Penn State College of Engineering

What Penn State College of Engineering does

Penn State College of Engineering, established in 1896, is a constituent college of The Pennsylvania State University system operating as a public land-grant academic institution. It serves 13,300+ undergraduate and graduate students across more than a dozen undergraduate engineering majors and over 20 graduate discipline areas, anchored at University Park, Pennsylvania with additional programs delivered through other Penn State campuses. Revenue is generated through three primary streams: tuition and fees (differentiated by in-state and out-of-state residency), federal and industry research funding, and philanthropic contributions, with the college supported by a global alumni network of 106,000+ engineering graduates and ranked No. 28 nationally (No. 14 among publics) in the 2026 U.S. News Best Graduate Schools survey.

The college's core academic product is a research-intensive engineering curriculum spanning materials science, biomedical engineering, nuclear engineering, mechanical, electrical, computer science, civil and environmental, aerospace, architectural, chemical, and industrial engineering, plus acoustics. Educational delivery is built around cornerstone-to-capstone experiential learning through the Penn State Learning Factory, interdisciplinary research units (Institute for Computational and Data Sciences, Quantum Hub, Digital Twins Hub), and the Larson Transportation Institute. In 2025, the college launched a new Bachelor of Science in Artificial Intelligence Engineering degree and minor housed within the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science—one of the first AI-specific undergraduate engineering programs in the country. Faculty research is federally anchored across DOE, NSF, NIH, DARPA, and ARPA-H, with notable 2025-2026 awards including $75.8M (ARPA-H OCULAB), $7.5M (DARPA NGMM), $6M (DOE nuclear workforce), and $10.5M (Gates Grand Challenges). Philanthropic support is anchored by an $11M Clark Foundation investment in the Clark Scholars Program.

The go-to-market motion is sales-led and dual-track: prospective undergraduate students are recruited through Penn State's centralized admissions infrastructure, while graduate applications flow through the Penn State Graduate School. Corporate and federal engagement is channeled through dedicated partnership programs including industryXchange, the Industry and Professional Advisory Council (IPAC), the Learning Factory capstone sponsor program, and bilateral research agreements with partners such as Westinghouse Electric (renewed for five years in 2026), Bayer (expanded B4U mentoring program, January 2026), Gates Foundation, Schmidt Sciences, and Toyota Research Institute. The college is currently in a leadership transition: Dean Tonya L. Peeples is stepping down effective July 1 to serve as special adviser to the provost, with Thomas F. La Porta named interim Harold and Inge Marcus Dean.

Name

Penn State College of Engineering

Legal name

The Pennsylvania State University

Website

https://engr.psu.edu

Company type

Public

Founded year

1896

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

Penn State College of Engineering is a public land-grant academic college within The Pennsylvania State University, educating 13,300+ undergraduate and graduate students across 13+ undergraduate majors and 20+ graduate disciplines, supported by 106,000+ global alumni and substantial federal research funding.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Engineering Higher Education

NAICS

Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (6113), Technical and Trade Schools (61151)

SIC

Services-Engineering Services (8711), Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)

akta.pro primary industry

STEM-Focused Public Research Universities (EDAHAAAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Public Research Universities with Engineering/Polytechnic Emphasis (EDAHAAAD)

Keywords

• Engineering education
• Undergraduate engineering degrees
• Graduate engineering programs
• Engineering research
• STEM higher education

Headquarters

HQ city

University Park

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Tuition and Fees: As a public university college, Penn State College of Engineering generates primary revenue through tuition and fees from undergraduate and graduate students, with in-state and out-of-state pricing structures. State appropriations from Pennsylvania supplement tuition revenue.
2. Research Grants and Funding: The college receives substantial research funding from federal agencies (DOE, NSF, NIH, DARPA, ARPA-H, DOD), industry partners, and foundations. Funding supports faculty research, graduate student positions, and infrastructure. Examples include $500K+ in quantum research grants, $6M DOE nuclear workforce grant, $10.5M Gates Grand Challenges award, $75.8M ARPA-H OCULAB award, and $7.5M DARPA semiconductor award.
3. Philanthropy and Endowments: The college receives significant philanthropic support including the $11M Clark Foundation investment for Clark Scholars Program, $5M naming gift for Robert V. Waltemeyer Department of Chemical Engineering, and various scholarship endowments. Alumni giving through GivingTuesday campaigns and planned gifts support student success initiatives.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Penn State College of Engineering is an academic college within Pennsylvania State University that delivers accredited undergraduate and graduate engineering degree programs and conducts sponsored engineering research. Founded in 1896, it enrolls students across multiple engineering disciplines and partners with industry on translational research.

