Purdue Polytechnic opens many opportunities for young engineers

Erik Hackman, The Evening News and the Tribune, Jeffersonville, Ind.
·3 min read

Feb. 1—NEW ALBANY — Purdue Polytechnic in New Albany is holding an open house from 5 to 7 p.m. on Feb. 8 to give those who are considering the school a chance to check it out.

The school, located at 3000 Technology Ave. in New Albany, offers four-year degrees in mechanical engineering technology, electrical engineering technology, industrial engineering technology, engineering technology and several certificates.

At the open house, those who are interested in going to Purdue will be able to have a tour of the facility and will be able to see all the things current students have been able to achieve through the program.

When someone graduates from Purdue Polytechnic, they have the same level of education as the main Purdue campus in West Lafayette. The campus has hands-on programs and applied learning. The applied learning will help the students apply the knowledge they learned with their future jobs.

"We get a lot of hands on experience here," said Anna Brezina, a junior in Purdue Polytechnic's mechanical engineering program. "In the majority of my classes, especially the engineering related ones, we have lab portions which was really important to me. Being able to get out of my seat and get into the Boiler Lab is the biggest part of why I decided to transfer over to the school."

Brezina added that the small classes make the professors very accessible and easy to talk to.

When the students are seniors, they are asked to complete a capstone project. This is a two-semester project that is industry-sponsored and gets the students to partner with local companies on real projects.

"The students, before they graduate, get experience working with a local company that has a problem," said Joseph Dues, director/associate professor of mechanical engineering technology. "The students need to figure out a solution to that problem, then they have to actually build a solution."

From the capstone, the students gain an opportunity for learning about situations that the school cannot give them. It gives them a real-world learning experience and lets them interact with real engineers.

Through the capstone projects, some students were able to make a tornado machine for WAVE 3 news and a crack climbing machine for Climb NuLu in Louisville.

"I decided to go here because Purdue's engineering program is really good," said Jacob Gentry, a freshman in the mechanical engineering program. "To stay more local has been really nice. It's also affordable, which has been a huge plus."

The school's engineering equipment is open for all students to use outside of the classroom as well. They can use it for personal projects or making gifts as well, as some students used it during the holiday season.

"I have one class that can be two hours or shorter," said Kaleb Kreuer, a freshman in the electrical engineering program. "But you get longer time in more difficult classes because you can ask your professor for help. A lot of them are willing to stay after class, which is really helpful."