Enhancing Your Engineering Experience with EPICS

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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.

To be admitted to the EPICS living learning community, which is optional but highly recommended, freshmen must apply during the housing process to be placed with other students who will be taking the EPICS course. An email will be sent out containing all the information needed to apply; in short, you will have to rank your top 10 Learning Communities and answer a brief questionnaire stating why you want to be a part of that Learning Community.

Visit https://www.purdue.edu/learningcommunities/profiles/index.html to learn more about all the Learning Communities offered at Purdue!

A little bit more about my project...
After being placed on an EPICS team, with students of all different skill levels, a team breaks up into subteams. On a subteam, the design lead helps to narrow the focus to a smaller component of the overall project. Currently, I am part of Team India and within that team, I am part of the Mobile Science Lab. My project includes collaboration with IIT Tirupati in designing and implementing a mobile science lab to enhance STEM education for 4th - 10th graders in poor village communities in Tirupati. As of right now, we have designed and completed 23 experiments and are working on designing how our lab will be transported amongst 4 schools! Things such as weather, terrain, and safety are logistics that must be considered when we decide what mode of transportation will be used. Working on this project has been very rewarding because I now understand what it takes to be an engineer and how to deal with setbacks.

Why join EPICS?

Although I have only been in EPICS for 3 months, it has provided me with ample opportunities. My project gave me a lot to talk about during Industrial Roundtable, the largest career fair held on Purdue campus! Most employers are already familiar with EPICS and are very impressed by the motivation of EPICS students to gain experience working on a team on real projects. This not only allows for students to network with upperclassmen within their team, but also network with employers who may want to offer you an internship or job!

When you are selected to be in the EPICS program, you are guaranteed housing on campus and get to live with other students who are also in EPICS. This means that people on the same floor and building are taking classes similar to yours. This has proven to be very beneficial for me. 

Although I have only been a part of EPICS for 3 months, I have already gained valuable engineering skills, connected with people from all over the world, and established a great connection with my project. I find EPICS to be a very rewarding experience!

-Radhika Kulkarni, WE Link Recruitment Project Committee Blog Group
First Year Engineering 
Stay Connected With Purdue WIEP!
Twitter: @purduewiep 
Instagram: @purduewiep
Email: welink@purdue.edu

Use the hashtag #PurdueWIEP on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!


Purdue Women in Engineering

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