Best Engineering Schools in Nebraska

This article features top engineering colleges in Nebraska that offer master and doctoral degrees in the fields of biological engineering, chemical engineering, computer science, materials engineering, mechanical engineering, etc. Please be informed that each school receives national wide rank as the ranking compares all engineering schools in the United States. Some important ranking factors include average GRE scores, alumni surveys, current student interviews, institutional research publications, and peer college assessment. In the following list of best engineering schools in the state of Nebraska, you can see tuition cost for both in-state and out-of-state students, acceptable rates and admissions statistics for each top ranked engineering college.

Best Engineering Schools in Nebraska

National Ranking Nebraska Top Engineering Programs
98 University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Lincoln, NE)
Overall acceptance rate: 33.7%
Average GRE quantitative score (master’s and Ph.D. students): 723
Tuition: In-state, full-time: $380 per credit, Out-of-state, full-time: $956 per credit
Total graduate engineering enrollment: 659
Research expenditures per faculty member: $227,264
Engineering school research expenditures (2010-2011 fiscal year): $38,862,220
Faculty membership in National Academy of Engineering: 0.0%

History of Nebraska

The Indians of the Ponca, Omaha, Missouri, Pawnee, Oto, Lakota and others lived on the territory of the modern state of Nebraska . Their main occupation was hunting bison, whose huge herds grazed the Great Plains.

In 1682, Nebraska formally became part of the French colony of Louisiana, but in 1714, the outstanding explorer of the Midwest, Etienne de Bourgmont, who climbed the Missouri to the mouth of the Platte River, became practically the first European to enter these lands. It was de Bourgmont who borrowed from the Indians the word “Nebraska” (“flat water”), which later became the name of the state. In 1720, a Spanish expedition came to Nebraska from the south, but as a result of a clash with the Indians, almost all of its members died. In 1739, another French expedition reached the Platte River, this time coming from the north, from Canada.

In 1762, after the defeat of France in the Seven Years’ War, her colonies in North America, located on the right bank of the Mississippi River (including Nebraska), went to Spain. In 1800, France regained control of Louisiana, and in 1803 sold it to the United States of America.

In 1804, the famous expedition of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, organized by US President Thomas Jefferson, crossed Nebraska to explore new American territories. Lewis and Clark met with the Otho and Missouri Indians at the site where Fort Atkinson was later established. In 1806, an expedition led by Zebulon Pike passed through the southern regions of the state to the west, to the Rocky Mountains. Pike met with the Pawnee leaders and informed them that the Nebraska lands now belonged to the United States.

In 1812, Nebraska became part of the newly formed Missouri Territory. In the same year, fur trader Manuel Lisa built the fortified trading post Fort Lisa, the first American settlement in Nebraska, near present-day Omaha. Liza maintained friendly relations with the Indians and conducted mutually beneficial trade with them. It is believed that it was largely due to his influence that the local Indians remained loyal to the US government during the War of 1812-15.

In 1819, Fort Atkinson was established in Nebraska, the first US Army outpost west of the Missouri River. A settlement with a population of up to a thousand people grew up around the fort, but already in 1827 the fort was abandoned. At the end of the 20th century, Fort Atkinson was restored, now it is a US National Historic Landmark. In 1822, the trading post of Bellevue was founded near the confluence of the Platte River with the Missouri, which today has become the third largest city in the state of Nebraska and the oldest.