Visit

We’ll Leave the Maker Space Open For You

Duke Engineering packs all of the amenities and experiences of a big land-grant institution into a fun-sized package you’ll love to call home. Stroll through our Gothic wonderland on your way to modern classrooms and laboratories, refreshing gardens and a fun place we call the design pod. Come see it for yourself.

Freshman Class of 2027, first year students, Duke’s East Campus. August 25th, 2023

Take the Undergraduate Engineering Tour

Prospective students: Explore Duke with our knowledgeable guides—in-person or virtually. Be sure to ask about the fancy new espresso machine in Twinnies Café. 

By the Numbers

404,126

Square Feet

of occupied space

18

Buildings

on and off campus

10

Major Research Centers

externally-funded, Duke-led

Buildings

Our engineering campus is adjacent to Duke University Medical Center—proximity that facilitates collaboration with world-leading clinicians.

Aerial of Duke Engineering’s Wilkinson Building.

Wilkinson Building

This 81,000-square-foot structure embodies a bold vision for transformational collaboration with intentional neighborhoods focused on health, computing and the environment. You can design and build in the garage labs and study in the Learning Commons. Browse the Duke Engineering Art Collection and grab a drink at Bseisu Coffee Bar. The name recognizes the philanthropy and service of Beverly A. and Jerry C. Wilkinson, Class of 1967, and their family.

exterior of the Fitzpatrick Center for Interdisciplinary Engineering, Medicine and Applied Sciences in spring

Fitzpatrick Center

By design, the Duke Stone-clad Fitzpatrick Center encourages creative interaction across a vast 125,000-square-feet. Conduct research in the wet labs, attend a seminar in Kenneth T. Schiciano Auditorium and fabricate nanotech materials in a SMiF cleanroom. Meet for lunch at Twinnies café. Its name honors Michael J. Fitzpatrick, Class of 1970, and Patricia W. Fitzpatrick, Class of 1969.

Hudson Hall at Duke University

Hudson Hall

This elegant red-brick building opened in 1948. Greatly expanded and modernized many times since, it’s named for Fitzgerald S. “Jerry” Hudson, Class of 1946. Here, you can catch a visiting scholar’s presentation in James E. Vincent Lecture Hall, check in at your departmental office and run an experiment in Duke’s subsonic wind tunnel.

Nello L. Teer Building at Duke University

Nello L. Teer Building

This modernist structure was a gift of builder Nello Leguy Teer. As the school’s headquarters, Teer is where you can share a fist-bump with the dean. In the student service center, you’ll map out your academic plan during 1:1’s with your advising dean. In the lobby, take a selfie with the Engineering Alumni Mural and grab a free copy of I/O Magazine.

Research & Development Facilities

Two people in gowns work in a nanotech clean room

Duke Shared Materials Instrumentation Facility (SMiF)

This Duke-based National Science Foundation affiliate provides university and industry access to technologies vital to the development of new nanoscale materials—including 4,000 square feet of class 100 and class 1000 cleanroom, and suites for electron and atomic force microscopy and X-ray analysis. Located in the Fitzpatrick Center.

Duke Robotics Student Symposium spotlights rapidly advancing robotics research on campus

Duke Robotics Lab

This 6,000-square-foot collaborative workspace in the North Building gives multidisciplinary robotics faculty room to thrive. There are simulation and robotics platforms, two rooms for private human-in-the-loop experiments, a central observation room and large open lab space for experiments and demonstrations.

Chemistry graduate students Jeovanna Rios and Jennifer Hennigan discuss an experiment in Mike Lynch's biomedical engineering lab in the Chesterfield Building. The Chesterfield Building, a cigarette-factory-turned-research-hub, is home to collaboration-friendly lab, office and conference spaces for parts of Duke University School of Medicine and the Pratt School of Engineering. Duke leases about 100,000 square feet of space in the downtown building. The lab is focused on genetically engineering microbes to shut off their growth circuits and turn on new pathways to produce different compounds—improving production of biofuels, pharmacological molecules and industrial chemicals.

Duke BRiDGE

Duke BRiDGE is an incubator for Duke spin-out companies working in biotechnology and related industries. The center, located in a former cigarette factory near downtown Durham (renovated and repurposed for life sciences research) includes well-appointed laboratories and corporate amenities. Seasoned executives-in-residence provide advice and coaching to startups.

CFCI Logo

Christensen Family Center for Innovation

For students, CFCI is a product lab in the Wilkinson Building where prototypes are designed and products developed. What CFCI’s experts learn about making innovation better and faster is freely shared across Duke, our neighboring community and beyond.

Experiential Learning Spaces

First-year engineering students tackle a service project during their EGR101L course, Engineering Design and Communication, in the Design Pod. Here, from left, Megan Richards, Doherty Guirand, Alexis Almeida and Manav Vakil work on an inhaler device that will be easy for young children and the elderly to use. Taught by biomedical engineering instructor Kevin Caves, students work in a team to learn and apply the engineering design process to solve an open-ended, client-based problem drawn from a community partner.

Duke Engineering Design Pod

This 5,000-square-foot learning lab is integral to Duke Engineering’s First-Year Design course. Located in the Jinny and Ed Pratt Commons at the Levine Science Research Center (LSRC), it is home to a flexible work and design area perfect for student teams. The walls are lined with racks of hand, power and rapid prototyping tools.

undergraduates work to build an electric powered vehicle for competitions

The Foundry

In this 7,600-square-foot collaborative maker space, students build ideas from the ground up. This part of Gross Hall houses a variety of tools and a 3D Systems ProX DMP320 direct metal printing machine.

SMART Home - PreMiEr Engineering Research Center - Duke University - Pratt School of Engineering

Duke Smart Home

The Smart Home is a residence hall and a living laboratory of sustainable design and residential automation. The 10 students who live in this LEED Platinum house conduct research and give public tours.

Pratt Student Shop

Pratt Student Shop

Our undergraduate students have access to a modern machine shop to complete course work that requires turning, milling, grinding, shaping, cutting or drilling. The shop is overseen by professional toolmakers who teach a mandatory safety course.

Browse Floorplans