Welcome, prospective PhD students! We hope you'll consider joining our community of mechanical engineers at Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering.
With a mechanical engineering graduate program ranked 17th among public university peers by U.S. News & World Report, our program is one of the top-ranked in the nation. We offer paths to customize your degree in support of your unique interests and career goals, a variety of specialty courses taught by experts in the field, entrepreneurship resources and events like New Venture Challenge, and opportunities for high-impact research in air quality, biomedical, materials, mechanics of materials, micro/nanoscale, robotics and systems design, and thermo fluid sciences.
Be sure to check out our Research Overview Slides and view virtual research presentations recorded by faculty members for one of our recent PhD recruitment events. These resources will help you get to know our faculty members and their unique capabilities and areas of expertise.
To receive full consideration, students should submit all application items for a fall program start by the following deadlines:
- International applicant deadline: December 1 by 10:00 p.m. MST
- Domestic applicant deadline: December 15 by 10:00 p.m. MST
Our Community
As part of our graduate student community, you will join MS and PhD students who come to Boulder from across the world. You will have the opportunity to participate in community gatherings organized by graduate students and department-organized networking and mentorship events to support students and in their unique experiences. You will also have access to seminars, colloquia and workshops delivered by notable engineering leaders in education, research and industry.
We make it our mission to establish an environment of respect and inclusive excellence where high-quality instruction, project-based learning and cutting-edge research are leveraged to educate and nurture the next generation of socially conscious, deeply knowledgeable engineers, scientists and problem-solvers.
We invite you to visit the University of CO Boulder virtually or in person by signing up for a campus tour!
PhD and Certificate Programs
Tier-One Research Opportunities
As a mechanical engineering graduate student at CU Boulder, you will also have the opportunity to conduct groundbreaking tier-one research. Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering is home to over 60 faculty members conducting both fundamental and applied research in the following areas:
Boulder is also home to a variety of well-known companies and labs doing research and development. Our faculty researchers and their research groups, for example, often collaborate with scientists at federal research labs including National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
