Postgraduate Courses

This course covers the foundations of today’s microfabrication technologies. Topics include lithography, etching, surface micromachining technology, bulk micromachining, microsystem integration, device design, and mask layout. Special topics of the examples of MEMS applications will also be discussed.

Topics include globalization and manufacturing paradigms, product-process-business integration, product invention strategy, customized, personalized and reconfigurable products, mass production and lean production, mathematical analysis of mass customization, traditional manufacturing systems, reconfigurable manufacturing systems, reconfigurable machines, system configuration analysis, responsive business models, enterprise globalization strategies, and the global integrated enterprise.

This course introduces the basics of nanofabrication and nanocharacterization methods as well as typical applications of nanotechnology in commercial products.

This course provides knowledge and skills on how to develop, optimize, and implement different design strategies in additive manufacturing (AM). Through hands-on instructional activities and case studies, students will learn to select the appropriate AM technologies for specific design-manufacturing applications; explain challenges in design and manufacturing and provide solutions; identify and utilize proper software tools to analyze and evaluate designs; and design parts that fully leverage the strengths of AM.

This course aims to introduce the fundamentals of various additive manufacturing techniques, including fused deposition modeling (FDM), two-photon lithography, stereolithography (SLA), etc. The additive manufacturing process (FDM or SLA as an example) will be illustrated by actual model design, system setup and fabrication of parts.

This course covers topics such as curves and surfaces, geometric modeling basics, data structures in CAD/CAM, optimization, multi-axis path planning in NC machining and additive manufacturing, and projects. In addition to lectures, a 3-hour lab in SolidWorks and MATLAB programming will be offered.

This course introduces a wide range of manufacturing processes for metal materials, including machining, casting, 3D printing, and heat treatment; and explains the fundamental and practical aspects of manufacturing at scale. For each process, this course explains the underlying physical principles, provides several examples and demonstrations. The course concludes with a perspective on sustainability and the worldwide trajectory of metal manufacturing.

Industrial automation and analytics embrace a wide range of subject matters and draws from several quite distinct disciplines. This course introduces basic concepts and applications that are useful for understanding the insight of industrial automation and analytics, such as the impact on advanced manufacturing. The main focuses include basic programming for robotics, applications of programmable logic control, sensor technology and its application in complex systems, and advanced analytics for manufacturing. The data analytics will cover some basic machine learning modeling, such as predictive modeling, forecasting, neural network, segmentation, and anomaly detection, as well as their applications in process monitoring and control for advanced manufacturing processes (additive manufacturing).

This course provides students with the latest knowledge and skills for metal additive manufacturing (AM) techniques and implications, as well as the fundamental understanding of process-structure-property relationships in material processing using AM.

Selected topics in smart manufacturing of current interest in emerging areas and not covered by existing courses. May be repeated for credit if different topics are covered.

Selected topics in smart manufacturing studied under the supervision of a faculty member.

Seminar topics presented by students, faculty and guest speakers. Students are expected to attend regularly and demonstrate proficiency in presentation in accordance with the program requirements. Graded P or F.

Master's thesis research supervised by co-advisors from different disciplines. A successful defense of the thesis leads to the grade Pass. No course credit is assigned.

Original and independent doctoral thesis research supervised by co-advisors from different disciplines. A successful defense of the thesis leads to the grade Pass. No course credit is assigned.