Mechanical engineering is a diverse engineering discipline, as it is the knowledge that is necessary to take a product from idea to the marketplace. The skills necessary to accomplish this include the ability to design for functionality, aesthetics and the environment the product will be used in.

Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in western-central Europe. The country consists of 16 states, and its capital and largest city is Berlin.

The PhD is a doctoral degree, specifically called a "doctor of philosophy" degree. This is misleading because PhD holders are not necessarily philosophers (unless they earned their degree in philosophy!). That said, PhD recipients are able to engage in thought experiments, reason about problems, and solve problems in sophisticated ways.