The discipline of Mechanical Engineering of BIT was established in 1943 and began to enroll graduate students in 1955. In 1998, the discipline was authorized to award primary discipline doctorate degree, the first kind in China. In 2007, it was selected as one of the first national primary key disciplines.
The discipline now has 165 faculty members, including 51 professors and 79 associate professors. Among them there are 37 faculty members have been honored with national titles such as Changjiang Distinguished Professors by Ministry of Education of China, National Outstanding Young-Scientist Awardees by National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chief Scientists of National Basic Research Program (973 Project) by Ministry of Science and Technology of China, and National Leading Researchers for S&T Innovations by Central Government of China. Furthermore, this discipline has 1 national teaching team, 2 provincial teaching teams, 2 national innovation teams, 4 ministerial science and technology innovation teams, and 2 Project 111 bases.
The discipline of Mechanical Engineering now has a total enrollment of 1,717 undergraduates, and 1,012 graduate students. In 2016, the admission score requirement to our undergraduate programs is the top 0.5% in 6 provinces and 1% in 16 provinces in the National College Entrance Examination of China. Over 2/3 of our undergraduates pursue M.S or Ph.D degrees after their graduations. All of our graduate students received job offers before their graduations. This discipline aims at fostering talents with “lofty ideal, profound learning, good health and peaceful mind” and has long traditions of excellence in teaching and educational management. Our faculty has won over 10 national or ministerial teaching awards and 1 PhD student is the winner of the Award for the National Excellent Doctoral Dissertations. Our graduates are highly praised by employers for their wide range of knowledge, practicality and flexibility. Many of our alumni have achieved prestigious successes in scientific research, public services, and education, including the Chief Designer for China’s second-generation tanks, Fang Weixian, the Chief Designer for 155 Self-Propelled Gun, Su Zhezi, the Chief Designer for Lion Tank, Mao Ming, former governor of Hainan Province, Ruan Chongwu, and the former president of All-China Federation of Trade Union, Zhang Junjiu. In the past three years, our students have won 63 first prizes (No. 1) in national student competitions for science and technology innovations, 60 second prizes and 21 third prizes in national student competitions. Undergraduates receive an annual average of RMB 5,500 scholarships per student, graduate students 14,600 per student, and doctoral students 30,500 per student.
The discipline of Mechanical Engineering conducts research in six major areas: Vehicle, Power-train, Manufacturing, Mechanical Design, Robotics, and Micro/Nano Engineering, focusing on the major strategic tasks of national development and the latest advancements in the national economy and international science and technology. We are nationally leading in vehicle, electric vehicle, humanoid robot, difficult-to-machine materials processing, and laser micro/nano fabrication. The discipline proudly owns five national laboratories or centers, including 2 national key labs, 2 national experimental teaching demonstration centers, and 1 national collaborative innovation center, and 8 provincial/ministerial key labs. The area of our labs and centers is over 25 thousand square meters (269,000 ft2), and the total assets of facilities reach RMB 0.52 billion (USD 77 million). Besides this, we boast the world’s largest test bench with max power 1400 kw for integrated transmission of tracked vehicle covering all operating region, the first 400 kw drum test bench with eight independent driving drums in China, exciting test bench for road simulating with four hydraulic columns (20 ton-force each column) and ultra-fast laser electron dynamics multi-scale measurement and control system.
We have undertaken major national research programs of different kinds including the National 973 Project, the National 863 Project, the National Natural Science Foundation Project, the Major Project for the Ministerial Basic Scientific Research Program, and the Ministerial Key Model R&D Project. The total scientific research expenditure of our discipline in 2015 were RMB 345.46 million (roughly USD 52 million), and the research expenditures in the last three years exceed RMB 2 million (about USD 300 thousand) per year per faculty member. Over the last five years we have received over 360 grants, and have been granted 7 national S&T awards and 23 provincial/ministerial S&T awards. Moreover, we have published more than 2,000 academic papers, including 549 papers indexed by SCI (Science Citation Index), 900 papers indexed by EI (Engineering Index), and 28 papers are included in the ESI (Essential Science Indicators) Highly Cited Papers List. In the meanwhile, we have been authorized more than 301 patents in the past five years.
Our research focuses on the major issues in national security and emerging industries in national strategic development, and has achieved series of innovative results in fields of transmission and suspension for armored vehicle, electric vehicle, and difficult-to-machine materials processing. These research results have been widely applied and transformed into products through the integration of industry-university-research, and have therefore produced great economic and social benefits. Besides, we have made great theoretical breakthroughs in fields of laser micro/nano fabrication and humanoid robot, which helps to solve problems concerning major special urgent needs in national development and to create important social benefits.
This discipline has been actively involved in international cooperation and academic exchange. It has established long-term partnerships with 30 renowned international universities including University of California Berkeley, Imperial College London, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Waseda University and Tokyo Institute of Technology, and made solid preparation for the introduction of outstanding global experts and student education and training at a much higher level.