Is that out of the ME or EE department? My only brush with a mechatronics program was dealing with a grad student in the Ohio State program. It was taught out of the EE department and seemed to be primarily design of electrical machines (motors etc). The guy seemed a little inept around mechanical systems. Guess my preference here is either a ME with system theory and adaquate electrical, or an EE with a good mechanical foundation, and the later I think is harder to come by. Where I went to school (aeons ago) every engineer had the same classes the first two years so I had lots of mechanical even as a EE, but EE's today seem to be mostly electronic, computer hardware, or software.
dave y.