Research and Faculty, McCormick School of Engineering, Northwestern University

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RESEARCH & FACULTY

Northwestern is a diverse and dynamic research institution whose innovations benefit millions of people around the world

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What Can Tree Sap Tell Us about Climate Change?

As part of a Northwestern charge led by Professors Aaron Packman and William Miller, scientists are looking to create a clearer picture of what happens when you combine climate change with urban environments.

Northwestern Now

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Collaborative Research

Collaboration drives innovation

Our world is changing at an accelerated pace, and the boundaries between disciplines are blurring. Under these dynamic conditions, we face global challenges at a scale never before seen.

At Northwestern, we are making strategic investments in research areas that will drive our progress in the coming years. As these areas intersect, they provide focal points that connect our faculty and students throughout the school. In addition to collaborating with different schools and departments across campus and serving as a hub for Northwestern’s interdisciplinary research efforts, engineering researchers have ongoing collaborations with dozens of universities, organizations, and research centers worldwide. These collaborations are changing the world and expanding the boundaries of our established knowledge.

Key External Collaborators

Art Institute of Chicago

Art Institute of Chicago

Northwestern Engineering partners with the Art Institute of Chicago to conduct scientific research and offer classes to advance the role of science within art history, curatorial scholarship, archaeology, and conservation, as well as use art to convey engineering research.

Visit the Art Institute
Shirley Ryan AbilityLab

Shirley Ryan AbilityLab

Northwestern engineers collaborate frequently with the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, the nation’s top-ranked rehabilitation center, to design better rehabilitation robotics and artificial limbs.

Visit the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab

Facts and Figures

Northwestern's engineering research enterprise funds more than 1,000 researchers in more than 250 labs. While the majority of Northwestern’s research funding comes from government sources, corporate sponsored research represents a growing opportunity for engineering professors.

1000+

researchers

across more than 250 labs

$181M

in research expenditures

from a diverse set of funding sources

16%

increase in research funding

in the past fiscal year

Global Initiatives

Creating a worldwide network of researchers

Global Initiatives help all Northwestern Engineering scholars — including faculty, postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduates — to engage in the global marketplace of talents and ideas, developing research collaborations worldwide.


Visit Global Initiatives

Patent & Startup Support

Bringing innovations to market

Engineering professors work with Northwestern’s Innovation and New Ventures Office (INVO) to turn their research and innovations into patents and businesses. A hub for innovation, Northwestern Engineering is consistently responsible for more than half of all the University’s invention disclosures and faculty startups.


Visit the Innovation and New Ventures Office

Faculty

World-class experts

Our award-winning faculty, including many members of national academies, collaborate across disciplines to create new knowledge while maintaining a solid grounding in the fundamentals. They transfer their expertise and passion for their fields to every student and collaborator they work with as they continue to advance scientific and engineering knowledge.


Meet our faculty

Centers and Institutes

Innately interdisciplinary

Northwestern Engineering institutes and centers cultivate talent, collaboration, and innovation at the intersection of disciplines.

All Northwestern Centers