Make new friends, get involved in the campus community, and build your career skills by joining a student organization. We have more than a dozen different mechanical engineering-related undergraduate and graduate student organizations where you can share your skills or further explore your interests.
College of Engineering student organizations
The Engineering Ambassadors Network endeavors to build strong leaders for society and pave the way for new engineers! As a result of participating in the network, ambassadors will gain leadership skills, practice presenting, gain exposure to engineering ideas and concepts, and more.
The Engineering Ambassadors Network (EAN) is an alliance of universities that trains a cohort of diverse and technically skilled engineering undergraduates on how to change the way people talk about engineering. The ISU EAN Chapter is committed to empowering ambassadors with leadership and advanced communication skills, so that they can help future generations understand what engineers do and change the conversation about engineering. For more info, visit: http://www.engineeringambassadorsnetwork.org/
To apply: https://forms.office.com/r/6HQVRtNAbx
The Student Section of American Nuclear Society at ISU is an organization in which members are encouraged to freely discuss nuclear science and its applications. Activities include discussions, site visits to facilities that utilize nuclear technology, and presentations from academia and industry. While ANS is innately focused on physics and engineering, the club is open to all majors as the nuclear science field is highly interdisciplinary. The American Nuclear Society Club was the precursor to the now the Student Section of the American Nuclear Society at Iowa State University.
The purpose of this chapter is that of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. which was set forth in its charter: principally to advance the arts and sciences of heating, refrigeration, air conditioning and ventilation and the allied arts and sciences, for the benefit of the general public.
The mission of ASHRAE is to advance the arts and sciences of heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration and related human factors to serve the evolving needs of the public and ASHRAE. The vision of ASHRAE is to be the global leader in the arts and sciences of heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration; be the foremost, authoritative, timely and responsive source of technical and educational information, standards and guidelines; and be the primary provider of opportunity for professional growth, recognizing and adapting to changing demographics, and embracing diversity.
Cardinal Space Mining Club is a group of students in, but not limited to, the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The group will annually design and build a robotic mining system to compete in the NASA Robotic Mining Competition.
As a result, the members of the Cardinal Space Mining Club will be challenged to create an atmosphere of community and excitement among students, learning from and teaching other students, welcoming prospective students and community members, connecting students with faculty and community through projects, activities, and demonstrations.
Team PrISUm (Solar Car) is a multidisciplinary student organization that designs, builds, and races solar powered electric vehicles. We encourage students from all majors and backgrounds to join and help us build and race this innovative vehicle. The team is divided into three main divisions, Electrical, Mechanical and Business that each carry out a core function of the team.
Engineers Without Borders (EWB) is a non-profit humanitarian organization established to partner with developing communities worldwide in order to improve their quality of life. This partnership involves the implementation of sustainable engineering projects, while involving and training internationally responsible engineers and engineering students.
The activities of EWB-USA range from the construction of sustainable systems that developing communities can own and operate without external assistance, to empowering such communities by enhancing local, technical, managerial, and entrepreneurial skills. These projects are initiated by, and completed with, contributions from the host community working with our project teams.
The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) is an international professional organization with an Iowa State student run chapter that promotes the development and retention of all, especially underrepresented and multicultural, students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) related curricula. The mission of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) is “to increase the number of culturally responsible Black Engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community.”
Pi Tau Sigma is the International Honor Society for Mechanical Engineers. Pi Tau Sigma members are chosen on a basis of sound engineering ability, scholarship service, leadership, and integrity. The Pi Tau Sigma mission is to strive to create better engineers through commitment to academic excellence and dedication to service.
Pi Tau Sigma prides itself in the core values: Integrity (soundness of character and moral conduct), Service (serving the mechanical engineering profession and the community), and Leadership (fostering initiative through example in a professional manner). Pi Tau Sigma is a member of the Association of College Honor Societies. There are presently 182 collegiate chapters at universities in the United States, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates.
The national engineering honor society, Tau Beta Pi, was founded at Lehigh University in 1885 by Dr. Edward Higginson Williams Jr. to honor exemplary character as undergraduates in engineering and high achievement in the field of engineering. The Iowa Alpha Chapter of Tau Beta Pi was founded on December 20, 1907 and has since initiated more than 8,500 members.
Annually, SAE International designs, manufactures, tunes, and competes vehicles as five separate teams – Aero, Baja, Clean Snowmobile, Formula IC (Internal Combustion) and Formula EV (Electric Vehicle). We also have many opportunities to attend national automotive trade shows, listen to technical speakers about new developments in the automotive field, and provide many career opportunities to dedicated members.
The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) changes lives by empowering the Hispanic community to realize its full potential and to impact the world through stem awareness, access, support and development.
The Society of Women Engineers encourages women to achieve full potential in careers as engineers and leaders and expand the image of the engineering profession as a positive force in improving the quality of life.
The Women in Mechanical Engineering Club is comprised of undergraduates, graduates, and faculty members in the Department of Mechanical Engineering who are interested. The current mission of the Club is two-fold:
1. To actively assist in the promotion and marketing of Iowa State University to prospective Mechanical Engineering students through a variety of methods and means.
2. To provide a way to provide a safe, strong support group for women in Mechanical Engineering through a variety of activities and events.
The College of Engineering offers nearly 20 different learning communities to meet the individual needs of incoming, transfer and current engineering students in all majors. The Mechanical Engineering Learning Teams (MELT) community brings mechanical engineering students from diverse backgrounds together to create a social support network with ME peers.
These course-based learning communities composed of men, women and students of color help you make great networking connections, find study groups, make new friends you’ll likely have for the rest of your life.
Learning teams help students build on social and academic skillsets. You’ll enroll in a set of required courses and team up with other mechanical engineering students. One of the required linked courses is ME 190, a seminar course led by a peer mentor. Our peer mentors are academically successful upper-class students in the mechanical engineering curriculum. You’ll also have opportunities to interact with ME faculty, staff, and upper-level mechanical engineering students.
MELT hosts hands-on activities and events for their students each year, including a Design Olympics event in the fall that encourages collaboration, competition, and communication. More than 250 students compete in the design competition that helps establish a sense of community within ME while improving students’ problem-solving skills, teamwork skills and ability to network and connect with other students.
MELT has organized a wide variety of design challenges over the years, including creating rubber band cars, Rube Goldberg machines, duct tape backpacks and self-propelled catapults.Each group earns points for design, cost efficiency and performance. The group that earns the most points is announced the winner of the competition.
Activities in the program include:
The MELT is a full-year program, allowing students to participate in the linked courses in the fall, and programming activities in the spring.
To learn more about Iowa State University’s Learning Communities, check out the information at the Iowa State University Learning Communities website.
Nothing prepares you more for your mechanical engineer adventure than the hands-on experiences and real-world applications you get with internships and co-ops. Internships are professional summer work experiences and co-ops are professional work experiences during a semester.
These life-changing experiences give you an up-close and personal look at your field of interest. It also gives leading companies a better look at you and helps you develop the technical and professional skills employers are looking for. Some of the world’s best companies hire Iowa State mechanical engineers because of their excellent work ethic, overall good attitudes, and educational excellence. Plus, you get paid!
As a result of these on-the-job experiences, many students land great-paying jobs before they graduate.
Click here to learn more about internship and co-op opportunities through Iowa State’s College of Engineering.