Product overview

Penn State College of Engineering is an educational institution offering a comprehensive portfolio of engineering programs and services. The college provides undergraduate majors (more than a dozen), graduate programs (research-based and professionally focused degrees across 20+ disciplines), and recently launched a new AI Engineering degree and minor in 2025. Key educational products include the Learning Factory for hands-on capstone projects, the PSEAS alumni society for professional networking, and mentoring programs connecting students with alumni. The portfolio is structured around academic degree programs supported by experiential learning, research opportunities, and career development services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Undergraduate Engineering Degree Programs

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability10 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Westinghouse Electric CompanycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 May 2026Penn State and Westinghouse Electric Company strengthened their partnership with a new five-year agreement to continue advancing nuclear research, with specific focus on workforce education supporting the development and deployment of sustainable reactors. This builds on existing collaborative nuclear research programs.
• The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 February 2026TMS awarded Early Career Faculty Fellow Awards to Miaomiao Jin and Yang Yang recognizing outstanding research and service. Award includes presentation at 2026 TMS Annual Meeting and developing technical symposium for 2027 meeting.
• BayercoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 30 January 2026Bayer expanded its University Mentoring Program (B4U) at Penn State to include a pharmaceutical track, targeting graduate students and postdoctoral researchers interested in pharmaceutical industry careers. The expansion follows successful initial crop science cohort.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Stanford University School of Engineering: Stanford Engineering is an elite private research-intensive engineering school that competes with Penn State for industry-sponsored research, AI talent, and semiconductor partnerships through Stanford affiliates and Silicon Valley connections.
• MIT School of Engineering: MIT Engineering is the dominant global benchmark for engineering education and research; it competes with Penn State for federal grants, faculty hires, and industry-funded partnerships, though it operates at substantially larger scale.

Direct peers

• Purdue University College of Engineering: Purdue Engineering is a large public research-intensive college of similar size and disciplinary breadth, sharing the public land-grant identity and strong industry/employer recruiting pipeline.
• University of Michigan College of Engineering: Michigan Engineering is a top-ranked public engineering college with comparable scale, research expenditure, and alumni base, competing head-to-head in rankings and federal research awards.
• Carnegie Mellon University College of Engineering: CMU Engineering is a private research-intensive engineering college with overlapping AI, computer science, and biomedical strengths, providing a like-for-like benchmark for Penn State's AI and EECS initiatives.
• University of California, Berkeley College of Engineering: Berkeley Engineering is an elite public engineering college competing for federal research dollars, faculty hires, and top applicants, especially in semiconductors and AI.
• Georgia Institute of Technology College of Engineering: Georgia Tech's College of Engineering is a top-ranked public engineering school with comparable scale, research intensity, and industry partnership focus, making it the closest public-university peer to Penn State Engineering.
• University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Grainger College of Engineering: Grainger Engineering is a leading public engineering college with similar disciplinary breadth and federally funded research portfolio, directly comparable as a public research-intensive peer.

Others

• Westinghouse Electric Company: Westinghouse is a core strategic partner (not a peer); included because the renewed five-year nuclear research and workforce agreement links the college's nuclear engineering program to commercial reactor deployment and supply-chain workforce demand.

Emerging players

• Carnegie Mellon University's AI Engineering Initiative (cross-listed): CMU and other elite peers rolling out dedicated AI engineering undergraduate programs are direct competitors for top applicants and faculty in the rapidly emerging AI engineering curriculum category that Penn State is among the first to launch.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/PSUEngineering
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCtMqLzbWtsd4dy1u52UQnCg
• Facebookfacebook.com/PennStateEngineering
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/penn-state-college-of-engineering
• Instagraminstagram.com/pennstateengineering

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Penn State College of Engineering