professor holding mechanical design component

Research

The Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (MIE) has a vibrant research environment motivated by our dedicated faculty. Our research programs are funded by many government agencies. In addition to the government, working with academia and industry is part of our focus. We have established large-scale collaborations with government agencies and industry including Rogers Corporation and Dow Chemical, Army Research Laboratory, and Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems.

Research activities at the department can be classified by research areas and by research centers. The department is focused within twelve disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and trans-disciplinary research themes strengthened by the wide range of MIE faculty expertise. Department faculty are leveraging Northeastern’s global network and Institutes to build strong research partnerships, these include the Kostas Research Institute for Homeland Security – Burlington, MA, Roux Institute – Portland, MA, Institute for Experiential Robotics, Network Science Institute, Institute for Experiential AI, and Global Resilience Institute.  The department also leads two research centers, including the Center for High Rate Nanomanufacturing and the Healthcare Systems Engineering Institute, both federally funded.

View faculty profiles to learn about their research, including work being conducted in their laboratories. Also, view our Annual Reports.


Recent News

Yung Joon Jung

Fast New Way to Make Graphene for Next-Gen Electronics

MIE Professor Yung Joon Jung published his research, which is supported by the ARL Soldier Protection Program and KRI, on “One-Step Transformation of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Networks into High-Performance Multilayer Graphene-Rich Films via Laser Shockwave Compaction” in Advanced Functional Materials.

Examining Mice to Study Bone Development

MIE/BioE Professor Sandra Shefelbine and Lindsey Young, PhD’28, bioengineering, are working on innovative research on bone development by examining two species of deer mice to determine how much of bone development is evolutionary or can be impacted by physical activity. 

Zheng Receives International Education Leadership Award from The Witherspoon Institute

MIE Associate Professor Yi Zheng received The Witherspoon Institute’s International Education Leadership Award.

2025 Stanford University Annual Assessment of Author Citations

The following COE professors are among the top scientists worldwide selected by Stanford University representing the top 2% of the most-cited scientists with single-year impact in various disciplines. The selection is based on the top 100,000 by c-score (with and without self-citations) or a percentile rank of 2% or above.