5 Surprising Facts About Mechanical Engineering

“What does an engineer do?”

This is a question which I get asked all the time, and one which I inevitably always respond to differently. Part of that stems from me trying to reconcile my expectations coming out of high school with my actual experiences; part of that is the constantly evolving nature of my field. 

Needless to say, you can expect a whole lot of surprises once you start an engineering degree. I wanted to share some of the most interesting and surprising aspects of the Mechanical Engineering program. 

Industrial Engineering students often get portrayed as being the “business kids” of the engineering world. This makes some think that they are disconnected from other fields of engineering, but in reality, Industrial Engineering really does share a close bond with Mechanical Engineering both in education and in the workplace. After all, the department overseeing both programs is called the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (MIE). 

MIE students share a common first two-years of study. Even afterwards, we still have many of the same course offerings. For example, there is just one capstone lecture across all of fourth-year MIE. Even the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers student chapter at our university is operated out of the Mechanical Engineering Course Union (external link, opens in new window)  office. 

Intense is an understatement for describing the second-year course MEC 325, Introduction to Engineering Design — but not in a bad way. Almost everyone that I know who’s taken this course speaks highly of how eye-opening it can be. I’ve even caught myself unintentionally admiring (and disapproving) the designs of everyday things all thanks to MEC 325. 

You really have to experience it for yourself, but without spoiling too much, you will examine so many aspects of engineering design that you have never touched before such as human factors and occupational safety. 

It’s easy for us as engineering students to quickly get caught up in all the technical details of a design. However, you can’t effectively design a product if you don’t first understand the types of people who will be using it. 

Jumping off my previous point about MEC 325 — because that course really left that much of an impression on me — many new students are oblivious to the importance of human factors and how they can influence the technical specifications of a design. For example, a remote worker and a construction worker have very different needs. And a healthy student in their early twenties would likely use a product differently than a retiree who is hard of hearing.

I was overjoyed to learn that students in my program get access to several of our own computer labs. Having a space to call our own means that I rarely have to scramble at the library to get something printed. 

Fourth-year Mechanical Engineering students even get our own capstone lab, which many of us have affectionately dubbed “The Zoo.” The next time you stroll through Kerr Hall East, keep an eye out for the computer lab with the big glass windows and doors. You’ll often see many soon-to-be graduates like myself hard at work in there.

Mechanical Engineering students have quite the reputation among our engineering peers as being some of the most extroverted and involved. If you need proof, just take a look at Mech Force 10’s history of over-the-top pranks involving a Volkswagen Beetle.

Their pranks eventually evolved into the long-standing annual tradition of Bug Push (external link, opens in new window)  where for 24 hours, engineering students push a Volkswagen Beetle around the Kerr Hall quad to raise money for charity. To date, more than $30,000 has been donated to SickKids Hospital. And it all started with a group of Mechanical Engineering students.

I hope you managed to learn something new today about the Mechanical Engineering program at our university! 

- Jeremy