Purdue tops aerospace, defense recruiting

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Sept. 9 (UPI) -- Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine lists Purdue University as the top choice of recruiters from U.S. aerospace and defense industries.

The magazine asked companies in those industries to list the top five institutions from which they recruit. Of the 64 schools mentioned, Purdue ranked at the top, moving up from No. 4 in the 2007 rankings and bumping last year's No. 1 choice, Pennsylvania State University, to second.

"We've been working very hard to provide our students with real-world, hands-on educational opportunities. I think we've succeeded in getting the word out to industry that we are doing that," said Tom Farris, head of Purdue's School of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

The top schools in the 2008 Aviation Week ranking are Purdue, No. 1; Penn State No. 2; the University of Illinois, the University of Maryland and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and University tied for third place; the Georgia Institute of Technology, No. 4; Arizona State University, Ohio State University, the University of California-Los Angeles, the University of California-San Diego and the University of Washington, all tied for No. 5.

The top three graduate schools in the survey are Georgia Tech, Purdue and UCLA.