School of Engineering
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Labs and Facilities

The Department of Mechanical Engineering has a variety of facilities to support student projects and research. These spaces enable students to turn ideas into reality while gaining experience with industry standard prototyping, manufacturing, and instrumentation equipment.

Bray Lab

504 Boston Avenue

The Bray Lab machine shop is a full manufacturing facility. Capabilities include:

  • Manual and CNC lathes and milling machines
  • Laser cutter
  • CNC router
  • Rapid prototyping capabilities (3D printers)
  • Band saws
  • Drill presses
  • Complementary equipment

Blake-Perlman Computational Studio

Science and Engineering Complex, Room 022

The Blake-Perlman Computational Studio is for the exclusive use of Mechanical Engineering and Human Factors Engineering students. The exception to this is if you are taking a Mechanical Engineering/Engineering Psychology taught class that requires access to this space. If you believe you should have access to this lab and don't, please contact Briana Bouchard in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Human Factors Labs

Collaborative Learning & Innovation Complex, 574 Boston Avenue

The Human Factors Research Lab (HFRL) and Human Factors Usability Lab (HFUL) have a wide range of devices using for measuring, assessing, prototyping, and testing. In the HFRL, this includes devices for physical and digital prototyping and digital prototyping. Prototypes can be tested in the HFUL, which includes high-definition video and audio recording equipment for a more realistic testing environment.

Micro and Nano Fabrication Facility

200 Boston Avenue, Suite 2700

The Micro and Nano Fabrication Facility is a multi-user facility that provides micro- and nano-fabrication capabilities to the Tufts community. The lab is a class 1000 to class 10,000 cleanroom facility. The laboratory is open to graduate students, undergraduate students, post doctoral researchers, and faculty from across the University. In addition to traditional glass and silicon microsystems, recent projects have included work on biomaterial thin films, microfluidics, and optical microsystems. Capabilities include:

  • NUV contact lithography (minimum feature size ~750 nm)
  • Thin film sputter deposition
  • Plasma etching
  • "Wet" chemical processes (Wet etching, PDMS micromolding for microfluidics, electroplating, and more)
  • Vapor phase Parylene deposition
  • Wafer sub dicing
  • Wire bonding
  • A suite of metrology tools