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
Kat Braz
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.

A Way with Words

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?

Destination Mars

Destination Mars

NASA-funded project aims to develop guidance system for manned mission to the Red Planet

After the Perseverance rover successfully touched down on Mars in February 2021 following a landing sequence scientists refer to as “seven minutes of terror,” the NASA mission was widely celebrated. It wasn’t just that Perseverance is the largest, most advanced rover NASA has ever sent to another world. It’s that landing on Mars is extremely difficult.

The Dawn of Personal Aircraft

The Dawn of Personal Aircraft

Computational prototyping of rotor blades speeds design of more agile, efficient ‘flying cars’

Flying cars have long been popularized as the transportation mode of the future. Thanks to technology licensed in part through Purdue University, the future of flying cars may be closer than we think.

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.