Machine Design at Georgia Tech (ME 3180) is widely regarded as being a notoriosuly difficult, but highly rewarding class. It’s taught by a professor who’s both respected and feared in the best way — pushing students to really understand how mechanical systems behave under load rather than just memorize formulas.

Lectures equipped us with the theory of design analysis: contact stress, Von Mises failure criteria, fatigue, and how real parts like bearings, gears, shafts, and fasteners hold up under stress. It built on deformable bodies but at a much higher level, forcing us to think critically about how systems fail and how to design against it.

The course featured three major design projects, each lasting several weeks. We tackled the force design of a chop saw in stages — first the chassis, then fastener forces, and finally gears. These projects demanded long days of calculations, writing detailed reports, and constant trips to office hours. Collaboration with classmates was almost a requirement to make it through.

As draining as it was, the class sharpened my ability to break down complex force problems, document work clearly, and think like an engineer who’s designing for failure as much as for function. It was easily one of the hardest classes I took, but also one of the most valuable.