Mechanical, Aerospace Engineering Departments Combine
To further strengthen and heighten the visibility of aerospace engineering research and instruction, a proposal to merge the Department of Aerospace Engineering with the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Ohio State becomes official today.
The merged Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering will offer the same degrees as each department did separately: bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in both aerospace and mechanical engineering as well as master’s and doctoral degrees in nuclear engineering.
Academic synergies between the disciplines will allow faculty in the merged department to work collaboratively in teaching courses as well as in introducing new courses that would be of interest to students in both disciplines, said Cheena Srinivasan, professor and chair of the former mechanical engineering department, who will head the new department.
“We are confident that the merger, taken together with the strong positive growth trends in both aerospace and mechanical engineering, will raise national awareness of the totality and high quality of aerospace engineering research at Ohio State,” Srinivasan said. “This move also will further strengthen Ohio State’s links with NASA’s Glenn Research Center, the Air Force Research Laboratory and GE Aviation. The new department can now invest resources in targeted focus areas of excellence in mechanical and aerospace engineering and thus elevate rankings of both disciplines.”
The merged department also will offer a strong mentoring environment for junior faculty and graduate students involved in aerospace engineering research.
“Ohio State’s national visibility in the aerospace engineering community will be heightened by the greater number of faculty members in the two departments working collaboratively and closely in aerospace engineering research and education,” said Meyer Benzakein, professor and chair of the former aerospace department.
To facilitate interactions between all faculty members, the aerospace engineering faculty members will be housed in the current home of the mechanical engineering department, the Peter and Clara Scott Laboratory, a state-of-the-art, 240,000-square-foot facility constructed in 2006 at a cost of $71 million.
The merger gained approval of overwhelming majorities of faculty members of both departments as well as the College of Engineering, the University Senate, and the Ohio State University Board of Trustees.
The Department of Aerospace Engineering was founded in 1948 as the Department of Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering. The 10 faculty members are actively engaged in research in turbomachinery, aerodynamics, flow control, aero-acoustics, aeroelasticity, flight dynamics and control, and structural mechanics
The Department of Mechanical Engineering, founded in 1881, has 52 faculty members. Research focus areas are advanced transportation systems (aerospace and automotive), energy (including nuclear power) and environmental quality, materials and manufacturing, bioengineering, and micro/nano technology.
