Advising

Every third year and beyond mechanical engineering (ME) undergraduate student is assigned to an academic adviser. The adviser serves as a resource for course planning and academic decisions, aids in interpreting university policy and procedures, and provides direction to other supports as needed. While the adviser guides and provides insights, students are ultimately responsible for their course scheduling, program planning, and ensuring the completion of graduation requirements as stated in Academic Policy 32-30.

Meet the ME Undergraduate Office Team 

The ME academic advisers are available for appointments with their assigned advisees as posted in Starfish. 

The academic program coordinator manages all student records. Please contact if you have any questions about your degree audit, course substitutions/petitions, and graduation. 

The academic program specialist is available to answer any questions you may have about department- and college-level scholarships, our course offering schedule, program education objectives, the student newsletter, and student department-level events. 

The director of undergraduate programs is available by appointment through Starfish for academic and career advising, including post-graduation planning and co-op/internship discussions. 

The associate department head for undergraduate programs addresses undergraduate program issues and can answer questions about policies, procedures, and study abroad curriculum choices.

Questions? Contact Us  

Appointments can be made through Starfish, or you can email brief questions to advising@me.psu.edu.

Tools to Support Your Academic Journey 

We encourage students in the Mechanical Engineering program to take an active role in planning their coursework and managing their academic journey toward degree completion. While academic advisors are here to support and guide students, a variety of tools are available to assist with self-planning. We encourage students to utilize these resources to explore and develop their academic plans independently and then review and verify those plans with their academic advisor. 

• Advising FAQs - This Frequently Asked Questions website summarizes common questions students have asked academic advisors in the past. 

• Interactive Academic Planner - This semester by semester planning tool that supports course planning, prerequisite tracking, and customized academic plan development with built-in prerequisite checks and plan upload/download features 

• AI Advising Tools: MS Copilot & MS Teams Advising Agent (ME Chatbot) - This experimental generative AI assistant is designed to provide immediate support when your academic adviser is not readily available. For any questions regarding your academic record, degree requirements, policies, or enrollment decisions, please refer to official University websites and policies and verify all information with your academic advisor. 
  
  Disclaimer: Responses from this agent are generated by AI and may contain errors or outdated. While we strive to offer accurate and helpful information, we cannot guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of all AI generated responses. Information provided by the chatbot does not constitute official approval or policy interpretation.

  Install the Chatbot: Penn State users can access the chatbot using the following options: 

  • Microsoft Teams:https://teams.microsoft.com/l/app/c99ee795-86a0-4f79-bf3f-257ffd95f973   

  • Microsoft 365 Copilot:https://m365.cloud.microsoft/chat/?titleId=T_a4f3edf2-e624-545f-50b2-d3ab00e7138e 

    Help Us Improve – Submit Feedback: Because responses are generated by AI, even with validation, the chatbot may occasionally provide incomplete, confusing, or incorrect information. We greatly appreciate your help in improving the tool.

    If you encounter a response that seems inaccurate or unclear, please submit an error report using this form: https://forms.office.com/r/NR8JsLNsZB 

    You can also access this form directly by typing “error” in the chatbot.