PhD Admissions

Earn Your Doctorate at Duke

Completing a PhD program in engineering is hard. Really hard. But after years of preparation, frustration and celebration, a Duke doctorate stands out from the crowd.

Between field-defining faculty and a web of industrial, entrepreneurial and public-policy connections, with a Duke Engineering PhD, you can just about go anywhere and do just about anything your heart desires.

And with Duke’s comprehensive financial and professional support, you won’t take that journey alone.

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Fall scenes around West Campus, November 3, 2021Perkins, bostock

Duke: The Path to a High-Impact Career

Wherever your path leads you, a Duke PhD will ensure you’ll arrive prepared to make a difference.

Browse Faculty
Shyni Varghese, professor of biomedical engineering, mechanical engineering and materials science and orthopaedics (right), in her Duke University lab. She is taking a microscope slide from a colleague.

Biomedical Engineering
gloved hand holds a petri dish

Civil & Environmental Engineering

Electrical & Computer Engineering
faculty member and graduate students work on a project outside

Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science

Guaranteed Funding

Duke provides significant financial support. And that’s just the beginning. There’s mentorship and career exploration support, too.

See Details

Generous Stipend

Guaranteed pay, 12 months a year, for the first five years

Paid Tuition

Covered by Duke during the first five years of study

No Fees

For the first five years, Duke pays all mandatory fees

Insurance Coverage

For six years, Duke pays your health and dental premiums

Applying to Duke

Contact us at pratt_phd@duke.edu

Contact Us

Join Our Mailing List

Receive updates, insights and invitations from our Admissions Team

Review Financial Support Package

5 years of stipend—plus six years of health and dental coverage

Find Your Deadline

See the application calendar for all Duke PhD programs

Start Your Application

Using Duke’s secure online platform

John Blackshear, dean of students, and Provost Alec Gallimore talk with first-year students after the Convocation for New Undergraduate Students at Duke Chapel.
John Blackshear, dean of students, and Provost Alec Gallimore talk with first-year students after the Convocation for New Undergraduate Students at Duke Chapel.

Diversity Makes Better Engineers

An optimist sees the glass as half full. A pessimist? Half empty. An engineer sees a glass that’s twice as big as it needs to be. Point is, engineers see things differently. Duke engineers see things very differently. Why use glass at all? Can we create a more efficient material? Ooh, should we include a water quality sensor? Here, we value different backgrounds and ways of thinking—because new approaches generate new solutions.

Our commitment

The Data

603

PhD students

4.6

PhD students per tenure-track faculty member

16%

Of our PhD students received an NSF or other prestigious fellowship

$100M

In new research awards won in FY22

#5

Best Graduate Biomedical Engineering Program

U.S. News & World Report

↓48%

Lower cost of living in Durham vs. Boston

Facilities: Welcome to Wilkinson

The newest of our buildings is 81,000 square feet of transformational design. Inside Wilkinson are research neighborhoods focused on advances in health, computing and the environment.

Dedicated workspaces for doctoral students feature natural light and campus views.

Explore Wilkinson
Exterior of Wilkinson Building with Duke Chapel in background

Durham and Beyond

Location. Location. Location.

At the north vertex of North Carolina’s famed Research Triangle, the city of Durham is essential to the Duke Engineering experience. Among our neighbors are hundreds of startups and standard bearers both private and public, a growing collection of James Beard Award-winning chefs, and a quickly growing community and skyline. River rafting, trail hiking, mountain climbing and sandy beaches are all just a couple hours’ drive away.

It doesn’t take an advanced degree to see why Durham is the #3 best place to live in America according to U.S. News and World Report, but come get one here anyway.

