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Mechanical Engineering

Doctorate
Overview
Application Requirements
Faculty
 
Apply Request Info
Application Deadlines
Fall: Mar 15
Spring: Sep 15
Summer: n/a
School/Department

Mechanical Engineering

Location
Medford/Somerville
Format
On-campus
Commitment Options
Full-time
Part-time (Daytime)
Average Duration
3 - 5 years
Credits
Varies
Contact

gradadmissions@tufts.edu


Overview

In the Department of Mechanical Engineering, you'll work extensively with the tools you need to succeed across many different engineering industries, such as automotive, aerospace, shipping, power, heating and cooling, and machinery, as well as the new and emerging fields of robotics, micro-devices and nano-devices, and medical equipment.

Program Highlights

The interaction between doctoral students and faculty members is one of the most significant aspects of a graduate student's time at Tufts.

From soft-bodied robots to superconducting materials to cell swimming at the microscale, our faculty are experts in a diverse array of innovative research efforts. With applications such as new approaches to medical surgeries, the ability to store hydrogen for use in cars, and safely guiding airplanes into airports, these projects are excellent opportunities to solve many current everyday engineering problems.

You'll work closely with distinguished faculty members to complete innovative research that solves complex engineering problems.

Career Outcomes

Mechanical Engineering as a research field addresses a diverse mixture of problems in fundamental engineering science as well as applications. The PhD program in mechanical engineering is a rigorous degree program designed to establish an individual's ability to conduct independent, innovative research. Graduates from this program typically seek careers as faculty at a research university or as a researcher in an industrial or government research laboratory.

Application Requirements

A key admission requirement is strong academic background in mechanical engineering or a related technical discipline.

  • Application Fee
  • Resume/CV
  • Personal Statement
  • Transcripts
  • Three letters of recommendation
  • Official TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo test scores (if applicable)
    • Mechanical Engineering requires a minimum TOEFL score of 100 or the equivalent IELTS score for admittance.
  • GRE General Test scores are not required
  • Portfolio (optional)

Tuition and Financial Aid

We recognize that attending graduate school involves a significant financial investment. Our team is here to answer your questions about tuition rates and scholarship opportunities.

Please contact us at gradadmissions@tufts.edu.

Faculty

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Jason Rife

Professor and Chair of Mechanical Engineering
navigation, safety-critical transportation systems, state estimation, human-robot interaction
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Luisa Chiesa

Associate Professor
sustainable energy, superconducting materials, materials science
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Jeffrey Guasto

Associate Professor
biophysics and soft matter, microscale fluid mechanics and transport phenomena, microfluidic devices
Academic Leave
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Marc Hodes

Professor
heat transfer, apparent slip, thermal management of electronics, mass transfer in supercritical fluids and thermoelectricity, material science
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Felix Huang

Lecturer
human factors, human motor learning, human motor control, neuro-rehabilitation, robotics, virtual reality, surgery skill training
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James Intriligator

Professor of the Practice
Human Factors Engineering, Innovation, Design Thinking, Human Machine System Design, Robotics, Machine Learning, Perception, Psychology
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Mark Kachanov

Professor
Mechanics of materials; effective properties of heterogeneous materials; microstructure-property relationships; applications to material science
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Erica Kemmerling

Assistant Teaching Professor
Fluid mechanics, flow in the human body, hemodynamics, aneurysms, heart development, flow in tumors, cardiac assist devices
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Hoda Koushyar

Assistant Teaching Professor
biomechanics, applied mechanics, materials characterization, engineering education
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Gary Leisk

Associate Teaching Professor
machine design, nondestructive testing
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Douglas Matson

Professor
solidification processes, thermal manufacturing, machine design, materials science
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Pratap Misra

Professor of the Practice
GPS, emerging satellite navigation systems
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Chris Rogers

John R. Beaver Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Engineering Education, Human Robot Interaction, Mechanical Engineering, Music Engineering, Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing
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Anil Saigal

Professor
materials engineering, materials science, manufacturing processes, quality control
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Igor Sokolov

Professor
Engineering for Health, Mechanics of biomaterials at the nanoscale, Synthesis and study of functionals nanomaterials for biomedical imaging and drug delivery, Advanced imaging for medical diagnostics, Novel processes and materials for dentistry: nano-polishing and self-healing materials
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Kristen Wendell

Associate Professor and Stacey and Robert Morse Fellow
learning sciences, engineering education, design practices, design discourse, project-based learning
Academic Leave
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Robert White

Associate Professor
Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) fabrication, modeling, and testing. Particularly acoustic MEMS (microphones, ultrasound), and aerodynamic measurement technologies (skin friction sensors, aeroacoustic sensors). Acoustics, vibrations, dynamics and controls. Electromechanical systems including robotics. Finite element methods and system modeling. Electronics for measurement. Mechanical measurements.
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Matthew Woodward

Assistant Professor
Animals, as a consequence of evolution, employ multiple, complex, highly interconnected, locomotion modes to overcome obstacles and move through unstructured environments; the individual contributions of which are not well understood. While roboticists have made great strides in enhancing robot performance, the focus has been on the control system (brain, sensors), and yet a significant gap still exists between robots and their biological counterparts. The Robot Locomotion & Biomechanics Laboratory at Tufts University focuses on enhancing robot mobility through a deeper understanding of the fundamental design methodologies employed by animals to combine locomotion modes (integrated multimodal locomotion), interact deterministically yet passively with the environment (morphological intelligence), and actuate their physical systems (advance actuation). Current projects include, adapting the complex, passive, multifunctional feet of desert locusts to enhance the dynamic surface interactions of terrestrial robots and support highly dynamic behaviors, studying how flying animals may use their physical systems (bodies) to transform relatively simple inputs into complex non-linear outputs through an understanding of the unsteady aerodynamics, and understand how swarms communicate and create complex structures.
Academic Leave
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Michael Zimmerman

Professor of the Practice
novel polymer electrolytes for batteries, liquid crystal polymers, composite materials, materials science

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