Georgia Institute of Technology

Atlanta, Ga.

200 students, both grad and undergrad
Engineering

Partnerships
Academic: National Institute of Design, (India); Hong Kong Polytechnic (China)
Business: IBM co-sponsored a design conference. Media students do projects with Sony, Turner Broadcasting, and Disney.
Top Employers: Coca-Cola, Fossil, GE, Slingshot

Claim to Fame: Famous alumni include Michelle Berryman, president, Industrial Designers Society of America; Katie Gray, vice-president, F16 Sensors, Northrop Grumman; Carrie Davis, global design manager, Coca-Cola; Bruce Claxton, senior director for design integration, Motorola; David Bingham, design manager, GE; Ken Musgrave, director of design and usability, Dell Computers

Signature Programs: Georgia Tech's many design-related departments (digital media, industrial design, and engineering) share resources to let students pursue interdisciplinary programs in design and management or design and information. In the University's prototyping lab, they also do contract work for companies.