Mechanical Engineering Program

Within 3 to 5 years after graduation from the ME program, the graduates are expected to:

• Further their intellectual growth through graduate education or professional development.
• Apply their creativity and global perspective in their engineering or non-engineering professions.
• Assume leadership roles in a variety of contexts.

Graduates of the ME program should be able to demonstrate:

1) an ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics

2) an ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors

3) an ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences

4) an ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts

5) an ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives

6) an ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions

7) an ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies

 

This curriculum applies to students entering in 2026. Others should check the Academic Planning & Rules – Degree Progress Check Sheet.

Candidates for the Bachelor of Science in ME must satisfactorily complete 122 credit hours required by the GC ME program, including:

• Engineering Foundation:                        38 credits
• Program Subjects:                                     51 credits
• Academic Writing:                                     4 credits
• Intellectual Breadth:                                    14 credits
• Electives:
  • Flexible Technical Electives:             7 credits
  • General Electives:                         8 credits

Additionally, domestic Chinese students are also required to take all Chinese politics courses required by the Ministry of Education of China. International students are required to take 12 credits of Chinese language and culture courses.

Course requirements for each of the credit categories are listed below:

 

Engineering Foundation (38 credits)

• Calculus II – MATH1160J or Honors Calculus II – MATH1560J or Honors Mathematics II – MATH1860J
• Calculus III – MATH2150J or Honors Calculus III – MATH2550J or Honors Mathematics III – MATH2850J
• Calculus IV – MATH2160J or Honors Calculus IV – MATH2560J or Honors Mathematics IV – MATH2860J
• Linear Algebra – MATH2140J or MATH4170J
• Chemistry CHEM2090J or CHEM2100J
• General Physics PHYS1401J and PHYS2401J, Physics PHYS1500J and PHYS2500J or honors sequence PHYS1600J and PHYS2600J
• Physics Lab I & II – PHYS1410J & PHYS2410J
• Introduction to Engineering – ENGR1000J
• Introduction to Computer and Programming – ENGR1010J

Program Subjects (51 credits)

• Introduction to Circuits – ECE2150J
• Machineshop Training – ME0801J
• Introduction to Solid Mechanics –ME2110J
• Thermodynamics – ME2350J
• Introduction to Dynamics and Vibrations – ME2400J
• Design and Manufacturing I – ME2500J
• Fluid Mechanics I – ME3200J
• Heat Transfer – ME3350J
• Design and Manufacturing II – ME3500J
• Modeling, Analysis and Control of Dynamic Systems – ME3600J
• Mechanical Behavior of Materials – ME3820J
• Laboratory I – ME3950J
• Design and Manufacturing III – ME4500J or MDP
• Laboratory II – ME4950J
• Professional Ethics – ENGR4960J

Academic Writing (4 credits)

• Academic Writing I – ENGL1000J

Intellectual Breadth (14 credits)

Intellectual Breadth education aims to equip engineering students with diverse modes of thinking and interdisciplinary knowledge beyond pure technical expertise. It seeks to provide essential contextual grounding for students’ future engineering practice, enabling them to understand human ideological paradigms, the structure and evolution of human society, patterns of human behavior and interaction, and the spiritual pursuits and creative expressions of humanity embodied in literature, art, and diverse cultural works.

Through interdisciplinary learning across multiple fields, students can fully comprehend the multifaceted impacts of engineering practices in global, economic, environmental and societal contexts. This comprehensive intellectual cultivation fosters flexible thinking, innovative consciousness, and cross-cultural and cross-group collaboration competencies, empowering students to become well-rounded, adaptable engineering professionals with social responsibility and holistic cognitive literacy.

To fully accommodate diverse, high-quality interdisciplinary courses that align with the talent cultivation philosophy of Intellectual Breadth, and to break the limitations of fixed course categories, this curriculum module covers established core disciplinary fields and reserves inclusive admission qualifications for eligible alternative courses. All students are required to complete a total of 14 credits of Intellectual Breadth coursework in accordance with the following standardized requirements:

• Disciplinary Distribution & Credit Requirements (14 elective credits)

Students must complete 14 credits of interdisciplinary elective courses, covering humanities, social sciences, professional development, natural sciences, art, and other approved general intellectual breadth courses, with specific category credit requirements as follows:

• A minimum of 3 credits in Humanities
• A minimum of 3 credits in Social Sciences
• A maximum of 6 credits of language courses can be counted toward the Intellectual Breadth credit requirement

Credits earned for Chinese language courses taken by international students beyond the required Chinese language courses may be counted toward this 6-credit language limit, subject to the same cap.

• A minimum of 2 credits in Aesthetic literacy coursework，which may be fulfilled in two ways with distinct credit counting rules:

· Art courses listed under the Intellectual Breadth Art subcategory will count directly toward Intellectual Breadth credits.

· General art courses (including university-wide Chinese-taught art courses) can satisfy the aesthetic literacy requirement but will not count toward Intellectual Breadth credits; these credits will be applied to General Electives instead. Students are permitted to satisfy the full 2-credit aesthetic literacy requirement through general art courses and are not required to take courses from the Intellectual Breadth Art subcategory.

• Course Category Specifications
• Humanities: Includes but is not limited to Philosophy, English Language and Literature, Asian Languages and Culture, American Culture, Comparative Literature, Film Studies, and other humanistic courses that explore human ideology, culture and spiritual connotation.
• Social Sciences: Includes but is not limited to International and Comparative Studies, Political Science, Asian Studies, Economics, Environmental Studies, History, and other courses that study social operation, institutional development and human social behaviors.
• Professional Development: Includes but is not limited to Engineering Ethics, Business Studies, Entrepreneurship Studies, and other courses that support students’ professional growth, career development and comprehensive competency improvement.
• Natural Sciences: Includes Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Astronomy, Earth Sciences, and other basic science courses that cultivate scientific thinking and explore natural laws.
• Art: Covers various art appreciation, art creation, aesthetic theory and related practical courses that cultivate aesthetic literacy and creative thinking.
• Other General Intellectual Breadth Courses (upon approval): To enrich the curriculum system and fully recognize high-quality interdisciplinary learning outcomes, other courses that conform to the core philosophy of Intellectual Breadth, break through pure technical training, and help expand students’ interdisciplinary vision, comprehensive thinking and social cognition can be included in this category after official review and approval. This flexible category covers all eligible courses that cannot be classified into the above fixed sub-disciplines but meet the college’s talent cultivation standards.

Flexible Technical Electives (7 credits):

It is the intent of the flexible technical elective requirement that students take a number of core technical electives to develop deeper technical knowledge in specific engineering areas.

The flexible technical electives credits can be satisfied with:
• Any 300-level or higher courses in ME or in other engineering, biology, chemistry, mathematics, and physics fields, excluding TC3000J and TC4960J.

Up to 3 credits of courses taken from other engineering or science departments of SJTU may be counted in this category but must be 300-level or higher. These courses must be approved by the ME Program Advisor. The GC Undergraduate Education Office keeps a list of pre-approved courses.

Any credits in excess of 7 may be applied to the General Elective category.

The technical elective courses in ME can refer to three disciplinary areas including Design, Manufacturing, and Systems; Solid Mechanics; and Thermal Fluids. The courses GC offers in each ME area in recent semesters are listed as follows. The Undergraduate Education Office maintains a complete list of the courses.

Discipline Areas	Required Courses	Elective Options
Design, Manufacturing, and Systems	ME2400J Intro to Dynamics and Vibrations ME2500J Design & Manufacturing I ME3500J Design & Manufacturing II ME3600J Modeling, Analysis and Control of Dynamic Systems ME4500J Design & Manufacturing III	ME4550J Intro. to Data Driven Eng. Design ME4610J Automatic Control ME4670J Introduction to Robotics ME4820J Machining Processes ME6601J Mechatronic Systems Design ECE6602J Linear Systems ME6801J Manufacturing Processes and Systems
Solid Mechanics	ME2110J Intro to Solid Mechanics ME3820J Mechanical Behavior of Materials	ME3110J Strength of Materials ME4050J Finite Elements in Mechanical Eng. ME6101J Continuum Mechanics
Thermal and Fluids	ME2350J Thermodynamics I ME3200J Fluid Mechanics ME3350J Heat Transfer	ME4210J Thermal-Fluids Systems Design ME4320J Combustion ME4330J Advanced Energy Solutions ME4340J Materials for Energy Conversion ME4580J Automotive Engineering ME6202J Computational Fluid Dynamics

General Electives (8 credits):

General electives are intended to allow students to explore any dimension of intellectual endeavor that they elect, in both technical (including engineering) and non-technical fields. This requirement can be met by any course subject to the following restrictions:

• A maximum of 4 credits of research work (such as PRP, IAP, etc.) can be counted towards graduation.

Students should select general elective classes to explore areas of their cultural interest or professional interest, such as:

• Management, business, or finance classes in preparation for working in industry.
• Classes to prepare for further study outside engineering such as medicine, dentistry, law or education.
• Additional language, literature or culture classes to prepare for a career in the global economy.
• Additional engineering classes to go into more depth than the limited program of technical electives allows.
• Engineering classes in other departments in preparation for graduate school outside Mechanical Engineering.