Purdue News

March 30, 2001 U.S. News ranks Purdue engineering among top grad programs WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University graduate engineering programs were ranked third in the country by employers – and among the best in the nation overall – in a U.S. News and World Report survey released today (Friday, 3/30). In a specialty ranking, several of Purdue's individual Schools of Engineering were rated in the top 10 by deans of prominent engineering schools across the nation. Those rankings for Purdue were: • The Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, second • School of Industrial Engineering, third. • School of Civil Engineering, fifth. • School of Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, sixth. • School of Mechanical Engineering, seventh. • School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, ninth. Overall, Purdue ranked 13th among 186 universities included in the survey, and seventh among public universities. "We are gratified that Purdue engineering is ranked No. 3 by corporate recruiters," said Larry Huggins, associate dean of the Schools of Engineering. "We are also pleased to be ranked No. 7 nationally among public universities. "Individual program rankings continue at the same or higher levels than last year. Our scores were equal to or better than last year's in eight of the 10 quantitative factors that determine the overall ranking." With an undergraduate enrollment of nearly 6,000, graduate enrollment of about 1,800 and a faculty of about 270, Purdue's engineering program is one of the largest in the United States. It encompasses 13 schools, departments and divisions. The university recently announced a major upgrade for its engineering program. The outgrowth of more than three years of comprehensive planning, the program's master plan expansion/improvement project includes about $250 million in new construction, $100 million in new equipment and technology and $60 million in renovations. The project is expected to meet anticipated needs for the next 15 to 20 years: The engineering master plan includes: • A new 250,000 square-foot multidisciplinary building. Among the schools and programs it will house are the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Department of Freshman Engineering and the School of Materials Engineering, as well as the Women in Engineering and the Minority Engineering programs. • Expansion of the buildings housing the schools of Mechanical Engineering and Chemical Engineering and the renovation of eight other buildings. • A new research complex that will include facilities for large-scale projects for the School of Civil Engineering, nanotechnology, and interdisciplinary research involving "perception-based" engineering and other areas of research. U.S. News and World Report will publish its complete rankings of graduate schools in its April 9 issue, "America's Best Graduate Schools," which will be available on newsstands Monday (4/2). The complete rankings and methodology also will be available Monday at U.S. News Online. Source: Larry Huggins, (765) 494-5349, huggins@purdue.edu Writer: Emil Venere, (765) 494-4709, venere@purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page