Renewable and Clean Energy, MSRCE

Program Description:

The Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering offers a program of graduate study leading to a Master of Science in Engineering (M.S.E.) degree with a major in Renewable and Clean Energy. The Renewable and Clean Energy program includes courses on many types of alternative energy systems, in addition to courses on fundamental concepts related to energy. Included in this program are courses on fuel cells, solar energy, wind power, hydrogen fuel, energy conversion, energy materials, energy efficiency, thermodynamics, etc. The intent of this program is to train the next generation of renewable and clean energy engineers and to develop research in the area of renewable and clean energies.

Admissions Requirements:

To be considered for admission to the M.S.E. - Renewable and Clean Energy Program, students must first satisfy the basic requirements of the School of Graduate Studies. This includes having a bachelor’s degree in engineering or a related area with an overall undergraduate grade point average of at least 2.7 (on a 4.0 scale) or an overall undergraduate grade point average of at least 2.5 with an average of 3.0 or better for the last 60 semester hours (90 quarter hours) earned toward the undergraduate degree. International students must have a TOEFL score of at least 79(IBT)/ 213(CBT)/ 550(PBT). In addition, the program requires students from non-ABET accredited undergraduate programs to submit general GRE test scores. Program admission decisions are based on complete application information including overall academic performance and standardized tests scores where applicable.

Faculty:

Professors

Maher S. Amer, self-assembled structures for photovoltaics and energy storage applications

Bor Z. Jang, fuel cells, lithium ion batteries, super capacitors

Junghsen Lieh, electric propulsion and hybrid electric systems

James A. Menart, solar energy, geothermal energy, heat transfer, thermodynamics

Sharmila Mukhopadhyay, nano-materials, energy storage structures, superconductors, high efficiency catalysts

Associate Professors

Amir A. Farajian, hydrogen storage, carbon nanomaterials, computational modeling

H. Daniel Young, fuel cells, storage capacitors

Assistant Professors

Hong Huang, fuel cells, lithium ion batteries, super capacitors

Rory Roberts, fuel cells, energy systems

Zifeng Yang, experimental fluid mechanics, wind turbine technology, renewable energy

Program Requirements:

Students should plan a program of study in consultation with a faculty advisor. The program of study should be finalized by the time the student completes nine (9) semester hours of graduate study.

The following requirements must be met for the Master of Science in Engineering in Renewable and Clean Energy degree:

Completion of 30 graduate credit hours in courses that have prior approval by an engineering graduate advisor.
At least 21 of the total 30 graduate credit hours must be engineering or computer science courses. At least 15 of these must be engineering courses.
At least 15 of the 30 graduate credit hours of engineering and computer engineering must be courses numbered above 7000.
At least 3 of the total 30 graduate credit hours must be a mathematics course.
Students must choose either a thesis option or advanced course work option. Students employed as teaching or research assistants through the School of Graduate Studies at any time during their degree candidacy must choose the thesis option.

Thesis Option: A thesis satisfying all requirements of the School of Graduate Studies must be completed and successfully defended in an oral examination before the major committee. Nine (9) credit hours of ME 7950 - Thesis are required and will count toward the degree requirement of 30 total graduate credit hours.

Non-Thesis Option: Students must complete nine credit hours of courses numbered 7000 or above in addition to the six hours specified in requirement #3 above. Three of these nine credit hours should be an independent study course, ME 7990 .

Dept Core and Electives

I. Core Courses

Must take one Advanced Thermodynamics course from an approved list.

Advanced Thermodynamics Course: 3 Hours

II. Renewable and Clean Energy Courses

Must take three Renewable and Clean Energy Courses from an approved list.

Renewable and Clean Energy Courses: 9 Hours

III. Math Courses: 3 Hours

MTH 5040 - Advanced Engineering Mathematics Credit Hour(s): 3 or
MTH 6050 - Advanced Engineering Mathematics II Credit Hour(s): 3

IV. Elective Courses

Two elective courses at the graduate level. Electives can be taken in the Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Microbiology, Geology, Mathematics, Environmental Sciences, and Statistics disciplines. Additional Renewable and Clean Energy courses may be taken to fulfill the elective requirement also.

Elective Courses: 6 Hours

V. Thesis or Non-Thesis Option

Thesis Option

ME 7950 - Thesis Credit Hour(s): 1 to 12

Non-Thesis Option

ME 7990 - Independent Study in Mechanical Egr, Materials Science and Egr, and Renewable and Clean Energy Credit Hour(s): 1 to 3
Two additional 7000 level courses Credit Hour(s): 6

Note(s):

Students who elect to do the non-thesis option must replace thesis credits with 7000 level courses. These courses can be taken in the Engineering, Computer Science, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Microbiology, Geology, Environmental Sciences, Mathematics and Statistics disciplines. Additional Renewable and Clean Energy courses may be taken to fulfill this requirement as well.

Total: 30 Hours

Research/Areas of Expertise:

Research in renewable and clean energy is a new and upcoming field at Wright State University. There has been research done in fuel cells, geothermal energy, solar energy, wind power, batteries, super capacitors and hydrogen storage. Research topics change as resources and interests change.

Research at Wright State is not limited to the laboratory facilities on campus. Several industrial companies, laboratories, and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base are involved in joint research efforts with the university and have unique facilities available for faculty and graduate research.

Graduate students have access to a wide range of modern facilities including classrooms, laboratories, and computer systems interconnected by local and wide area communication networks. Computational facilities include numerous PC clusters, workstations, X-windowing terminals and personal computers.