Stanford back at it again with the innovative aspects which keeps their engineering department fresh and on top. They are researching new user interface communications that employ 3-D displays that would "enable us to shape ideas the way a sculptor molds clay."

Here is the link for more detail

http://engineering.stanford.edu/news/what-if-we-could-shape-ideas-way-sculptor-molds-clay

The U of A offers aerospace engineering, which has the basis of mechanical engineering. Their college of engineering is widely known and leads to many success stories like this article of a man who got his undergraduate at the U of A and is now working in Dhabi researching alternative energy resources.
Here is the link along with other stories that may interest you:

http://www.ame.arizona.edu/

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has compiled some employment statistic info that I found useful.
Here is the link to that page:

http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes172141.htm




Here is a quick video explaining what you should expect coming into the mechanical engineering field. Provided by Columbia Engineering.

Stanford university has a renowned engineering department and they have come up with a way to better engineer drone by having the opportunity to study and apply the flight patterns of birds. With the inspiration of New York pigeons to drive the project, David Lentink and his colleagues have constructed a wind tunnel for birds.
Here is a link to Stanford's webpage for further detail

http://engineering.stanford.edu/news/one-kind-wind-tunnel-birds-paves-way-better-drones

and a video of Lentink on "The magic of bird flight"

 

Here is a link to the university of Arizona website that has details on the course load of a mechanical engineering major.
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http://degreesearch.arizona.edu/major/mechanical-engineering