Discover Durham
The renovated Chesterfield Building welcomes residents and visitors alike to Durham with a retro sign.
UHill Walls at sunset. UHill Walls is a dense, walkable art experience with over 40,000 square feet of murals on 15 contiguous acres in Durham, North Carolina. 40 murals from local, national and international artists comprise one of the largest consolidated collections of murals in the Southeastern US. The public art experience is a keystone of University Hill, a mixed-use redevelopment of an abandoned strip center with award winning food, drink, wellness and residential living. Photo by Discover Durham
UHill Walls at sunset. UHill Walls is a dense, walkable art experience with over 40,000 square feet of murals on 15 contiguous acres in Durham, North Carolina. 40 murals from local, national and international artists comprise one of the largest consolidated collections of murals in the Southeastern US. The public art experience is a keystone of University Hill, a mixed-use redevelopment of an abandoned strip center with award winning food, drink, wellness and residential living.
DPAC’s 2018-19 season included Broadway hits such as Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, and Cats.
Community members came together during a 16-week period to create this mural as part of the Durham Civil Rights History project.
UHill Walls at sunset. UHill Walls is a dense, walkable art experience with over 40,000 square feet of murals on 15 contiguous acres in Durham, North Carolina. 40 murals from local, national and international artists comprise one of the largest consolidated collections of murals in the Southeastern US. The public art experience is a keystone of University Hill, a mixed-use redevelopment of an abandoned strip center with award winning food, drink, wellness and residential living.
The dinosaur statue outside of the Museum of Life + Sciences on the Ellerbee Creek Trail makes a lasting impression on visitors.
Durham Station Transportation Center is the transportation hub at the heart of the City of Durham that provides multiple alternatives to automobile traffic, an essential component needed to support more densely populated urban areas. The project, made possible by a combination of city, state, and federal funding, ensures more efficient transportation via GoDurham bus service throughout the Triangle.
Holi Festival is the festival of colors celebrated in India to usher in the spring and celebrate the end of winter. Viceroy Durham hosted its third annual Holi celebration on the lawn at Durham Central Park right in the heart of in downtown Durham
A crowd gathers to enjoy an evening of live music during the Playlist outdoor summer concert series at Durham Central Park
Chirba Chirba Dumpling Truck: Food truck serving chinese style dumplings and pan Asian fare. Photographed at the Labor Day food truck rodeo at Durham Central Park.
M Sushi: industrial-chic space turning out traditional Japanese seafood, plus sushi options, based on Omakase
Dame’s “Almost” World Famous Chicken & Waffles offers combos of waffles & buttermilk fried chicken in a casual setting with a jazz theme.
The Lucky Strike smokestack and water tower rise impressively over the American Tobacco Campus (ATC). More of the downtown skyline is visible on the horizon.
The downtown Durham skyline during an heavily clouded sunset. Durham Centre, the NC Mutual Life building, and the Durham Marriott are visible on the horizon.
A traditional German breakfast of schnitzel at Guglhupf. Guglhupf is an innovative bakery, cafe and biergarten serving contemporary cuisine with southern German roots, emphasizing local and seasonal ingredients.
Photo by Discover Durham. Durham Bulls Athletic Park (DBAP) is a 10,000-seat ballpark in Durham, North Carolina that is home to the Durham Bulls, the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball. It is also home to the Duke Blue Devils and North Carolina Central Eagles college baseball teams.
Durham Bulls Athletic Park (DBAP) is a 10,000-seat ballpark in Durham, North Carolina that is home to the Durham Bulls, the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball. It is also home to the Duke Blue Devils and North Carolina Central Eagles college baseball teams.
Long a symbol of Durham, a bronze statue of a Bull, named Major, stands in CCB plaza in the heart of downtown, and serves as a great photo op. Photo by Discover Durham
Long a symbol of Durham, a bronze statue of a Bull, named Major, stands in CCB plaza in the heart of downtown, and serves as a great photo op.
The Durham Sign at American Tobacco Campus was created by Liberty Arts and Cricket Forge and erected in April of 2019 as a tribute to the strength and resilience of the Durham community. Photo by Discover Durham
The Durham Sign at American Tobacco Campus was created by Liberty Arts and Cricket Forge and erected in April of 2019 as a tribute to the strength and resilience of the Durham community.

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