The Engineering Experience

Purdue has so many resources to help you decide which engineering discipline to pursue. Whether you’re looking to find out more about a discipline you’re already interested in or you have no idea which discipline is for you, Purdue will help you to choose the best fit for you.  This blog goes through everything you need to know about how Purdue can help you choose your engineering discipline. Some of the students at the WE Link Volunteer Night talking about how Purdue helped them choose their disciplines 1.       Who is available to help discuss options? ·         “The most helpful person for me to go to is my WIEP mentor . She helped answer all the questions I had and directed me towards different resources I could turn to for additional help. The ENGR 131 classes that cover parts of different disciplines also helped me figured out what I liked and didn’t like.” -Selina Woo, First-Year Engineering ·          “Sophomore friends that I met through clubs and class

Photo by Mark Simons provided by Purdue University It is no secret that the number of women aren’t numerically greater than men in the STEM fields, especially in many engineering majors. At Purdue, while the percentage of women grow each year, the ratio is still less than half. This naturally comes with some benefits and some drawbacks, but professors at Purdue are committed to minimizing those drawbacks and creating a safe, equal space for everyone.  Dr. Matthew Ohland is a First-Year Engineering professor with a research emphasis on Engineering Education. He has devoted his career to researching team-member effectiveness, marginalized populations within engineering, and creating an inclusive learning environment. He values each of his students and makes valuable efforts to level the playing field for underrepresented populations such as women, LGBTQ+ students, and racial minorities. Dr. Ohland says that diversity and inclusion are about opportunity and social justice. Gi

Unlike many other schools, Purdue gives their students a 2-day fall break to relax, explore, study, or do anything they choose. There are so many different ways to spend your fall break, so keep reading to hear some of our favorite ways our volunteers spent their break. ·           Go home -  Many Purdue students choose to go home to spend time with friends and family. In fact, going home may be one of the best ways to decompress and recharge for the second half of the semester. My freshmen and sophomore fall breaks, I went home to Pennsylvania and even brought my friends from school with me! Not only getting to spend time with my family, I also got to show my friend where I grew up and all of the best cities near me. No matter whether you go home alone or with friends, time with family is always a great choice for fall break. ·           Go on a weekend trip –  If you are feeling a bit more adventurous, get some of your friends and/or family together for a quick weekend getaw

Are you interested in gaining real-life engineering experience starting as early as your freshman year? Are you someone who loves to give back to the community? Then the EPICS Learning Community is perfect for you! EPICS stands for Engineering Projects in Community Service; however, all majors are allowed to join an EPICS team! If you are interested in learning more about how to join EPICS and the benefits, then keep on reading! I am currently a freshman and part of the EPICS first year learning community. EPICS combines your standard two semesters of ENGR (ENGR 131 and ENGR 132) into a one semester course: ENGR 133. In addition to the ENGR 133 class, you are required to take a lab in EPICS for two semesters. EPICS teams meet for two hours a week in lab, and during this time, they work on real, hands-on projects. The EPICS program encompasses 40 teams with over 700 students across all disciplines. Therefore, everyone is able to find their place within the EPICS program.

Each engineering major at Purdue is unique and has characteristics that define it. Some majors graduate hundreds of students each year, while others only graduate a couple dozen. Understanding the social aspects and study group dynamics of each major is important while thinking about where you see yourself here at Purdue. First Year Engineering: Of the 41,000 students that Purdue enrolls at West Lafayette, over 30% of those students are majoring in engineering. So, entering into this sea of engineers in your first year can be intimidating. Fortunately, for us first year engineers, we have close to 2,500 other students in the same boat as us. The classes that first year engineers take are generally larger and professors encourage students to sit in a new seat every class and introduce yourself to a new person. We can find comfort in meeting people with similar interests and ambitions in these classes. However, since engineering consists of many different majors and specialities

Cassidy Viox (ME ‘22) and Joanna McCormack (CE ‘21) are both involved in the Women in Engineering Program and had summer internships in the field of engineering. While Purdue Engineering opens many doors to its students, Cassidy and Joanna had very different, yet valuable, experiences that prepared them for future jobs, classes, and projects. Each of them found their respective opportunities in different ways, which shows that there are multiple courses of action to take when searching for the perfect internship.  Joanna: This summer, I had an incredible experience working for AECOM at O’Hare International Airport. I worked as a Transportation Engineering Intern located at the Chicago Department of Aviation on the O’Hare Modernization Program. There, I was exposed to many different career paths within Aviation Engineering. I went to weekly meetings for different bid packages of projects being done on the airfield, such as new runways, taxiways, holding pads, aircraft hang