Happy 120th Anniversary

As we celebrate the 120th anniversary of the College of Engineering at Purdue University, all of us in the Division of Construction Engineering and Management are proud to be a part of the great institution for the past 44 years. Since CEM was established as an independent degree-granting unit within the College in 1976, our division has come a long way to be one of the leading programs in the country and the world.

Our program was founded on the principles of experiential learning. To this day, all our students go through three 12-week paid internships as part of their curriculum. This has been possible through strong support from our industry partners, including construction companies as well as owners. Over the past 44 years, we have built relations with more than 180 big and small companies that represent all sectors and segments of the construction industry, including building, infrastructure, and industrial construction. We are privileged to have such steadfast industry partners and proud of all the alumni who work at those companies.

In addition, our Industry Advisory Board, comprising 20 company executives, keeps us abreast of industry needs and contemporary subject areas that need to be covered in our ever-evolving curriculum. As a result, our curriculum is designed to balance theory and practice. Our students are trained hand-in-hand with the latest theoretical and experiential concepts that all construction engineering graduates need to know to be successful in their careers and to be good citizens. We have consistently maintained 100 percent placement of our students within three months of graduation.

In the CEM division, we place strong emphasis on diversity and inclusion, which is positively reflected in our faculty and staff hiring, as well as student recruitment. Our students come from all over the U.S. and abroad. For the past several years, about 25 percent of our student body has been comprised of women and minority students who are mentored by our alumni-run group called Women in Construction (WinC). In the WinC initiative, our alumni and advisory board members mentor young women as they learn and train to be successful in their careers in the construction industry.

This is complemented by our faculty, who are research-active and experts in their fields. They are engaged in cutting-edge research in infrastructure engineering and management, facilities engineering, virtual and augmented reality, the cyber-physical space, construction safety, geographic information systems (GIS), building information modeling (BIM), heavy construction, underground infrastructure, disaster risk reduction, and profitability of construction companies, to name a few areas.

We recently added two new faculty members: a professor of engineering practice, who is world-renowned as an expert in underground infrastructure, and a bright young assistant professor, with expertise in smart construction, including safety and human factors in automation through the application of cyber-physical-human systems.

Curriculum advances are underway to meet current and evolving needs. Infrastructure rehabilitation, facilities engineering, cyber-physical applications, and off-site construction are likely to gain more ground in the coming years in terms of capital investment and research. Our faculty and curriculum are well positioned to address these contemporary needs. In addition, we are soon going to offer a Professional Master’s in Construction Engineering and Management degree. This program will combine on-campus and online delivery of course content to help working professionals attend the program, as well as to address the new normal due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Professional MS in CEM is designed to offer specialty areas that cover different sectors and knowledge domains within the construction industry, enabling professionals from diverse backgrounds to customize their learning based on their career requirements.

There is a lot happening in CEM, and I hope you’ll enjoy our “Sounds Like the Future” podcast, which offers more information. We are recognized as one of the best programs for construction engineering and management in the country and around the world, and we intend to stay there in the future.

Go Boilers and Hail Purdue!

Makarand (Mark) Hastak
Professor and Dernlan Family Head of Construction Engineering and Management
Purdue University