Facts & Figures

The Cockrell School of Engineering's 280 professorial faculty, 680 staff and more than 1,900 student employees serve more than 7,700 students enrolled in nine undergraduate and 13 graduate degree programs.

A complete breakdown of 2016 enrollment and 2015-16 graduation data by program is available.

Faculty Quality

Senior faculty constitute the fourth highest membership in the National Academy of Engineering, the nation's highest honor for engineers. Since 2000, 63 junior faculty have received the National Science Foundation's Faculty Early Career Development award, considered the nation's top honor for young faculty.

Student Quality

Fall 2016 entering freshmen had an average SAT, or equivalent, score of 1420. Most are from the top 10 percent of their graduating class, and 10 percent were valedictorians or salutatorians.

Scholarships/Fellowships

Undergraduates enrolled in the Cockrell School in 2016-17 received more than 1,550 scholarships, totaling over $5.6 million. The Cockrell School awarded $3.8 million to more than 590 graduate students in fellowship support during 2016-17.

Private Support

The Cockrell School of Engineering has a bold mission: be a top ranked engineering school that attracts the brightest student leaders and visionary faculty; and educate our students in world-class facilities and develop transformative, far-reaching research that improves lives around the globe.

The success of this mission, however, depends on the critical support of private philanthropy. Federal and state funding for science and engineering has been on the decline over the past two decades, making the support from private donors and industry more important now than ever.

At The University of Texas at Austin, state funding covers about 13 percent of the total cost of educating students. The remainder comes from tuition, research support and gifts from industry, alumni and other donors. On Aug. 31, 2014, UT Austin completed its Campaign for Texas, surpassing its $3 billion goal. The Cockrell School of Engineering raised $355 million, the largest amount raised among the university's colleges, schools and units. 

Research Developments

Faculty and students conduct research benefitting society in the areas of human health, sustainability and energy. Recent advancements include:

• Working with tools and materials to attack cancer at the molecular and cellular levels to detect, diagnose and treat it more effectively.
• Designing wireless video networks that more effectively store, stream and share information.
• Developing new technologies to extract natural gas and oil from the Earth while analyzing the rewards and risks.
• Creating more affordable and longer-lasting batteries for electronics, electric vehicles and large-scale energy storage.
• Perfecting scientific analysis of satellite data to respond faster and more accurately to natural disasters.
• Building customized prosthetics for veterans and troops who want to return to active duty.
• Using powerful super computers to model human blood flow, improve oil and gas recovery, and study the spread of groundwater contamination.

Added Distinctions

• The Cockrell School awards the highest percentage of undergraduate degrees to underrepresented minorities (Hispanics, African Americans/Blacks and American Indians) among the top-ranked programs at public schools of engineering. (Based on the U.S. News undergraduate rankings)
• The Cockrell School has 141 named endowed chairs and professorships for faculty.
• In 2012, the National Science Foundation funded the Nanosystems Engineering Research Center for Nanomanufacturing Systems for Mobile Computing and Mobile Energy Technologies (NASCENT) at UT Austin, which will develop high throughput, high yield and versatile nanomanufacturing systems to take nano-science discoveries from the lab to the marketplace. The center is led by The University of Texas at Austin and includes partner institutions University of California, Berkeley, and University of New Mexico. Also included are Seoul National University in South Korea and Indian Institute of Science.

Leadership Development

To prepare students to be well-rounded individuals with sound leadership, communication and team-building skills, the Cockrell School offers multiple development programs such as the Ramshorn Retreats, LeaderShape-Texas and our International Engineering Education programs, which have placed students in more than 15 countries. And with 80 student groups, there are boundless opportunities for personal and professional growth.