Mechanical Engineering Technical Elective (Research)

The Honors Research Distinction Track is intended for students with at least a 3.4 cumulative GPA who wish to perform undergraduate research. Under this track, students may apply 6 hours of MECHENG 4999H towards their undergraduate technical elective program.

The steps listed below allow a student to meet the College of Engineering Requirements for Honors Research Distinction:

• A total of 6 credit hours of ME 4999H
• Remaining 6 credit hours of Technical Electives must be any MECHENG, AEROENG, or NUCLRENG course 5000-level or above. Any courses taken outside of these departments with the hope of fulfilling technical electives must be submitted by petition to the department.
• Successful defense of thesis and submission of thesis to Knowledge Bank
• Completion of an Honors Contract in Engineering or performing at least 1 action from the following list:
  • Presentation of the research at one OSU-sponsored event  (e.g., Denman Undergraduate Research Forum, CoE Research Forum, etc.) or at a national conference
  • Submission of a manuscript to a peer-reviewed research journal or conference proceedings with the student as a co-author
  • Submission of a manuscript to an undergraduate research journal or non-peer-reviewed journal or proceedings with the student as lead author
  • Completion and submission of a patent disclosure application
  • Other appropriate activity that has been approved via petition by the Honors Committee in Engineering

The Research Distinction Track is intended for students with at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA who wish to perform undergraduate research. Under this track, students may apply 6 credit hours of MECHENG 4999 towards their undergraduate technical elective program. 

The steps listed below allow a student to meet the College of Engineering Requirements for Research Distinction:

• A total of 6 credit hours of MECHENG 4999
• Remaining 6 credit hours of Technical Electives must be any MECHENG, AEROENG, or NUCLRENG course 5000-level or above. Any courses taken outside of these departments with the hope of fulfilling technical electives must be submitted by petition to the department.
• Presentation of the research at a local conference (e.g., Denman Undergraduate Research Forum, CoE Research Forum, etc.) or a national conference
• Successful defense of thesis and submission of thesis to Knowledge Bank

The courses that are needed in addition to MECHENG 4999 or MECHENG 4999H to earn at least 12 credit hours of technical electives must be approved by the student’s undergraduate research advisor and the MAE Honors Program advisor. It is recognized that performing undergraduate research provides students with knowledge of “applications and broader impact” and also “professional skills”. Students are encouraged, but are not required, to take at least one course that complements their undergraduate research project and gives them experience with both computational and experimental work. For instance, if a student’s research project is heavily experimental, that person is encouraged to take a course that fulfills at least 1 cr-hr of computational electives.

Any 5000-level or above Mechanical Engineering (MECHENG), Aerospace Engineering (AEROENG), or Nuclear Engineering (NUCLREN) course are automatically approved for the Research Distinction Tracks. Other courses must be approved by the MAE Department, please contact your advisor for more information.