The Department of Mechanical Engineering has been a leader in providing quality education in India since 1960. Our mission is threefold, aimed at not only students, faculty, and industry, but also the community on local, national and international levels:

• Prepare students for careers in industry, academia, and government organizations by fostering in them the technical capabilities pertinent to mechanical and allied engineering and interpersonal skills necessary to succeeding in their fields, as well as the foundation for lifelong learning.
• Lead the way in mechanical engineering based research and other scholarly activities.
• Provide technical knowledge, leadership, guidance, and support to industry, the government establishments, and the general public.

Welcome to the Department of Mechanical Engineering at IIT Kanpur. We started our journey in the year of 1960. Over the last six decades, we have grown our expertise and competence in the core Mechanical Engineering curriculum and research.
We have a strong undergraduate program in mechanical engineering, including a B. Tech. – M. Tech. dual degree program. At the postgraduate level, we offer M. Tech., MS by Research and PhD degrees. The sanctioned students’ strengths of B. Tech., M. Tech., and MS by research are respectively 100, 120 and 40 per year. At present, the department has 148 PhD scholars. Several sponsored candidates from industries and research laboratories carry out their postgraduate studies in our department. Beside this, our department hosts several postdoctoral fellows.

Our department offers science-based engineering curriculum. The primary focus of our curriculum is to impart technical know-how to students, promote their problem solving skills and innovation of new technologies. Department offers large number of optional courses for providing wide spectrum of options to the students to pursue their interest. The course contents are periodically updated for introducing new scientific and technological developments.  Undergraduate students are encouraged to undertake various research projects.  

Our department maintains active research groups for carrying out collaborative and interdisciplinary research. We have state of the art research facilities to support our academic programs and research. Funding for research (approximately 60 crores during last five years) help us to maintain and modernise our research infrastructure.

Our department has a distinguished record in both teaching and research. Faculty members have excellent academic credentials and are highly regarded. They have been conferred with many prestigious awards at national and international levels. Several faculty members serve on the editorial boards of national and international journals, review technical articles for journals on a regular basis, and organize international symposia and conferences.

This website provides an overview of the academic programs, research activities of our department, research facilities, profiles of faculty members, and details of student activities. We hope that whether you are a prospective undergraduate or graduate student, or work in industry, or another university, or a visitor, you will find this website to be informative.

If you have further questions after browsing this website, please do not hesitate to contact us. You may also correspond with individual faculty members, or contact them by email, using the addresses shown on the faculty pages. Our department looks forward to contribute in solving the technological challenges of the society with active participation from all sections of the society. Thank you for visiting us.

Best wishes,

Ashish Dutta, PhD
Head of the Department and Professor,
Department of Mechanical Engineering

IIT Kanpur was founded in 1959 at the Harcourt Butler Technological Institute in Kanpur. One of the founding departments of the Institute, the department of Mechanical Engineering came into existence within a year of establishment of IIT Kanpur. The department has played a leading role in defining a unique engineering science curriculum that has served as a model for academic programs across the country by setting standards in teaching while creating new interdisciplinary programs in industrial engineering, mechatronics, and nuclear technology.

Early Days

The mechanical engineering department started its journey in the year of 1960 with only three faculty members and twenty three undergraduate students. Professor G. S. Kainth was the first to join the mechanical engineering department as a faculty member. Later, Professors J. Prasad and H. C. Radhakrishnan also took part in. The first batch of B. Tech. graduated in 1965. Also, in the same year, the first PhD student graduated. Subsequently, in the year of 1967, the M. Tech. program in mechanical engineering started with only four students. Gradually with the course of time, several faculty members joined and the number of both undergraduate and postgraduate students increased several times. In the year of 1963, the department shifted to the present Northern Laboratory building.

Journey & Growth

The department’s journey for expansion continued, and many teaching laboratories and advanced research facilities came up over the years. Much later, in the year of 2000, the department started its B. Tech. - M. Tech. degree program and the first dual degree batch graduated in 2005. Every year, the department graduates around 100 undergraduates, 80 – 100 Master’s, and 10 – 15 PhD students. From its very inception, the department of mechanical engineering has been striving to develop itself into a hallmark of excellence in education and research in consonance with the contemporary and future needs of India. The combined record of its past and present faculty and students along with the alumni spread across the world is awe-inspiring.