Stony Brook University Mechanical Engineering

Aerospace Engineering is also called Aeronautics and Astronautics in some institutions. Mechanical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering are very closely related, so much so that many institutions around the world (including Seoul National University, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Sejong University, Cornell University, Princeton University, University of Southern California, University of California, Los Angeles, SUNY Buffalo, to name a few) have both fields in the same department. When combined in a department, the department is usually called Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. The basic undergraduate courses are the same. However, aerospace engineering majors focus entirely on aircraft and space vehicles, whereas mechanical engineering majors are involved in all types of vehicles (space, automobiles, ship, bicycles, motor cycles, etc.), in addition to the study of a myriad of other things (tools, engines, machines, and mechanical devises). Mechanical engineers are also responsible for agricultural mechanization and design/manufacture of HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems). At the graduate level, the distinction between Mechanical and Aerospace is actually more blurred, and mechanical engineering professors routinely teach aerospace engineering courses, and vice-versa.