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Why Study Engineering at Stanford?

  • World-renowned yet approachable faculty
  • State-of-the-art labs
  • Chance to study engineering within a liberal arts environment, where multidisciplinary research is encouraged and facilitated
  • Location! Location! Location! Sure the sunny California weather is nice, but Stanford's proximity to Silicon Valley means a chance to learn from industry leaders and entrepreneurs.

Our Approach

We think of engineers as people who take discoveries from the sciences and use them to solve problems that change the world. Stanford Engineering aims to educate engineers who are also leaders, who understand the science of their solutions, of course, but who also understand the people, issues and systems they hope to affect.

Stanford Engineering students gain an unrivaled education in the fundamentals of their chosen engineering disciplines, as well a rich education in the liberal arts. The school also provides numerous formal and informal opportunities for students to gain entrepreneurial experience. Stanford faculty and graduates have a long tradition of contributing technologies that have created new industries, new forms of communication and new ways of looking at the world.

The School

The School of Engineering was founded in 1925, but engineering has been integral to Stanford education and research since the university was created in 1891. One-third of the university's original faculty members and 40 percent of its students were associated with engineering.

Today, engineering accounts for nearly 40 percent of all Stanford graduate students and 20 percent of undergraduates. The school has grown to nine departments and offers numerous interdisciplinary research and degree programs. Departmental boundaries are kept low; research teams routinely cross them, and faculty members often hold joint departmental appointments. The school also pursues partnerships within the university that enhance our academics and expand the opportunities available to students. 

Departments

See a complete list of undergraduate engineering degree programs or graduate engineering degree programs offered by Stanford.

 

Research Opportunities for Students

Stanford Engineering faculty are eager to involve students at all stages of research and offer students many opportunities to participate, both through formal programs such as the Research Experience for Undergraduates, and through the everyday invitation that's rooted in our tradition. 

A compelling aspect of engineering is the joy of making things work: remote medical imaging that saves lives; nanoscale structures that create remarkable new materials; or orbiting instruments that plumb the fundamental laws of the universe. The school offers space to investigate, design and create in more than 80 labs, research centers and affiliate programs.