Purdue Engineering Reaches Thousands of Prospective Graduate Students This Fall
The United States faces a growing gap between the supply of qualified engineers and the demand for their skills across various industries. Purdue Graduate Engineering is taking proactive measures to close this gap by attracting and developing top talent. They engaged thousands of prospective graduate students in Fall 2024 through a series of strategic recruitment activities, including a flagship Virtual Graduate Showcase, participation in major conferences, and specialized information sessions. These efforts highlight Purdue's top-ranked engineering programs and demonstrate its commitment to attracting exceptional talent from varied backgrounds, offering virtual sessions and targeted events to support applicants throughout the application process.
Virtual Graduate Showcase
The flagship event of Purdue's graduate recruitment efforts was the Purdue Engineering Virtual Graduate Showcase, held on September 29-30, 2024. This free online event provided a comprehensive introduction to the university's engineering and computer science graduate programs, featuring live interactive sessions that covered degree offerings, networking opportunities, and workshops on application processes and funding options.
Conference Engagements
Purdue Engineering maintained a strong presence at several major conferences in Fall 2024, beyond the Purdue University Campus. These engagements included the National GEM Conference, BRASA Summit Americas, UMBC Career Connection, Tau Beta Pi Convention, SWE Annual Conference, and SHPE National Convention. They also connected and partnered with others at Purdue to represent at NACME National Convention, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology University Career Fair, SACNAS, ABRCMS, and the Atlanta University Center Consortium (AUCC) Career Fair.
These conference appearances provided valuable opportunities for Purdue to showcase its graduate programs to prospective students on a national stage, attracting talented individuals from broad backgrounds to explore Purdue’s top-ranked engineering programs.
Information Sessions
To address specific needs and interests of prospective graduate students, Purdue Engineering provided virtual information sessions offering overviews of graduate programs, application procedures, and funding resources. These specialized events engaged a wide audience of prospective students on both a national and international scale.
Two collaborative events through the EngGAP NAGAP community recently focused on preparing undergraduate students for graduate school. These webinars were led by Purdue Engineering, featuring representatives from 15 different universities, including UC Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, University of Southern California, Georgia Tech, Purdue and more. By fostering early interest in graduate studies, these events shared not only the commonalities that exist in graduate school applications, but ways that undergraduate students can prepare for graduate school starting at freshman year.
Excellence in Mentoring Outreach
The GradTrack Scholars program, an award-winning initiative designed to prepare undergraduate students for graduate studies in engineering, has successfully concluded its fourth year in 2024. This year’s cohort featured 102 undergraduate mentees—its largest to date—paired with 26 Purdue Engineering graduate student mentors. Participants hailed from top institutions such as Caltech, Cornell, MIT, UC Berkeley, and the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, reflecting the program’s broad reach and commitment to fostering engineering talent. GradTrack, recognized as the 2023 CoNECD Program of the Year, continues to address critical challenges in engineering graduate education by equipping the next generation of engineers with the tools and guidance needed to thrive in graduate school and beyond. Contact Dr. Jackie McDermott at jem@purdue.edu with questions about being involved in GradTrack.
The inaugural cohort of Graduate Engineering Navigators (GEN) launched this fall. The navigators include 7 current graduate students (profiles coming soon!), who mentor prospective students, targeting those from their home country/region throughout the application process. The navigators have hosted webinars for prospective students in Mexico and Nigeria, represented Purdue Engineering at The BRASA Summit Americas (the largest conference organized by Brazilian university students abroad), hosted an international graduate student panel at the Purdue Engineering Virtual Graduate Showcase, and increased participation and engagement on the Purdue Engineering Graduate School Discord Server. The navigators continue to find ways to work with faculty mentors at Purdue and their undergraduate institutions. Contact Dr. Colleen Coulter at clc@purdue.edu with questions or to engage with a navigator.
Partnerships
The College of Engineering is proud to participate in the Sloan Centers for Systemic Change (SCSC) through our Schools (AAE, BME, and ChE), the College of Science and Graduate Office. This two-year program aims to recruit and retain top talent in our doctoral programs by implementing evidence-based strategies. Our faculty and staff are actively engaged in a new Community of Practice (CoP) with partner institutions, while our SCSC Graduate Student Ambassadors implement new programming.
What’s Next for Purdue Graduate Engineering
Purdue Engineering Grad is gearing up for an exciting lineup of events designed to connect with aspiring graduate students. Look for us at the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Convention, Early Discovery sessions, and summer research opportunities. Whether on your campus or virtually, Purdue Engineering graduate students and staff are eager to meet you and share insights about our programs. Stay informed and engage with us by checking out our upcoming events for prospective graduate students here.
Don’t miss your chance to explore what Purdue Engineering has to offer!
Questions? Email us at engrgrad@purdue.edu.
