Administrative Offices

The Administrative Offices of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering are responsible for a large range of functions in support of instructional, research and departmental activities.  The department is organized into five general areas: the chair and senior manager offices, business center, faculty assistants, academic support and, teaching / technical support staff.  

The chair establishes the academic and intellectual direction of the department and the senior manager oversees and provides support for operationalizing the chair’s vision.  The senior manager’s office ensures that faculty, students and  staff have the necessary tools and resources to carry out their duties.  Specific areas of oversight include financial management, personnel management, supervision of administrative staff members, administering the teaching component of department activities and oversight for facilities management including lab renovations.

The business center oversees the day-to-day financial and sponsored research management for the department.  Five personnel comprise the business center including the business manager, two assistant grant managers and two purchasing support staff.  Sponsored research responsibilities include pre- and post-award management of principal investigator research portfolios for both internal and external funding.  Purchasing support staff provide assistance to faculty groups with buying and paying activities.

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Sign in hallway that reads The Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department

The undergraduate office administers the ABET accredited programs of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.  Academic and administrative support is provided for MAE majors by the department representative, the undergraduate administrator and the academic program assistant.  This office is the primary point of contact for prospective majors.

The graduate office handles all aspects of the admissions process for the M.S.E. and Ph.D. programs and provides ongoing academic and administrative support for matriculated students through degree completion.  The office is supported by the director of graduate studies, the graduate program administrator and academic program assistant. The office coordinates department events that relate to the graduate program, such as seminars, faculty talks, and professional development.

Two faculty assistants provide academic, administrative and research support for faculty members and their respective research groups.  The assistants are responsible for general administrative duties such as travel, expense reports, calendaring, assisting with sponsored research submissions, meeting logistics, and assisting with purchasing.

The technical support manager provides specialized support in two areas, computing and undergraduate labs.  Frontline computing support is managed through a program established by the Office of Information Technology.  The department has one technical support manager who provides support and maintenance for desktop hardware and software systems.  This position is the main support for the primary computing needs of faculty, administrative and teaching staff of the department.

The department has four teaching support staff who are responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Microprocessor and Controls lab, the Thermodynamics and Fluids lab and the Machine Shop.  Technical staff have specialized skills in these areas and provide teaching support to the students in the classes held in these labs.  They assist the faculty with the supervision of student project design and operation of experiments.