Mechanical Engineering at Polytechnic University: Mechanical Engineering is a key discipline in what makes engineering, engineering. From physics, mathematics, designing, material sciences, and manufacturing, Mechanical Engineering works with anything that moves that is in need of improving efficiency.

We see Mechanical Engineering throughout history and everyday of our lives! From vehicles to medical gear, mechanical engineering is all around us. Which is why this engineering discipline has always been a prominent department throughout any engineering school, especially Polytechnic University of Brooklyn, which is now NYU Tandon School of Engineering.

NYU’s Mechanical Engineering and Aerospace Department is a thriving group of engineers that focus on breakthroughs in “robotics and automation, additive manufacturing, nanotechnology and materials engineering, computational engineering biomechanics and healthcare applications.” (NYU Tandon).

Figure 1: Mechanical Engineering Student using Lab Equipment (Poly Archives, 2000s)

Like any college curriculum, there are bound to be changes, especially in Mechanical Engineering. Compared to a 100 years ago, mechanical systems have drastically changed, in how they are standardized, structured, and ultimately what their main purpose is. At Polytechnic, we see these changes by looking at the Mechanical Engineering course catalogs, student life, labs, and offered opportunities throughout the years. But what makes me wonder is, what caused these changes? Were these changes caused by internal decisions at Poly, or were they caused by external changes from societal demand in the USA and/or New York.

Mechanical Engineering at Polytechnic:

The Polytechnic Institute was founded in 1854, after the unfortunate fire of the Brooklyn Female Academy that caused the building to be unrecoverable after the fire. This tragic event was the catalyst that would start the founding of Brooklyn Polytechnic, as a source of higher education for New York City, serving as the second oldest engineering school in the country.

Soon after the school’s original founding, the Mechanical Engineering department was birthed in 1901 with the first Mechanical Engineering professor, Magnus C. Ihlseng.

Figure 2: Mangus C. Ihsleng (WikiStrinda, 1900s)

While he was the founder of the Mechanical Engineering Department of Polytechnic, there is not much information of Ihsleng to obtain. (Figure 2) His portrait was most likely taken from a PennState University yearbook or newspaper, as he was formerly the head of the Mining Engineering Department during the years of 1893-96. Eventually, he became the Dean of the School of Mines between the years of 1896-99, just a few years before he joined Polytechnic University. (his.psu.edu)

Mechanical Engineering Department Deep Dive

The Beginnings (1900s):

With his leadership in the Mechanical Engineering department and the Polytechnic administration, the first curriculum in this department was curated. In students’ underclassmen years, there is a focus on learning the fundamentals of engineering, involving advanced mathematics and basic introductions into the design of mechanical systems. Within their second year, they start learning different intellectual theories behind mechanical systems to be prepared to apply themselves to the industrial and practical side of Mechanical Engineering.

One of the most notable things in the underclassmen year is the course, Free-Hand and Mechanical Drawing. There is an emphasis for students to tune into their creative side and physically improve their skills in technical drawing, as their person was their only tool to physically map out schematics, blueprints, and models. Students would gather in a large classroom with large desks to map out their models and designs by hand!

Figure 3: Students doing Hand-Drawn Sketches for Modelling (Poly Archives Historic Photograph Collection, 1900s)

Figure 4A: Underclassmen Courses (Poly Archives Course Catalogs, 1902-1903)

Students then move forward in their upperclassmen years with the knowledge they had gained in their foundational years and applied it to courses that tests their true comprehension of Mechanical Engineering with classes like, Chimney Construction, Architecture, Power Generation, and more!

Figure 4B: Upperclassmen Course Catalogs (Poly Archives Course Catalogs, 1902-1903)

With classes such as, metallurgy of iron and copper, power generation and distribution, and prime motors, being a requirement for a Mechanical Engineering degree at Polytechnic, there is an emphasis on specific mechanical systems and components, allowing for the prospective mechanical engineer to be ready to problem solve niche systems.

These references make sense as major inventions, such as the modern escalator, household appliances and HVAC systems, were being created during this time, in which all of these components are made with the same theory and fundamentals that Mechanical Engineers at Polytechnic are learning.

During the Second Industrial Revolution, the most important advancements during this period were energy, materials and machine systems. During this time, electrical systems were assembled in mechanical machinery and housing. Inventors started to “devices to transform electricity back into kinetic power, light, or heat at the receiving end had to be created; and a way of transmitting current over large distances had to be developed.” (Mokyr, 1998) Polytechnic students were at an advantage with their gained knowledge from their university courses, allowing them to actively be involved in the Second Industrial Revolution.

1960s

Since the Poly Archives did not have information of the Mechanical Engineering curriculum between the years 1900 to 1960, it was decided to continue this study with gaps of 30-40 years to keep consistency.

With a jump of 60 years, the Mechanical Engineering curriculum had kept its fundamentals with courses like Dynamics, Thermodynamics, and Machine Design. However, much had changed within the curriculum that made the Mechanical Engineering Department in the early 1900s its own entity.

