Motorsports Research
Purdue University students have always been interested in speed: from steam locomotives in the 1800s, to the supersonic rockets of the space age. Motorsports is a natural proving ground for the engineering knowledge and experience Purdue is famous for worldwide. It’s no surprise that there are Boilermaker alumni all over the motorsports world — from NASCAR Cup Champion crew chief Jonathan Hassler, to the first female crew member to win the Indy 500, Angela Ashmore.
But we go even deeper than that. Purdue University in Indianapolis hosts the only accredited motorsports engineering degree in the country. Students get hands-on experience and direct connections to the industry, in the "Racing Capital of the World." They are also able to conduct unprecedented graduate-level research, specifically in motorsports. Our graduates have gone on to the highest positions in NASCAR, IndyCar, IMSA, Formula 1, as well as industry partners like Polaris and John Deere.
Faculty in Motorsports
- Composites materials design and manufacturing
- Sustainable and recyclable-by-design polymers and composites
- Polymer processing and characterization
- Composites recycling
- Hybrid manufacturing systems
- Multiscale modeling
- Damage mechanics
- Motorsports
- Engineering
- Vehicle Dynamics
- Design
- Vehicle Chassis Control Systems
- Vehicle Dynamics
- Autonomous Vehicles
- Human Driver Dynamics