# Grainger College of Engineering

The Grainger College of Engineering is the engineering college of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. It was established in 1868 and is considered as one of the original units of school.

## Campus

The College of Engineering is located at the northern terminus of the University of Illinois occupying the Bardeen Quadrangle, the Beckman Quadrangle, and many nearby areas. Green Street almost perfectly divides the Engineering Campus from the rest of the University. So, engineers and the College of Engineering are often referred to as "North of Green."
UIUC Engineering Hall serves as the primary anchor point for the College of Engineering and houses administrative offices as well as academic facilities. Built in 1894, it is the oldest surviving building on the Engineering portion of campus. It was designed by George Bullard, a University alumnus as part of the University held architecture competition and is an example of the Renaissance Revival style of architecture.
The Bardeen Quad is home to the Grainger Engineering Library, the largest engineering library in the world with over 260,000 physical volumes and a substantial electronic repository. The building costs nearly $30 million and has 135,000 square feet (13,000 m²) of floor space. It serves more than 1.5 million people annually. It offers services, including room reservations, computers, printing, scanning, copying, tutoring, and technology loans.
On 15 April 2019, the College of Engineering was named Grainger College of Engineering after the Grainger Foundation. The Grainger Foundation donated $100 million and an overall donation of $300 million.

## Departments

* Aerospace Engineering
* Bioengineering
* Civil and Environmental Engineering
* Computer Science
* Electrical and Computer Engineering
* Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering
* Materials Science and Engineering
* Mechanical Science and Engineering
* Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering
* Physics
* Agricultural and Biological Engineering

## Research

The College has the third-highest per-dollar research expenditure in the nation with over $202 million spent annually. The College is home to 26 research centers, 10 major laboratories, and nine affiliate programs. In total, the College employs 408 research faculty members, 2,681 graduate researchers, and over 1,200 staff members.
Engineering at Illinois is the most cited institution in engineering worldwide, with the highest total citations to research papers.

## Honors

In addition to the program as a whole ranking in top five of engineering schools, many of the departments within the College of Engineering are also highly ranked.

### Undergraduate rankings

The Undergraduate programs in civil engineering, agricultural & biological engineering, and materials engineering are considered to be the top such programs in the nation. Mechanical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, engineering physics, and environmental engineering consistently rank in the top five such programs in United States. The aeronautical & astronautical engineering, chemical engineering, industrial engineering, and nuclear engineering programs consistently rank within the top ten such programs in the nation.

### Graduate rankings

The graduate programs in civil engineering, agricultural & biological engineering, and materials science & engineering offered by the college are considered to be one of the top two programs in their disciplines. Additionally, graduate programs in mechanical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, and environmental engineering consistently rank within the top five such programs in the nation. The graduate programs in aerospace engineering, chemical engineering, nuclear engineering, and physics consistently rank within the top ten such programs in the nation.

### Faculty honors

The faculty of the College of Engineering has earned many honors throughout the College's prestigious career. Currently, 82 of the faculty hold named chairs or professorships, 34 are members of the National Academy of Engineering, 15 are members of the National Academy of Sciences, 15 are members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, two are Nobel Laureates, one is a National Medal of Science recipient, and one is a National Medal of Technology recipient.

### Notable alumni

* William F. Baker, civil engineer
* Richard Baraniuk, C. Sidney Burrus Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University and member of the National Academy of Engineering
* Stephen A. Boppart, Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering and head of the Biophotonics Imaging Laboratory at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
* Alan Bovik, Cockrell Regents Family Professor Endowed Chair in Engineering at UT Austin and member of the National Academy of Engineering
* Fazlur Rahman Khan, engineered the John Hancock Center and Sears Tower; considered to be the Einstein of structural engineering and the Greatest Structural Engineer of the 20th Century
* Arvind Krishna, chairman and CEO of IBM
* Mark Hersam, 2014 MacArthur Fellow and Walter P. Murphy Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University
* Sergio Verdú, information theorist, Shannon Award Laureate (2007), and member of the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Sciences
* Alumni have created companies such as Netscape Communications, AMD, PayPal, Oracle Corporation, Siebel Systems, Lotus Software, YouTube, and Tesla, Inc.

