Mechanical Engineering Building Self-Guided Tour

Thank you for visiting the Mechanical Engineering Building at Purdue University! This is the headquarters of the largest ME school in the nation, with more than 2,000 undergraduate students, 1,000 graduate students, and 95 full-time faculty.

While most Purdue ME students get their start in this building, Mechanical Engineering research can be found in more than 20 buildings on- and off-campus, including all the way in Indianapolis. But right here is the best place to start, to learn about the world-changing influence of Purdue Mechanical Engineering.

1. The Clock

This purely mechanical clock from 1896 symbolizes the deep roots of mechanical engineering at Purdue. It first rang out in Heavilon Hall, the earliest building that hosted mechanical engineering studies at Purdue. After decades in storage, the clock was rebuilt and refurbished by our staff and faculty in the 2010s. Its 11-foot pendulum keeps time, while the 200-pound counterweight must be manually cranked every four days.

NEXT: Turn left, to the hallway with the curved pillars...

2. Advisors’ Offices

These offices belong to our Undergraduate Advisors. Students meet with their respective advisor once per semester to plan their academic journey together, and make sure they stay on track to graduate on time. They also assist with co-ops & internships, study abroad, academic and campus resources, career planning, and much more.

NEXT: Turn right, across the “catwalk” to the hallway of...

3. Tutorial Rooms and Student Groups

We know that Purdue’s engineering classes are tough. That’s why we offer every opportunity for students to get help when they need it. These Tutorial Rooms are open every day, where students can just “drop in” for help with specific classes. If they need more one-on-one help, we also offer more personal tutoring options, most of them totally free. Purdue also offers the Academic Success Center, with supplemental instruction, peer success coaching, workshops, accountability groups, and even more opportunities to succeed.

This hallway also is home to our Student Groups. Purdue has hundreds of students organizations available, but these ones are specific to Mechanical Engineering:

  • Pi Tau Sigma: This is the ME Honor Society, which encourages fellowship with ME students and offers events and study sessions to help everyone succeed.
  • Purdue Mechanical Engineering Ambassadors (PMEA): In giving tours and answering questions, they serve as the forward face of the ME program.
  • Purdue ASME: Purdue University’s chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) prepares its members to land the job or internship of their dreams! They organize extracurricular projects such as Grand Prix Karts, Prosthetics, Hydroponics, and CAD Training so students can get hands-on engineering experience.
  • Women in Mechanical Engineering (WiME): The mission of WiME is to build a supportive network of students that fosters scholarship, community, and professional growth. In addition to students supporting each other, we also draw from the experiences of all the female faculty and alumni who have been a part of Purdue Mechanical Engineering.

NEXT: Turn around and head back to the right, by the...

4. Commons

This is one of several study areas in the ME Building, open to all students. It’s also the occasional home to events (both planned and unplanned), from office hours consultations to birthday parties and research showcases. Nearby is the Main Office and several conference rooms, if you need more formal space.

NEXT: head to the back corner by the closed construction door to learn more about...

5. The Renovation

You may notice that a lot of the ME Building is currently closed off. We’re in the middle of a two-year renovation project. Why? The current Mechanical Engineering Building is actually a hodgepodge of five different buildings, built in different time periods from 1929 to 2012. Some of the floors of the mismatched buildings don’t even connect!

In order to accommodate our ever-growing student population, we are undergoing this renovation, which should be complete by Fall of 2025:

  • Adding modern elevators for a more accessible entrance
  • Adding more modern restroom facilities
  • Increasing the size and number of machine shops, instructional labs, and maker spaces
  • Creating more collaborative spaces for students and faculty, with classrooms focused on experiential learning

NEXT:  Turn around and find the elevator, and head down to the 1st floor to see...

6. The Gatewood Atrium

This open space is the focal point of the ME Building, and a gathering place for all sorts of events. During the school year, companies will come and set up informational booths in the atrium, offering students the chance to share their resumé and discuss job opportunities. We even have student bands play music here in the ten minutes between classes! (We call it Ten Minutes of Talent!)

NEXT: Turn right, and find the display cases that make up...

7. The Toy Museum and 3D Printing Lab

Every toy in the Toy Museum was designed and built by students in ME444, Computer-Aided Design. This is one of the most popular classes at Purdue, and it teaches concept generation, CAD design, rapid prototyping, and finite element analysis. The final project is to design and build a toy — some of them purely mechanical, while others include electronic elements.

To the left of the display cases, you can see through the window into our 3D Printing Lab. Any student is welcome to use these 3D printers to create prototypes, class assignments, or personal projects.

NEXT: Follow along that wall, until you find...

8. Trains!

Why trains? Because Purdue Mechanical Engineering became well-known in the 1890s as the first ever laboratory for locomotives. That’s why Purdue students are called “Boilermakers,” and why you often see a locomotive called the Boilermaker Special driving around campus! We have two models to celebrate this: a 1906 display with a crank you can turn, and on the opposite wall, an 1893 display that was shown at the Chicago World’s Fair, portraying what our locomotive laboratory looked like. And if you look closely at the floor, you can see “train tracks” embedded where the actual train tracks used to run!

NEXT: Look next to the World’s Fair train at a trophy case that celebrates...

9. Purdue Motorsports

Motorsports is a natural proving ground for the engineering knowledge and experience Purdue is famous for worldwide. These trophies have been earned by our student racing teams — Baja SAE, Formula SAE, and Formula Electric SAE. These student teams design and build a new race car from scratch every year, and then compete in the summer against other universities.

It’s no surprise that there are Boilermaker alumni all over the motorsports world — including NASCAR crew chiefs Chris Gabehart and Jonathan Hassler, and Angela Ashmore, the first female crew member to win the Indy 500.

NEXT: Peek to your right, and you’ll see double doors leading to a...

10. Classroom

This is ME1130, one of the larger classrooms in the ME Building. Feel free to take a peek inside (but don’t barge in if class is going on!) This is a typical size of most core classes that ME students take; generally, the farther you advance in your degree, the smaller the class sizes get. Most Purdue classrooms also feature recording capabilities, which allow you to go back and review lectures and notes to prepare for your homework and exams.

NEXT: Extra credit, if you want to go past the bathrooms on your right and down the ramp to the...

11. Machine Shop

This is our Student Machine Shop (please just peek in the door; for safety reasons, only students have access to the shop). This fully-staffed facility enables students to use drills, lathes, CNC machines, and more to machine and manufacture both class assignments and their own personal projects.

Never been in a machine shop before? Don’t worry. As part of the sophomore-level design class ME263, each student has the opportunity to learn about the machines by making their own aluminum hammer. The hammer becomes your own personal keepsake at the end of the class!

NEXT: Tour is almost done! Come back up the ramp, and head to the opposite corner of the Atrium toward the exit. But before you go, take a peek at the right windowed area, which is our...

12. Senior Design Workshop

These areas (and several others nearby) are exclusively for our seniors, taking their final class: ME463 Senior Design. In this capstone class, teams of students work closely with faculty members and industry partners to create prototype products, continually refining and improving them using the knowledge from their engineering courses over the last four years. At the end of the semester, the students present their final prototypes to a panel of industry judges, ala Shark Tank. The best prototypes win cash prizes!

Thank you!

Thank you for taking our self-guided tour of the Mechanical Engineering Building at Purdue University! We hope you got a glimpse into the amazing work that our students and faculty undertake every day.

If you have questions, the best place to get answers is our website: https://purdue.edu/ME

You can also follow us on X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube!

More interested in graduate-level research? Take a look at: