The UW-Madison College of Engineering is among the nation's top colleges of engineering. It consists of eight degree-granting departments—biomedical engineering, chemical and biological engineering, civil and environmental engineering, electrical and computer engineering, engineering physics, industrial and systems engineering, materials science and engineering, and mechanical engineering. Its ninth department, engineering professional development, is one of the nation's oldest and largest continuing education programs for professional engineers.

The college is home to 44 research centers and 15 consortia, which collaborate directly with industry and government to identify and solve key engineering challenges. The Department of Engineering Professional Development annually delivers more than 300 continuing education courses in engineering, design, operations, production, maintenance, management and planning to more than 10,000 students. Additionally, it offers a suite of internationally acclaimed professional master's degrees, including six online master's degrees.

Making an impact

In the College of Engineering, we recognize that engineers will play a role in solving every major challenge facing society. Together, our faculty, staff and students are addressing challenges in energy, healthcare and medicine, sustainability and the environment, security, transportation infrastructure, and many other areas. We are champions of the Wisconsin Idea, the principle that education should influence and improve people's lives beyond the university classroom. Recently, for example, our faculty collaborated with experts at Brookfield, Wisconsin-based Friction Stir Link to study a welding process key to Wisconsin shipyard Marinette Marine's ability to build extreme shallow-water naval vessels. Another group of researchers has applied its expertise in the use of recycled materials for sustainable construction to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency decision about the benefits or detriments of using coal-combustion products in construction applications.

Educating tomorrow's engineers

Through an educational initiative called Engineering Beyond Boundaries, we are transforming the way in which we educate undergraduates to prepare them as the global engineers of and for the future. In classroom and extracurricular activities, our undergraduates build disciplinary excellence with a multidisciplinary, multicultural perspective. Through team projects, internships, co-operative work experiences, international study, and leadership opportunities, they gain an understanding of the societal context of engineering and embrace an ethic of service to the profession and to the world.