Multidisciplinary Engineering and Interdisciplinary Engineering Studies Students and Alumni
This blog was created to continue our mission of creating community. To bring together students and the engineering community so they can learn about who we are. This blog is also for prospective students to understand that if they feel they don’t quite fit into some other engineering discipline, they may find a home here. Our doors are open, and we hope to see you in the NEST soon!
We are home to two very different kinds of engineering:
Interdisciplinary Engineering Studies (IDES)
Multidisciplinary Engineering (MDE)
Here in the MDE/IDES degree program, there is no ‘standard’ engineering student. We give rise to new and developing fields, ones that expand the breadth and knowledge of engineering to beyond the discipline itself. From Acoustical to Humanitarian to Global Defense, our school houses the engineers of the future. As students and alumni who view their engineering education and career differently, our strength and community is formed between the many diverse pathways that our students choose and develop. Students take classes across disciplines and go on to contribute to valuable areas of the workforce, attend top tier graduate programs, and even progress into professional schools. In MDE/IDES, students are encouraged to make a difference in the world and to apply engineering everywhere they go.
We are innovators, creators, self-starters. We are determined and adaptable. We are the future of engineering, today!
June 2, 2022
New graduate Logan Noster was among the first infants to receive the SIS grafts that Cook Biotech President Umesh Patel helped develop at Purdue
May 28, 2022
Alex Offenbach is an IndyCar systems engineer for A.J. Foyt Racing. This is a new position for Alex and only months into his role on the team. And like the generations of Boilermakers who have left a legacy at the Indianapolis 500, Alex is making his own impact one step at a time.
May 13, 2022
Eli Mackley, a 2022 senior in our Multidisciplinary Engineering Degree Program, will soon head back home to Seattle for his next giant leap as a systems engineer. In this Q&A, Eli brings an insight into the world of MDE and how it bolstered his desired pathway in nuclear systems for space applications. Learn why he chose MDE, his time with the Purdue Space Program and what's next!
May 13, 2022
Spencer Hutchins is a 2022 graduate in our Interdisciplinary Engineering Studies Degree Program. He transferred into the program late into his degree pathway but finished with a cohort and faculty who provided just what he needed at just the right time. See his Q&A for more about his time at Purdue and next steps on the east coast.
May 13, 2022
Laura Zerla, a 2022 senior in our Multidisciplinary Engineering Degree Program, will take her next giant leap as a mechanical engineer for an architecture and engineering firm in Fort Wayne, Indiana. In her Q&A, Laura provides insight into why a concentration in Visual Design Engineering and how she found her fit at Purdue.
May 13, 2022
Jack is a 2022 graduate in our Multidisciplinary Engineering Degree Program with a concentration in General Engineering. His interests and pathway through the program led him to continue his passion for rockets, soon to be a manufacturing engineer for Agile Space Industries. Learn why he chose MDE and the memories he shared about his time with the Purdue Space Program.
May 12, 2022
Joseph Fiebig, a 2022 senior in our Multidisciplinary Engineering Degree Program, will soon head out to Erie, PA for his next giant leap. We caught up with Joe before commencement to learn more about his time at Purdue and in the MDE undergraduate program.
March 29, 2022
Student researchers proved acoustical engineering professor’s theory to be correct
December 20, 2021
Experiential learning opportunities prepare students to work in many forms of live entertainment
February 16, 2021
Don’t assume that someone who grew up near an airport, loved to go to air shows, graduated from a respected STEM high school, and earned admission into Purdue’s
College of Engineering has settled into a long-term career as an aerospace engineer. It is true that 2006 graduate Corey Jorman has a job he loves at The Boeing Company. But with the
Interdisciplinary Engineering Studies (IDES) program having provided lift for the takeoff, his journey is less predictable and more dynamic than you might think. Corey holds two non-AAE bachelor’s degrees and a JD in intellectual property. This self-described people-person focused on the manufacturing sector uses words like “harvesting” and “protecting” to describe his daily tasks as a lawyer. And this young alumnus ponders future destinations—with a possible MBA still on the radar screen.
February 3, 2021
Lexy Ackerman, 2018 MDE Visual Design Engineering, is a mechanical engineer for BorgWarner, Inc. She is working with a team on inverters for all-electric and hybrid vehicles. It’s Lexy’s new venture, alongside her career as a practicing engineer, that led us to this conversation.
January 31, 2021
Without theme parks open due the Covid-19 pandemic, gaining experience through job internships was all but impossible last summer for students pursuing careers in the live entertainment industry.
December 20, 2020
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and an opportunity to serve, Abhipri Mishra (IDES '19 Pre-Med), a first year medical student at the Indiana University School of Medicine, is stepping up in a big way.
December 14, 2020
Leigh Witek, a December 2020 graduate in Multidisciplinary Engineering, is joining the ranks in a new field gaining ground in both popularity and need - theatre engineering. She is one of few who have graduated with the degree concentration at the only university with an ABET-accredited program for theatre engineering. Leigh also holds a B.A. in Theatre Design and Production from the College of Liberal Arts.
November 18, 2020
Purdue University’s chapter of the Acoustical Society of America can now explain the sound heard when someone claps at the infamous “clapping circle” on campus. Equally impressive, ASA members have proven the related theory of a Purdue acoustical engineering professor.
