Purdue University Office of Admissions logo

College of Science

GREAT MINDS THRIVE HERE

Students don’t come here to play it safe. They come here to change the world. Take your education in Science beyond the walls of your classroom and seize opportunities in research, study abroad, and summer internships. Join world-class scientists as you study climate change, data science, or infectious diseases. In the College of Science, you can be part of scientific discoveries that make an impact.

From your first year, you’ll take courses in your major and have opportunities to conduct research.  In the classroom you will learn to synthesize ideas across disciplines and to apply quantitative problem-solving strategies. You will utilize those skills in a logical and analytical approach to the world.  Science degrees are incredibly versatile, and the demand is sizzling in businesses, graduate & professional schools, and around the world.  Join us and help us take a giant leap into the future.

Explore our website to learn more about the College of Science, or better yet, schedule a visit!

College of Science Website
Home of the first Department of Computer Science in the U.S.

What are Purdue Science graduates doing?

You must have Javascript enabled to view this chart.

57.52% are employed, 31.46% are continuing with their education, 5.21% are seeking employment, 1.80% are seeking education, and 4.01% are engaged in other activities.

Average Salary: $72,154

CCO Data. See More

Faculty Profile: Phillip Low

So much of science is serendipity. You begin work with one specific goal in mind and then have an accidental finding or unexpected result that takes your work in a new, previously unimagined direction. This kind of science thrives when you have a large collaborative scientific environment, like we have at the Purdue University Center for Cancer Research.

One of the most exciting avenues of cancer treatment that I’ve been pursuing is to develop methods to target drugs specifically to cancer cells and thereby avoid the collateral toxicity that normally occurs to healthy cells. In my lab, we’ve discovered that cancer cells have a much larger appetite than normal cells for the vitamin folic acid. We’ve exploited this avarice for folic acid to deliver chemotherapy selectively to cancer cells by linking the vitamin to a cancer drug that can kill the malignant cell. We then allow the cancer to “eat” the vitamin with its attached poison, using folic acid much like a Trojan horse to fool the cancer cell into internalizing a drug that will kill it.


Right now, there are six drugs that are undergoing human clinical trials for kidney, ovarian, lung and endometrial cancers, resulting either directly or indirectly from research my lab has done here at Purdue.

From: Purdue Center for Cancer Research Stories - OUR STORIES: PHILLIP LOW

portrait of Phillip Low

Science Majors

You must have Javascript enabled to view this content


students in science class
Share this page: