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A new inter-disciplinary degree program has been developed at Lawrence Technological University: the Master of Science in Mechatronic Systems Engineering Degree (MS/MSE). It is one of a few MS-programs in mechatronics in the U.S.A. today. This inter-disciplinary program reflects the main areas of ground vehicle mechatronic systems and robotics. This paper presents areas of scientific and technological principles which the Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Math and Computer Science Departments bring to Mechatronic Systems Engineering and the new degree program. New foundations that make the basis for the program are discussed. One of the biggest challenges was developing foundations for mechanical engineering in mechatronic systems design and teaching them to engineers who have different professional backgrounds. The authors first developed new approaches and principles to designing mechanical subsystems as components of mechatronic systems.

Car manufacturing companies and their suppliers allocate significant human and financial resources to NVH-related R&D. While the most advanced instrumentation and analytical techniques are used for these activities, the incremental improvements of NVH are rather small due to extreme complexity of the vehicle systems, to accumulating manufacturing uncertainties, and to many contradictory constraints for design and modifications of the vehicle components and subsystems. NVH improvement by using conceptual approaches for vibration and noise control without in-depth study of mechanisms generating objectionable noise and vibration effects in a particular component or subsystem is often considered as an inferior approach and is used only in critical launch and warranty situations. Development of such vibration and/or noise control “patches” is often relegated to suppliers.