About Duke Engineering

Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering is a vibrant teaching and research institution dedicated to educating the next generation of engineering leaders and pursuing research in high-impact fields to address the world's grand challenges

Mission

Our mission is to provide a rigorous engineering education for both undergraduate and graduate students, enabling them to lead productive, rewarding and ethical lives for the betterment of society. It is our vision that Duke Engineering students and faculty will be catalysts for generating and integrating knowledge across the disciplines required to address complex issues facing a global society.

We are committed to the upholding the mission of Duke University and its guiding principles of trustworthiness, respect, diversity, learning and teamwork.

Learn more about our vision
Learn more about our commitment to engineering in service to society

Degree Programs

At Duke, we are one of two undergraduate schools, and one of seven graduate and professional schools.

Our degree programs include:

Academic Departments

Our degree programs are offered through four academic departments and the school-wide Institute for Enterprise Engineering:

And with Duke's Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, through the Duke University Program in Materials Science & Engineering.

Research

We are leaders in multidisciplinary education and research.

Duke Engineering's research expenditures exceed $88 million per year. Research funding from external sources has grown by 98 percent during the last decade.

We maintain extensive collaborations with researchers in each of Duke's graduate and professional schools—especially the highly regarded Duke University School of Medicine.

Learn more about our research »

Rankings

1257 Undergrad Students - 1281 Grad Students - 156 Faculty - 15,000 Alumni

Academics

U.S. News & World Report:

#2 in the U.S. Online Master's in Engineering Management
#3 in the U.S. in graduate biomedical engineering
#4 in the U.S. in undergraduate biomedical engineering
#13 in the U.S. in undergraduate environmental engineering
#14 in the U.S. in graduate environmental engineering
Top 25 Best Engineering Graduate School in the U.S.
Top 25 School for Undergraduate Engineering

Research and Faculty

Faculty Scholarly Productivity—Academic Analytics (v. 2020):
- #1 in Computer Engineering
- #6 in Electrical Engineering
- #10 in Mechanical Engineering
- #11 in Biomedical Engineering
- #13 overall among U.S. engineering schools

#6 in the U.S./#11 in the world in environmental science & engineering—Academic Ranking of World Universities (ShanghaiRanking)
#9 in per-faculty research funding among the Top 25 U.S. engineering schools—from U.S. News & World Report data

Student Life

Bronze Award and Exemplar—American Society for Engineering Education Diversity Recognition Program
Top 10 Graduate Engineering Program Popular with Women—U.S. News & World Report

Student Outcomes

Top 10 Best School for Engineering Majors by Salary Potential ($78,400 median pay with 0-5 years of work experience)—Payscale.com
Top 15 US college that pays off the most for engineering students—CNBC

Duke University

#12 National University—U.S. News & World Report
#5 University—Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education
#4 STEM University for Women—Forbes

Students

Undergraduates

1,257 undergraduate students (August 2020)
37 percent are women (National average: 24 percent)
91 percent have jobs or job offers at the time of graduation
87 percent participate in an internship in the U.S.
15 percent participate in an internship abroad
62 percent have intensive research experiences with a faculty member
39 percent participate in a study-abroad program
16 percent publish or present a research paper off-campus
276 undergraduates in the Class of 2020

Source: Senior exit survey (Response rate: 52 percent)

PhD and Master's Students

578 PhD students—greater than 20 percent enrollment growth in the last five years
221 Master of Engineering Management (MEM) Campus
58 Master of Engineering Management (MEM) Online
365 Master of Science (MS)
126 Master of Engineering (MEng)
16 percent of eligible current PhD students have received NSF or major fellowship awards

Faculty

156 total faculty (all tracks)
126 tenure-track faculty
35% faculty growth over the last decade
13th overall in research productivity among U.S. engineering schools (Academic Analytics, v. 2020)
54 spin-off companies started by Pratt faculty
37 patents issued in fiscal 2020
10 members of the National Academy of Engineering

Meet our globally-recognized faculty »

Alumni

More than 16,000
Noted for achievements in engineering, finance, entrepreneurship, corporate leadership, teaching, medicine and other fields
25 Duke Alumni members of the National Academy of Engineering

Learn more about our alumni »

Facilities and Location

Duke Engineering occupies 304,021 net square feet of educational, administrative and research space on and near the Duke campus in Durham, North Carolina.

The new Wilkinson Building, opened for classes in 2021, added about 85,000 nsf for engineering education, research and entrepreneurship.

Our campus adjacent to Duke University Medical Center gives engineering researchers and students uncommon collaborative opportunities with world-leading clinicians.

We are just miles from Research Triangle Park—the country's largest research park and home to 200-plus tech companies.

Duke's regional advantages include:

Energetic regional economy—Top-ranked for STEM jobs (2020 STEM Job Growth Index)
Comfortable climate—220 sunny days a year; average daily high temp 70.2°F (21.2°C)
Affordability—Cost of living is 61% lower than New York City, 50% lower than California's Bay Area, and 39% lower than Boston (Bankrate.com)

Learn more about our campus »

Updated: March 30, 2021