Major Focus: Carlye Lauff - Mechanical Engineering

Hello my name is Carye Lauff and I am a junior majoring in mechanical engineering. I love mechanical engineering because it is a major that can go into any industry. You have the opportunity to work in several main areas such as design, analysis, manufacturing, material science, as well as others. I have interned for two summer, one with GE Transportation in a role in analysis and the other with Boeing dealing with design. This summer I hope to work with manufacturing in order to see which area of mechanical engineering I feel the most comfortable. When you go to the career fair almost every company in every division from healthcare, to oil and gas, to transportation, to defense, to consumer products, to even the food industries are looking to hire mechanical engineers for internships, co-ops, and full-time. It is a great way to get your foot in the door of whatever company you are interested in!

During your first two years, most of the classes you take are common across all engineering. Then you begin to take more classes in engineering mechanics dealing with static and dynamic structures as well as strengths of materials. You also take core mechanical engineering classes in topics such as thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, heat transfer, vibrations, as well as many classes in design. Each of these classes prepares you with the fundamentals to understand how all systems work. Lots of the classes are focused on group projects and group assignments because in the real-world you are always working in teams.

My two favorite professors during my two years at Penn State have been my teachers in ME 300 (thermodynamics) and ME 320 (fluid dynamics). The reason I loved these two classes was because my professors genuinely cared about me and making sure I understood the material. I was able to go to their office hours and have them explain complex topics and even give me help on finishing the homework. Their dynamic personalities in class always kept my attention and their passion for the topics made me want to learn more as well. I have heard wonderful things about the rest of the mechanical engineering professors and I look forward to having them in my last few semesters.

I urge you to consider mechanical engineering because it has opened my mind to the endless possibilities made possible through engineering! And if you have any questions related to the major please do not hesitate to contact me at cal5323@psu.edu!