• Environmentally responsible
• Forming
• Machining
• Micromanufacturing
  
  

"The students and faculty here at Michigan Tech pride themselves in their innovative way of thinking, which is the driving force behind the new discoveries that truly make a difference in the world of manufacturing."

—Steven Kubow
Manufacturing graduate student

The program
Manufacturing, a program within the mechanical engineering-engineering mechanics (ME-EM) department, emphasizes research in machining and deformation processes, forming, polymer processing and rheology, environmentally responsible design and manufacturing, micro-manufacturing, quality, time series analysis, and manufacturing systems.

Degrees
MS in Engineering Mechanics
MS in Mechanical Engineering
PhD in Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

ME-EM is structured along four areas of teaching and research (design/dynamic systems, energy-thermofluids, manufacturing/industrial, and solid mechanics) with heavy emphasis placed on graduate student participation in laboratory and theoretical investigations, including interdisciplinary research and industrial and federally funded projects.

Off-campus
Highly motivated, qualified practicing engineers may participate in MTU’s distance learning MS and PhD programs. The programs create technical experts in areas of interest to industry.

Recent and current research projects in manufacturing

Environmentally responsible manufacturing

• Reducing the use of cutting fluids in aluminum machining
• Characterizing shape features for improved recyclability
• Designing for disassembly
• Process waste in machining processes

Forming

• Sheet metal forming optimization/control: the intelligent stamping die
• Extrusion friction test using combined flow, backward extrusion emphasis
• Imaging analysis in metal forming
• Plastic instability analysis in sheet metal

Machining

• Process modeling and analysis for smart tool redevelopment in flexible line boring
• Characterization of machine tool performance
• Development of a mechanistic model for the drilling process
• Wear and cutting performance of silicon-carbide-whisker-reinforced alumina

Manufacturing Systems

• Dimensional accuracy in automotive parts: effects of materials variability
• FMS scheduling subject to deadline
• Data-dependent systems approach to machine vision
• Robust control implementation in manufacturing

Micromanufacturing

• Actuated insertion tools for cochlear prostheses
• MEMS packaging with integrated fluid microconnectors
• Chip-level fluid microconnectors for reconfigurable MEMS

Laboratories
  Research is conducted in laboratories, completely outfitted with the latest technology used in industry today. They are:

• Class 1000 Cleanroom
• Machine Vision Lab
• Manufacturing Research (MARC) Lab
• Materials Processing Lab
• Materials Removal Lab
• Metrology Lab
• Micromechanical Machining Lab
• Precision Machining Lab

Stature
The ME-EM department is one of the largest in the nation and is the largest in the College of Engineering at Michigan Tech. It has more than 40 full-time faculty members. In fall 2002, 147 graduate students, which included 59 doctoral students, were enrolled in the department.

Students at MTU work on projects funded by organizations such as the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, DOE, DOD, DoEd, the automobile industry, and the aerospace industry.

ME-EM students work in laboratories that occupy more than 50,000 square feet of space and house the most advanced research and computing equipment available to date.

A $3.2-million campaign provided a new Student Innovation Complex for the ME-EM department, along with a number of renovated labs and new learning environments to support the revised curriculum.

All students are automatically considered for financial support—no additional application forms are necessary.

ME-EM is ranked 17th nationally in graduate student enrollment and 23rd nationally in PhD degrees awarded (1999-2000).