Encyclopedias describe Mechanical Engineering as a professional engineering discipline that involves the application of principles of physics for analysis, design, manufacturing and maintenance of mechanical systems. It requires a solid understanding of key concepts including mechanics, kinematics, thermodynamics and energy. Mechanical engineers use these principles and others for example in the design and analysis of automobiles, aircrafts, heating and cooling systems, industrial equipment and machinery. In addition to these main areas, specialized fields are offered at universities to prepare future engineers for their position in industry, such as: mechatronics and robotics, transportation and logistics, cryogenics, fuel technology, automotive engineering, biomechanics, vibration, optics and others.
Accordingly, the Springer Handbook of Mechanical Engineering devotes its contents to these areas of interest for the practicing engineer as well as for the student at various levels and educational institutions.
Authors from all over the world have contributed with their expertise and support the globally working engineer in finding a solution for today's mechanical engineering problems.
About the Author: Professor K.-H. Grote
Dr. Karl-Heinrich Grote is Professor and Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering - Engineering Design at the Otto-von-Guericke University in Magdeburg, Germany.
He received his "Diplom in Engineering" (Masters of Science in Mechanical Engineering) in 1979 and his "Dr.-Ing." (Ph.D. in Engineering) in 1984, both from the Technical University in Berlin, Germany. From 1984 to 1986 his was Visiting Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the California State University, Long Beach, USA and returned to Germany to become the Technical Chief Manager for Engineering Design at the "Ingenieurgesellschaft für Auto und Verkehr, IAV" in Berlin. (Engineering Group for Automotive and Transportation, Berlin), and jointly from 1987 to 1990 the Chief Engineer at the Technical University, Berlin, Department of Mechanical Engineering. In 1990 he joined the Mechanical Engineering Department at the California State University, Long Beach, USA again where he stayed on as a Full tenured Professor. Since June 1995 he holds his current position in Magdeburg, where he was also Vice - President for Academic Affairs from 1989 to 2001. Since 1997 he also serves as Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Experimental Factory in Magdeburg.
From October 2002 to September 2004 he took a leave to become Visiting Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology, (Caltech), Pasadena, USA in Prof. Antonsson´s Department. Since April 2005 Prof. Grote is the Dean of the College of Mechanical Engineering at the Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany. The College has 19 Chairs/Departments.
In 1995 Dr. Grote became one of the two editors of the "DUBBEL- Taschenbuch für den Maschinenbau" (Handbook of Mechanical Engineering) - the standard Handbook for the German speaking Engineering community.
Dr. Grote is the 1993 recipient of the Ring of Honor (Young Engineers Award) from the German Professional Engineering Society (VDI) the 1993 "TRW Excellnece in Teaching Award". Professor Grote was Principal Advisor of many Master Thesis' and 25 Dissertations on 12 of which as Co-Advisor and has over 150 publications and is co-author of the book "Pahl/Beitz: Engineering Design" and editor of many other books.
Professor E. Antonsson
Dr. Erik Antonsson is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, CA, U.S.A., where he organized the Engineering Design Research Laboratory and has conducted research and taught since 1984. He earned a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering with distinction from Cornell University in 1976, and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1982.
In 1984 he joined the Mechanical Engineering faculty at the California Institute of Technology, where he served as the EXecutive Officer (Chair) from 1998 to 2002. From September, 2002 through January, 2006 Dr. Antonsson was on leave from Caltech and served as the Chief Technologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). He was an NSF Presidential Young Investigator (1986-1992), and won the 1995 Richard P. Feynman Prize for Excellence in Teaching, and is a co-winner of the 2001 TRW Distinguished Patent Award.
Dr. Antonsson is a Fellow of the ASME, and a member of the IEEE, AIAA, SME, ACM, and ASEE. He teaches courses in engineering design, computer aided engineering design, machine design, mechanical systems, and kinematics. His research accomplishments include the development of formal methods for engineering decisions and trade-offs and for representing and manipulating imprecision and preferences in engineering design, set-based engineering design (research on these topics was initiated in 1984), automated methods for synthesis of engineering designs, structured engineering design synthesis of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) using evolutionary methods (including genetic algorithms), and the invention and development of digital micropropulsion microthrusters.
Dr. Antonsson is currently on the editorial board of the International Journal: Research in Engineering Design, and from 1998 to 2004 served on the editorial board of the International Journal: Fuzzy Sets and Systems, and from 1989 to 1993 served as an Associate Technical Editor of the ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, (formerly the Journal of Mechanisms, Transmissions and Automation in Design), with responsibility for the Design Research and the Design Theory and Methodology area.
He has published over 110 scholarly papers in the engineering design research literature, has edited two books, and holds eight U.S. Patents.
