The department's own facilities include laboratories in materials, instrumentation, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, thermodynamics, and machine design. If you choose a career in mechanical engineering, you may be involved in a wide variety of projects. Mechanical engineers design power plants, heating and air conditioning systems, and mechanical devices such as conveyors, elevators, or automobiles. Mechanical engineers also work as maintenance engineers, as well as in sales and in management. Their tasks span the entire range of the develpoment of a product from conception and design through manufacture, sales, and service.
Mechanical engineers work closely with other engineers.
For example, you might be responsible for the equipment at a petroleum production facility or a chemical plant. A mechanical engineer's expertise is required in the design and manufacture of electrical devices. The heavy equipment used in major civil engineering projects is designed and constructed under the supervision of mechanical engineers. This breadth of knowledge makes the mechanical engineer perhaps the most versatile of all engineers and, therefore the demand for mechanical engineers spans virtually all industries. LSU's mechanical engineering graduates are actively recruited nationally, and many of our alumni hold high ranking positions in academia, industry, and government.