MIT Mechanical Engineering

Directions Website Contact the university

MIT Mechanical Engineering Official page for the Department of Mechanical Engineering @ MIT
http://meche.mit.edu

One of the six founding courses of study at MIT, mechanical engineering embodies the motto "mens et manus" -- mind and hand. Disciplinary depth and breadth, together with hands-on discovery and physical realization, characterize our nationally and internationally recognized leadership in research, education, and innovation. MIT mechanical engineers have always stood at the forefront in tackling the engineering challenges of the day: inventing new technologies, spawning new fields of study, and educating the new generation of leaders in industry, government, and academia.

Researchers in Professor Kripa Varanasi's group, working with colleagues at MIT and Johns Hopkins University, have devel...
10/08/2026

Researchers in Professor Kripa Varanasi's group, working with colleagues at MIT and Johns Hopkins University, have developed a handheld device capable of gently collecting living cells from specific locations to test for ovarian and many other types of .

“Once we have these living cells, there are many things we can do with them. We can use them for diagnostics, grow them into organoids, and build living models of disease. Ultimately, this could allow us to test how an individual patient’s cells respond to different treatments and help us develop more personalized medicines,” says Varanasi, senior author of the study and the Maher A. Elmasri Professor of .

📸: Courtesy of the Varanasi Lab, edited by MIT News.

https://meche.mit.edu/news-media/new-cell-collection-device-could-improve-early-cancer-detection

Researchers at the Broad Institute and at MIT have invented a “cellular self-reporting” approach to make living cells sh...
10/05/2026

Researchers at the Broad Institute and at MIT have invented a “cellular self-reporting” approach to make living cells share their own transcriptomes so that scientists can analyze them without killing the cells. A cell’s transcriptome is all the RNA produced by a cell. The new method allows scientists to follow gene activity over time in the same cells. Linda Griffith, professor of biological and mechanical engineering, is a collaborator on the project. 📸: Agnieszka Grosso, Broad Communications

https://meche.mit.edu/news-media/new-method-allows-scientists-follow-gene-activity-over-time-same-cells

10/02/2026

MechE's annual Welcome Back Block Party is a department-wide celebration that kicks off the fall semester with lawn games, food trucks, and more. Here are are few scenes from this year's Block Party, which was held in mid-September. 📸: Tony Pulsone

Most human physical interaction tasks require the production of force, but factors like the mechanical stability of a ta...
10/01/2026

Most human physical interaction tasks require the production of force, but factors like the mechanical stability of a task or the person’s body configuration can compromise force production. A new paper published in the journal Nature Communications by researchers in MechE’s Eric P. and Evelyn E. Newman Laboratory for Biomechanics and Human Rehabilitation reframes the understanding of human physical performance, showing that force generation is not just a muscle strength problem but a mechanical stability problem. 📸: Adobe Stock

https://meche.mit.edu/news-media/exploring-biomechanics-human-force-pushing

09/28/2026

Alex Slocum, the Walter M. and A. Hazel May Professor of Mechanical Engineering, may have a serious message for students in 2.70 (Fundamentals of Precision Product Design) but his approach to teaching the material is famously fun — in fact, he prefers the spelling “FUNdaMENTALs” for the first word of the class name. He says he wants students “to understand that we are governed by the laws of physics, and that is a catalyst for creativity, not a hindrance.” 📼: Lauren Futami

🗞️: https://meche.mit.edu/news-media/fundamentals-precision-design

Using materials that are safe for human consumption, MIT researchers have created tiny batteries that could be used to p...
09/24/2026

Using materials that are safe for human consumption, MIT researchers have created tiny batteries that could be used to power ingestible electronic devices. The entire battery is bioresorbable, meaning that it can be fully broken down and absorbed by the body.

Giovanni Traverso, the Karl Van Tassel (1925) Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, a gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and an associate member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, is senior author of the paper, which is available now in the journal Nature Chemical Engineering. Former MIT postdoc Mehmet Girayhan Say is the paper’s lead author. Over the past decade, Traverso and his collaborators have developed ingestible capsules that can monitor vital signs, deliver a variety of drugs, and detect opioid overdoses.

https://meche.mit.edu/news-media/batteries-safely-break-down-gi-tract-could-improve-ingestible-devices

The world needs more homes. The world also has too much plastic. Both of these problems are hard to solve. MIT spinout A...
09/22/2026

The world needs more homes. The world also has too much plastic. Both of these problems are hard to solve. MIT spinout Atlas Building Composites, which emerged from MIT HAUS, a research effort in MechE, is on a mission to address both problems with a single solution. Atlas uses waterless plastic recycling and large-scale composite additive manufacturing technology to make parts like home foundations, decks, and trusses for walls, floors, and roofs. 📸s: Atlas

https://meche.mit.edu/news-media/mit-spinout-turns-plastic-waste-resilient-building-materials

Address

77 Massachusetts Avenue, 3-174
Cambridge, MA
02139

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when MIT Mechanical Engineering posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The University

Send a message to MIT Mechanical Engineering:

Shortcuts

Share

Category