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Student Spotlight
Student Spotlight: Andrew Farris
Generating Power in Space
As an undergraduate student, Andrew Farris has already developed quite a resume: the Mechanical and Energy Engineering student has been a researcher, team leader and teaching assistant and is currently helping to develop a cryogenic engine that will generate power in space.
“All of these experiences have helped me grow a lot in the relatively short time I’ve been here,” he says.
Research Spotlight
Research Spotlight: Sustainable Building Research Team
Research Spotlight: Team of UNT Researchers Awarded $600,000 NSF Grant to Develop Sustainable Building Materials
Researchers at the University of North Texas are on the verge of revolutionizing the construction industry by developing natural alternatives to fiberglass and other popular, non-biodegradable building materials.
Graduate Studies in Mechanical and Energy Engineering
The University of North Texas is a student-centered university focusing on research, scholarship and creative activities that make a difference in communities around the globe. Together, faculty and students engage in innovative, creative research — from hands-on fieldwork and access to world-class facilities and equipment to grant collaborations with industry leaders, summer programs, scholarships and awards.
Research
Research
Research Concentrations
Faculty and students in UNT’s Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering are heavily involved in research and project-based learning initiatives. Some of the research areas studied in the mechanical and energy engineering department include:
- Novel energy conversion systems for solar and wind energy applications including concentrated solar power and cryogenic heat engines for transportation applications
- Solid-state energy conversion, low-grade energy capture and blade-less multiphase flow turbines
- Energy conservation technology for built environments including building cooling and heating systems, energy simulation of buildings, zero-net-energy buildings and utilization of solar, wind and geothermal energy in buildings
- Renewable energy conversion systems for solar, wind and ocean wave energies
- Environmental monitoring and modeling with applications to urban and regional-scale air quality, climate change impact analysis and anthropogenic emissions assessment
- Biomedical heat transfer including natural convection, computational modeling and particle image velocimetry with applications to microfluidics
- Environmentally friendly electronic systems including nano-based lead-free technology, processing, metal and alloy based electroplating processes, tin whisker phenomena, and numerical analysis of residual stresses in thin films
- Fracture and failure of advanced solid materials including numerical and experimental mechanics of materials, and microstructural evolution in materials processing
- Mechanics and design of multifunctional materials and structures including elastomers, electroactive polymers, piezoelectric ceramics, cellular materials, composites and sandwich structures
- Micro/nano-scale science and technology and energy system design with applications to laser machining, fabrication, characterization, plasma and carrier dynamics, nano-scale fabrication, nanomaterials like nanotubes and nanowires, properties and the transport properties of micro- and nanoscale biological systems and enhanced bio-inspired evaporative cooling
> Learn more about MEE Research
Facilities and Locations
The Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering is located within Discovery Park, which is located about 10 miles north of the UNT campus.
Students and faculty perform research and study in some of the nation’s most impressive state-of-the-art research facilities, including 12 labs and centers that are located both within Discovery Park and at other local venues.
UNT is located within the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. DFW is the nation’s second largest technology corridor and the fourth largest metropolitan area, and it is home to many of the nation’s fastest growing cities, which makes for a continually growing number of employment and partnership opportunities.
> Learn more about MEE Facilities and Location
Funding and Support
The Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering receives substantial, continued funding for its research and academic initiatives from the State of Texas, National Science Foundations, Department of Energy, Department of Defense, USDA and various industrial sponsors. In 2011, the MEE department received over $1,350,000 and used those funds to drive research studies and learning.