Joseph Fiebig, a 2022 senior in our Multidisciplinary Engineering Degree Program, will soon head out to Erie, PA for his next giant leap. We caught up with Joe before commencement to learn more about his time at Purdue and in the MDE undergraduate program.

Student researchers proved acoustical engineering professor’s theory to be correct

Experiential learning opportunities prepare students to work in many forms of live entertainment

Don’t assume that someone who grew up near an airport, loved to go to air shows, graduated from a respected STEM high school, and earned admission into Purdue’s College of Engineering has settled into a long-term career as an aerospace engineer. It is true that 2006 graduate Corey Jorman has a job he loves at The Boeing Company. But with the Interdisciplinary Engineering Studies (IDES) program having provided lift for the takeoff, his journey is less predictable and more dynamic than you might think. Corey holds two non-AAE bachelor’s degrees and a JD in intellectual property. This self-described people-person focused on the manufacturing sector uses words like “harvesting” and “protecting” to describe his daily tasks as a lawyer. And this young alumnus ponders future destinations—with a possible MBA still on the radar screen.

As a DevOps Engineer for Nintendo Technology Development, MDE Alumnus Eugene Lee works daily with developers and project managers to establish best practices for testing, troubleshoot infrastructure and code, and maintain environments suitable for testing a wide array of products and scenarios. Lee shares some of their novel code through the Code Project platform.

Lexy Ackerman, 2018 MDE Visual Design Engineering, is a mechanical engineer for BorgWarner, Inc. She is working with a team on inverters for all-electric and hybrid vehicles. It’s Lexy’s new venture, alongside her career as a practicing engineer, that led us to this conversation.

Without theme parks open due the Covid-19 pandemic, gaining experience through job internships was all but impossible last summer for students pursuing careers in the live entertainment industry.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and an opportunity to serve, Abhipri Mishra (IDES '19 Pre-Med), a first year medical student at the Indiana University School of Medicine, is stepping up in a big way.

Leigh Witek, a December 2020 graduate in Multidisciplinary Engineering, is joining the ranks in a new field gaining ground in both popularity and need - theatre engineering. She is one of few who have graduated with the degree concentration at the only university with an ABET-accredited program for theatre engineering. Leigh also holds a B.A. in Theatre Design and Production from the College of Liberal Arts.

Purdue University’s chapter of the Acoustical Society of America can now explain the sound heard when someone claps at the infamous “clapping circle” on campus. Equally impressive, ASA members have proven the related theory of a Purdue acoustical engineering professor.

Ashley Foltz, a senior in our Multidisciplinary Engineering Degree Program, was becoming a humanitarian engineer before she even knew it was an option to pursue. Her world travels, including a fateful semester abroad to Singapore, helped her discover her pathway. Lucky for us, Ashley's journey led her to our Humanitarian Engineering concentration. "Humanitarian Engineering was the perfect way to combine my engineering skills with my interests for anthropology and all things humanitarian."

Emma Schafer, a senior in our Multidisciplinary Engineering Degree Program with a concentration in General Engineering, found her balance at Purdue through her love of twirling.

Madeline Moisio, a senior in our Multidisciplinary Engineering Degree Program with a concentration in Humanitarian Engineering, recently answered a series of questions for us, as we were interested in her take on the COVID-19 virus and the many challenges it has poised for countless agencies at all levels.

There's not a direct commercial flight between Honolulu and West Lafayette - not today, nor fifty years ago when I became a Boilermaker. If there's a metaphor that represents my path to, through and beyond Purdue, that's it. I haven't stuck to the direct flights. There have been layovers and backroads to get to where I needed to go. Where I started is very different than where I've landed. Much of it began with my choice to study at Purdue - and enter its Interdisciplinary Engineering (IDE) program.

Rebecca Dever, a current Multidisciplinary Engineering (MDE) student, is pursuing a concentration in Humanitarian Engineering. MDE Student Ambassador Caroline Kester conducted a Q&A interview with Rebecca to learn more about her interests and chosen path.