About Mechanical Engineering
The Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Canterbury is the oldest in New Zealand. Our undergraduate degree is renowned for the integration of design across the curriculum and for the capstone Final Year Project. Our staff are internationally recognised for their research and collaborate with colleagues in Australasia, Europe, Asia and North America.
Mechanical engineers work with things that move or have moving parts, but our interest is not restricted to motor vehicles. It extends to the design, operation, maintenance of machines and the processes and systems used to make them. For more, see What is Mechanical Engineering?.
The activities of the Department are built around teaching and research and are supported by expansive and state-of-the-art laboratories. The full-time staff comprises 20 academics, 15 technicians, 3 administrative staff, and 8 postdoctoral and research fellows. We regularly host international visitors including Erskine Fellows.
The Department is home to approximately 300 undergraduate and 80-100 postgraduate students working towards BE(Hons), Master of Engineering, Master of Engineering Studies and PhD degrees in Mechanical Engineering. Jointly with Electrical and Computer Engineering, we offer a BE(Hons) degree in Mechatronics Engineering. Our graduates are in high demand in areas such as machine design and new product development, bioengineering, the oil and gas industry, construction, consultancy, and mining. Many also go on to post-graduate study.
The research interests of staff range across the discipline of Mechanical Engineering and include
- materials science (high temperature alloys, novel metal alloys for bone-interfacing implants, thin films, interfacial engineering)
- dynamics and control (acoustics, physiological modeling, robotics, MEMS/NEMS, sensor integration)
- design, manufacturing and innovation (product innovation, technology transfer, computer aided design and manufacturing, machine design)
- bioengineering (automated drug infusion and control, cerebral and cardiovascular blood flow modeling, biomechanics, biomaterials)
- fluids (aerodynamics, gas kinetic theory, material forming)
- energy and thermodynamics (energy aspects of buildings, sustainability and transition engineering)
- mechanics (mechanics of machines, soft-tissue mechanics)
The Department of Mechanical Engineering is a welcoming and dynamic place to study. For more information on how to join us, click here.
Associate Professor Milo V Kral
Head of Department