University of Wisconsin Madison College of Engineering


The College of Engineering is one of the best places in the world to get an engineering education. We have excellent students. We have world-class faculty. We have an outstanding curriculum. As one professor said, “Our students learn how to do stuff.”

We do more than teach students. We immerse them in interdisciplinary activities and offer real-world design challenges. We introduce them to experts in their fields. And we provide them the technological tools and resources that will prepare them to meet twenty-first-century engineering needs.

In the classroom and in the lab, engineering students study and work hard—yet they also have rich social lives that include myriad extracurricular activities. Student life and learning in engineering offer exciting choices: international study, field research, internships, laboratory experience, entrepreneurial opportunities, and more.

Students with eye form.The college is internationally renowned for its research, and students at all levels have the opportunity to work directly with faculty, to propose and conduct research, and to publish and patent their results. Working in interdisciplinary teams, engineering students address real-world challenges—and actually design and build products that solve those challenges. They learn to present their ideas, pitch their products and launch successful companies.

Students also can join any of more than 55 registered engineering student organizations! These orgs offer experiences ranging from international automotive competitions to student chapters of engineering professional societies. Haiti experience.Through them, our students build and race everything from concrete canoes to electric snowmobiles. They conduct community service and educational outreach. They host and attend national professional engineering conferences. And, through organizations such as Engineering World Health and Engineers Without Borders, they help residents of communities worldwide to use low-cost medical devices and implement sustainable engineering solutions.

Annually, approximately 130 engineering students live, learn, work and serve abroad via our International Engineering Studies and Programs, internship and co-op programs, student organizations, and the chemical engineering summer course program.

A College of Engineering education not only offers students the time of their life—it prepares students for life in the real world.

Your world.

Samples of student excellence


International opportunities

  • 201—Students who studied, worked or served abroad in the 2010-2011 academic year

  • 31—Countries they visited

Internships and co-ops


  • 116 students on co-op—fall 2010

  • 109 students on co-op—spring 2011
  • 205 students on co-op—summer 2011
  • 438 students on internships—summer 2011

Career opportunities

  • 2010 fall Career Connection—Thousands of students talked with recruiters from more than 220 local, state and national corporations

  • 2011 spring Career Connection—Despite a campus-closing blizzard, the event drew more than 120 employers

Hybrid vehicle teams successes since 2000


2000—Hybrid Chevy Surburban earns 4th place in the FutureTruck Competition

2001—Hybrid Ford Taurus wins Tour de Sol

2001—Hybrid Chevy Suburban earns 2nd place in FutureTruck Competition

2002—Ford Explorer hybrid wins FutureTruck Competition

2003—Ford Explorer hybrid wins FutureTruck Competition

2004—Ford Explorer hybrid wins FutureTruck Competition

2004—Clean Snowmobile Team wins SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge

2006—Hybrid Chevy Equinox Crossover SUV earns 2nd place in the Challenge X Competition
2006—Clean Snowmobile Team wins SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge
2007—Hybrid Chevy Equinox Crossover SUV earns 2nd place in the Challenge X Competition
2008—Hybrid Chevy Equinox Crossover SUV earns 2nd place in the Challenge X Coast to Coast Competition
2008—Clean Snowmobile Team wins SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge
2009—Clean Snowmobile Team wins SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge

2010—Clean Snowmobile Team wins SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge

2011—Clean Snowmobile Team wins SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge

National Concrete Canoe Competition successes since 2000


2000—Prominence earns 7th place
2001—Eclipse earns 11th place

2002—Mine Bender earns 5th place

2003—Chequamegon wins national title
2004—Rock Solid wins national title
2005—Taliesin wins national title

2006—Forward wins national title

2007—Descendant wins national title
2008—Buckingham earns 6th place

2010—Centennial earns 5th place

2011—Element earns 2nd place

National Steel Bridge Competition successes since 2000


2003—2nd place

2004—4th place

2006—3rd place

2007—3rd place

2008—6th place

2009—12th place
2010—13th place

Engineers Without Borders (student chapter)

  • 2003—Formed at UW-Madison
  • 2005—Earned international recognition: The prestigious United Nations and Daimler Mondialogo Engineering Award for efforts to help build basic infrastructure in Rwanda
  • 2009—Received Mondialogo Engineering Award for efforts to help build basic infrastructure in rural Haiti

  • More than 80 active members
  • Project partnerships with residents of Rwanda, Haiti, El Salvador, Kenya and Red Cliff, Wisconsin