Outreach

The Department of Mechanical Engineering recruits prospective students through activities and events such as:

• Fall Mechanical Engineering Design Day, where around 30 high school students from Baltimore Polytechnic are transported to UMD for a college presentation and to attend Design Day.
• Collaboration with Anne Arundel County STEM magnet program to increase female student enrollment in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
• Women’s Day, where around 30 female students from Anne Arundel County visit UMD and hear presentations from the different engineering departments.
• Mentoring of a cohort of students from Bowie High School by undergraduate Mechanical Engineering students.
• The GOAL program provides hands-on STEM kits for middle and high school students that include inexpensive physical componentry and a curriculum that introduces STEM concepts in a way that is fun and accessible to all. Students are engaged through independent physical exploration, instructional and group reflection, and design thinking. Around 2500 kits get distributed each year through local school system partnerships. Several events bring large groups (upwards of 650 students) to UMD and have included keynote speakers such as Chancellor Perman and President Pines.
• The STEM Summer Camp @ USMSM for Future Problem Solvers invites high school students from the local Southern Maryland community to participate in a free, week-long camp to be mentored by UMD faculty and current mechanical engineering students. Participants engage with/learn about mechanical design with CAD software (such as Fusion 360), 3D printing, and building electronic circuits. Students conclude the week having built one project (e.g., generating electricity with a windmill, autonomous drone, autonomous land rover).

OUR DEI CULTURE

One of the undergraduate student outcomes is that:

“UMD ME students will engage in socially responsible projects aimed at fostering inclusion and addressing systemic inequities.”

This means that as a department, we wish to provide real opportunities for undergraduates to engage in projects that are focused on providing positive societal impact. In addition to the opportunities provided by extracurricular work, engaging internships and co-op projects, these opportunities also include in-class experiences (e.g., ENME467 - Engineering for Social Change, ENME472 - Integrated Product and Process Development).

Engineering for Social Change Class

DEI Education

UMD has begun a multi-year rollout of unit specific Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) learning outcomes (LO’s). Each unit is to develop their own set of DEI relevant outcomes to track and report. The current Department of Mechanical Engineering DEI LO’s are:

1. Students will learn how to work successfully in diverse cross-cultural teams, creating team spaces where input from all members are heard and considered.  
2. Students will engage in socially responsible projects aimed at fostering inclusion and addressing systemic inequities.
3. Students will be able to communicate technical results to wide and diverse audiences using cross-cultural strategies.

Through collaboration with DEI specialists within the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, and through a faculty workshop conducted in Winter 2023, the following additional DEI LO’s are also being investigated:

1. Students will be aware of historical inequities in the practice of mechanical engineering that have disadvantaged or harmed marginalized or minoritized groups.
2. Students can explain impacts of their project(s), understand impacts of their decisions, including intended and unintended consequences (positive and negative) and inequitably affected stakeholders (inequitable access or inequitable impact).
3. Students are able to reflect on their use of language and imagery and its role in defining norms.

Get Involved!

To join the Mechanical Engineering Department's continued pursuit of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in all we do, contact enme-deicommittee@umd.edu.

We recognize that DEI is the work of everyone in our community. However, the Department is pleased to have a DEI Committee composed of students, staff, and faculty that serves as a resource for promoting and advising on DEI-related activities. The Committee always welcomes new members, ideas, and conversation.

Additional Resources

Are you interested in learning more about diversity and inclusion in the Department of Mechanical Engineering or at UMD? The following resources are available to assist you.