Student Societies
Research and Projects
Unofficial Pocket Guide

Student Societies

The Department encourages its students to be active members of one or more professional societies as part of their initiation into their profession. Mechanical Engineering students manage in collaboration with a faculty mentor student sections of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES), the Tufts Robotics Club and Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME). The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and the National Society for Black Engineers (NSBE) also have active Tufts student sections with membership from all engineering departments.
In addition to the professional societies, the department nominates and supports student applications to the national Mechanical Engineering honor society (Pi Tau Sigma) as well as the national engineering society (Tau Beta Pi).

Each student society has a bulletin board dedicated to its use. The Faculty Advisors of the various societies are as follows: AIAA--Prof. Rogers; ASME--Prof. O'Leary; HFES--Prof. Cao; NSBE--Prof. Clemow; Robotics Club--Prof. Crochetiere; SME--Prof. Crochetiere; Pi Tau Sigma--Prof. Doumanidis; Tau Beta Pi--Prof. Saigal.

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Research and Projects

Tufts Mechanical Engineering students know that no amount of book-learning and lecture-attending can take the place of a good hands-on experience, and one of the most commonpieces of advice given to current students by our alumni is "get involved in research as soon as you can."

Undergraduates have the opportunity to do independent studies, write theses, and assist in professors' research; students are encouraged to contact their faculty advisors for more information about these options. Senior BSME majors participate in a semester-long Design Project. Recent topics have included building a racecar, designing an ultralight plane, and designing a cogeneration power plant, Cable Tension Tester, Cooling Measurement System, Pneumatic Actuator, Pump Removal Tool, and a Human Powered Vehicle.   Graduate M.Eng. students address a substantive engineering analysis or design problem for their final project, while M.S. and Ph.D. candidates perform original research leading to a thesis or dissertation. Collaborative research is common, and many department laboratories, such as TUFTL and TAMPL, have web pages describing a multitude of related projects.

A selection of recent and ongoing projects are profiled here. If you would like your research added, please submit the names and class years of those involved, topic, URL and/or a short blurb to meinfo@tufts.edu.

Tufts Twin Turbo Project: Z28TT Andris Skulte '99 began this attempt to build a twin turbo 1989 Camaro as a design project for ME93.


Particle Behavior Using Direct Numerical Simulations of Isotropic Turbulence. A M.S. thesis by Scott Coppen, available for download as pdf or ps.gz.

Undergraduates will soon be able to minor in Musical Instrument Engineering. Related student research projects include The Effect of Temperature and Humidity on the Action of a Steinway Grand Piano by Scott McNamara '99, Building a Violin Through an Internship by Patrick Murray '01, Spectral Analysis of a Flute by Elyssa Crafton, and Cryogenic Processing of Musical Instruments by Dan Allis.

Measurements of Fluid Turbulence Along the Path of a Heavy Particle in a Backward-Facing Step Flow A M.S. Thesis by David McAndrew.

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Unofficial Pocket Guide

The Unofficial Pocket Guide to Mechanical Engineering at Tufts is a student publication designed to helping undergraduate students get the most out of their M.E. degrees. Paper copies of the guide are available from the department office.