Purdue University launches new online engineering doctorate

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University’s highly ranked College of Engineering is offering its first 100% online doctoral degree in a highly customizable program designed for professionals who want to enhance their careers while gaining skills with practical application in their current jobs.

The new online Doctor of Engineering program from Purdue features coursework on research methodology and advanced mathematics and statistics in addition to hundreds of engineering and other courses, all culminating in a research project.

The program enables learners to tailor their courses and research project to maximally benefit their professional development goals. In the process, students can gain significant technical depth, research experience and advanced capabilities in a particular technology or technical domain directly related to their career goals.

“Over the years we’ve heard from many students that they want to pursue a doctoral degree but do not want to leave the jobs they are passionate about to devote four or more years to a PhD,” said Milind Kulkarni, professor and the Michael and Katherine Birck Head of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “Purdue’s online doctoral program gives these folks an opportunity to pursue cutting-edge applied research in the context of their work at their current company and gain that higher credential that will let them advance at work, take up teaching and more.”

The online program bridges the gap between academic research and industry practice, with the research project leading to a final report or dissertation focused less on fundamental theory and more on engineering practice and application related to on-the-job process improvements, scalability, new designs or many other potential topics.

“Cutting-edge advances in technology are rapidly emerging at the interface between traditional fields,” said Tamara Kinzer-Ursem, the Marta E. Gross Professor of Biomedical Engineering and associate dean of graduate and professional education in Purdue’s College of Engineering. “The new interdisciplinary Doctor of Engineering degree was specifically designed for working professionals who seek to gain new skill sets in these emerging areas or to deepen their knowledge base in their areas of specialization by exploring new applications.”

While the program provides a strong foundation of theoretical, quantitative and statistical knowledge, a wide array of technical courses is available to Doctor of Engineering students. Purdue’s program also includes the opportunity to gain important professionalization skills, such as leadership development; project management; new product development; technical, report and grant writing; and pedagogical theory and practice.

To qualify for admission, applicants must hold an undergraduate degree in an engineering or related discipline and have a minimum of two years of professional experience in a relevant field. A master’s degree in engineering or a related discipline is strongly preferred. Up to 30 credits of the 90-credit doctoral program can come from a previous master’s degree, pending approval.

A significant market need exists for engineers with a doctoral degree. Earning Purdue’s online Doctor of Engineering can open doors to higher salaries, leadership positions and consulting opportunities. Professionals with a doctoral degree in engineering earned approximately $25,000 more per year in 2023 compared with individuals who have attained a master’s degree.

Purdue’s College of Engineering routinely ranks among the best in the country as a whole and in numerous individual engineering disciplines. Purdue is consistently ranked as having a top three online engineering graduate program by U.S. News & World Report.

“The Doctor of Engineering builds on Purdue’s globally recognized expertise in engineering and online education,” said Dimitrios Peroulis, senior vice president for partnerships and online. “This rigorous program pairs the deep knowledge of the world-class faculty on our flagship campus with the skill of award-winning course designers to make a high-quality doctoral experience available at scale to learners wherever they are.”

To learn more about Purdue’s online Doctor of Engineering degree, visit the program website.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research institution demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top four in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, including nearly 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the Mitch Daniels School of Business, Purdue Computes and the One Health initiative — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.