Mechanical and Civil Engineering (MCE)

The Mechanical and Civil Engineering (MCE) track is a rigorous four-year program that incorporates a wide range of mechanical and civil engineering subjects to teach the engineering design process to motivated high school students. It emphasizes 21^st century skills such as collaboration, communication, innovation and project management. Specifically, the program covers course material typically studied at the college and graduate level in mechanical and civil engineering (Engineering Mechanics – Statics, Mechanism Synthesis, Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer, etc.) as well as project management and SolidWorks, the industry-leading Computer Aided Design (CAD) software. Additionally, the students have the opportunity to become a Certified SolidWorks Associate (CSWA) as well as become OSHA-10 Certified.

The program uses project-based learning that reinforces the material covered in class and expands the students’ knowledge of how engineering is applied in the real world. Short-term projects emphasize the material covered in class through lab exercises and demonstrations or expand the students’ knowledge in manufacturing processes and engineering materials by doing reverse engineering through product tear=downs of simple office products. Long-term projects that last the full year focus on teamwork and how sub-assemblies work together to accomplish a given requirement, such as sorting a set of “minerals” represented by different-sized balls in 10^th grade or ringing a bell as part of a Rube Goldberg machine in 11^th grade. In addition, they learn to use the shop tools safely and create suitable parts in wood or use their CAD skills to create parts to be printed on the 3D printers in the classroom.

The course culminates in their senior year when the students work in small teams on their Capstone project to propose, design and build a device of their own choosing. The Capstone project demonstrates the technical engineering skills learned in MCE as well as project management. Finally, students can participate in a dual-degree track with Middlesex College to receive an Associate’s Degree in Mathematics or other concentrations.