1853 First meeting of Polytechnic Institute Board of Trustees.

1854 Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute chartered.

1879 Polytechnic alumnus Robert G. Brown '68 invents modern telephone, combining mouthpiece and receiver on one handle.

1899 Polytechnic Institute establishes Mechanical Engineering (ME) Department.

1902 ME Department offers one-year graduate course.

1903 First ME degree awarded to Alfred Helwig, who graduates cum laude.

1909 Polytechnic's ASME Student Section holds first meeting.

1918 Prof. Edwin E Church named head of ME Department.

1918 ME Department obtains four-cylinder Maxwell car for testing purposes as part of mechanical laboratory course.

1919 ME Department moves into own building with $50,000 of new equipment and more than twice the space.

Otto Henry, ME assistant professor, expands metallurgy program.

1927 Polytechnic increases engineering program requirements and establishes BS in ME. First degrees awarded to Joseph A. Lambertine, Harold J. Mahoney, Robert Y MuscareII and Herman J. P. Schubert.

1928 MS in ME established; eight students enrolled in first year.

Divisions of Industrial Engineering (IE) and Materials Engineering created.

1930 First MS in ME awarded to John C. De Cotiis.

ME student Jules Podnossoff'31 (BME) '33 (MME) wins Charles T.

1931 ME Department offers Polytechnic's first classes in aeronautical engineering (AE): Airplane Designs and Aerodynamics and Airplane Structures.

1939 ME Department establishes programs offering BS in AE and Metallurgical Engineering (MetE).

1941 AE Department established and headed by Prof. R. Paul Harrington.

1941 First BS in AE awarded to William S. Holmes and Aaron Krushner.

1941 MS in AE offered.

1942 First BS in MetE awarded to James G. Farmer.

First MS in AE awarded to Edwin E Miller and Sebastian Nardo.

1943 ME Department offers Polytechnic's first courses in air pollution control.

1943 PhD in AE offered.

1945 First PhD in AE awarded to Maria Z. E. Krzywoblocki.

1946 Prof. Edwin F. Church retires after 28 years as head of ME Department.

1946 Prof. Ernst L. Midgette, former director of research and design for American Engineering Company, named head of ME Department.

First MS in MetE awarded to Jorge G. Veiga.

1947 ME Department moves to 69 Schermerhorn Street.

PhD in Applied Mechanics (AM) offered.

1948 Edythe Crescenzo De Gaeta first woman to receive BS in ME.

Ann Elizabeth Gunsolus first woman to receive BS in AE.

1949 Goldye Cohen Leeds first woman to receive BS in MetE.

1950 Dr. Nicholas John Hoff named head of AE and AM Department. His work as an aircraft structure analyst guided aircraft design worldwide.

1951 PhD in ME offered.

1952 Edythe Crescenzo DeGaeta’48 (BME) first woman to receive MS in ME.

1952 Preston R. Bassett '14 (BME) named chairman of Polytechnic’s Board of Trustees.

1954 ME Department expands graduate program in air pollution control under direction of Prof. Clifford A. Wojan '43 (BME) '48 (MME).

1955 Dr. Charles T. Oergel, named head of ME Department.

1957 ME Department moves to 333 Jay Street.

Dr. Antonio Ferri named head of AE and AM Departments.

1959 MS in IE offered.

1962 Dr. William A. Lynch named head of ME Department.

1964 Dr. Martin H. Bloom '46 (BME) '49 (MAM) '51 (PhD AM) named head of AE and AM Department.

1964 ME Prof. Clifford A. Wojais is part of Polytechnic team supervising the rewriting of New York City's building code.

1964 ME Department offers bioengineering courses.

1965 PhD in IE offered.

1966 Bioengineering (BI) program established; Prof. William B. Blesser named director.

1967 Prof. John R. Curreri '44 (BME) '48 (MME) named head of ME Department.

1967 ME Department offers courses in creative design in stress areas and underwater acoustics in ocean engineering.

1968 MetE Department established and headed by A. Johnson; PhD program offered.

1968 Dr. Joseph Kempner named head of AE and AM Department.

1968 Operations Research (OR) and IE Department created; Dr. Norbert Hauser named head.

1973 Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn merges with New York University's School of Engineering and Science to form Polytechnic Institute of New York.

1973 Nuclear Engineering (NE) program established.

1974 Dr. Richard S. Thorsen named head of ME Department.

1975 Separate graduate program in ocean engineering created within ME Department. Dr. Richard S. Thorsen appointed head of combined ME and AE Department.

1977 Paul Soros '50 (MME) elected to Polytechnic Board of Trustees.

1982 Herman Fialkov '51 (BAE) elected to Polytechnic Board of Trustees.

1982 Richard W. Foxen'50 (BME) elected to Polytechnic Board of Trustees

1983 Dr. Pasquale M. Sforza named head of ME and AE Department receives Distinguished Faculty Award in 1985.

1985 New York State Board of Regents approves name change to Polytechnic University.

1986 ME Department establishes Manufacturing Engineering (MN) Program.

1987 Dr. William R. McShane named head of ME and IE Department.

1987 Dr. Pasquale M. Sforza remains head of AE Department.

1991 Arthur C. Martinez '60 (BME) elected to Polytechnic Board of Trustees.

1992 Dr. Charles W. Hoover, Jr. named director of MN program.

1993 Dr. Michael R. Corey '70 (PhD IE) elected to Polytechnic Board of Trustees.

1994 Arthur C. Martinez '60 (BME) named chairman of Polytechnic Board of Trustees.

1995 ME and AE Departments recombine to form ME, AE and MN Department, headed by Dr. George Vradis.

1996 Dr. Sunil Kumar named head of ME, AE and MN Department. A specialist in heat transfer, he has conducted research in energy systems, micro-scale heat transfer and radiation transport.

1997 Polytechnic joins NASA/New York Space Consortium, which provides grants to help students participate in research relevant to NASA mission.

1999 Robert Prieto '76 (BNE) '77 (MNE) elected to Polytechnic Board of Trustees.

1999 Polytechnic Institute of NYU celebrates 100 years of ME. University presents Drs. Herman Fialkov’51 (BAE) and Eugene Kleiner '48 (BME) '51 (MIE) '89 (HON) with Outstanding Mechanical Engineering Alumni of the Century Awards, and honors Ursula M. Burns '80 (BME), Anthony J. Tanner '70 (BLS) '72 (MBI) and Dr. Morris Young '75 (PhD MM) with Outstanding Alumni Awards.

2001 Dr. Said Nourbakhsh named head of ME, AE and MN Department. A materials engineer with research interests in composites, superconductors, smart materials, and piezoelectric thin films.

2008  Dr. George Vradis, a researcher and teacher with interests in energy systems and complex flows, is named Head of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering.