Full Steam Ahead: Purdue Mechanical Engineering Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow 9781612493411, 9781557536884

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Full Steam Ahead:

Purdue Mechanical Engineering Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Full Steam Ahead:

Purdue Mechanical Engineering Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow Edited by John Norberg

© 2013 Purdue University Cataloging in Publication Data available All images are copyright of and used with permission of Purdue University. Any duplication without permission is forbidden.

ISBN 978-1-55753-688-4

Greetings from Purdue Mechanical Engineering It’s an exciting time for our School. I’m pleased to share that, during the fall semester of 2012, Mechanical Engineering had the largest enrollment in our undergraduate and graduate programs in more than 50 years. We also revitalized the School’s strategic plan during the 20122013 academic year.

Anil K. Bajaj William E. and Florence E. Perry Head and Alpha P. Jamison Professor of Mechanical Engineering

We have accommodated the heavier influx of students through the opening and dedication of our Roger B. Gatewood Wing of the Mechanical Engineering Building. The students and faculty now have access to greatly expanded senior capstone design, product development and innovation spaces; a large collaborative classroom; multiple tutorial rooms; a beautiful atrium; two student commons; many research labs and faculty and student offices. Our School of Mechanical Engineering serves more than 1,500 undergraduate and graduate students. It has extensive facilities that include two major satellite research laboratories: the Ray W. Herrick Laboratories and the Maurice J. Zucrow Laboratories (formerly the Thermal Sciences and Propulsion Center). The School has more than 30 additional instructional

and research laboratories, in addition to a comprehensive computing system environment, libraries and technical services support. In addition to the much-needed space, Purdue Mechanical Engineering awarded approximately $1 million in undergraduate student scholarships and $1 million in graduate fellowships and assistantships. Our revised strategic plan is expected to provide the road map for the School moving forward, complementing the College of Engineering’s plan, “Extraordinary People; Global Impact,” and the University’s “New Synergies” plan. We have included in this process all our stakeholders— undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, staff, alumni and industrial professionals—to ensure that we address the most critical needs while maintaining the School’s core mission. With these ambitious goals in mind, we present in this publication the story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering from its humble beginnings through its many growth spurts during the past 130 years. The School’s growth has been achieved in large measure because of extraordinary and dynamic faculty and dedicated administrators, as well as the continued generous investments of our alumni, corporate partners and other donors through philanthropic support.

Boilermaker Special

The Gatewood Wing Namesake of the Gatewood Wing ......... 2-5 The Hollander Atrium .............................6-9 The Caterpillar Foundation PEARL ........... 9 The Perrella Labs ................................. 9-11

Mechanical Engineering History The Beginning .....................................12-15 Morrill Land Grant Act ........................15-16 Early Resistance to the University ...........16 The First Purdue Presidents ............... 17-19 The Engineer’s President ................... 19-20 The Powerhouse and the Magic ........ 20-21 Dawn of the 20th Century ....................... 29 ME Traditions .....................................29-32 Steam Engineering and the Thermosciences ............... 32-38 World War II and Its Impact ...............38-42 Postwar Period .................................. 42-45 A Legacy of Strong Leadership ......... 57-61 Achievements during the Early 21st Century.................... 72-77 Making an Impact .............................. 78-81 Research Trends ................................ 82-91 Renaissance Engineers ..................... 92-98

ME’s Special Stories Michael Golden .......................................... 13-17 Heavilon Hall.............................................19-27 Locomotives ................................................22-27 Automobiles ...............................................29-35 Aviation .................................................... 36-43 David Crosthwait Jr. ......................................44 Maurice J. Zucrow Laboratories ...............46-55 Changin’ Times ..........................................58-61 Ray W. Herrick Laboratories ....................62-71 Astronauts ................................................. 67-76 SAE ............................................................78-79 Bioengineering ...........................................80-81 NSBE ........................................................ 88-90 Mallot Innovation Awards..............................94

Our People ............................. 100-101 References and Acknowledgements ................... 102

CONTENTS

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GATEWOOD WING Purdue University Mechanical Engineering took a giant leap forward with a new wing that honors and remembers the School’s past while opening the doors to 21st-century learning, discovery and engagement. The Roger B. Gatewood Wing adds almost 44,000 square feet to the Mechanical Engineering Building, increasing its space by 57 percent. It is the first Purdue building constructed to environmental standards set by the U.S. Green Building Council. The Gatewood Wing is the latest milestone in the long history of Purdue Mechanical Engineering, and it sets the stage for the School’s future.

Early construction, 2009

The Namesake of the Gatewood Wing The new wing is named for Roger B. Gatewood, a 1968 graduate, who gave the key leadership gift to support the new facility in 2003. Gatewood made an additional gift to fund the design and construction costs qualifying the building for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System™ certification through the U.S. Green Building Council. The Council is a nonprofit organization composed of leaders from every sector of the building industry, working to promote buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work. The LEED rating system has four certification levels for new construction—Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum. These represent the number of credits given in five areas: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources and indoor environmental quality. The Gatewood Wing received Gold.

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A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

“For Purdue and Mechanical Engineering, this means we are committed to be a leader in energy conservation and protecting the environment,” says Keith Hawks, professor emeritus and former assistant head of the School, who was chairman of the design and planning committee. “With the Gatewood Wing being LEED certified, especially Gold, we will be the campus leader that all future campus buildings will try to copy.” During construction Hawks had full decision and budget decisionmaking responsibilities, assisted by Rick DuVall, Mike Sherwood and Mike Logan. The $34.5 million wing includes flexible classroom space, an atrium, multiple conference rooms, two student commons, faculty and graduate student offices and a number of student learning and research laboratories. Views from the building provide incredible vistas of the Heavilon Hall bells in the nearby Bell Tower, as well as such Purdue landmarks as Hovde Hall, the Purdue Mall and water sculpture, and Ross-Ade Stadium. “Purdue has a long tradition of being one of this country’s educational leaders in the mechanical engineering field,” says former University President France A. Córdova. “The Gatewood Wing will give our students and faculty access to the latest cutting-edge teaching techniques that industry has come to expect from us.” 4 X

Roger Gatewood

GATEWOOD WING

3

GATEWOOD WING Mechanical Engineering Building in the ’60s

Metal spacers in the floor along the south wall of the atrium outline a railroad track and pay homage to the School’s history with railroads.

T The Namesake of the Gatewood Wing

“The main reason to build Gatewood is to accommodate the new forms of teaching and learning that Purdue faculty are developing and the research programs that new faculty are bringing with them,” says E. Daniel Hirleman, who served as head of Purdue Mechanical Engineering from 1999 to 2010 during the planning and much of the construction. Roger Gatewood says the wing will bring faculty and students from throughout the campus together. “This building gives the

mechanical engineering people who are located all around campus a place to interact,” he says. “Purdue Mechanical Engineering is evolving from individual work to group interaction and even interaction with other schools. This wing will facilitate that. It’s going to give a higher visibility to projects and research that are now taking place than in any other space available across campus. It will definitely add more excitement and value to the program.” Anil Bajaj, William E. and Florence E. Perry Head and Alpha P. Jamison Professor of Mechanical Engineering, agrees. “What this wing is producing is excitement among students and faculty,” Bajaj says. “So many buildings are going up across campus. We in Mechanical Engineering have contributed significantly to the reputation of Purdue. With this wing, the University is recognizing our needs and our contributions. It’s a morale booster for everyone. Everyone is excited.” “The Roger B. Gatewood Wing is as fine a facility for faculty and students studying mechanical engineering as anywhere in the country,” says Leah Jamieson, The John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering. “We are very grateful for the gifts that help us make this possible.”

Roger Gatewood

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A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

Gatewood’s association with Purdue began in the mid-1960s when he arrived at the University from Falls Church, Virginia.

“My older brother graduated from Ohio State with an industrial engineering degree,” Gatewood says. “I was interested in engineering, and I liked the program at Purdue better than the one at Ohio State. I liked what Purdue had to offer.” After his freshman year, he decided to go into civil engineering, but switched to mechanical at the end of his sophomore year. It suited him better. “I think the most important thing about studying engineering is that it gives you the ability to identify and solve complex problems in any field of work,” Gatewood says. “The program’s class hours created a lot of required work. You had to be organized if you were going to have a life. It was good discipline, problem-solving and technical experience.” Gatewood was also president of his fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon. After graduation from Purdue, he earned an MBA from the University of Chicago. In 1980, Gatewood, of St. Petersburg, Florida, formed Westfield Homes, and over the next 25 years, developed and constructed thousands of neighborhood homes in Illinois, Florida, and the Carolinas. In 2003, Gatewood received Purdue’s Distinguished Pinnacle Award. He served on

the Campaign for Purdue’s Steering Committee. He was awarded the Outstanding Mechanical Engineer Award from Purdue in 2006, and in 2008, was honored with the Purdue Philanthropist Award. Gatewood initially proposed the LEED certification. “I was aware of LEED through my home building background,” he says. “I thought it was a good program. It was voluntary; you could use it to show people what could be done. It was a good way to educate people to be energy efficient.” Gatewood wants to help the School, its students, faculty and staff through his gifts. “Mechanical Engineering is one of the signature schools with so much history,” he says. Mechanical Engineering is the oldest, continuous school of engineering at Purdue with the largest undergraduate engineering program and the second largest graduate program. It has played a significant role in the history and development of Purdue into a major international public research university. The new wing recognizes and remembers that history. 6 X

Second floor of the Gatewood Wing

Student Commons The Warren Hill Student Commons and the Herbert A. and Janice Wilson Student Commons each provide much-needed quality space for students to relax in between classes, socialize to create lifelong bonds, and informally group as teams to work on projects and coursework. Students also can experience a microcosm of the entire product lifecycle in the wing’s Product Engineering and Realization Lab (PEARL). „

The new three-story wing achieved the prestigious LEED Gold certification. This U.S. Green Building Council certification—a first for Purdue’s campus—is awarded for buildings that implement practical and measurable green design, construction, operations and maintenance principles.

