Online master’s in industrial engineering student balances graduate school with work at Lilly and assignment abroad

Before Ayrton Birnbaum was a student in Purdue University’s online Master of Science in Industrial Engineering program, he was a runner. In Birnbaum’s words, running is an exercise in delayed gratification. It requires consistency and the determination to keep starting, even if you don’t want to.

It may be hard to continue, but, once you start, you’ll never regret starting

Ayrton Birnbaum

Pictured with his fiancée, Sofia, who is also a Purdue graduate

The same can be said about graduate school. Earning a graduate degree in engineering from Purdue University is hard work — hard enough that most people never start it. But Birnbaum, like many Purdue graduate students, believed he could rise to the challenge, and that belief has kept him motivated, even as he balances online coursework with a full-time job at Eli Lilly and Company as a senior scientist in technical services and manufacturing science.

Birnbaum is a native Hoosier who has never shied away from hard work. He grew up in Indianapolis and Zionsville, and then, after high school, he went to Purdue to major in chemical engineering. Purdue’s reputation as a rigorous, challenging engineering school drew him to the university.

“I was always wanted to go to Purdue when I was growing up,” Birnbaum said. “It’s the best engineering school out there.”

By the time Birnbaum graduated with his bachelor’s, he felt like he had learned enough to hit the ground running. He worked a couple jobs in manufacturing and then was hired on to Lilly in the beginning of 2025. He was excited about the career opportunities that Lilly could offer him, and he was becoming increasingly interested in the prospect of going back to school for a master’s degree — an endeavor he knew the company would support.

“Lilly is great about continued education,” Birnbaum said. “Management supports it all the way. There’s also a lot of really educated people at Lilly, a lot of people with PhDs and master’s degrees in leadership, and a lot of people who went to Purdue.”

So, Birnbaum floated the idea of going back to school to his manager during his first year as a Lilly employee. His manager wholeheartedly supported it, and he started looking into online master’s degrees in engineering. He wanted something flexible so he could continue building his career, but he also wanted a prestigious, respected program that would challenge him. He knew Purdue could deliver on both fronts.

“The industrial engineering program had coursework that really applied to manufacturing, and I knew the knowledge would be practical in my career,” Birnbaum said. “I already have all the fundamentals, but this will help me deepen my understanding further.”

Around the same time that Birnbaum started his master’s degree, he learned Lilly was sending him to Ireland for several months to support startup activities there. He took the new opportunity in stride, moving abroad and adjusting to his new coursework by staying consistent and organized.

“I take one class at a time, and that helps keep me on track,” Birnbaum said. “It encourages me to learn outside of work, and it helps me with work.”

Though he’s still in the early stages of his program, his courses have already exposed him to new ideas and processes he can use at work. In the long-term, he hopes to use some of those new concepts to become competitive for a leadership position.

“I just took a technical project management course, and the tools I’ve learned from the course have helped me stay organized,” Birnbaum said. “We’re learning about tools that I wouldn’t necessarily get exposed to unless I was in a leadership role, so it feels like a leg up.”

According to Birnbaum, one of the biggest benefits of Purdue’s industrial engineering master’s program is that it combines technical expertise in engineering with management and business courses. “It’s a good alternative to something like an MBA (Master of Business Administration),” he said.

By pairing advanced technical expertise in engineering with business acumen, Birnbaum hopes he can keep his options open. At Lilly, he can pursue higher-level engineering roles or management positions. His master’s and the new skills he’s built are likely to increase his chances of qualifying for both kinds of opportunities.

“I’m building a really strong technical foundation at work and in the program,” Birnbaum said. “I can always dive deep into something I might want to specialize in in the future. There are so many courses available [in the online program]. It gives me options.”

For now, Birnbaum is planning out the rest of his classes and enjoying his time in Ireland before coming back to Indianapolis. His experience abroad has reaffirmed for him why he loves what he does — and it’s given him access to new running trails, too.

“I love running here,” Birnbaum said. “It’s been an amazing opportunity.”

Learn more about Purdue’s online Master of Science in Industrial Engineering at the program’s website.