The University of Illinois is the state’s most comprehensive public university, consisting of three distinct campuses—Chicago, Springfield, and Urbana-Champaign—serving the people of Illinois since 1868 through a shared commitment to excellence in teaching, research, public service and economic development. Nearly 70,000 undergraduate and graduate students are enrolled at the three campuses and thousands more take classes off campus and online. Colleges of Engineering at a the Chicago and Urbana-Champaign campuses, along with the Office of Math, Science, and Technology Education in the UIUC College of Education are involved with Project Lead the Way activities. The U of I system also includes Schools of Medicine at its Chicago and Urbana-Champaign campuses and at outreach campuses in Peoria and Rockford.

The U of I Urbana-Champaign College of Engineering (http://engineering.illinois.edu) undergraduate program is ranked 6th in the country in the 2012 U.S. News and World Report Rankings of Engineering Colleges with Graduate Programs and the graduate program is ranked 5th in the country (with its Biological/Agricultural program ranked #1). The College has twelve departments (Aerospace; Agricultural and Biological; Bioengineering; Chemical and Biomolecular; Civil and Environmental; Computer Science; Electrical and Computer; Industrial and Enterprise Systems; Materials Science; Mechanical Science; Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological; Physics).

The U of I Chicago College of Engineering (http://engineering.uic.edu) houses six academic departments (Bioengineering; Chemical; Civil and Materials; Computer Science; Electrical and Computer; Mechanical and Industrial).

The University of Illinois became a PLTW National Affiliate University in 2005, offering STI sessions on its Chicago and Urbana-Champaign campuses, coordinating statewide Illinois PLTW program implementation and support efforts in cooperation with the Illinois State Board of Education, and maintaining the statewide Illinois PLTW program website (www.pltw.uillinois.edu).

The University of Illinois PLTW Affiliate program has established “collaborating partner” relationships with two institutions which cooperate to support Illinois PLTW efforts under the leadership of the Illinois State Board of Education and the University of Illinois:
-Bradley University (Peoria, IL) College of Engineering and Technology (www.bradley.edu/cegt/) became a collaborating partner of the University of Illinois Affiliate in 2006. Bradley has four engineering and technology departments (Civil and Construction; Industrial and Manufacturing; Electrical; Mechanical).
-Northern Illinois University (DeKalb, Il) College of Engineering and Engineering Technology (www.niu.edu/CEET/) became a collaborating partner of the University of Illinois Affiliate in 2010. NIU has four engineering and technology departments (Electrical; Industrial and Systems Engineering; Mechanical; Technology.)