## Leadership

Deans of the College of Engineering through the years include:
* William Schowalter, 1989-2001
* David E. Daniel, 2001-2005
* Ilesanmi Adesida, 2006-2012
* Andreas C Cangellaris, 2013-2018
* Rashid Bashir, 2018–Present

## Engineering Open House

The College of Engineering opens its doors to the public annually during Engineering Open House (EOH), the largest student-run event on the University of Illinois campus. Engineering Open House typically features over 250 student project exhibits, four design contests (College, High School, Middle School, Grade School), appearances by local and national celebrities, entertainment, competitions for visitors, and prizes.
In 2002, Bill Nye was a featured guest at Engineering Open House.
In 2020 and 2021, Engineering Open House was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

### EOH dates

* 102nd Annual: April 5–6, 2024 – Theme: Aspire to Inspire
* 101st Annual: March 31 - April 1, 2023 – Theme: The Future, Today
* 100th Annual: April 8–9, 2022 – Theme: The Power of Us
* 99th Annual: March 8–9, 2019 – Theme: Dare to Defy
* 98th Annual: March 9–10, 2018 – Theme: Drafting the Future
* 97th Annual: March 10–11, 2017 – Theme: Illuminate New Horizons
* 96th Annual: March 11–12, 2016 – Theme: The STEM of Innovation
* 95th Annual: March 13–14, 2015 – Theme: Electrifying Engineering
* 94th Annual: March 14–15, 2014 – Theme: Transform Your World
* 93rd Annual: March 8–9, 2013 – Theme: Imagine the Impossible
* 92nd Annual: March 9–10, 2012 – Theme: Dream. Design. Discover.
* 91st Annual: March 11–12, 2011 – Theme: Defining the future
* 90th Annual: March 12–13, 2010 – Theme: Integrating knowledge, deriving genius
* 89th Annual: March 13–14, 2009 – Theme: Unlocking Potential; Featured speaker: Grant Imahara from The Mythbusters
* 88th Annual: March 7–8, 2008 – Theme: Sparking Curiosity
* 87th Annual: March 9–10, 2007 – Theme: Inspiring Innovation
* 86th Annual: March 10–11, 2006 – Theme: Beyond Imagination
* 85th Annual: March 11–12, 2005 – Theme: Reinventing Reality
* 84th Annual: 2004 Theme: Engineering Ingenuity
* 83rd Annual: 2003 – Theme: Create, Innovate, Fascinate
* 82nd Annual: March 8–9, 2002 – Theme: Free Your Mind; Featured speaker: Bill Nye
* 81st Annual: March 2–3, 2001 – Theme: An unearthed time capsule from 1975.
* 80th Annual: March 3–4, 2000 – Theme: Dawn of a New Age
* 79th Annual: 1999 – Theme: Millennium of Innovation
* 78th Annual: 1998 – Theme: Carnival of the Mind
* 77th Annual: 1997 – Theme: Imagine That
* 76th Annual: 1996 – Theme: Re-Engineering The World
* 75th Annual: 1995 – Theme: 75 Years of Innovation
* 74th Annual: 1994 – Theme: Above and Beyond
* 73rd Annual: 1993 – Theme: Forging New Frontiers
* 72nd Annual: 1992 – Theme: Unleashing Tomorrow's Potential
* 71st Annual: 1991 – Theme: Looking Beyond the Horizon
* 70th Annual: 1990 – Theme: Dare to Discover
* 69th Annual: 1989 – Theme: Reviving the Dream
* 68th Annual: 1988 – Theme: Accept the Challenge
* 67th Annual: 1987 – Theme: Shaping Our World
* 66th Annual: 1986 – Theme: In Search of Solutions
* 65th Annual: 1985 – Theme: Method to the Madness
* 64th Annual: 1984 – Theme: Developing Tomorrow – Today
* 63rd Annual: 1983 – Theme: Responding to Reality
* 62nd Annual: 1982 – Theme: Magic of Technology
* 61st Annual: 1981 – Theme: Building on Dreams
* 60th Annual: March 7–8, 1980 – Theme: Answers for the '80s
* 59th Annual: 1979 – Theme: Target Tomorrow
* 58th Annual: 1978 – Theme: Spearhead of Progress
* 57th Annual: 1977 – Theme: Engineering: Integrating the Sciences
* 56th Annual: 1976 – Theme: Revolutions in Engineering
* 55th Annual: 1975 – Theme: 2001: An Engineering Odyssey
* 54th Annual: 1974 – Theme: It's a Man-Made World
* 53rd Annual: 1973 – Theme: Engineering Makes a World of Difference (Motorola shows first cellphone)
* 52nd Annual: March 10–11, 1972 – Theme: Engineering – Key to Survival
* 51st Annual: 1971 – Theme: The Engineer and Our Environment