Purdue graduate engineering programs ranked among nation's best

Luc Mongeau
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"We're starting to see the effects of our strategic plan, which called for hiring additional faculty, increasing our research effort and expanding our facilities," said Linda Katehi, the John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering. "We had 284 faculty in 2001 when we began developing our strategic plan, and now we have 341 and expect to have 395 within the next few years.

"Another goal of our strategic plan was to increase the number of Purdue faculty who are members of the National Academy of Engineering, a hallmark within the engineering field. In 2001, we had nine members in the academy, and this spring we have 18 faculty as members of the academy."

Purdue's College of Engineering spent about $103 million to research in the 2000-01 academic year. In the 2004-05 academic year, more than $211 million was committed to research.

New facilities include the nearly 123,000-square-foot Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering, which will house the college's recently established Department of Engineering Education, the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the School of Materials Engineering, Engineering Projects in Community Service and a number of student-focused program offices.

Linda Katehi

Katehi recently accepted the position of provost and chancellor of academic affairs for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and will leave her post at Purdue on April 1.

"Purdue graduate engineering is regularly ranked in the top 10 nationally, and I can't think of a more fitting tribute to Linda's leadership than engineering's ranking sixth in the nation this year," said Leah Jamieson, interim dean for the College of Engineering and a professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Individual Purdue program specialties ranked among the top 10 are:

• Nuclear engineering, No. 5

• Industrial engineering, No. 4

• Civil engineering, No. 8

• Aerospace, aeronautical and astronautical engineering, No. 6

• Mechanical engineering, No. 8

• Computer engineering, No. 10

University of Michigan is tied with Purdue for the sixth placement. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of California-Berkeley, Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign were ranked first through fifth, respectively, in the report.

In a sub-category of the survey, employers ranked the College of Engineering No. 5 nationally, tied with Georgia Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon University and Cornell University.

Purdue's engineering program is among the largest in the United States and includes 14 academic programs: aeronautics and astronautics, agricultural and biological, biomedical, chemical, civil, construction engineering and management, electrical and computer, engineering education, first-year engineering, industrial, interdisciplinary, materials, mechanical and nuclear.

More than 6,300 undergraduate students and more than 2,200 graduate students are enrolled in Purdue engineering programs. Total graduate student enrollment from 2,099 in the fall of 2001 to 2,273 last fall, and in the same period we increased our doctoral degrees from 150 to 183.

To determine overall ranking, the magazine used data provided by the institutions. The information was used to compare factors such as standardized test scores, applicant acceptance rates, the ratio of doctoral students to faculty, research expenditures and research spending per faculty member.

U.S. News & World Report's complete rankings in "America's Best Graduate Schools" will be available on newsstands Monday (April 3). U.S. News has published graduates school rankings annually since 1987.

Writers: Cynthia Sequin, (765) 494-4192, csequin@purdue

Emil Venere, (765) 494-4709, venere@purdue.edu

Sources: Linda Katehi, (765) 494-5346, katehi@purdue.edu

Leah Jamieson, (765) 494-4966, lhj@purdue.edu

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

A publication-quality photo is available at https://www.purdue.edu/uns/images/+2006/engineering-rankings.jpg

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