The college was founded in 1910, and in 2015 was named in honor of Herbert Wertheim – a serial inventor, philanthropist and UF Distinguished Alumnus.

Located on the university's Gainesville, Florida campus, the college is composed of nine departments, 15 degree programs, and more than 20 centers and institutes.

It produces research and graduates in more than a dozen fields of engineering and science including: aerospace, agricultural, biological, biomedical, chemical, civil, coastal, computer, computer science, digital arts, electrical, environmental, industrial, materials, mechanical, nuclear, and systems.

Dean John R. Benton led five faculty members who taught 48 students a curriculum of civil, mechanical and electrical engineering.

The 1920 freshman class exceeded 300 men — almost twice the size of the previous year, and the university began charging tuition fees.

The college had secret contracts with the Office of Scientific Research and Development, the U.S. Signal Corps, the National Bureau of Standards and other agencies totaling more than a half million dollars.

In the 1950s, the University of Florida began enrolling women, and in 1955, the first woman graduated from the college with a master's degree in chemical engineering.

Due to increased sensitivity about the natural world, many college departments focused research around environmental subjects.

He had created a prototype of the first digital calculator in 1939, and it possessed many features of modern computers—a binary system, regenerative memory, logical schemes as elements of software and electronic components for storing data.

Engineering enrollment tripled during this era under the leadership of Dean Wayne H. Chen, who increased efforts to attract under-represented students.

The college also won a bid for a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center during the 1994–95 academic year.

The Particle Science & Technology Center conducts research in an area that represents $1 trillion to the nation's economy.