Caltech Mechanical and Civil Engineering

Our Department

Mechanical and Civil Engineers shape our physical environment from the cities we live in, the machines we use, the way we travel, the energy that powers these to delivering the water we need. An integral part of Caltech for over a century, these disciplines have attracted exceptional individuals and addressed the critical technological challenges of the day. Read more»

Alumni Vignettes

Jim Hall (BS '57 ME)
Mr. Hall is a race-car designer who pioneered the use of aerodynamics in race cars. He co-founded Chaparral Cars which led the field in innovations in the 1960s and 1970s, and enjoyed wide success including winning the 1978 and 1980 Indianapolis 500. Read more
Bill Gross (BS '80 ME)
Mr. Gross is the Chairman and Founder of Idealab, an entrepreneurial "incubator" based in Pasadena. Read more
Garrett Reisman (MS '92 ME, PhD '97 ME)
Dr. Reisman has been a member of NASA’s astronaut corps since 1998. Read more
Robert W. Conn (MS '92 ME, PhD '97 ME)
Dr. Conn is the President of The Kavli Foundation and widely recognized for his academic research and leadership, as well as his experience in the private sector. Dr. Conn has been a leading researcher in plasma physics and fusion energy, and active in energy and science policy. Read more
Regina E. Dugan (PhD '93 ME)
Dr. Dugan was appointed the 19th Director of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on July 20, 2009 and is the first female director. In 1999, she led a counterterrorism task force for the Deputy Secretary of Defense and has served as a special advisor to the Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army. Read more
Sudhir K. Jain (MS ’80 CE, Ph.D. ’83 CE)
Dr. Jain is the Rajeeva and Sangeeta Lahri Chair Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur. Dr. Jain has taught earthquake and structural engineering and has offered his expertise as a consultant to several major bridge projects in high seismic regions of India. Read more
Tricia Waniewski Sur (MS '94 ME, PhD '99 ME)
Dr. Sur is the Director of Business Development at ATA Engineering. She previously spent several years as a Senior Research Scientist at the Naval Hydrodynamics Division of Science Applications International Corporation. Read more
Samantha Daly (MS '02 ME, PhD '07 ME)
Dr. Daly is an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan. She leads a research group in the Active Materials and Mechanics Laboratory (AMML) in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Read more
Jeffrey T. Scruggs (MS '00 AM, Ph.D. '04 AM)
Dr. Scruggs is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Duke University. His area of research concerns the dynamics and control of electromechanical vibratory systems. Dr. Scruggs' research bridges the fields of power electronics, structural mechanics, and nonlinear control. Read more
Marc Sells (BS '09 ME)
Since graduating in June 2009, Marc Sells has held the position of Project Engineer at Energent Corporation in Orange County, California. Energent focuses on inventing and developing new technology for waste energy recovery and geothermal power systems. Marc performs thermodynamic analysis, system design, and closed-looped testing. Read more
Stanislova Petkova (BS '10 ME)
Ms. Petkova is working on the operations and maintenance of Subsea Tools in Testing Services for Schlumberger, in Malaysia, as a Field Technology Trainee. Read more