During the 60s, the Mechanical Department shifted its focus from niche mechanical systems to a broader range of engineering disciplines. This is apparent in the underclassmen years of mechanical engineering students, as they now had to take multiple semesters of general chemistry course and labs, high level mathematics courses. Additionally, there is a lack of English and Humanities courses when compared to the early 1900s, which focused on students having a deep understanding of English and the arts. There is at most one humanities course for each semester between these two years, which is a stark difference from previous mechanical engineering course catalogs.

Figure 5A: Freshmen Courses at Polytechnic (1967-1968, Poly Archives Course Catalogs)

Figure 5B: Sophomore Courses at Polytechnic (1967-1968, Poly Archives Course Catalogs)

Compared to the early 1900s curriculum, courses of specific mechanical systems were dropped by the 1960s and were replaced with courses like, Fluid Mechanics, Mechanical Systems Analysis, Mechanical Vibrations, Heat Power, etc., in which broadened the scope for students to be accustomed to a wider range of mechanical systems, which helped students adapt to advancements in technologies.

Figure 5C: Upperclassmen Courses at Polytechnic (1967-1968, Poly Archives Course Catalogs)

While there are replacements of courses, new additions like Introductory Instrumentation and Computer Technology, show the slow shift from true Mechanical disciplines to an integrating more electrical components and concepts to the curriculum. These shifts will be monumental to the mechanical engineering field, in which they will remain throughout the years of Polytechnic University to NYU Poly.

Major developments in the space industry were happening during this time, specifically the Space Race, encouraging the Mechanical Engineering department to educate their students on concepts and theory that pertain more to interdisciplinary skills in a way to push them to focusing on spacecrafts and working with electronic components and computer programming. Due to America’s push to go to the moon, the government had created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), “as a specialized branch of NACA and as a means to compete with the Soviets (River). Between 1962 and 1967, NASA planned to “double the number of scientists and engineers.” (Alessandro, 2023) With this push, it is reasonable to assume that Polytechnic would follow suit with the American government to create bright-minded engineers to help achieve this mission of going to the moon.

1990s

Figure 6: Mechanical Engineering Curriculum throughout all four years (1993-1994, Poly Archives Course Catalogs)

In the 90s, there was a huge shift in the curriculum, in which students were introduced to programming and software before they were introduced to mechanical engineering fundamentals in their freshmen year! This is later followed by students taking Principles of Electrical Engineering, which further pushes the mechanical engineering student to broaden their horizons and expand their knowledge into other disciplines.

There are additional courses like, Automated Controls and Computational Methods in Mechanical Engineering, that support prior software and electrical engineering courses, to further hone these concepts and gain technical knowledge.

2010s

In the 2010s, there was a massive jump into how the Mechanical Engineering curriculum worked! Underclassmen are now formally introduced to all different engineering disciplines through the course, Introduction to Engineering and Design! They get to gain introduction to different concepts and technical skills, allowing for the mechanical engineering students to be all-rounder engineers!

Figure 7: Mechanical Engineering Curriculum in the 2010s (2009-2010, NYU-Poly Course Catalogs)

One of the most important new additions to the curriculum is the course, Computer Aided Design. This shows a huge pivot in focus of what the Mechanical Engineering Department wanted their students to focus on. CAD was used in, “engineering practice and education, such as toward automation of mechanical design and toward resource platforms in CAD education.” Not only were there courses being introduced to the ME department that focused on automation, but now major fundamentals were GETTING automated to further optimize design and models.

What was once a tedious process of hand-drawings and sketches, were now transformed into computerized graphics and sketches, making the 2010s Mechanical Engineering student, fundamentally different from the 1900s Mechanical Engineering Student.

Within the 1990s to the 2010s, there is encouragement for students to learn about electrical and software components, as during this era there was rapid development in these systems, which consequently intertwines with Mechanical Engineering. Computers are able to, “help in the design process, computers control manufacturing equipment and robots, and computers are used heavily in the fields of fluid mechanics, solid mechanics and heat transfer.” (umassd.edu) With these developments, fundamentals topics in Mechanical Engineering were no longer exclusive to purely mechanical systems, so Polytechnic had to adapt to these changes and change their courses to help their students get assimilated to the advancing industry.

Aerospace Engineering Department Deep-Dive:

1900s

In 1931, the Aerospace Engineering department was launched at Polytechnic, with its first course, Airplane Designs and Aerodynamics and Airplane Structures. Aerospace Engineering was treated as a subculture of Mechanical Engineering, in which they shared some fundamentals of Mechanical Engineering, but Aerospace Engineering went off to be its own department, in which they had course catalogs specifically for this niche department!

Students who had a specific interest were able to hone their technical skills with this department, as they had their own specialized Aerospace labs that they could create and research aerospace and aeronautics!

Figure 8: Students practicing a test run of their aircraft project (Undated, Polytechnic University - Farmingdale, Long Island, Poly Archives)

1950-60s

Figure 9: Aerospace Engineering Curriculum (1968-1969, Poly Archives Course Catalogs)

Starting from sophomore year, aerospace students start to learn the basics of aircraft flight and the niche jargon that go along with it. It is noted that there is a lack of diversity in the courses offered to the Aerospace students, making this program exclusive to their own department. However, we see multiple Electrical Engineering courses in the curriculum, showing some form of expansion of interdisciplinary concepts. This separated this department from the Mechanical Engineering department, as they were exposed to more interdisciplinary courses to help them with their understanding of aerospace systems.

Figure 10: Students working on their helicopter project (1971, Poly Archives)

During this era, the Aerospace department thrived with multiple labs in Farmingdale, Long Island, in which students had the opportunity to apply their knowledge into hands-on learning. They were able to put together aircrafts and even operate them!

Figure 11: Student manning the cockpit and learning the features (Undated, Polytechnic University - Farmingdale, Long Island, Poly Archives)

2010s

In 2010s course catalogs, it is observed that Aerospace Engineering has been dissolved as its own department, but is instead merged with the Mechanical Engineering department, and is relabelled as a concentration. Technically, there are no students majoring in Aerospace Engineering, as they all follow Mechanical Engineering.

Figure 12: Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Curriculum (2009-2010, NYU-Poly Course Catalogs)

However, students still get the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of Aerospace Engineering, and can learn deeper fundamentals since the Aerospace Laboratories did not close in Long Island until 2014.

Major reasons for the drastic drop in success of the Aerospace department can be navigated back to the financial distress Polytechnic was under financial distress in the mid 1990s, which caused for the Aerospace labs to dissolve and many faculty members had retired during this time. The Aerospace department would not stand on its own anymore, leading to the merging of the Mechanical and Aerospace Department. To this day, the Aerospace department is still linked to the Mechanical Engineering department and has not recovered from this loss. (Sforza, 2009)

Conclusions:

The Mechanical Engineering department had changed due to many factors, externally and internally. Due to the rapid changes in technology over the past millenia, the field directly correlates with the advancements made in modern society.

There is an overall shift from focusing on the industrial needs of machinery and specialized mechanical systems to broader theoretical and analytical elements of engineering, reflecting how machinery had grown from simple machines to more complex designs that required deeper thought.

Due to its attachment to the Mechanical Engineering curriculum, we see that the Aerospace Engineering had followed along with this evolution, but had kept true to its Aerospace fundamentals. It would not be far of a reach to consider the lack of opportunities in the Aerospace Department to fall on the financial distress and lack of faculty to keep this department thriving.

Overall, the MAE department remains solid with its rigorous curricula and remains to be a fundamental field that many engineering students lean to when studying engineering.

References

Primary Sources:

Polytechnic University. Department of Aerospace Engineering Promotional Brochure.Unprocessed Mech E and Aero Brochures.

Poly Archives; Poly Archives Historic Photograph Collection; Series II: Academics; Subseries A: Department and Laboratories; Aerospace Department- Long Island Campus, Farmingdale

Poly Archives; Poly Archives Historic Photograph Collection; Series II: Academics; Subseries A: Department and Laboratories; Aerospace Lab - Farmingdale, Long Island: undated

Poly Archives; Poly Archives Historic Photograph Collection; Series II: Academics; Subseries A: Department and Laboratories; Mechanical Engineering Lab - Drafting Room, Livingston Street, RG.026

Poly Archives; Ready Reference Collection; Mechanical Engineering-100 years

Poly Archives; Course Catalogs; Catalogues of the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, 1901-1902, 1960-’61, 1961-’62, 2009-2010

Secondary Sources:

Ali, Sattar Farhan. “The Future of Mechanical Engineering: Trends and Technologies in Machine and Equipment Development.” International Journal of Multiphysics, vol. 18, no. 4, 2024, pp. 313–327.

“Computers.” Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 20 May 2022, https://www.umassd.edu/engineering/mne/about/facilities/computers/. Accessed 7 May 2026. (umassd.edu)

D’Alessandro, Julia. “The Space Race between the 1960s and 1970s.” Canadian Journal of Undergraduate Research, vol. 8, no. 1, Oct. 2023, pp. 7–10.

Enahoro, O. Michael, and Afokeoghene Ekiugbo. “Evolution of CAD in Mechanical Engineering.” Journal of Materials Engineering, Structures and Computation, vol. 4, no. 3, 2025, pp. 122–137.

“History of Ihlseng.” Humanities Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, https://hi.psu.edu/who-we-are/history-of-ihlseng/. Accessed 7 May 2026. (Humanities Institute)

Liu, Shufeng. “Application of Computer Aided 3D CAD Technology in Mechanical Manufacturing and Automation.” Journal of Physics: Conference Series, vol. 2143, 2021, article 012024.

“Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.” NYU Tandon School of Engineering, New York University, https://engineering.nyu.edu/academics/departments/mechanical-and-aerospace-engineering. Accessed 7 May 2026.

Mokyr, Joel. “The Second Industrial Revolution, 1870–1914.” Northwestern University, Aug. 1998.

Sforza, Pasquale M. “A History of Aerospace Engineering at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn.” 47th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting Including the New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition, 5–8 Jan. 2009, Orlando, FL. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.