Engineering has been offered at the University since 1873, when Notre Dame became the first Catholic university in the country to have a school of engineering. In fact, Notre Dame boasts a long history of engineering developments in a variety of fields … from the construction of the first hand-driven wind tunnel in America (aerospace) and the successful transmission of one of the first wireless messages (communications) in the country to the discovery of a new class of actinyl peroxide compounds (energy) and demonstration of magnetic logic (computing).
When the College of Engineering was officially founded in 1920, most of the students were pursuing civil engineering, due to the nation’s need for surveyors and designers of roads, bridges, and railroads. Today, graduate and undergraduate students continue to explore a wide variety of fields through the five departments housed within the college as they search for ways to address some of society’s most pressing needs.
While the undergraduate engineering experience focuses on developing technically competent engineers, a strong liberal arts core is also emphasized.
Courses are taught by professional faculty, not graduate assistants, and students are able to take advantage of a wide range of hands-on research opportunities and international study programs, while still graduating in four years. Approximately 98 percent of Notre Dame engineers pass the Fundamentals of Engineering exam, compared to 74 percent nationally.
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College of Engineering graduate students work in tandem with internationally known faculty in state-of-the-art facilities. A close community of researchers, we focus our efforts on select high-profile projects, which provide graduate students with an exceptional educational experience.
Click here for more information on the Graduate Degree Programs.