MANE-6980 Master's Project (or Thesis)
Suggestions for Selecting a Suitable Project or Thesis Topic
The Engineering Project is the final requirement for eligibility for the Master's degree. The
Project represents the culmination of your Graduate experience and is a demonstration of
your ability to understand and apply graduate-level, engineering concepts, theories and tools.
The Project serves to show that you have acquired advanced skills in the discipline and that
you are proficient in their use.
The work you do in your project is meant to have a scholarly, archival character. The final
deliverable consists of a written report using the official RPI Thesis Template. Paper copies
as well as electronic copies of the report must be produced, approved and submitted together
with any additional supporting material for ultimate addition to the RPI Cole Library
collection. Although you may hold copyright on your final report, the document becomes
available to the public at large through the RPI Library service.
Work on your Project can be done either in a "classroom format", where you attend weekly,
3.5 hour long meetings in a classroom to receive advise and coaching by a member of the
Faculty, or it can be done as an "independent study". However, in both cases, it is required
that a Project Advisor be officially appointed BEFORE you are allowed to register.
"Independent study" Projects can be started anytime while Projects in "classroom format"
are offered only during Fall and Spring academic terms.
Projects advisors are full time faculty members of RPI. However, adjunct faculty can act as
subject matter expert advisors upon departmental approval. If a student pursue a project
under the advise of an adjunct faculty he or she must also secure the participation in the
project as secondary advisor of a member of the full time faculty.
Note that since 3 credits are awarded on successful completion of a Project (6 for a Thesis),
it is expected you will devote at least some 135+ hours of your time to the development and
completion of your project (270 for a Thesis).
Once you are ready to start work on your Project, selecting a suitable topic is your first and
primary responsibility. A systematic and rational approach to selecting a topic ensures that
the right topic is selected and significantly increases the likelihood of successful, timely
completion of the requirement. Following are answers to some frequently asked questions
regarding Project topic selection.
Question
Who is responsible for selecting a suitable topic for my Project?
Answer
Selection of a topic is your responsibility. However, RPI has many resources to help ensure
you select the right topic.
Question
How do I choose a topic for my Project?
Answer
You must select a topic for your project based on your own personal and professional
interests. Since you will devote much time and effort to the completion of your Project, it is
crucial you work on something that interests you greatly. Since you have limited time and
resources to complete your project, it is crucial that you select a topic that has high
probability of being completed successfully with the time and resources at your disposal.
Your Faculty Advisor will be happy to provide some guidance to help you select the right
topic.
Question
Where can I get ideas for suitable topics?
Answer
Good, suitable Project topics can originate from multiple sources. For instance, if a certain
course you took while enrolled in your program at RPI was particularly stimulating to you,
you may consider doing your project on a topic related to that course. You should thus
contact your instructor directly, he/she would be glad to help you determine a suitable topic
and may even agree to become your Project Advisor. While you do this, you must also
contact your Faculty Advisor as he/she will provide guidance about working on your Project
with any of RPI's Instructors.
Project topics inspired by a work-related problem often result in interesting, suitable
Projects. However, work-related problems are also often complex and/or ill-defined, or
maybe they are far too practice-oriented and fail to satisfy the scholarship requirement.
Moreover, there may also be a risk of infringing into Intellectual Property issues. If you are
considering a work-related problem as a topic for a project, it is best to approach your
Faculty Advisor early on and have some discussion. You may well have to right-size and
right-scope your topic in order to make it feasible.
Some students select topics for their Project from extracurricular activities or hobbies they
have a passion for. Again, your Faculty Advisor would be glad to help you determine
whether a candidate topic would be suitable for a Project, please contact him/her early to
discuss.
Successfully completed prior Engineering Projects can also serve to generate good ideas for
new topics. You can consult the archival collection of Engineering Project Reports at the
Cole Library for a comprehensive list or access Prof. Gutierrez-Miravete course page and
click in the Student Portfolio links of his Engineering Project courses.
