Mechanical Engineering Learning Teams

Teamwork makes the dream work 

The College of Engineering offers nearly 20 different learning communities to meet the individual needs of incoming, transfer and current engineering students in all majors. The Mechanical Engineering Learning Teams (MELT) community brings mechanical engineering students from diverse backgrounds together to create a social support network with ME peers. 

These course-based learning communities composed of men, women and students of color help you make great networking connections, find study groups, make new friends you’ll likely have for the rest of your life. 

Learning teams help students build on social and academic skillsets. You’ll enroll in a set of required courses and team up with other mechanical engineering students. One of the required linked courses is ME 190, a seminar course led by a peer mentor. Our peer mentors are academically successful upper-class students in the mechanical engineering curriculum. You’ll also have opportunities to interact with ME faculty, staff, and upper-level mechanical engineering students.

Design Olympics 

MELT hosts hands-on activities and events for their students each year, including a Design Olympics event in the fall that encourages collaboration, competition, and communication. More than 250 students compete in the design competition that helps establish a sense of community within ME while improving students’ problem-solving skills, teamwork skills and ability to network and connect with other students. 

MELT has organized a wide variety of design challenges over the years, including creating rubber band cars, Rube Goldberg machines, duct tape backpacks and self-propelled catapults.Each group earns points for design, cost efficiency and performance. The group that earns the most points is announced the winner of the competition.

Activities in the program include:

• Introduction to Iowa State and ME resources
• Academic success strategies, including study days
• Course registration and other curricular information
• Design competitions
• Industry panels and other career preparation information
• Social activities

The MELT is a full-year program, allowing students to participate in the linked courses in the fall, and programming activities in the spring.

To learn more about Iowa State University’s Learning Communities, check out the information at the Iowa State University Learning Communities website