As Purdue’s School of Industrial Engineering strives to remain a leader among industrial and systems engineering schools across the country, it is vital that our facilities remain on the cutting edge – both to serve our existing students well and also to attract the best and brightest to seek admission to our School.

Plans are currently being developed for an IE Student Excellence Center that will serve as a ‘home base’ for Purdue’s undergraduate IE students, with ample room to meet with academic advisors, study together and work on team projects. 

Most importantly, though, the Center will be a space in which we can provide career guidance, facilitate global experiences, supply a 'garage lab' in which entrepreneurial students can come together and explore ideas that may not be related to a specific course-- all those things that are so vital to a young engineer's success, but are not necessarily picked up in the classroom.

The Center will also include a nearby computer lab and additional office space which could be used for meetings, recruiters, student organizations, etc.

Finally, the Student Excellence Center will provide a striking visual focal point for Grissom Hall, the home of IE at Purdue. (See the current space compared to the imagined space above.) As the first thing a prospective IE student will see when they enter the building and the first thing a Purdue IE student will see each morning – the Student Excellence Center will serve as an exciting visual reminder that Purdue’s School of Industrial Engineering continues to lead the way in IE education – and in helping the world ‘Rethink IE.’

If you have an interest in supporting this project financially (gifts of any size are welcomed -- up to and including a naming opportunity for this important project), please contact IE Director of Development Larry Sommers at 765­-496­-6192 or lsommers@purdue.edu.