Features
Kat Braz
The Purdue Herbaria

An insider’s look at a university collection so valuable, the professor who built it once stole it back.

The earliest herbarium—a collection of plant samples preserved for scientific study—dates to 16th-century Italy, when the Bologna physician and botanist Luca Ghini (1490–1556) sought to make plant material available to his students in winter when the plants were dead or dormant.

The specimens were flattened between two pieces of paper to remove moisture. Once dried, they were mounted on paper sheets with notations on the plant’s name, where the plant was gathered, and any distinctive features. The pages were bound into volumes to enable transport from one location to another, thus making plant material from faraway places available indefinitely.

The Purdue Herbaria
Features
Kat Braz
A Window into Westwood Manor

The Stewarts at Westwood

Robert Bruce Stewart (HDR M’68), known as R.B., joined the Purdue University staff as controller in 1925. At that time, Purdue enrolled 3,000 students, the physical plant was worth $3 million, and the endowment totaled $340,000.

Stewart, who went on to become the university’s first vice president and treasurer, is credited by many with influencing the character and growth of Purdue University. He spent 36 years building the university both fiscally and physically.

A Window into Westwood Manor
Profiles
Kat Braz
A Story in Stones

Geochemist Marissa Tremblay ’12 analyzes Antarctic rocks to unravel Earth’s climate chronology and predict the planet’s future environment

A geologic field excursion to Death Valley during spring break her first year at Barnard set Marissa Tremblay ’12 on course to becoming a scientist. She entered college intending to pursue a law degree, but stepping foot on that vast, desolate desert landscape marked with sand dunes ignited a curiosity to uncover the stories in stones.

A Story in Stones
Features
Kat Braz
Call of the Wild

50 Years of Wolf Park

Founded by Purdue ethologist Erich Klinghammer in 1972, Wolf Park began as an experiment to study wolf behavior. The pioneering research conducted there over the past 50 years contributed to a better understanding of the apex predator and facilitated its reintroduction into the wild.

Call of the Wild
Profiles
Kat Braz
Come From Away

Twenty Years After 9/11 Longhorn Reflects on the Unexpected Detour—and the Subsequent Broadway Show—that Altered His Life’s Trajectory

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Kevin Tuerff and his then-partner, also named Kevin, were on an Air France flight bound for New York City. The couple had just wrapped up a European vacation and they were eager to get home. A sudden drop in elevation over the Atlantic Ocean was the first sign that something was amiss. Then came an announcement from the cockpit.

Come From Away

Academics

Offering Careful Counsel

Longtime diplomat and educator Patrick Mendis retains strong ties to Minnesota.

With humility and gratitude, Patrick Mendis (M.A. ’86, Ph.D. ’89) has embraced adventure, defied a prophecy, and charted his own course through life. 

Mendis says a horoscope reading when he was an infant said he wouldn’t live past his first birthday. His mother, a Sinhalese Buddhist traditionalist, heeded the scholarly monk’s warning to raise her son outside the home, sending him to live with his Catholic paternal grandparents in rural Sri Lanka when he was 7 months old. His grandparents told him he was adopted, and that they found him under a banyan tree.

A Solid Foundation for the Future

A Solid Foundation for the Future

Donation of House Honors Al Altschaeffl, who Contributed to Many Iconic Campus Structures

What do Mackey Arena, Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering, the Bell Tower and the Gateway to the Future arch have in common? They are among the more than 170 building projects across campus with soil foundations designed by Al Altschaeffl (BSCE 1952, MSCE 1955 PhD 1960), a professor of civil engineer-ing with expertise in geotechnical engineering who continued to consult on projects following his retirement from the University in 2000.

Sparking Success

Sparking Success

MATC launches bilingual welding program

Karen Feliciano says people are often surprised to learn she is a welder because “I don’t look like a typical welder to them. It’s very much a male-dominated field.”

Yet the MATC welding instructor sees herself in her students every day.

“My students inspire me,” Feliciano said. “I see the challenges I faced when I moved to Wisconsin from Puerto Rico. I see how much I struggled when I was first starting out in this career. But I see myself in their successes, too.”

Making Her Own Space

Making Her Own Space

Amber Johnson Purdue’s first black woman to earn computer science PhD

When Amber Johnson (PhD S’19) walked across the stage at Elliott Hall of Music, she knew she was making history as the first black woman to earn a doctorate in computer science at Purdue University.

“It’s cool that my graduation coincides with the 150th anniversary of Purdue,” Johnson says. “With Purdue having the first department of computer science, this moment has a lot of symbolism. It means a lot for the world. It shows that computer science is for everybody and anybody.”

An Arm for Yaretzi

An Arm for Yaretzi

Telescoping prosthesis enables 10-year-old girl to bow violin

It’s atypical to see a piano as part of a grade school orchestra ensemble, but that’s exactly what Zayra Vincent encountered when she visited the Burgin Elementary School music room this spring. There, in the back of the Arlignton, Texas, classroom, a smiling 10-year-old girl plucked out notes on the keyboard with one finger.

Radical Underground

Radical Underground

Honors course explores how zines fostered communities of resistance

In the aftermath of World War II, social critics in the United States grew increasingly pessimistic about the roles of mass media, consumerism, and bureaucracy in society, viewing them as instruments of authoritarian control. These counterculture voices frame the curriculum of Underground Networks, a new course offered through the Honors College that examines radical forms of social life that emerge within yet in opposition to oppressive institutions.

Lost Art of Sketching

Lost Art of Sketching

Teaching students how to pick up a pencil and communicate their ideas

One of the greatest inventors of all time created a lot of ugly design drawings. Thomas Edison’s sketches may not be pretty, but they communicated his ideas, and that’s essential to collaboration and innovation.

Todd Kelley, associate professor of technology leadership and innovation, is a former secondary school teacher who researches how young students learn design and how design improves STEM education. He uses Edison’s drawings to illustrate that design sketches do not need to be artistic or attractive to serve their purpose — clearly communicating an idea.

Red Planet Research

Red Planet Research

All-Purdue crew spent two weeks on mission to Mars habitat simulation

Seven Boilermakers formed the first all-Purdue crew to complete a two-week mission at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) near Hanksville, Utah, from December 30 to January 14.

“The environment around the station is extremely accurate in its appearance,” says Max Fagin (MS AAE’15), an aerospace engineer at Made in Space and commander of the Boilers2Mars team. “The chemistry of the soil doesn’t mimic the chemistry of Mars, but the lack of vegetation and signs of human life create a landscape that is very Mars-like.”