WELCOME
I welcome you to the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Western Macedonia.
The Department of Mechanical Engineering, which was founded in 1999 and belonged to the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, was originally called “Department of Engineering and Management of Energy Resources”. In 2004, it became part of the newly established University of Western Macedonia, as the first Engineering degree course. Although it is one of the most recently established Engineering departments in Greece, it has already acquired high reputation in the Greek academia.
Engineering courses offer students a huge and diverse range of career and life opportunities and prospects, and help them handle typical everyday problems. They enable students acquire the fundamentals of scientific knowledge, and also a unique method to think, combine, analyze and solve problems.
Engineering is an all-embracing and wide-ranging discipline promoting new technological discoveries and advances, thus, triggering further investigation and challenges, which open up new doors and scope for exploration. Therefore, it seems rather wrong to explore its substantial function only in terms of what students are going to learn during studies. In any case, it is impossible to try to encapsulate the vast potential of Engineering in 10 academic semesters. Engineering expands beyond the narrow range of problems students will be taught to handle during courses; it involves a multiple number of problems and issues they are likely to encounter after graduation, although they may never have been taught how to.
Mechanical Engineering is a fundamental component of Engineering. Its major objective is to qualify students, by applying basic principles of mathematics, physics and chemistry, to be able to handle complicated problems and decision-making, and develop and manufacture a full range of products. Courses in Mechanical Engineering (an Integrated Master’s Degree) motivate students to take a journey to the world of science, and have a different look at scientific knowledge. In this framework, the first course cycle offers them the opportunity to become familiar with the practical aspects of Mechanical Engineering via Statics, Thermodynamics, Statistics, Materials Technology, Heat Transfer and Fluid Mechanics. The second course cycle presents them with the challenge to travel to the fascinating world of combining the basic principles of science with abilities and skills to design and build integrated engineering systems. Finally, the third course cycle encourages focus on special Engineering issues and provides the framework and background for the Diploma Thesis, at the end of this exciting journey to learning and gaining experience.
For all our Mechanical Engineering students, graduation typically means the end of a short journey taken in the School of Engineering of the University of Western Macedonia; however, it also implies the beginning of a longer one, a lifetime journey to Mechanical Engineering careers. Learning benefits -which I hope will accompany students throughout their lives- do not only derive from a 10-semester teaching process. Our legacy to students includes, beyond everything else, delivery and communication of a unique outstanding way to think, analyze and combine, which are fundamental assets for all engineers.
I invite all students to take this journey to science and learning with all of us together. I also advise them, both during studies and later in their professional career and personal life, to avoid following the easy path of pursuing superficial knowledge and high scores, and stay on the hard and highly rewarding path of focusing on thorough research and investigation across the range of their chosen area. This will definitely lead to graduation but, most significantly, to achieving a most successful and brilliant Mechanical Engineering career, and the competence to address relevant issues and solve problems.
I wish everyone to enjoy their journey in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and gain education, skills and experience to accompany them forever.
I wish everyone a dream trip!
The Head of Department,
Professor E. Konstantinidis