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

student wearing glasses and white lab coat holding hydrogel
Research |

UNLV among select group of universities with high research output identified for potential to “unleash innovation” and create economic impact.

winning team holds check
Business and Community |

How a stubborn bird dropping on a campus building helped spark the winning students’ idea for a high-rise window-cleaning drone.

students prepare to launch balloon
Campus News |

Ballooning achievement serves as proof-of-concept for team's 2027 plans to go orbital.

Ashley Lamb in a cool denim dress outfit on a rock next to an amazing cactus plant on campus
People |

Ashley Lamb is advancing energy initiatives to reduce consumption, improve efficiency, and support UNLV’s net-zero goal.

student shows members of tour an autonomous vehicle
Campus News |

From spotlight tours to community STEM outreach, ambassadors amplify the college's recruiting effort.

laboratory samples on back lit table
Research |

UNLV mechanical engineering lab creates 3D-printed synthetic sea lion pelvis, enhancing veterinary capabilities and countering ongoing beaching crisis.

Mechanical Engineering In The News

KSNV-TV: News 3

Could water pulled from the desert air help Southern Nevada confront its water challenges — and concerns about the growing demand from data centers? That is the goal behind a developing technology from WAVR Technologies, a Las Vegas startup commercializing atmospheric water-harvesting technology developed at UNLV.

KSNV-TV: News 3

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) has been researching an innovative new approach to atmospheric water harvesting with improved water collection rates in arid environments.

Las Vegas Review Journal

Las Vegas-based WAVR Technologies can actually turn air into water. The deep tech startup that spun out of UNLV is commercializing atmospheric water harvesting systems that extract water directly from the air — even in desert environments at humidity levels as low as 10 percent.

Las Vegas Sun

Nevada officials are declaring victory over Yucca Mountain — even as some experts cautioned the federal government’s pivot away from the long-stalled and controversial nuclear waste repository may create new problems.

KSNV-TV: News 3

A group of former UNLV students is getting a rare chance to watch their work travel around the moon as part of the Artemis II mission. From 2015 to 2020, the students, led by longtime UNLV professor Dr. Brendan O’Toole, entered a cooperative agreement with Lockheed Martin to work on projects tied to Artemis II. The students have since graduated and now live in different parts of the country, but for the past 10 days, they have been reconnecting as they watch the mission and the spacecraft components they helped develop.

KVVU-TV: Fox 5

Student engineers from across the valley, the country and the world gathered at UNLV for the FIRST Robotics Competition Las Vegas Regional. The students’ high tech skills and ingenuity were on display at the Thomas and Mack. They have spent months designing, building and programming their robots from scratch.

Mechanical Engineering Experts

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

Recent Mechanical Engineering Accomplishments

Seungman Park (Mechanical Engineering) has been recognized among the World's Top 2% Scientists in the latest Stanford University–Elsevier global scientist database (2026 edition), based on citation impact in 2025. This recognition highlights Park's growing international research impact in aging mechanobiology, cellular senescence, quantitative…
Seungman Park (Mechanical Engineering) and Lina R. Nih (Brain Health) have co-authored an article titled “Cellular Viscous Properties in Senescence: An Emerging Biophysical Perspective and Potential Biomarker,” published in the scientific journal Ageing Research Reviews. The publication is the result of an interdisciplinary collaboration with Dr.…
Lina R. Nih (Brain Health) and Seungman Park (Mechanical Engineering) have co-authored an article entitled “Cellular Viscous Properties in Senescence: An Emerging Biophysical Perspective and Potential Biomarker,” published in Ageing Research Reviews. This article explores changes in cellular viscosity during aging and their potential use as a…
Richard M. Oxborough, Trishan Wickramasinghe, Louisa Messenger (all Environmental and Global Health), Nikita Gopakumar (Mechanical Engineering), Michael Fong (Art), Yafet Tiruha, and Seungman Park (both Mechanical Engineering), along with other researchers from the University of Ghana Anastasia Mosquito Control (Florida) and Imperial College…
Charlotta Sanders (Mechanical Engineering) published the article “Nuclear Decommissioning as a New Beginning: Evolving Practices, Emerging Opportunities, and the Next Phase of the Nuclear Lifecycle” in Progress in Nuclear Energy. The work reframes decommissioning as an integrated phase of the nuclear lifecycle rather than an end‑state activity,…
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…