to make students proficient in applying the theory to practical situations. The course has a design-oriented project that counts for majority of the grade. The projects are based on exciting new topics of current interest such as – visualization of boiling characteristics on enhanced surfaces, investigating different enhancement techniques, characterizing of nucleation behavior, effect of substrate on boiling, etc. Some of the topics covered include: Boiling curve, nucleation, bubble growth, critical heat flux, mechanisms of heat transfer, and enhancement techniques.	3
MECE-610	Flight Dynamics Flight Dynamics is a three (3) credit hour, three (3) contact hour lectures to introduce the student to dynamics of aircraft flight. This course deals with the three-dimensional dynamics of aircraft, including general aircraft performance, stability and control, and handling qualities. Topics include: static and dynamic stability; longitudinal and lateral/directional control; mathematical development of rigid-body 6DOF equations-of-motion describing full range of aircraft motion; attitude dynamics and quaternion alternative; aerodynamic forming term coefficient development; linearization of nonlinear aircraft models; simulation of aircraft trajectories; aircraft system modes; and aircraft handling qualities introduction. Graduate students are expected to learn additional topics, e.g., quaternion methods, DATCOM programming, and frequency domain analysis of aircraft modes.	3
MECE-731	Computational Fluid Dynamics This course covers the basics of introduction to Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) n fluid mechanics and heat transfer. CFD methods of flow modeling are introduced with emphasis of in-class use of CFD software for modeling and problem solution. Course work involves tutorials and design examples. This course also introduces the students to some of the commercial CFD codes being used for solving thermal-fluid problems. Students complete an individual CFD study project including a written report and a presentation of the results.	3
MECE-738	Ideal Flows This course covers the fundamental topics in the theory of aerodynamics and high speed flows. The course discusses modern aerodynamic applications in the areas of wing and airfoil design, wind tunnel testing and compressible flows.	3

To graduate, students need to complete all the requirements as listed in the curriculum graduation policy

Program Laboratories

Industry 4.0 and Robotics Lab

The Robotics and Industry 4.0 LAB is designed to support and present research in the future of Industry. The main objective is to provide a platform to test and develop universal solutions to optimize the industrial processes given the technological and other industrial advances. This infrastructure is already available to the academic and research community both private and public. The Intelligent Supply Chain LAB (Located alongside the Industry 4.0 Lab) provides a test and experimentation platform to students and researchers from both industrial and academic communities to experiment and develop solutions to the integrated supply chain because of the ever-changing environment. It includes modular elements to simulate similar industrial contexts.

Solid Mechanics Lab

The Solid Mechanics Lab at RIT – Dubai is a well-equipped laboratory for mechanical testing of materials with various experimental facilities. The main objective of the laboratory is to provide students with hands-on experience in structural testing and material property characterization. The lab supports various undergraduate and graduate courses in the mechanical engineering program.

Research Center

This laboratory provides a large working space and equipped with data acquisition equipment to be used by the senior students in their final year graduation projects, also by the graduate students and faculty for their research. The research laboratory is placed next to the mechanical workshop to facilitate the design and manufacturing activities. The research center serves a wide range of graduate and undergraduate courses, not limited to MECE 301: Engineering Application Lab, Multidisciplinary Senior Design I & II, MECE-300: Intermediate Machining and Fabrication Lab, MECE 104: Engineering Design Tools.

Thermo Fluids Lab

The Thermo-fluids Lab at RIT – Dubai houses different apparatuses and experimental setups related to various disciplines of thermodynamics and fluid mechanics. The lab provides students with hands-on experiences in thermo-fluids and the ability to test and study thermal and aero/hydrodynamics devices and machines. The lab includes experiments that serve in a wide range of graduate and undergraduate courses, such as MECE 110 Thermodynamics, MECE 210 Fluid Mechanics, MECE 211 Engineering Measurements Lab, MECE 310 Heat Transfer, MECE 402 Turbomachinery, MECE 409 Aerodynamics, MECE 689 Air Conditioning in Hot Humid Environments.

Materials Science Lab

The Materials Science Laboratory is primarily used by the Mechanical Engineering students to support relevant courses and research activities. The Material Science laboratory consists of equipment such as destructive tensile testing, hardness testing, creep testing, impact testing, metallographic specimen preparation and microscopic examination etc. The experiments are designed to support theoretical concepts taken by the students in the lecture sessions. The students will learn the procedure of measurement, software used in data acquisition, and familiarity with the practical apparatus.

Mechanical Workshop

The Mechanical Workshop at RIT Dubai is a well-equipped laboratory with a variety of conventional and non-conventional machine tools such as machining, grinding, casting, welding, laser cutting, and 3D printing. This laboratory offers a strong hands-on training component of the study to all undergraduate and graduate students. The laboratory also offers an interdisciplinary innovative space for both instructional and research activities. The lab also serves as a workshop for Mechanical and Industrial Engineering.

Wael Abdel Samad

Department Chair, Associate Professor

Ghalib Kahwaji

Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Salman Pervaiz

Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Mohamed Samaha

Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Mohammed Abdulrahman

Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Advisory Board Members

Mr. Faisal Al Kamali Abu Dhabi Ports	Mr. Mohamed Ibrahim ASHRAE
Mr. Musa Faisal Emirates Group	Mr. Sarfraz Dairkee M.A.H.Y. Khoory Group
Mr. Bassel Anbari InterCool Central Air Conditioning	Mr. Ahmed Warsame Al Hamra
Mr. Main Canaan General Electric	Mr. Omar Ghazal General Motors
Mr. Mohamad Abou Laban OCS	Dr. Ahmed Alaa Eldin Green Vision Group

Website last updated: June 27, 2024