Public research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, teaching and researching across science, technology, engineering and mathematics at scale.
Purdue University is a public research university founded in 1869 in West Lafayette, Indiana, operating under the Morrill Land Grant College Act of 1862. Its work spans science, technology, engineering and mathematics, with more than 400 research labs and 139 research centres and institutes spread across 11 colleges and schools. The main campus enrols over 50,000 students from more than 135 countries; a further urban campus in Indianapolis offers nearly 20 STEM-focused majors, and the university's global student network exceeds 102,000.
For engineers and researchers, the relevant scale is institutional as well as technical. Purdue employs over 2,000 faculty and staff and supports research activity in engineering, technology and aerospace among other verticals. The institution has produced 23 NASA astronauts, among them Neil Armstrong, and its alumni network numbers more than 600,000 worldwide.
Purdue has kept tuition frozen for 14 consecutive years. It has been ranked among the top 10 public universities in the United States for four consecutive years in the QS World University Rankings, first among public universities for graduating Fortune 500 CEOs, and fourth among the most innovative public universities in the country. The university refers to its community as Boilermakers.
