August 26, 2008

Purdue's engineering schools among top nationally

The magazine's initial rankings were released on Friday (Aug. 22) and were followed by expanded specialty rankings. Among the College of Engineering's specialty rankings are:

* Industrial engineering, third.

* Aeronautics and astronautics, fourth.

* Agricultural and biological engineering, fifth, tied with the University of California-Davis.

* Mechanical engineering, seventh.

* Civil engineering, seventh, tied with the University of Michigan.

* Electrical engineering, ninth.

* Computer engineering, 11th.

* Chemical engineering, 13th.

* Materials engineering, 13th, tied with Ohio State University.

* Environmental engineering, 15th.

Nuclear engineering programs were not ranked.

"Within all of these specialty areas lies the potential to find the answers to some of the world's most challenging problems," Purdue President France A. Córdova said. "Our undergraduates get a top-notch education along with the foundation to go out into the world armed with the knowledge and understanding to find, assess and solve problems."

Overall, the College of Engineering's undergraduate program ranked ninth among doctoral degree-granting schools, tied with Carnegie Mellon University. Last year Purdue's undergraduate engineering program also ranked ninth, tied with both Carnegie Mellon and the University of Texas.

In the 2007-08 academic year, the college had a faculty of 343 members and enrolled more than 6,300 undergraduate students and more than 2,200 graduate students. Enrollment numbers for this fall aren't yet available.

The College of Engineering is in the midst of an aggressive growth campaign. Last fall, it opened the $53 million, 126,000-square-foot Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering. Also planned are the 41,000-square-foot Seng-Liang Wang Hall, a third building for the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering; the 42,000-square-foot Roger B. Gatewood Mechanical Engineering Wing; and a new Ray W. Herrick Laboratories.

The rankings of engineering colleges and specific engineering disciplines are based on ratings by deans and heads in those disciplines at peer institutions. The schools receiving the most votes are listed.

Purdue's previous rankings are available at https://www.purdue.edu/uns/ranking.html

Writer: Judith Barra Austin, (765) 494-2432, jbaustin@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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