Thayer School is the home

of Dartmouth engineers

About Thayer School

Thayer School offers an energetic, hands-on learning community that develops passionate innovators who possess the intellectual and personal capacity to advance the world—and have fun doing it!

To see for yourself, explore Thayer360, Thayer School's panoramic virtual tour!

Rooted in history ... improving the present ... shaping the future

Founded in 1867 by Dartmouth alumnus Sylvanus Thayer, Thayer School is one of the country's oldest professional schools of engineering. General Thayer believed that engineering in the context of a liberal arts education could provide the single best preparation for addressing the world's problems. This wisdom remains at the core of Thayer School's educational mission.

Undergraduate students are grounded in the liberal arts and rooted in the humanities. Their engineering sciences major is part of the Dartmouth Bachelor of Arts program, and many of them integrate their engineering work with other sciences or even studio art.

Graduate students take a range of courses as they develop advanced professional skills. They tackle research problems that may take them into any field of engineering or into areas that draw on several disciplines.

Dartmouth engineering students are preparing themselves for major roles in placing engineering skills in service of society.

Setting the stage for innovation

There is only one engineering department—Thayer School itself. When expertise from across the engineering disciplines converges, the opportunities for groundbreaking innovation increase exponentially. An intense spirit of teamwork and camaraderie is a hallmark of Thayer School. Shared ideas, shared challenges, and shared inspiration push our faculty and students to solve global problems with unparalleled enthusiasm and commitment.

Small and agile

Thayer School is small by design. Students and faculty, with interests and expertise reaching across disciplines, work side by side. The open, graceful architecture of the newly completed MacLean Engineering Sciences Center enhances an atmosphere of collaboration. Dartmouth engineers—faculty and students—share ideas and discoveries, work together to overcome obstacles, and pool their intellectual resources to arrive at innovative solutions.

Engineering without boundaries

Collaboration fans out from Thayer School throughout the entire Dartmouth campus and beyond. Experts from around the world engage Thayer School students and faculty in seminars and symposia. Project coursework partners students with industry to work on specific challenges. Research projects fill the labs where students and faculty discover new processes, systems, and technologies. Students find academic and technical resources at libraries on-campus and off. A Dartmouth engineering education builds the broad and solid foundation for engineering professionals who are thinkers and doers, designers and builders, communicators and leaders.