Engineering student shakes hand with a humanoid robot with telepresence.

Department of Mechanical Engineering News

The Department of Mechanical Engineering prepares students for the lifelong practice of mechanical engineering and related engineering disciplines. Our students to become problem solvers through applying science to deal with the relations among forces, work, or energy, and power in designing systems, which ultimately contributes to the betterment of the human environment.

Current Mechanical Engineering News

A professor shows two students a prototype.
Campus News |

Do you know how to use a makerspace? This class will teach you.

Students on campus.
Campus News |

A selection of top news headlines featuring UNLV faculty and students.

Huang Chen works inside his Fluid Innovation Lab
Research |

UNLV aerospace engineer Huang Chen turns turbo engine research into life-saving pumps for failing hearts.

closeup of hand touching herbs growing in hydroponic system
Campus News |

UNLV, UNR Extension collaboration cultivates an early interest in science and engineering.

UNLV seasonal eggs
Campus News |

A collection of colorful headlines featuring UNLV staff and students.

closeup portrait of a smiling Amber Guckes
People |

Three-time engineering graduate Amber Guckes blends creative thinking with technical expertise to safeguard the nation’s nuclear stockpile.

Mechanical Engineering In The News

CNN

The arid desert landscape of Death Valley is not the obvious place to find water. Yet it’s here, in one of the planet’s hottest and driest places, that Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineers decided to test new technology to pull drinking water from an unconventional source: the air.

Forbes

The global water system is showing its fragility, and water resilience is fast becoming a defining challenge for economies and investors. UN-Water estimates two-thirds of the world’s population faces shortages for at least a month each year. Analysis by CDP warns that companies could face $225 billion in costs from water-related risks in the short term, while as much as $2.5 trillion in corporate revenue is at risk if water scarcity disrupts supply chains and markets.

Las Vegas Review Journal

Rep. Susie Lee hosted her summit at Springs Preserve on Thursday morning to discuss the most pressing issues regarding Las Vegas’ tiny share of the Colorado River. She was joined by U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.; Colby Pellegrino, Southern Nevada Water Authority deputy general manager; the Colorado River Commission of Nevada and UNLV startup WAVR Technologies.

KTNV-TV: ABC 13

It might sound like science fiction, but for one startup in the valley, atmospheric water harvesting is reality. In the desert valley of Las Vegas, where water is as precious as gold, a team of researchers at WAVR is working to turn the air we breathe into the water we drink.

The Pulse

Those who have taken a road trip through the Southwest know that it is a very unique desert region, scattered with extraordinary canyons and lofty plateaus. As with any arid region, rainfall is scarce and temperatures are sky-high, making droughts inevitable. Thankfully, a bio-inspired film has been engineered by innovative minds, which pulls gallons of water per day by ‘drinking’ air like plants.

VerticalFarmDaily.com

The workshop — a collaboration between UNLV and University of Nevada, Reno Extension — plants the seeds for the middle schoolers' interest in science and technology through activities with a hydroponics system.

Mechanical Engineering Experts

An expert in soft robotics and active materials, particularly nanomaterials.  
An expert in nuclear physics, radiation, and mechanical engineering.
An expert in mechanics and manufacturing.
An expert in atmospheric water harvesting.

Recent Mechanical Engineering Accomplishments

Hal Berghel (Computer Science) published an article, "An Overview of Generative AI Acceptable Use Policies by Universities With Top 25 Computer Science Programs," in the current issue of IEEE Computer.  Berghel contrasts the institutional acceptable use policies of leading universities regarding the use of Generative AI (e.g., ChatGPT) in…
Graduate student Mouhsine Benmbarek and emeritus professor Samir Moujaes (both Mechanical Engineering) published their study, "CFD Analysis of Heat Transfer Enhancement for Twisted Tape Inserted in Spirally Corrugated Tubes and Proposal of a New Vane-Inserted Geometry" in the journal Fluids.
Anthony Okeani (Mechanical Engineering) has been selected as a 2025 Graduate Scholarship recipient by the Roy G. Post Foundation. Okeani is a master's student in the nuclear engineering program. He is working on a research project on nuclear-powered desalination of ocean water; his advisor is professor Alexander Barzilov (Mechanical Engineering).…
The Da Kine Lab (DKL) under the direction of H. Jeremy Cho (Mechanical Engineering) has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Members of the DKL have developed a new, faster way to capture water from the air. The students in the DKL include: Yiwei Gao, Areianna Eason, Santiago Ricoy, Addison Cobb, Ryan Phung, Amir…
Alexander Barzilov, Woosoon Yim (both Mechanical Engineering), Artem Gelis (Radiochemistry), and Ke-Xun Sun (Electrical and Computer Engineering) were awarded a five-year, $5,000,000 renewal grant from the National Nuclear Security Administration through the Minority Serving Institution Partnership Program (MSIPP) to continue research projects of…
Alexander Barzilov (Mechanical Engineering) was named chair of the Radiation Protection and Shielding Division (RPSD) for 2024-25 by the American Nuclear Society named. The RPSD is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology, including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and…