Overview: Taking on Society’s Grand Challenges

Across the world, we need new energy sources, healthcare solutions, environmentally friendly technologies, and an end to terrorism. At Purdue, these are a few of the issues we face every day. Our engineering faculty, researchers, graduate students, and undergraduate students are making hydrogen fuel cells more efficient, helping fight AIDS in Africa, developing working evacuation-systems for natural disasters, and creating technologies to prevent and deal with possible terrorist attacks. Purdue engineers are working in virtually any area in which their expertise can benefit humanity. In the College of Engineering, we do everything we can to encourage and support our people. They are engineering the solutions to the grand challenges of the 21st century.

Highly Ranked

Purdue’s College of Engineering is among the largest in the United States and includes 13 academic programs, all with high rankings. U.S. News and World Report ranks Purdue’s College of Engineering in the Top 10 nationwide: no. 8 for graduate programs and no. 8 for undergraduate programs, with six schools ranking in the top ten for undergraduate programs: Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Aeronautics and Astronautics, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, and Electrical Engineering. Our Agricultural and Biological Engineering (ABE) undergraduate program has been ranked no.1 for eight consecutive years.

Aggressive Growth

Purdue’s College of Engineering is embarking on a period of remarkable growth. With the support of the Provost and Board of Trustees, we expect to increase the size of the CoE faculty by as much as 30% and the CoE staff by 30% by 2017. Growth on this scale is an opportunity for Transformational change. More information can be found on our Strategic Growth Initiative page.

Interdisciplinary, Global, and Diverse

Our growth, fueled by our alumni and friends, is giving us the tools and room to develop more revolutionary technologies that are already changing the world around us. We are cutting across the established boundaries of Purdue’s engineering and related disciplines. In doing so, we’re incorporating all perspectives. We’re taking advantage of our own diverse make-up, and we’re approaching issues from a world point of view. We’re equipping our students with the capacity to perform in a fast-changing and increasingly global economy.

To find out more about Purdue Engineering, take a look at the About Us or Facts and Figures sections of this website or go to the websites of our 13 academic programs, as well as our news and social media. You can also contact us, or please come for a visit to see what Purdue and you can do together.