Department of
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Message from the Chairman

Welcome to the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Petroleum Institute. As you surf through our site, you will notice that we are expanding rapidly. This Fall, we welcome two new faculty members, including myself, and three visiting professors. Further expansion is planned. This is an exciting time which we will continue to build on our strengths. Our expertise vary and span major areas of interests to mechanical engineers.

An undergraduate degree majoring in mechanical engineering provides significant flexibilities allowing our students to venture into other professions and to work in interdisciplinary teams. Mechanical engineers work with fundamental laws of nature - energy, force and motion which are the basic ingredients in designing, building and operating man-made systems. As a result of this flexibilities, we find mechanical engineers working in oil and gas, electronics, transportation and other industries. Their tasks include but are not limited to (1) design, operate and maintain production facilities for the oil and gas industries, (2) design, build and operate autonomous robots for tank inspection and/or maintenance, and (3) design and build control systems for large industrial systems. We have research activities in alternate energy such as solar power and fuel cell.

The research activities of our faculty include mechatronics and automation, dynamics, MEMS, materials, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, combustion and energy systems. Our faculty brings their research experience into the classroom exposing our students to the exciting cut-edge activities mechanical engineering faculty at the Petroleum Institute are working with. Together with the excellent physical facilities and equipments, provided by the financial supports of our founder, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and its partners, we continue to provide our students with an excellent education and experience during their stay at the Petroleum Institute.

Currently, mechanical engineering is the largest engineering program, both in-terms of students numbers and faculty strength at the Petroleum Institute. We will continue to meet one of our commitments to provide quality manpower training for ADNOC. We invite applications for our undergraduate program from qualified UAE citizens and selected foreign nationals.

We are actively working on meeting our second commitment to operating a reputable research program. We are recruiting qualified individuals for our graduate program to participate in research activities with our faculty members. We have various attractive schemes and stipends to suit individuals interests and preference. Please visit our graduate studies related webpages for more information.

In summary, the mechanical engineering program at the Petroleum Institute is in an expansion mode and are working to continue our commitment to train manpower for our sponsor and to continue towards establishing a reputable research program.

I welcome you to continue your visit, albeit in cyber space, with us. If you are visiting Abu Dhabi, we would love to welcome you for an in-person visit with us to see the exciting activities in our department.

John C. Chai, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair