Engineering Education Undergraduate Degree Programs

The School of Engineering Education is recognized globally as the leading academic unit of its type — the first engineering department in the world whose research is centered on an evidence-based approach to improve the education of engineers.

Our mission is to “transform engineering education based on scholarship and research” about how people learn by rethinking the boundaries of engineering and the purpose of engineering education. Formed in 2004, the School takes the proud tradition of innovation in education pioneered by Freshman Engineering and what was the Division of Interdisciplinary Engineering Program to the next level.

Our undergraduate programs include the following:

First-Year Engineering Program

First-Year Engineering is the launchpad for all engineering students at Purdue. We prepare beginning students with the knowledge, skills and abilities to be successful in their engineering majors at Purdue. Having implemented a “flipped classroom” environment on an unprecedented scale in our Ideas to Innovation Learning Laboratory, we engage 2,400 First-Year Engineering students each semester in hands-on problem-solving, design, and teamwork that will ably prepare them for their chosen engineering disciplines.

Multidisciplinary Engineering

Multidisciplinary engineering is for students who plan to practice engineering as a career but whose specific career goals cannot be accommodated within one of the traditional engineering fields. The program offers considerable flexibility and permits you to choose from an established plan of study or develop an individual plan of study to meet educational goals that can require bringing together multiple engineering disciplines, or non-engineering disciplines, at an advanced level to solve societal challenges. Established plans of study in the program include acoustical engineering, engineering management, visual design engineering, and general engineering, to name a few.

Also see Fusion Studio for Entertainment and Engineering

Interdisciplinary Engineering Studies

Interdisciplinary Engineering Studies is for students who want an engineering education but do not plan to practice engineering. The program offers considerable flexibility and permits you to develop an individual plan of study to meet educational goals that require working at the interface between engineering and other disciplines. Established options in the program include pre-medical engineering studies among many others. IDES is NOT an ABET accredited program plan of study.