Our Program

Engineering problems rarely fit into one box. Neither should your degree.

Multidisciplinary Engineering is an intersectional field, bringing together engineering and other areas of study (non-engineering knowledge), or combining multiple areas of engineering in a unique way that are currently not being served by a traditional field of engineering.

As a first-choice destination for those whose interests and abilities lie across academic disciplines, MDE attracts a wide variety of talented students. We're home to a Marshall Scholar recipient and Purdue's second ever Harry S. Truman Scholar!

Choose Your Path

MDE offers you considerable flexibility and permits you to develop your own individual plan of study or choose from several established plans of study that combine several academic disciplines around a focused concentration. For instance, you can concentrate your studies in emergent areas such as Theatre Engineering or Humanitarian Engineering; develop breadth of knowledge through General Engineering; or create your own plan of study to trailblaze new disciplines of engineering. Regardless of the path you pursue within MDE, you'll learn to address societal challenges through human-centered approaches as you develop the knowledge and skills to cut across multiple engineering and non-engineering disciplines.

Don't see a concentration that interests you? We actively collaborate with other schools across Purdue to ensure our students have the flexibility to pursue new areas in engineering education and practice, and we do this by helping you create a self-designed plan of study.

A Concierge Boilermaker Experience

MDE has a small-program-within-a-big-school feel. That means we know you by name and you benefit from a team of instructors and advisors dedicated to your success! And while MDE students may choose to concentrate in different areas, they have many opportunities to connect through the Multidisciplinary Engineering Student Society (MDESS) and the School of Engineering Education's Undergraduate Participation in Research in STEM Education (UpRise) program.

The Sky's the Limit

Given the cross-cutting set of knowledge and skills that our students develop, MDE alumni become integrators or practitioners able to work alongside and harmonize perspectives from a broad range of disciplines.

Learn more about our history, program data, scholarships, then find out how to change your degree and transfer into the program.