Computation within the context of mechanical engineering at MIT

Thesis: S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2019Cataloged from the official PDF of thesis. "May 2019."Computation is undoubtedly playing a significant role in mechanical engineering both inside and outside of MIT, impacting how mechanical engineers approach and solve problems as well as how mechanical engineering is defined and evaluated. This study focuses on how computation is defined within MIT by analyzing input from both faculty and students in Course 2. Responses from faculty were collected by conducting a series of semi-structured interviews with the teaching staff while input from students were collected in a more indirect manner, by analyzing a historical data set of Course 6 classes taken by Course 2 students from 2014 to 2019 and by assessing 107 responses collected from a student survey. Based on inputs from faculty, computation takes various forms inside a Course 2 classroom, functioning as a skillset or a platform for learning and teaching. Student inputs suggest that there is a growing interest in learning various computation tools both inside and outside of their major. While most Course 2 students feel satisfied with their computational experience at MIT, there are still aspects of the Course 2 and Course 6 curriculum in need of improvement.by Kyubin Lee.S.B.S.B. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineerin