Give to Mechanical Engineering
Be a part of moving the world forward.
Since 1882, Purdue Mechanical Engineering has set the standard for educating students who make the world a better place. As a donor, you play an important role in that history. With your support, state-of-the-art laboratories and testing facilities come to campus. Purdue is able to recruit and retain the best faculty. Students who couldn't afford Purdue now have doors open to them. Your donations and partnerships help to keep Purdue ME a top-10 school for years to come.
Contact Us!
If you have any questions about giving to Purdue Mechanical Engineering, please contact me!
Christina Starace
Senior Director of Development
(317) 946-2414
cdstarace@purdueforlife.org
ME Building Renovation
Purdue is the largest mechanical engineering school in the country, educating more than 2,800 undergraduate students every year. But despite our stalwart reputation, we face serious issues. Our enrollment has grown so fast, that our physical infrastructure has struggled to keep up.
The Mechanical Engineering Building is actually a hodgepodge of five different buildings, built in different time periods from 1929 to 2012. As a result, the old building lacks modern elevators, restrooms, modern HVAC, and sufficient space for machine shops, instructional labs, and maker spaces. To achieve our goal of 100% student participation in hands-on, multidisciplinary team projects, we are pursuing drastic changes in our physical infrastructure.
Starting in Fall 2023, the 1930s-era Mechanical Engineering Building has been cleared to the studs, replacing outdated infrastructure with much needed modern restrooms, elevators, HVAC, and accessible entrances. We are also improving student flow in the building by dedicating the ground and 1st floors to student classrooms, all built with active collaboration in mind. Instructional labs are also being rebuilt from the ground up, replacing temporary dividers with dedicated rooms to encourage experiential learning. The newly-renovated Mechanical Engineering Building is currently scheduled to reopen for students and faculty in Fall 2025.
The re-imagined Mechanical Engineering Building will focus more than ever on experiential learning: taking the theory you’ve discussed in a classroom, and putting it into practice in a tangible way. To do this, we need instructional labs and maker spaces that will allow students to go beyond the typical conformity and drudgery of a sit-and-listen engineering classroom, and instead inspire them to become hands-on problem solvers.
Another important thing we’ve learned about teaching engineering in the 21st century is the importance of collaboration. That’s not possible with rows of desks all facing a blackboard. Our students need the soft skills of teamwork, leadership, collaboration, and diversity of thought.
The re-imagined Mechanical Engineering Building is an expression of those goals. Active-learning classrooms have collaboration baked in from the start, and team projects an integral part of the entire Purdue ME curriculum.
The Future Is In Your Hands
We owe it to the next generation of Boilermakers: the next astronauts, entrepreneurs, and problem-solving engineers. They deserve a one-of-a-kind environment where they can pursue every field imaginable. The ME Building will be completely focused on offering mechanical engineering undergraduate students the most comprehensive experiential learning environment in the world.
Will you help us make this happen? A $27 million expansion and renovation of the ME Building isn’t just an investment in bricks and mortar. It’s a “giant leap” for the School of Mechanical Engineering into the 21st century.
Support future Boilermakers today!
To support the ME Building Renovation, please contact me!
Christina Starace
Senior Director of Development
(317) 946-2414
cdstarace@purdueforlife.org
