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

Profiles

'It Belongs to All of Us'

'It Belongs to All of Us'

Journalist Natalie Angier ’78 believes science should be part of our daily discourse

In one of her most vivid childhood dreams, Natalie Angier ’78 watched as gallons of milk poured from the Milky Way galaxy and Good Humor truck music jingled in the background. The Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer and columnist for The New York Times says her fascination with the night sky began at a young age, even though in the Bronx neighborhood where she spent her early childhood, she recalls, she was more likely to see police helicopters than stars overhead.

A Second Chance at Life, Career

A Second Chance at Life, Career

Nursing student’s midlife career change motivated by desire to pay it forward

Kris Kavelaris insists he’s done nothing heroic.

The MATC nursing student and 2020 inductee in the Fresenius Kabi Donation Hall of Fame — recognizing individuals nationwide who have demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to blood donation — credits the team of nurses who exhibited kindness, support and motivation as he spent four months recovering at Froedtert Hospital from a horrific auto accident in 1998.

They are the heroes, he says.

'Don't Give Up'

'Don't Give Up'

Alumnus who is deaf won’t let anything stand in the way of his dreams

Screech. Clank. Scrape. Grind. A car might make all sorts of noises that indicate there is something wrong with its machinery. Automotive technicians listen for those sounds to efficiently diagnose the problem.

Thump. Scratch. Drop. Reverb. A DJ incorporates all kinds of sound effects into a set. Playing music, mixing songs — a DJ’s entire focus is to create a stimulating auditory environment.

But what if you cannot hear?

Come From Away

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.

Through Hardships to the Stars

Through Hardships to the Stars

Zoom executive credits K-State experience as launchpad for stellar career

Arriving in Manhattan, Kansas, as a freshman, Nick Chong ’91 may as well have landed in Oz. An international student, Chong was raised in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (pop. 1.8 million), where the soaring 88-story Petronas Twin Towers dominate the skyline. He and his three sisters lived with their parents in a small apartment above their family business. Chong’s father bought him an Apple Macintosh computer when Chong was about 13 years old. This was the budding engineer’s first foray into technology.

A Dream Fulfilled

A Dream Fulfilled

Alumna’s opportunities snowballed thanks to Hong Kong scholarship fund

The first time Vy Vuong ’19 experienced a snowfall, she rushed outside to play in the softly falling flakes. For this first-year student hailing from Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, frolicking in the snow was somewhat of a bucket-list experience. Vuong remembers her friends laughing about her enthusiasm for the flurries. But for Vuong, the first recipient of the Barnard Club of Hong Kong scholarship fund, every experience at Barnard felt like a treasured gift.

A Story to Tell

A Story to Tell

Author Bryn Greenwood’s unconventional life inspires gritty novels

Bryn Greenwood authored her first story before she learned to write. The New York Times bestselling author vaguely recalls the thinly veiled autobiography of an alien family with a character that bore a striking resemblance to the Great Gazoo from the Flintstones. Because Greenwood ’92, ’95 was too young to write, she dictated the tale to her older sister, Liberty ’90.

A Way with Words

A Way with Words

Pioneering journalist Betsy Wade ’51 broke barriers for women in news

When Betsy Wade ’51 became the first woman to edit the news in the 105-year history of The New York Times, she noted the spittoons vanished from the city room within her first week. Her landmark appointment to the copy desk in 1956 signaled a new era for women in journalism, previously relegated to women’s pages that covered the “Four F’s” — family, food, furnishings, and fashion.