August 20, 2009

Purdue Engineering again among top ranked programs

The College of Engineering ranked ninth among doctoral degree-granting schools, tied with Cornell University and University of Texas-Austin. Last year, Purdue's undergraduate engineering program also ranked ninth.

Overall, Purdue ranked 22nd among public universities, up from 26th last year, and 61st among all universities, up from 66th last year.

Ten of the College of Engineering's schools ranked among the top 15 in their specialties:

* Agricultural and biological, second

* Industrial/manufacturing, third

* Aerospace/aeronautical/astronautical, fourth

* Civil, fifth, tied with Massachusetts Institute of Technology

* Mechanical, seventh

* Electrical/electronic, 10th

* Computer, 11th

* Environmental/environmental health, 11th, tied with California Institute of Technology and University of Florida

* Materials, 12th

* Chemical, 13th.

Nuclear engineering ranked fourth in 2006, which was the last time U.S. News ranked those programs.

"I'm very proud that Purdue's College of Engineering continues to rank among the top institutions in the country. This is a great recognition of the dedication of our faculty, staff, alumni and corporate partners," said Leah Jamieson, the John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering. "The top 10 ranking of our undergraduate program and the high rankings of our schools reflect Purdue Engineering's longstanding commitment to undergraduate education."

In addition to the current rankings, Purdue was among 24 universities cited for their first-year experience. The magazine notes that these schools build into their curriculums academic programs that bring small groups of students together with faculty or staff on a regular basis.

That's the model for the School of Engineering Education's first-year engineering lab, the Ideas to Innovation Learning Laboratory. The lab opened last fall and is expanding to the entire first-year engineering class this fall.  

With the learning lab and its companion classroom, what had been a 450-student, first-year lecture class are now 120-student classes. Those classes are then broken down into teams that work on projects.

The lab has been cited as one reason for an increase in first-year engineering student attendance and a decrease in the number of students withdrawing or earning non-passing grades.

Last year the College of Engineering had 348 faculty and enrolled more than 6,700 undergraduate students and more than 2,300 graduate students.

The College of Engineering is in the midst of an aggressive growth campaign. The 42,000-square-foot Roger B. Gatewood Mechanical Engineering Wing is under construction. Also planned are the 41,000-square-foot Seng-Liang Wang Hall, which is a third building for the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 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.

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

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

Source: Leah Jamieson, (765) 494-5346, lhj@purdue.edu

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

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