If you are unsure about a topic, it is a good idea to browse through the multiple volumes of a
Mechanical Engineer's Handbook (such as the 3rd edition of the one by Kutz - available in
full text to RPI students through the Knovel Link at the Cole Library Webpage). Looking
through the various chapters of the handbook may help you identify a specific subdiscipline
within Mechanical Engineering (such as Solid Mechanics, Fluid Mechanics, Heat Transfer,
Manufacturing, etc) where you would like to do your Project.
The RPI Cole Library makes available to students an extensive electronic informational
database in your discipline. The database contains articles from scientific and technical
journals as well as reports and reference books and textbooks. The electronic collection is
readily available to RPI students from anywhere through an Internet connection by simply
using their RPI login ID and password. This is a valuable benefit exclusively available to
RPI students, you should take full advantage of this resource.
Also, please note that expert Librarians at the Cole Library will be happy to help you find a
suitable topic for your Project and/or to assist you in identifying and finding pertinent
information. Please feel free to pay them a visit or contact them directly. Once you have
some ideas, please proceed to contact your Faculty Advisor to narrow down your choices
and define a suitable topic.
Question
How do I know that the topic I have in mind is the right one?
Answer
You must select a topic for your project based on your own personal and professional
interests. Since you will devote much time and effort to the completion of your Project, it is
crucial you work on something that interests you greatly. Moreover, contacting your Faculty
Advisor is essential since official approval is required before you are allowed to register
and/or begin work on your Project. Your Advisor will be happy to help you determine
wether you have selected the right topic. Once you identify a suitable topic you like and
receive approval from your Project Advisor you will be ready to start the work.
Question
What would be some good keywords to use to identify a suitable topic?
Answer
Following is a (non-exhaustive) list. Most useful when used in combination with additional
terms.
Elastic analysis of a structure
Modal analysis of a structure
Elasto-Plastic analysis of a structure
Viscoplastic/Creep analysis of a structure
Damage Mechanics
Fracture Mechanics
Fatigue
Vibrations
Internal fluid flow
External Fluid flow
Compressible flow
Supersonic flow
Two Phase Flow
Flow-Structure interaction
Capillary flows
Lubricating flows
Turbulent flows
Physico-chemical hydrodynamics
Granular Flow
Thermodynamics (classical, statistical, irreversible,...)
Conduction heat transfer
Convection heat transfer
Radiation heat transfer
Diffusional mass transfer
Convective mass transfer
Heat transfer with change of phase
Mass transfer with change of phase
Stability/Instability
Chaos
Fractals
Materials for aerospace systems
Materials for energy systems
Materials for infrastructure
Composite Materials
Functionally Graded Materials
Microelectronic packaging
Aqueous Corrosion
Hot Corrosion
Tribology
Friction
Wear
Lubrication
Bearings
Manufacturing Processes
Casting
Forming
Machining
Welding and Joining
Heat treating
Surface treating
Polymer/Composite Processing
Design (machine, tool, product, process, material ...)
Kinematics and Dynamics of Mechanical Systems
Orbital Mechanics
Combustion
Detonation and Explosions
Turbomachinery
Propulsion systems
Conventional energy systems (fossil fuel, nuclear, ...)
Alternative energy systems
Acoustics
Electromagnetics
Stochastic simulation of manufacturing systems
Stochastic simulation of service systems
Optimization (structural, flow, shape, process, materials ...)
Reliability (structural, systems, processes, materials...)
Modeling and Simulation of complex systems
Physics/engineering of sports systems
Physics/engineering of biological systems
Technological change
Decisions under uncertainty
Risk Analysis
History of technology
Initial/Boundary Value Problems
Eigenvalue Problems
Matrix Analysis/Linear Algebra
Nonlinear Equations
Interpolation Methods
Perturbation Methods
Numerical Analysis
Finite Difference/Finite Volume/Finite Element Methods
Computational Fluid Dynamics
Discrete Element Methods
Smoothed Particle Methods
Lattice Boltzmann Methods
Large Eddy Simulation
Detached Eddy Simulation
Multiphysics Modeling
Materials, Energy and Exergy balances
Industrial Ecology
Waste and Pollution Prevention Analysis
Clean Technology Analysis
Carbon Footprint Analyis
Environmental Impact Assesment
Ecological Footprint Analysis
Life Cycle Assessment
Updated: 2013-05-23, 07:38