GATEWOOD WING

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GATEWOOD WING Atrium’s Centerpiece

The clock in its original setting from the second Heavilon Hall

The clock from the second Heavilon Hall has been placed in the

T The Namesake of the Gatewood Wing

atrium and used as a

The Hollander Atrium

working model with all of its components clearly visible. The space also will showcase student projects and serve as a venue for student design competitions and recruiting events. “It symbolically blends the role of Mechanical Engineering in the ‘old’ and ‘new’ economies,” says Keith Hawks. When the first Heavilon Hall, of the late 1890s, was demolished in 1956, its clock and the bells were put into storage. In about 1990, John (Jack) Fessler found it all in Purdue’s North Ninth Street storage facility. Fessler was retired from the Purdue Veterinary Science and was an avid antique clock collector. Fessler made arrangements with Purdue officials to have the clock and all the accessory clock equipment, with the exception of the bells, moved to the basement in his home. The bells are in the current Bell Tower.  9 X

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A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

The centerpiece of the Gatewood Wing is the Dr. Milton B. and Betty Ruth Hollander Atrium, which was designed as a welcoming space for students and visitors to the School of Mechanical Engineering. It has a hightechnology look and feel that immediately tells anyone entering that they are in a mechanical engineering building. The windows in the atrium look into the robotics lab, the Ruth and Joel Spira Electromechanical Systems Laboratory and the Product Engineering and Realization Laboratory (PEARL). The two large display cases showcase Mechanical Engineering-related articles. The attractive furniture invites people to socialize while visiting or waiting on a class. “We want students to feel at home in this building,” former Head Hirleman says.

school students serendipitously meeting close to 65 years ago. A 1951 Purdue Mechanical Engineering graduate, Milton B. Hollander is currently CEO and chairman of the board of Newport Electronics. Previously, he held the positions of corporate vice president of science and technology for Milton and Betty Ruth Gulf & Western, vice president Hollander in 2009 of science and technology for American Standard and director of Central Research Labs for AMF. His work includes pioneering breakthroughs in welding, energy storage, food processing, automation, and process measurement and control.

The atrium also spotlights Purdue Mechanical Engineering history. A subtle image of train tracks in the floor pays homage to the School’s history with railroads. Milton and Betty Ruth Hollander

The Hollander Atrium is the result (engagement photo, 1952) of a love affair between two high

Hollander was named a Purdue Distinguished Engineering Alumnus in 1972, has been a member of the President’s Council for more than 40 years and received an honorary doctorate in 2009. Betty Ruth Hollander, equally accomplished, was a pioneering entrepreneurcreator, chairman and CEO of Omega Engineering,

a world leader in measurement and control. She held four honorary PhDs, several patents, served on Board of Directors of major corporations and hospitals and took her greatest delight in being a wife, mother, grandmother and philanthropist. Milton Hollander grew up in Bayonne, New Jersey. After graduation from high school, he enlisted and served in the Army of Occupation’s Corps of Engineers in Korea. Hollander had his sights set on Purdue because of its excellent reputation. “I applied to Purdue from Korea,” he says. “I told the admissions office I would not be out of the military in time for the start of classes in September, but they said fine. Whenever I’d get there, I could begin.” Hollander, holder of more than 200 patents worldwide, displayed his creativity early, inventing “All Purdue Day” and “All Indiana Day” as school holidays, which he used as excuses to drive to New Jersey to be with Betty and his family. Once there, he would tell them of the challenge of taking measurements from the clock tower, the worldwide reputation of “the Boilermakers,” the creativity of his classmates in playing practical jokes, but most of all, the

excitement and rigor of his classes and the capability of his classmates in learning the material and applying it to state-of-the-art products and their manufacture. Even with his ‘created’ days off, Hollander doubled up on courses and labs and graduated early so as to finish college at the same time as Betty. He went on to earn a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a doctorate from Columbia University. “I would never have been accepted into MIT and Columbia without the background I received from Purdue,” Hollander says. “I’ve been so happy with my education at Purdue. I learned so much, and the beauty of mechanical engineering is it is still all applicable today.” 8 X

Keith Hawks says what became the Gatewood Wing has been part of the School of Mechanical Engineering master plan since 1999, when then-President Steven Beering approved it. More work on the master plan took place during the administrations of Presidents Martin Jischke and France Córdova.

GATEWOOD WING

7

GATEWOOD WING

Guests gather in the Hollander Atrium for a reception following the Gatewood Wing Dedication on October 21, 2011.

Roger Gatewood and his wife, Jane Chapin, pose in front of the portrait she painted.

T Gatewood Wing—Hollander Atrium While visiting campuses, engineering labs and facilities, the Hollanders always used Purdue as the benchmark for hands-on-training and superb education. Throughout his corporate career, Hollander was a strong supporter of research programs at Purdue. When he retired from Gulf & Western, Mrs. Hollander continued their support, both through Omega and personally, supporting annual Rube Goldberg contests and donating to Purdue’s Hillel Foundation, carrying on the love affair they had with each other and with Purdue.

Originally named the Milton B. Hollander Atrium in recognition of a gift from Betty to honor her husband, the space was renamed to include his wife’s name at Dr. Hollander’s request, when Betty passed away suddenly in April 2011.

The Hollanders’ sincere hope was that the joy they felt in being together, the excitement they shared talking 8

A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

with each other, shaping ideas and creating products would be the same excitement, originality and creativity felt by those enjoying the Atrium space.

The Caterpillar Foundation Product Engineering and Realization Laboratory (PEARL) PEARL focuses on providing facilities that will enhance visualization, synthesis, design modeling, prototyping and manufacturing experiences. Its concept involves several different rooms: seven breakout rooms; two prototyping and assembly rooms; one conceptualization room; one rapid prototyping room; one lab manager office; one project instruction room; and an easy access to the existing student machine shop. The lab provides space for product dissection, fabrication, measurement and validation learning modules, component and materials information searches, state-of-the-art computer-aided design hardware and product realization equipment for rapid prototyping.

The Perrella Labs The Dr. and Mrs. James and Diane Perrella Bio-Mechanical Engineering Laboratories support a growing research emphasis on

T Atrium’s Centerpiece

biotechnology. The Perrella Biotransport Phenomena Laboratory is facilitating both fundamental studies and applications of heat and mass transfer in biological systems. Cutting-edge technologies are used as effective tools in research, such as highsensitivity, high-resolution IR imaging for breast cancer detection and confocal fluorescence imaging for monitoring ion transports across cell membranes in vivo. Additional work on bio-MEMS and biosensors will also be carried out in this lab.

“The clock was in poor shape,” Hawks says. “Several gears had been broken and several other parts were either broken or bent. Working with the Purdue shops, he had several parts made and repaired.” While it did not operate, the clockworks were displayed in the Materials Science and Electrical

The Perrella Biomaterials and Biomechanics Laboratory is used to study how the human body is affected by such forces as those that cause damage to the vertebrae in the neck and spine, providing information needed to develop new devices, implants and systems to replace damaged and worn-out body parts.

Engineering Building atrium

Mike Sherwood adjusts clock mechanism

and later in the Mechanical Engineering Building. As the Gatewood Wing neared completion, Fessler went back to work on the clock. “Jack along with Mike Sherwood from the Mechanical Engineering machine shop and Galen King, another clock collector and a Mechanical Engineering professor, took the clock out of the display case in May 2010. They set the clock up in the machine shop and

The Perrella Tissue Engineering Laboratory provides 11 X

started it again. It was the first time the clock had run since 1956. Mike and Galen kept the clock running for the past year, waiting for the completion of the wing and the clock’s new home.” The 19th-century clock is accurate

The bells in their original setting from the second Heavilon Hall

to within a few seconds a month. Jack Fessler, Mike Sherwood and Galen King check accuracy of the restored Heavilon Hall clock.

Regretfully, Fessler died in 2011 before the clock was positioned in its new home, but his work is honored with a plaque. „

GATEWOOD WING

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GATEWOOD WING

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A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

Mechanical engineering alumni and friends enjoy beautiful fall weather while they wait for seating at the Gatewood Wing Dedication held during Purdue Homecoming 2011.

T Gatewood Wing— Perrella Labs

the additional space required for the Optotrak system and two additional MTS test frames. The cadaver prep room houses the stainless steel tables, freezers, sinks, chemical cabinets and exhaust hoods required for handling biological materials. The tissue engineering lab provides space for those tissue activities that Mechanical Engineering researchers previously did not have to conduct their research. James Perrella earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1960 and his master’s degree in industrial engineering in 1961, both from Purdue. He is the retired CEO, president and chairman of Ingersoll-Rand Co. Ltd., an industrial machinery company in Woodcliff, New Jersey. In 1994 he received an honorary doctorate in engineering from Purdue. Perrella, who grew up in Gloversville, New York, did not go to Purdue directly from high school. He went to work at a General Electric plant in Schenectady, New York, where a former Purdue professor encouraged him to enroll at Purdue.

“I wasn’t sure if they’d accept me after being out of school for three years,” Perrella says. “But this gentleman encouraged me and told me he’d get me a job as a toolmaker at Purdue. It was a big break for me. If I hadn’t gone to Purdue, I wouldn’t have been much more than a machinist in my life. Purdue opened my eyes to what I could do.” In addition to working as a toolmaker, he sold gloves from his hometown in New York, which at that time was the glove capital of the nation. He waited tables in a residence hall and finally landed a position as a residence-hall counselor, freeing him from other work and allowing him to focus more time on studies. “My mechanical engineering courses in my junior year got very tough, as it does for everyone,” he says. “The professors were very tough and pushed me to reach further than I thought I could. “Because I received all kinds of scholarships and other help when I went to college, I made a commitment that I’d do my part to help students and help the school. I feel it is important to return something to the college for what it gave to me.” „

The Gatewood Wing Dedication culminated with a ceremonial ribbon cutting.

GATEWOOD WING

11

Bird’s eye view of the city of Lafayette, Tippecanoe County, Indiana 1868 Drawn by A. Ruger. Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division

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A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

Michael Golden

Full Steam Ahead:

Tucked behind Knoy Hall of Technology, a short walk

Purdue Mechanical Engineering Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow The Beginning On April 15, 1869, John Purdue sat at his desk in Lafayette and penned a letter to “His Excellency” Conrad Baker, Governor of Indiana. Purdue believed he had never made a bad business decision in his life. He was about to take the most momentous step of his career.

only been platted 44 years earlier. The landmark Battle of Tippecanoe—where future U.S. President William Henry Harrison defeated a coalition of Native American forces—had taken place only 58 years earlier. With a population of 33,515 in the 1870 census, Lafayette was not the center of commerce in a state of 1.7 million people.

In his letter to the governor, Purdue But Lafayette was a growing, offered $150,000 of his own fortune prosperous community, located toward a new college for the state on railroad lines and a navigable of Indiana, provided that: it would river. And it was home to a be located in his home county of John Purdue visionary, though egocentric man, who Tippecanoe; he would be appointed believed in education and wanted to link his to its board of trustees; and “an irrepealable name in perpetuity with learning. law” would seal its name as Purdue. Purdue succeeded beyond his greatest Within three weeks Baker and the Indiana dreams and launched a university that is now General Assembly had accepted the proposal, recognized globally, especially for its excellence and May 6, 1869, has ever since been marked in engineering and its School of Mechanical as the founding of Purdue University. Engineering. He never could have imagined the impact engineering and his Purdue University It was a bold decision in a state and a would have on life, business and technology, community that were just several generations now reaching into a third century. 15 X beyond the nation’s frontier. Lafayette had

from the Mechanical Engineering Building, is the Michael Golden Engineering Laboratories and Shops. It’s a facility that holds a special place in the history of Purdue Mechanical Engineering. Used for multidisciplinary work today, it was part of a larger facility at the intersection of Northwestern Avenue and Grant Street. Built in 1910, it was originally named the Practical Mechanics Building, but was renamed at the request of alumni to honor one of the University’s most Practical Mechanics Building in 1918

colorful and loved faculty members—Michael Golden.

The name of the facility was changed in 1920 to Michael Golden Shops and in 1950 to Michael Golden Laboratories. Students called the building “Mike’s Castle.” In 1982 the main portion of the building was taken down to make way for Knoy Hall, but laboratories attached to the original building have been remodeled and remain in use. Who was this popular professor, remembered so fondly by his former students?

Michael Golden

Professor Michael Golden was serious and all business The Purdue water sculpture, often called the Engineering Fountain, with the Bell Tower and Hovde Hall.

in the classroom. He also was known to challenge argumentative students to a boxing match if they crossed him. In 26 years at Purdue University, not one student was foolish enough to accept the challenge. 15 X

MICHAEL GOLDEN

13

Aerial view of campus

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A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

T ME Story—The Beginning

Purdue alumnus Neil Armstrong, commander of the Apollo 11 space mission that accomplished the first moon landing, wrote a foreword for A Century of Innovation, the story of the greatest engineering achievements of the 20th century, as determined by the National Academy of Engineering. “If any of (the achievements) were removed, our world would be a very different and less hospitable place,” Armstrong said. “Each of these achievements has been important to the transformation of society in the past hundred years. These are technologies that have become inextricable parts of the fabric of our lives—some spectacular, some nearly invisible, but all critically important.” The automobile, the airplane, spacecraft, air conditioning and refrigeration are only a few of the transformational 20th-century achievements that were led by developments in mechanical engineering— and Purdue Mechanical Engineering, in particular.

Morrill Land Grant Act Purdue University began with a focus on engineering, and Mechanical Engineering was the start of it all.

The University emerged in 1869 from what is widely considered to be one of the most important pieces of legislation of the 19th century: The Morrill Land Grant Act. Named for Justin Morrill, a Vermont congressman who would later become a U.S. Senator, Morrill wanted to open the doors of higher education beyond the European model of universities, which provided mostly classical learning for the wealthy. Morrill believed universities open to the masses could impact the future of the United States, and that the institutions should be practical as well as liberal in education and training. Mechanics and agriculture would be focuses.

T Michael Golden

This was, after all, a man about whom John L. Sullivan, the first heavyweight champion of gloved boxing, once said: “He didn’t have to be a college professor. If

he’d stayed with boxing, he’d have gone far in the fancy.” Michael Golden, a native of Ireland, directed Practical Mechanics at Purdue beginning in 1890 and retired in 1916, “exhausted like a runner,” according to H.B. Knoll, in The Story

Engineering was part of the fabric of these universities from the very beginning.

Many years after his Land Grant Act was approved, in a speech to the Vermont legislature in 1888, Morrill explained: “The fundamental idea was to offer an opportunity in every state for a liberal and larger education to larger numbers, not merely to those destined to sedentary professions, but to those needing higher instruction for the world’s business, for the industrial pursuits and professions of life.” 16 X Justin Morrill

Practical Mechanics Building in 1932

of Purdue Engineering. “He was a man of many Michael Golden

sides and many talents,” Knoll said, “a collector of

old books and works of art, a music lover and a skilled performer on the flute, the piccolo and the violin, a good photographer, and an inventor whose ingenious machines were introduced into many manual training schools.” Golden, who parted his red hair in the middle of his head, grew up in Lawrence, Massachusetts, working, reportedly barefoot, in the mills. Wanting a better

This photo is believed to be the first ever taken of the Purdue University campus about the time classes opened in September 1874.

life, he used the money he made boxing to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After two years at MIT, he was hired at Purdue by Engineering Dean W.F.M. Goss, himself a two-year MIT man. 16 X

MICHAEL GOLDEN

15

MICHAEL GOLDEN T Michael Golden

Sinninger Pond just south of the Bell Tower

In addition to teaching mechanics, he studied at Purdue and received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a professional M.E. degree.

The nation needed men—and later women— who could build railroads and bridges, run factories and manufacture machines to meet America’s needs and dreams. The nation needed engineers, and land-grant universities

Some of his other more memorable moments at Purdue included, according to Knoll:

Early Resistance to the University

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Athletic Association to withhold varsity letters from all the players on the 1909 football team because they hadn’t won a game and were “lazy.” When he first took the platform to speak, his words were met by boos and hisses. But he clenched his fists, continued and turned the angry crowd in his favor. The team finally received their letters in 1934. 17 X

But even as Purdue’s first buildings were planned and built on treeless land bordering the village of Chauncey, across the Wabash River from Lafayette, debate arose concerning exactly what this new institution was supposed to do. The average person in Indiana did not understand what engineering was all about.

Shop class in Michael Golden Laboratories 16

T ME Story—Morrill Land Grant Act

Golden loved many sports, including fencing, wrestling, tennis, boxing, football and baseball. He played in the backfield of the faculty football team, which annually played the senior class—until 1902 when he broke his leg and the games were canceled. “He yelled, danced and chattered incessantly,” Knoll said, making him an early-day “trash talker.”

A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

such as Purdue would supply them.

During the first years of instruction, Harvey Wiley, one of the original members of the faculty, noted: “The course of study was still crude. Most of the boys who came from the country to join Purdue Agriculture School were not even well enough trained to enter high school. In addition to this, the bad boys of the city who were expelled from the high schools sought a more congenial environment at Purdue.”

People throughout the state questioned not only the purpose but also the value of a university education. Reporting on the first commencement at Purdue, the Daily Courier in Lafayette commented in a headline: “Of All Horned Cattle, Deliver Me from a College Graduate.” It was a quote by Horace Greeley, a powerful 19th-century newspaper editor and politician. At the third commencement in 1877, one of the speakers was Indiana Governor James “Blue Jeans” Williams. His nickname came from his habit of wearing suits, hand sewn by his wife, made from the same blue fabric worn by workmen on the farms. Wiley said when it came time for Williams to speak, the governor stood silently at the podium for a moment and the first words out of his mouth stunned everyone in the audience. “Edicate a boy,” he said, “and he won’t work.” “This was his theme,” Wiley said. “And he launched forth into a bitter denunciation of higher education for a boy, affirming that it would unfit him for any useful vocation in his life.” Williams would later change his position and is remembered today for advocating state funds for the struggling, young University. In fact, two of his grandsons attended Purdue.

The First Purdue Presidents The concept of engineering at Purdue began to be defined during the term of its second President Abraham Shortridge, who served from 1874 to 1875. In his 1963 book, The Story of Purdue Engineering, H.B. Knoll said Shortridge Abraham Shortridge planned for some of the technical training at the University to include manual proficiency and engineering. A Shortridge report said: An inspection of our manufacturing establishments will reveal the fact...that those positions that require the most skill, and which consequently command the greatest remuneration, are not filled by the native citizens of our country, except in the comparatively few cases where they have gained their special education abroad. It is assumed, therefore, that young men who desire to fit themselves technically to become leaders in these industrial pursuits should no longer be compelled to go elsewhere for their education.

Emerson White

The next President, from 1876 to 1882, was Emerson White. According to Knoll, it was under White’s leadership that Purdue “evolved painfully as a technical school.” The first engineering classes at this time were in mechanics. The 18791880 Register of the University described the coursework:

The course of instruction and training in this school is based upon the plan designed at the Imperial Technical School of Moscow, Russia. It teaches the students the use of typical hand and machine tools for working in iron and wood. ...It has provided a most efficient substitute for the apprentice system, which is fast disappearing. Students taking the courses are required to devote two hours each day at bench, forge or machine. The course is arranged to combine theory and practice in such a way that graduates may be fitted to do good engineering work and eventually find their vocations in being superintendents and managers of railroads, machine shops, rolling-mills and the numberless manufacturing establishments in which machinery plays a prominent part. Among White’s outstanding moves was bringing W.F.M. Goss to Purdue in 1879. Goss was an instructor of shop training and later became the first dean of Engineering. Before coming to Purdue, he had two years of training in the School of Mechanics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1882 White established the School of Mechanical Engineering. It was the first School of Engineering at Purdue. The first head of the School, from 1882 to 1883, was Lt. William Hamilton, a U.S. Army officer who was an instructor in engineering and military tactics. 19 X

1880 Purdue University campus illustration

T Michael Golden

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that sounded like a belt slipping on a pulley. Golden searched for the malfunctioning machine, but he couldn’t find it. This went on for several days until Golden finally caught on. He sneaked behind the guilty student, stuck the spout of an oil can inside the back of his shirt “and gave him a liberal squirt.” t
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Debris yearbook wrote about him: “If it suits his fancy to call a geometrical solid as large as a peck measure a point, it is a point so don’t think it is a pussy cat. And if he says that ’dinymte’ is a toothpaste or a steam ’ingine’ is a flock of ponies, put it down for it’s so and ’ye needn’t bother ye head about it because I know and could flunk the bunch of ye by raising me little finger. Now that’s straight.’” The students learned to love Golden, and he was an outstanding teacher, well organized and demanding. “He was the professor who rose the highest in the affections of both the students and the staff,” Knoll said. “Anecdotes about him were cherished as of an epic hero, told and retold and woven into the warmest of campus lore. Freshmen hated him, said (the student newspaper) The Exponent. Sophomores respected, juniors appreciated, seniors loved and alumni reverenced.” „

MICHAEL GOLDEN

17

The Loeb Fountain was built in 1959 on the Purdue Mall (below). It was replaced by a new water sculpture in 1989.

The Leob Fountain was relocated to Founders Park (right) in 1989.

18

A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

T ME Story—The First Purdue Presidents

Lt. Albert Stahl, on assignment from the U.S. Navy, led the School from 1883 to 1887. According to Knoll, “(Stahl) explained in the student newspaper, Purdue, in 1883 what Mechanical Engineering meant, since there was some confusion about the name, and then made certain that the school would survive, if, as seemed doubtful, the university survived.” In 1885, the School graduated Charles L. Ratcliff who received Purdue’s first bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. The third Mechanical Engineering head was another Navy man, Lt. William Creighton, who was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. While at Purdue from 1887 to 1892, he worked on plans for warships that became part of President Theodore Roosevelt’s “Great White Fleet,” which displayed U.S. naval might to the world during its 1908 tour.

The Engineer’s President The School of Mechanical Engineering blossomed during the 17-year tenure of Purdue’s fourth president, James Smart, the “engineer’s president.” From 1883 to 1900, Smart brought a sense of optimism to the University and its engineering programs that prevailed even in times of James Smart dire economic problems.

When Smart arrived, Mechanical Engineering did not have its own building and had a total faculty of four. He quickly changed that. According to Purdue historian Robert Topping in A Century and Beyond, Smart was: High-strung, gregarious, optimistic, fast paced, he was an enthusiastic risk-taker. …Smart …pushed the University onto the educational stage as one of the nation’s leading land-grant institutions, especially in engineering. …Under Smart the University began to flourish and the general public began to accept, although slowly, the idea of formal engineering education. The old and pervasive public view had been that engineers ran trains. And what was the point, anyway, of offering formal college training for mechanics? By the late 1880s, Indiana high schools restructured their programs to produce more qualified applicants, and large numbers of them began seeking admission to Purdue. According to Professor Harvey Wiley, “The growth of the institution under (Smart’s) wise management was phenomenal. For 17 years he gave his enthusiastic, undivided and earnest attention to the administrative work at Purdue and with splendid success.” 20 X

The Three Heavilon Halls Both the motto and the spirit of Purdue University are written in the story of a building for Purdue Mechanical Engineering during the last decade of the 19th century. Mechanics Hall, Purdue’s first engineering building, went up in 1885 shortly after President James Smart arrived on campus. It was constructed with $12,500 from the state of Indiana. A snowy landscape surrounds old Heavilon Hall

Located on the site now occupied by Stanley

Coulter Hall, this small, two-story, red-brick building had a one-story laboratory facility at the back. It was considered adequate for its day by many, but some students felt overcrowded as soon as the new hall opened. It was reported that 120 students were in a drawing class built to accommodate 40. By 1890 Smart and a key member of the engineering faculty, W.F.M. Goss, were campaigning for a new engineering building. Smart went to the state and asked for a huge appropriation for the facility—

Heavilon Hall class with cutaway model of a steam locomotive piston-cylinder drive

$60,000. At that time, the total value of the University—land, buildings and fixtures—was worth less than $500,000. So Smart was trying to erect a building that would cost more than 10 percent of Purdue’s total value. 20 X

HEAVILON HALL

19

HEAVILON HALL T The Three Heavilon Halls

“It has been our ambition to make Purdue University

University Hall

one of the most thorough and best equipped technical schools in the country,” Smart said. “The state of Indiana can afford nothing less.” It was a time for thinking big. But the Indiana General Assembly appropriated $12,000—only one-fifth of Smart’s request. Smart built what he could with the state funds. The building was not what he had dreamed, but it housed what he called “the largest and most expensive apparatus and machinery ever put into an engineering laboratory.” The building opened in January 1892. But Smart would not give up on his dreams. 0O
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the chapel of University Hall. According to the student newspaper, The Exponent, it was a bigger celebration than the campus had ever seen before. To the surprise of students and faculty, Smart announced that they were joined that day by a

T ME Story—The Engineer’s President

Money was the recurring problem of the Smart presidency, however. In his first report to the University’s Board of Trustees, Smart stated, “I found the institution in good condition, except that there was no money in the treasury with which to meet the current expenses of the year.” Despite years in which the skeptical state legislature made no allocations to Purdue, Smart persisted in pursuing a policy of expansion and progress. He continually added new engineering laboratories and unique testing facilities. Much of the growth was reportedly at the expense of faculty paychecks that were abysmally low and frequently late. According to Knoll, “Perhaps in no other period were the students so happy, rowdy and creative and the staff so badly paid, ambitious and inspired.”

businessman who had just completed plans to make

The Powerhouse and the Magic The Purdue School of Mechanical Engineering grew and prospered, and it was ultimately transformed through the combined talents of Goss and MIT-trained/Purdue President Smart. Goss was described as “the powerhouse” in bringing Purdue engineering to national recognition. Smart provided “the magic,” according to Topping. After 10 years at Purdue, in 1889 Goss took a leave of absence for travel, observation and study. He returned in W.F.M. Goss 1890 as not only a professor of practical mechanics, but also as professor of experimental engineering. What he and Smart did within the next few years advanced Purdue Mechanical Engineering from a standard program into what was described as “an exciting, even spectacular adventure.”

gifts to Purdue, totaling $35,000. The man was Amos The first thing Goss did upon returning to Purdue was to persuade Smart to purchase for Mechanical Engineering a Corliss steam engine, a top engine of its time. “A Corliss engine, which the university could not afford, was the first tangible sign that a new era was opening,” Knoll said.

Heavilon from nearby Frankfort, Indiana—a wealthy bachelor who was looking for a way to use his money to benefit others. The students and faculty showed their appreciation through a huge standing ovation for Heavilon. The Exponent said: “Never had the old chapel echoed back such enthusiastic yells as broke forth from the throats of the happy students.” 21 X 20

A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

Foundry

“Schenectady brought international recognition to Purdue and kept the fires of enthusiasm hotly burning,” Knoll said. “It also brought Mechanical Engineering the favor and high regard of the railroad industry and made transportation a leading Purdue interest.” Progress continued in 1892 when Goss and Smart bought an internal combustion engine for University research. (See Automobiles on pp. 29-35) Schenectady #1 arrived on campus in 1891— Ladies Hall is in the background.

As much as an engine to be used and studied, it became a symbol of the University. Its presence on the campus announced to everyone that Purdue had arrived among the great engineering schools of the nation. “Possession of the Corliss as laboratory equipment meant that Mechanical Engineering could have a part in the study of the era’s most important engineering problem—what happened inside the cylinder of a steam engine,” Knoll said. The next turning point for Purdue came in 1891, when Smart and Goss brought a locomotive to campus, the Schenectady. (See Locomotives on pp. 22-27)

The final jewel in the 19th-century Mechanical Engineering crown came in the form of a building, Heavilon Hall, which even caught the attention of the prestigious publication, Scientific American. (See Heavilon on pp. 19-27) On February 21, 1900, at the age of 58, Smart died in office. At the time, 599 students were enrolled in 4-year programs at Purdue. Of these, 84 percent were majoring in engineering—202 in mechanical, 106 in civil, and 193 in electrical. Purdue’s reputation in engineering was clearly established. ME Story— continued 29 X

T The Three Heavilon Halls

With that kind of support from the private sector, the state came through with a large appropriation. In 1893, the General Assembly provided $50,000 toward construction of the new facility. In 1893, construction began immediately, and the building, named Heavilon Hall, was dedicated on January 19, 1894. This grand building was much larger than anything else on the Purdue campus. Its huge tower climbed into the sky, announcing to the world that, with this state-of-the-art facility, Purdue and Purdue Mechanical Engineering were placing themselves among the best in the nation—and maybe the world. The main building was three stories high with two 400-foot wings. Its tower reached 140 feet high. In The Story of Purdue Engineering, author H.B. Knoll said, “Here was the attainment of things hoped for and dreamed about. After 20 years of struggling upward, Purdue stood triumphant at the summit, and its students were assured they now had a building and engineering facilities that were not anywhere on earth excelled.” 22 X

Old Heavilon Hall (left) Friction brake dyno test in Heavilon Hall laboratories (right)

HEAVILON HALL

21

HEAVILON HALL T The Three Heavilon Halls

Hydraulics laboratories in Heavilon Hall

Indiana Governor Claude Matthews spoke at the dedication. The evening culminated in a dance, celebrating all that had been accomplished. Purdue Mechanical Engineering had arrived. Four days later a fire started in the Heavilon Hall boiler room. A gas explosion caused the fire, and it soon spread throughout the building and its magnificent tower. The evening sky above campus was MJU
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Hill in Lafayette, but the horses became exhausted from the long run and their struggle to climb State Street hill. When a truck finally did arrive with a hose, the water pressure was too low. All efforts were futile. Smart wrote: “Heavilon Hall had been beautiful four days before: it was infinitely more beautiful now, but the crowds this time were speechless with grief and in a few hours only a pitiful mass of blackened ruins remained to mark the spot where Purdue’s greatest pride once stood.” 23 X 22

A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

The Schenectady Locomotive A defining moment in the history of Purdue University took place in September 1891 with the arrival of a locomotive engine, “a steaming, smoking, fire-breathing monster to be studied, tamed and before long, revered as a symbol of power and romance.” Those were the words of H.B. Knoll in his 1963 The Story of Purdue Engineering, and they capture the magic that this “ fire-breathing monster” brought to the young university. Purdue’s founding had only taken place Schenectady #1 in the main steam lab prior to the 1894 Heavilon Hall fire 22 years earlier. Its first classes had only unique partnership that became key to the building been open to students 17 years before, and the still of 20th-century America. mostly tree-barren campus—with limited facilities and even more limited resources—was trying to prove and It was all part of the magic that sparked between establish itself among other universities of the day. Professor William Freeman Myrith “W.F.M.” Goss Some considered Purdue nothing more than a technology school. No doubt students and faculty alike were thinking “this would show them.” And they were right. Studying the locomotive engine marked the first step in establishing Purdue as a higher education institution with a world-class engineering teaching and research program, drawing international attention and linking the University with business and industry in a

and Purdue President James Smart. In the 1880s Goss had spent most of his time working in practical mechanics. But at the end of the decade, he took a year for travel and study and returned, according to Knoll, to “begin a new career in experimental engineering and became the powerhouse of the whole engineering program.”

LOCOMOTIVES

LOCOMOTIVES

T The Three Heavilon Halls

Goss’s first move was to bring the Corliss steam engine to Purdue. And then he convinced Smart that the University should embark on locomotive research. Knoll called it a “bold, almost reckless venture.” He explained: There was no guarantee that any good would come of it. No locomotive had ever been tested under laboratory conditions. The University had a little money for the expansion of laboratory facilities, but not much, and it was underbuilt, lacking classrooms and other space for students. President Smart, however, never aimed low, and when it was suggested that the available funds, amounting to $8,000, might better be spent for ordinary apparatus, he replied that his policy was to secure the big things when he could, because small things would come later without special effort. In A Century and Beyond, Purdue historian Robert Topping said, “Smart set seemingly impossible goals and then immersed himself in achieving them.” The Schenectady Locomotive Works built the locomotive, which was named Schenectady after the company. It was the best of its kind and cost $4,000 with another $4,000 for transporting it to West Lafayette and building the test lab. The locomotive arrived on train tracks east of the current Purdue Airport. With no tracks to move it to the laboratory and no heavy equipment in existence to move it, three teams of horses and Purdue students did the job.

In a 1988 article for the Purdue Alumnus, history Professor Emeritus John Stover said the railroads would not permit the University to break a joint in the tracks. “Thus, the first job was to block the engine and carry the flanged wheels over the top of the rails,” he said. “Eventually, many willing hands, crude tools and teams of horses worked the engine off the track onto a temporary skid and across the right of way ditch.” Smart declared a university holiday, and students streamed to the site to lift the Schenectady off the railroad tracks and begin the process of moving it across campus. Rails were mounted on wood skids. A team of horses pulled the locomotive over the wooden skids, and as it passed, two teams of horses pulled skids from the back to the front to continue the process. According to Knoll, one of the students in charge was a football player of enormous strength who reportedly had once carried a young bull to the roof of a dormitory and then, of course, left it there. The move took eight days, but the mission was accomplished. “In the testing plant Schenectady was hitched to a post and its wheels made to run on a kind of treadmill while students and professors studied its performance,” Knoll said. “So ingenious were the testing arrangements that, though a pull of 30,000 pounds could be measured, a push of the hand against the locomotive would register a change of stress.” Locomotives 25 X

Laboratories in Heavilon Hall

The next morning the entire University community gathered nearby in University Hall Chapel where the victorious announcement of Heavilon’s gift had first been made. The smell of the Heavilon Hall drawing class smoldering embers must have reached them as they entered the Hall. Smart had little opportunity to sleep. He was in ill health and tired, yet he stood before the assembled students, faculty and staff and would not be defeated. “I have shed all my tears for our loss last night,” he said. “We are looking this morning to the future, not the past. I am thankful no one was injured.” According to The Exponent, he straightened himself up to his full height, and a determination entered his voice, as he said, “I tell you young men, that tower shall go up one brick higher.” Building “one brick higher” has been the unofficial motto of the University ever since. Cleanup began immediately. The tower, blackened by smoke, had to come down so dynamite was set off at its base. But the great tower stood for half an hour before tumbling into the burned debris. Smart and Goss appealed to businesses and industry for help, and 52 companies responded. The legislature appropriated more money, and insurance covered some of the loss. In December 1895 Heavilon Hall reopened, although it lost its name. Many people continued to call it Heavilon Hall, but the Board of Trustees did not authorize that EFTJHOBUJPO
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Mechanical Engineering Building. 25 X

HEAVILON HALL

23

Testing Titan engine in laboratory, 1921

24

A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

LOCOMOTIVES

LOCOMOTIVES

T The Three Heavilon Halls

The new engineering building was even more

T In 1893 international visiting engineers at the

Columbian Exposition in Chicago traveled to West Lafayette to watch the testing with the locomotive running in place at 80 miles per hour. Railroad officials also came to watch and learn.

Locomotive Laboratory for testing. Some of the many problems investigated in the lab were the efficiency of boilers and engines under various conditions of speed, load, steam pressure and valve proportions. In 1897 the locomotive was replaced by a new one called Schenectady II. Knoll described the old locomotive’s departure as very much a funeral, with eulogies and tears. It was put into commercial service and was known as the “schoolmarm.”

“Schenectady became more than a locomotive,” Knoll said. “It symbolized the spirit of a growing university, the aspirations of vigorous young men and the smoking, steaming, roaring power and might of the rolling trains.” Schenectady was damaged in the Heavilon Hall fire of 1894 and sent to Indianapolis for repairs. When it returned, it traveled across campus on a newly built rail line.

1897 departure of Schenectady No. 1

In two years of experiments after the fire, Goss said: Not less than 10,000 indicator-cards were taken, 20,000 miles were run and 25,000 different observations were made. …There was nowhere such an accumulation of locomotive data obtained under conditions so favorable to experimentation and arranged so systematically as the material then existing in the Purdue laboratory. For many years, Purdue was the only “neutral” testing ground in a highly competitive industry, and the railroads eagerly took advantage of the facility. Many companies brought their own locomotives into the ME

Schenectady II was used until 1902 when it was converted to a super-heated locomotive and renamed Schenectady III.

In 1923 change came again. The Baldwin Locomotive Company donated cylinders, piston valves and a Walschaert valve gear to Purdue. The Monon Railroad installed the equipment at no cost, and the converted locomotive was renamed Vauclain-Purdue No. 4. (photo on page 2)

magnificent than the first. An article in Scientific American said: “The incidental gain which has been brought about by the fire is to be found in the improved character of the equipment. The machinery is new, its arrangement is improved and the amount of apparatus in all departments has been greatly increased.” A clock with bells was placed in its tower. To cover its cost, the Class of 1895 donated $800, the Ladies’ Matinee Musicale of Lafayette contributed $600 and $10 came from the student Mandolin Club. The E. Howard Watch and Clock Company manufactured the clock mechanism. The clock had four faces, each about 7 feet in diameter. The chimes were actually Blake bells. They struck every 15 minutes and played a tune just before striking on the hour. 26 X

Locomotive research continued until 1938, when the last of the Purdue locomotives was declared unsafe. During World War II, the remaining locomotive equipment was sold for scrap, and the building was turned over to the chemistry department for the Manhattan Project. Locomotives 26 X

Student working with an Atlas steam engine

Schenectady #2 arriving on campus in 1897

HEAVILON HALL

25

HEAVILON HALL T The Three Heavilon Halls

The bells were tuned to D, D-flat, F and A-flat,

Air brake testing facility

according to Tippecanoe County historian Robert Kriebel. They would ring out over the campus for more than half a century, marking the passing of time as generations of students passed through Purdue. And as for Smart’s promise that the tower would go back up one brick higher, he was more than good to his word. It was actually nine bricks higher. By the 1920s it was obvious to everyone that the Mechanical Engineering Building was not large enough to meet the needs of the growing program. President Edward Elliott and the Purdue Board of Trustees approved a building program that included a new Mechanical Engineering Building a half block north of where the existing building stood (the same location where the third Heavilon Hall now stands). The first phase of the new building was completed JO

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named this first phase as the Mechanical Engineering Building and changed the name of the former 27 X 26

A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

T Locomotives

Locomotive testing was just one of many areas of railway research conducted by those in Purdue Mechanical Engineering. Purdue’s first brake-shoe testing machines and air-brake testing rack were acquired from the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1898. In 1925 the School of Mechanical Engineering undertook the single largest research project in its history—the testing and subsequent development of a safe braking system for freight trains. Endeavoring to meet safety standards set by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), air-brake companies brought their various products to Purdue for testing. Railway mechanical engineering Professors Harry Rubenkoenig and David S. Clark directed the tests and calculations. As many as 125 students and graduates were involved in the project at any given time. In the Railway Laboratory of Heavilon Hall, the braking capacity of a two-engine, 100-car freight train was simulated under various conditions. For four years tests were run on commercial brakes to determine which could meet ICC specifications by minimizing the threat of “internal collision,” while performing consistently and predictably on all grades. At the end of this period, Clark issued a statement that no brake then in existence could fully meet the safety requirements. He backed his results with 60 volumes of compiled data. Purdue’s mechanical engineers subsequently developed their own air brake and moved their testing program out of the laboratory to the open tracks of the Northwest.

Professors and students rode the cabooses during the tests, peering down the tracks and recording their observations on braking performance. For one of the final tests, Clark himself was seated in the cab of a locomotive at the front of a 150-car train equipped with Purdue-designed brakes. The hair-raising descent shot down a 23-mile incline in the Siskiyou Mountains of southern Oregon. The brakes held, and Clark lived to tell the tale to the Commission. Eventually, this Purdue “AB” Air Brake became standard equipment on American railroads. Testing on other car parts began as early as 1902, when a drop-testing machine was set up outdoors near the Locomotive Laboratory. Eventually, in 1926 this ear-shattering activity was moved to the Draft Gear Laboratory, located in the new American Railway Association Building, just south of the present Mechanical Engineering Building. The building was constructed for about $25,000 and contained $40,000 in equipment. The American Railway Association Building was turned over to Purdue after about two years and has been used by the University as office space for many years. The building housed a drop-testing machine equipped with a 27,000-pound tup. In

LOCOMOTIVES

LOCOMOTIVES

T The Three Heavilon Halls

structure back to Heavilon Hall. In September

1927, the ICC called upon Purdue to draw up universal specifications for draft gears—special shock absorbers placed in the ends of railway cars to prevent bumping. Professor William E. Gray, and later Professor Charles W. Messersmith, conducted tests on commercial gears continuously for up to 16 hours a day. The tup was dropped onto an anvil that rested on an underground foundation made from two carloads of concrete. The frequent shock of the falling weight jarred students awake in lecture halls throughout the engineering campus and rattled dishes in homes along Northwestern Avenue. In 1933, Messersmith wrote up the results of the five years of testing and submitted his recommendations to the ICC. His specifications were evaluated and gratefully accepted. The following year the Commission ordered that the Purdue laboratory must certify all draft gears in new railroad cars.

that same year, the Board approved construction of the main wing of the existing building, which was completed in late 1932 and dedicated on May 5, 1933. The south half of the current southeast wing was constructed in 1941 and used as an aerospace lab. In 1948 the north half of the current southeast wing was built to connect the aerospace lab to the main wing. „

Draft Gear Laboratory open house inside the American Railway Association Building, 1928.

Testing and development in railway engineering continued until 1953, when, as Rubenkoenig sadly commented, “The old student enthusiasm for railroading had largely disappeared.” More accurately, it was the railroad companies’ de-emphasis of engineering development that signaled

The High Bay Area, circa 1950

the end of this particular research effort at Purdue. Nevertheless, the railroads gave birth to, nurtured and supported mechanical engineering research at Purdue for 60 years. In this area, Purdue Mechanical Engineering gained its reputation for contributions in research—a reputation it continues to maintain and expand. „

Brake tests

Summer engine class, circa 1958

HEAVILON HALL

27

28

A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

T ME Story—continued from 21

ME Traditions

Dawn of the 20th Century

Many long-standing Mechanical Engineering student traditions from the 19th century continued into the 20th century. The senior thesis and the senior industrial tour of Chicago (with an occasional side trip to Milwaukee and its baseball park) were first instituted in 1885. They went on for almost 50 years.

With the death of President James Smart, the Purdue presidency went to Winthrop Stone who would hold the position until he died in a mountain-climbing accident in 1921. Stone was the first of five University presidents who spanned the 20th century and spawned great developments in Purdue Mechanical Engineering: Stone (1900-1921); Edward Elliott (1921-1945); Frederick Hovde (1946-1971); Arthur Hansen (1971-1982); and Steven Beering (1983-2000).

The Internal Combustion Engine Studies In the 1890s, at the time that Purdue University Mechanical Engineering was establishing an international reputation in railroad

“Mechanics Burning” was a day for seniors to celebrate their victory over the much-maligned mechanics and hydraulics course, a requirement that frequently winnowed students out of the engineering curriculum. 30 X

locomotive research, it was also pushing forward in a No. 7 Otto Cycle gas engine with R. A. Smart taking indicator card

technology that would transform the world—the

internal combustion engine. Automobiles were not yet in the West Lafayette area before the start of the 20th century. With advances in the internal combustion engine, that would quickly change. In 1885, Karl Benz of Mannheim, Germany, built the first practical automobile using a gasoline engine. Seven years later, in 1892, Purdue Mechanical Engineering entered this new field with the purchase PG
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engineering education laboratory in the United States, and the School launched its study of gas engineering. Purdue Mechanical Engineering Professor George

Students in costumes parade in a mock funeral procession during Mechanics Burning.

W. Munro later called the purchase “a triumph of foresight,” laying the groundwork for years of research into internal combustion engines and vehicle studies that continue in the 21st century. 30 X

AUTOMOBILES

29

AUTOMOBILES T The Internal Combustion Engine Studies

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T ME Story—ME Traditions

The occasion was marked by a mock funeral service, at which wailing students mourned the passing of their old friend, “I.P.C. McAnnix” (Mechanics). The ceremony culminated with the unfortunate tradition of students tossing their textbooks into a roaring bonfire. Customary attire for the event was corduroy pants, painted with inscriptions poking fun at instructors. From this tradition emerged “senior cords,” the trousers and skirts that all Purdue seniors wore until the 1960s to signify

Meanwhile, the first automotive tests at the University were conducted in the Automobile Testing Plant constructed in 1905 inside what would later be named Heavilon Hall. Some of the early models studied were a Lambert Runabout, a White Steamer, an 0WFSMBOE
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A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

A mock trial during Mechanics Burning

their class rank. Mechanics Burning eventually deteriorated from a day of fun to an occasion for “vulgarity tinged with sacrilegious tendencies,” according to reports, and it was abolished in 1913. It was replaced with a less threatening spring circus and May Day celebration. Mustaches became part of the mechanical engineering image shortly after the turn of the century. A disgruntled group of seniors decided to grow mustaches to protest the heavy workload and to demonstrate that they did not have time to shave. Complaints about the

difficult curriculum have been repeated by generations of Purdue mechanical engineering majors—who later appreciated the challenges they had to face.

Gilbert Amos “G.A.” Young, who headed Purdue Mechanical Engineering from 1912 to 1941, was rarely called by any other name or title than his initials.

A popular engineering cheer also emerged early in the history of Mechanical Engineering:

Young graduated from Purdue in 1899 and immediately became part of the faculty. Knoll called him “a remarkable leader whom staff, industrialists and students remembered with stars in their eyes. He was optimistic, energetic and always sure that Purdue engineering belonged with the best.”

E x, DY, DX; E x, DX; cosine, secant, tangent, sine; three point one four one five nine; square root, cube root, BTU; slipstick, slide rule; Yeah Purdue! The early 20th century was an age of nicknames, especially for professors. “Daddy” (Arthur W.) Cole and “Uncle Mun” (George W.) Munro joined the faculty shortly after the turn of the century. Other engineering faculty followed with such sporty monikers as “Gloomy Gus” (Ralph B.) Trueblood; “Eagle Beak” (George H.) Shepherd; “Machine Gun” (John W.) Geiger and “Wild Bill” (William E.) Fontaine, to name a few. Although the relationship between faculty and students has always been close within the School, associations were particularly warm and personal in the first half-century when class size and enrollments had not yet burgeoned to post-World War II levels.

Young was an excellent left-handed golfer, and rumors were he would give an “A” to any student who could beat him in the game but no student ever did. He was a popular speaker with alumni “and he never gave up on a student,” according to Knoll. Knoll also said: In the years of G.A. Young, boilers, stokers and their appurtenances were a continuing preoccupation. G.A. was so involved that when he was not called G.A., he was called ‘Power Plant’ Young. He had a remarkable ability to persuade industries to engage Mechanical Engineering to test their products. …It enlivened the school and bolstered the policy of making Purdue useful to Indiana industry. On a test, G.A. worked in the coal and ashes with students and colleagues, getting his hands dirty and sweating the same as everyone else. 32 X

T The Internal Combustion Engine Studies

By 1922 with huge advances in automobile manufacturing, the Purdue Gas Engine Laboratory contained nine gasoline-powered automobile engines and one “producer gas” automobile engine. In addition the Laboratory was equipped with six stationary engines: two oil-powered, two gas-powered and two gasoline- or kerosene-powered. The Laboratory also boasted a four-cylinder Marmon motor, equipped for special work on carburetors. Carburetion studies, introduced by Professor George W. Munro, were motivated by a widely held belief that the vast and growing national fleet of automobiles had already consumed 40 percent of the country’s petroleum and was guzzling reserves at the rate of 8 percent a year. In the 1930s carburetion research was moved to the new Mechanical Engineering Building. There, under UIF
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Purdue Grand Prix race around the Engineering Mall

Machine room in Heavilon Hall

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Purdue Mechanical Engineering made some of their

Purdue Memorial Union

most important contributions to the automotive industry. Following World War II, what had by then become the Internal Combustion Engine Laboratory was

T ME Story—ME Traditions

greatly expanded, taking up most of the basement of the

The legendary Dean of Engineering Andrey A. Potter (1920-1953) especially liked engineers who did not hesitate to roll up their sleeves and dirty their hands, and he appreciated Young’s willingness to jump in wherever needed.

Mechanical Engineering Building. During these years, students stood four-deep before observation windows, jostling for positions from which they could view engine experiments and record data. Charles F. Kettering, the famed director of research at General Motors, told Purdue Dean of Engineering A.A. Potter that, in his opinion, Purdue’s internal combustion laboratories were the finest of any college or university in the United States. In 1959 growing interest in gas turbines resulted in Mechanical Engineering Head Paul Chenea’s de-emphasizing conventional internal combustion studies. Much of the internal combustion equipment was moved to the Gas Turbine Laboratory at the Airport. The remainder was given away or sold for scrap. From 1959 until 1970, Professor John Stene taught two internal combustion engine courses without a MBCPSBUPSZ
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and the other was on compression ignition engines. In early 1970 Stene and Professor Keith Hawks discussed the possibility of buying two commercial engine-dyno sets for Freshman Engineering and the spark ignition classes. 33 X 32

A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

But at the same time, Potter expected his faculty to be well-dressed. A member of the Purdue Engineering faculty remembered: One spring morning I was walking to Mechanical Engineering for an early morning class. I was dressed in new slacks, new sports jacket, nice shirt and tie. The Dean met me in front of Mechanical Engineering. ‘Good morning,’ I said. He looked at me and said, ‘Professor, the professional man should wear matching coat and pants, a white shirt and a subdued tie.’ Many years later (there were) birthday parties for Dean Potter and I was invited. I remember the Dean’s 90th birthday. On that day he wore the loudest sports jacket of anyone.

carried off this feat with the assistance of a quick-witted secretary and a collection of Debris yearbooks secreted away in his office did not lessen the effect on returning alumni. The support and respect Young had for his students and graduates were a welcome departure from the strict paternalism exercised by earlier School heads.

Steam Engineering and the Thermosciences After getting off to a fast start, the years from 1909 to the beginning of U.S. involvement in World War II were the “maturing years” of Purdue Mechanical Engineering.

Young was also famous for remembering the name and academic interests of each graduate during the course of his long tenure as head of Mechanical Engineering. The fact that he Corliss steam engines in laboratory

The potential of steam lured hundreds of eager young men into Purdue Mechanical Engineering. The University power plant provided an ideal environment for those intrigued with steam power. Young, as a student and later as School head, was particularly interested in steam research.

McEwen engine in laboratory

Until 1909, the areas of study and research within Mechanical Engineering were considered sufficiently general to require no differentiation in terms of curriculum offerings. But the 1909-1910 Catalogue listed optional courses for seniors wishing to concentrate in certain areas. These senior options represented the first attempt Mechanical Engineering made to provide specializations within the discipline. The first four areas established were railway mechanical engineering, steam engineering, gas engineering and heating and ventilating. Steam engineering was the precursor of them all, predating and paving the way for railway engineering and all other areas.

The year 1921 was important in the history of Purdue Mechanical Engineering. It was the year Harry L. Solberg arrived as a laboratory assistant under the supervision of Potter, who had just been named dean of Engineering in 1920. Solberg went on to do his graduate work at Purdue and became head of Mechanical Engineering from 1941 to 1959, succeeding Young. Solberg was a second-generation Purdue Mechanical Engineering alumnus. His father, H.C. Solberg, attended Purdue in the 1890s and received a professional degree in mechanical engineering in 1895. In the course of his thesis research, H.C. Solberg is reputed to have constructed the first wind tunnel to be used in any engineering school in the nation. 35 X

T The Internal Combustion Engine Studies

“John and I mentioned our ideas to Professor Cecil Warner, who was also teaching the Freshman Engineering class with me,” Hawks says. “The three of us met with Bill Cottingham, the Head of the School, in late 1970. We requested permission to buy the engine-dyno sets. Bill approved our plan. The engine-dyno sets were instant hits with the students. So, when Bill Cottingham formed the building committee for the renovation of the original first phase wing of the Mechanical Engineering Building in 1972, I was appointed to the committee to design new internal combustion engine labs.” 0WFS
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equipment was added. Early student built car on Among highlights, a chassis dyno test stand Cummins Engine Company donated a diesel engine for the lab. The company also completely instrumented it and had one of their technicians install it. General Motors and Ford also donated equipment. Professor Colin Ferguson was hired when Stene retired. “He was very successful in getting a research program started in engine design and emission controls,” Hawks says. “But, he eventually decided to leave academia to become a forest fire fighter in

University’s first power plant

California. When Colin left, he was not replaced. So, the internal combustion engine course was not offered, and the lab was not used for about eight years. 35 X

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Corliss engine class, 1904

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A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

T ME Story—Steam and Thermoscience

When Solberg arrived, enrollment at the University was about 3,500. In a speech given in 1981, he reflected on those years: “The doctor’s degree in engineering on the Purdue campus was nonexistent,” he said. “Some of the staff had master’s degrees. To many of them, the bachelor’s degree was the terminal point of formal education, but a great many of them had a lot of industrial experience and they knew what industry wanted of engineers. They were dedicated teachers.” The first person to earn a doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue was Maurice J. Zucrow in 1928. (See Zucrow Laboratories pp. 46-55) “In order to satisfy the faculty and everybody concerned that he was entitled to this degree, it was decided that his final examination would be public,” Solberg said. “His examination was held in Fowler Hall, which was at that time the auditorium of the University. The entire faculty were invited to come and ask him such questions as they might wish to ask. He was so successful in passing his examination that this form of torture was not continued.” The second person to earn a doctorate in Mechanical Engineering was George Hawkins in 1935. Solberg was his major professor. Hawkins had transferred to Purdue from the Colorado School of Mines. He received

his undergraduate degree in 1930 and was known as a top welder. Hawkins became an expert in high-pressure, high-temperature steam. He served as dean of the Schools of Engineering from 1953 to 1966, succeeding Potter. The advancement of a scienceoriented engineering curriculum and increased emphasis on engineering graduate studies distinguished his 14-year tenure as dean. In 1967 President Hovde appointed him vice president for academic affairs, a position he occupied until 1971. Known as the “three musketeers of water, heat and steam,” Potter, Solberg and Hawkins achieved national recognition for their pioneering work in steam generation. In 1930 Potter succeeded in convincing the Babcock and Wilcox Corporation to donate a specially constructed steam generator designed to operate at pressures up to 3,500 pounds per square inch. The resulting high-temperature steam (1800°F) necessitated extensive research into steel alloys for boilers and tubes that could 36 X

T The Internal Combustion Engine Studies

“In early summer of 1993, Professor Frank Incropera told me he had been getting a lot of pressure from Cummins, Caterpillar and Detroit Diesel to teach an internal combustion engine course,” Hawks says. “A faculty member at Herrick Labs had a research contract from Cummins for engine noise studies and a faculty member in Mechanical Engineering had a research contract with Detroit Diesel for engine lubrication studies. Since I was the only Mechanical Engineering faculty member that had taught an internal combustion engine course, Frank asked me to offer the course with a lab during the 1993-1994 school year.” In 1996 Professor John Abraham was hired to fill Ferguson’s position, and he continues to teach the internal combustion engine course today. „

A.A. Potter

H.L. Solberg

Early steam engine lab in Heavilon Hall before the fire G.A. Hawkins

Students conducting tests on a chassis dyno.

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AVIATION Purdue Leads in Aviation and Aeronautics

Mechanical Engineering Building

At the dawn of the 20th century, one of the most incredible technologies in human history was about to emerge—flight. It took less than 66 years for engineers, scientists and visionaries to go from Kitty Hawk to the moon. They have since created reusable space shuttles, built a space station, experimented and explored reaching out to other planets and looked toward the beginning of time through the Hubble Space Telescope. Mechanical engineering,

T ME Story—Steam and Thermoscience

withstand high temperatures without corroding. These Purdue findings were later essential to the development of synthetic rubber production when natural sources were cut off during World War II. In the next several years, research activities in Mechanical Engineering were undertaken in such related areas as thermodynamics, heating and air conditioning, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, applied optics and combustion. Research contributions made in the thermal sciences were instrumental in

and in particular, Purdue Mechanical Engineering, played an important role in this exciting progress. The Wright Brothers’ accom1903 and then at Huffman Prairie Flying Field outside of %BZUPO
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to most people in the United States and throughout the world until 1908, as the two men worked to perfect, patent and sell their invention. 37 X A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

The emergence of heat transfer from steam engineering began to have a major impact on Purdue Mechanical Engineering in the early 1930s. In 1936 Hawkins was named director of the newly established Heat Transfer Laboratory, located in the former Metallurgy Laboratory, southwest of the Mechanical Engineering Building. Hawkins was later appointed Westinghouse Research Professor of Heat Transfer. Under his tutelage the laboratory was recognized as one of three national centers of excellence in heat transfer research—the others being at MIT and the University of California, Berkeley. Professor Max Jakob, the heat transfer giant and personal mentor of Hawkins, was a frequent guest lecturer at Purdue in the early 1940s. In 1942 Jakob and Hawkins coauthored the heat transfer classic, Elements of Heat Transfer and Insulation.

plishments at Kitty Hawk in

36

the establishment of Purdue’s reputation for excellence in engineering education. Equally important, however, was the role thermal sciences played in establishing the value of basic research in engineering.

Drum camera in M.E. heat transfer laboratory

In the 1950s the renowned E.R.G. Eckert, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Minnesota, assumed Jakob’s role and established an enduring relationship with Purdue Mechanical Engineering as a visiting professor from 1956 to 1967.

Among the many distinguished graduates of the heat transfer program were Richard J. Grosh, P.W. McFadden, William B. Cottingham and Raymond Viskanta. The first three men served consecutively as heads of the School during the 1960s and 1970s, and Grosh succeeded Hawkins as dean of Engineering in 1967. In subsequent years Grosh became president of Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute; McFadden was named dean of engineering at the University of Connecticut; and Cottingham became president of General Motors Institute. Viskanta, who remained at Purdue, was the 1976 recipient of the Heat Transfer Memorial Award of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Viskanta is internationally recognized for his research, and in 1986 he was named W.F.M. Goss Distinguished Professor of Engineering. His research interests included heat transfer in combustion systems, melting and solidification of materials, transport in porous media, buoyancy-driven convection flow and heat transfer, heat transfer related to materials processing and radiative transfer in participating media. He has authored and co-authored more than 500 technical papers published in archival journals and conference and symposia proceedings. Viskanta was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1987.

Another outgrowth of the recognition that basic research in the thermosciences was valuable was the founding of the Thermophysical Properties Research Center (TPRC) on the Purdue campus in 1957. In the course of his work, Yeram S. Touloukian, a professor of heat transfer and thermodynamics, recognized the lack of dependable, documented data on the thermal properties 1967 aerial of campus of fluids and solids. “I soon became aware that the meaningful evaluation of the physical performance of engineering systems was futile unless the knowledge of the physical properties of materials and substances concerned were known within acceptable accuracy levels,” Touloukian wrote. Resolving to correct the situation, he set out with great determination to obtain funding for a dualpurpose laboratory and documentation facility. With the support of Purdue President Frederick L. Hovde, Dean Hawkins and Solberg, Touloukian eventually succeeded in establishing the TPRC, a facility that became the world center for obtaining, organizing and disseminating data on the thermophysical properties of materials. 38 X

T Purdue Leads in Aviation and Aeronautics

The three keys to the Wright Brothers’ success were designing a glider, designing a propeller and building an internal combustion engine light and powerful enough to create flight. In 1908, they demonstrated their flying machine in Europe and upon return to the United States, they were celebrated at the White House and their hometown of Dayton. By that time Purdue had already graduated mechanical engineers who would have a major impact on flight—and even more were coming.

What attracted these young engineers to Purdue was not flight but cars and motorcycles—the internal combustion engine. Having established itself early on in railroad and steam technology, at the start of the 20th century, Purdue emerged as a leader in internal combustion engine learning and research. Purdue’s first graduate in mechanical engineering who

Students near residence halls

would play an important role in flight was Jimmie Johnson, who graduated in 1907. He was attracted to Purdue from Arkansas by the University’s work on railroad engines. He wrote his senior thesis on 38 X

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AVIATION Bell Tower reflected in window of Gatewood Wing

T Purdue Leads in Aviation and Aeronautics

the Corliss steam engine and picked up an interest in flight while still an undergraduate. Johnson went on to become one of the world’s earliest flyers. He was one of several men who taught Billy Mitchell how to fly. By the end of World War I, Mitchell had become one of America’s most famous combat pilots and chief of the Air Service, Group of Armies. Mitchell would eventually be regarded as the father of the U.S. Air Force. During World War I, Johnson was one of the nation’s first government test pilots. In 1908, two more Purdue mechanical engineers graduated and moved quickly into aviation: Cliff Turpin and Frederick Martin. 5VSQJO
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engines with the intention of building motorcycles with his father after graduation. He went to work for the Wright Brothers in his hometown, 39 X

T ME Story—Steam and Thermoscience

Over the years William Fontaine, professor of mechanical engineering, recalled some unusual research in heat transfer through a story about one of Hawkins’ doctoral students. Fontaine said: (The student) came from the hills of southern Indiana. He was indeed a character. He chewed tobacco and kept a sawdust box by his desk and frequently visited southern Indiana to come back with stone jugs of moonshine which he kept under his desk. I don’t think Harry Solberg knew about it, but I can vouch for the truth—as a sampler. Mr. (John) Hillenbrand, from Batesville, Indiana, was chairman of the Board of Trustees at this time. Mr. Hillenbrand manufactured furnaces and caskets. For some reason he asked George Hawkins to test his caskets for heat transfer and moisture migration. No one understood why, but Hillenbrand was head of the trustees so George had to do it and (his student) was elected. The caskets were mounted on wooden saw horses in the sub-basement of Mechanical Engineering. Now like I said, (the student) was eccentric. At times he would work all night and when he got tired he would sleep in the caskets. One morning the janitor came in as (the student) raised out of the casket.

Purdue Airport, circa 1930 38

A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

We never did find out what happened to the janitor.

Fontaine remembered how steam research went on 24 hours a day. People who worked there always kept a pot of coffee brewing— you could smell it as soon as you walked in. But Dean Potter didn’t approve of the coffee pot. Since he was a frequent visitor to the lab, they devised a system. When the Dean was coming, someone sent a signal, and another threw rubber bands in the furnace to mask the smell of coffee.

World War II and Its Impact One of the School of Mechanical Engineering’s most dramatic and memorable contributions to World War II was the “Gun Project,” undertaken by Purdue for the U.S. Army’s Ordnance Department. According to Solberg, when the U.S. entered the war, George Hawkins went to Washington, D.C., where he asked military officials what Purdue could do to help. Solberg explained: (A) colonel had a hot potato on his hands. The 50-caliber machine gun was the weapon of the fighter airplane. It was also the defensive weapon of the bomber. When it was subjected to a long burst of fire the heat generated turned the barrel into a piece of spaghetti. So it wasn’t very long before we had a machine gun range located in a gravel pit at one of the Purdue farms.

of machine gun fire day and night. As a result of the activity, Purdue was the first school in the United States to be granted a Distinguished Service Award for its contributions to the war effort. At one peak period, the program employed 40 men and boys, mostly from West Lafayette High School. Among those professors whom Hawkins asked to work on the testing operation were J.E. Brock, William L. Sibbitt, Charles L. Brown, Fontaine, Albert R. Spalding, John T. Agnew and C.R. St. Claire. After teaching at Purdue, Agnew became head of mechanical engineering at Drexel University and St. Claire became head at Michigan State. For 4 years the crew put in 10- to 18-hour days, firing a million rounds of ammunition.

Hawkins with G.S. Meikle in 1942

Ultimately, we had a completely enclosed reinforced concrete machine gun range located in the parking lot north of Ross-Ade Stadium, and the people of West Lafayette had to become accustomed to the rattle

One cold November day, assistants recruited from West Lafayette High School overstoked the wood stove in the gun hut, resulting in a fire and explosion that touched off hundreds of rounds of ammunition. On another occasion, Fontaine left the hut to check out a target, when the automatic firing resumed unexpectedly. Fontaine hit the dirt and did not move until the bullets stopped some moments later. He emerged from the experience as “pale as a ghost” and with a nickname— “Wild Bill.” 40 X

T Purdue Leads in Aviation and Aeronautics

helping them improve their engine and controls, and he ultimately became a Wright Exhibition Flyer, demonstrating flight around the nation. Turpin was one of the Wright Flyers who taught Henry “Hap” Arnold to fly. During World War II, Arnold was commanding general of the U.S. Army Air Forces. Martin made his career in the military. He organized, planned and commanded the first flight around the world. Four Army planes set out on the mission in 1924. Two of them succeeded in 175 days. Martin’s plane crashed in an Alaskan snowstorm. He survived, but did not complete the mission. The next person who graduated from Purdue Mechanical Engineering and went on to become a leader in flight was George Haskins. He graduated in 1916 and soon enlisted in the military as the United States entered World War I. He was accepted into the Air Service and in addition to flight training, was assigned to study aerodynamics and airplane design at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 40 X

Students studying Fundamentals of Flight

Classes on aviation theory met at the Purdue airport.

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T ME Story—World War II and its Impact

Fontaine explained the experience during a speech in 1982:

T Purdue Leads in Aviation and Aeronautics

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One day we were running a 500-round test of ammunition and Charlie Brown, a professor of thermodynamics, was firing the gun. On that day I was responsible for the work and safety of the tests. Charlie had the gun set up ready to fire when I touched him on the shoulder and said I

was going to open the door in the pit and examine the damage. We had a signal system. The person firing the gun was to give one blast on a whistle when he cocked the gun; two blasts on the whistle before he depressed the trigger. I had the door to the pit open when I heard the whistle. ‘Oh no,’ I said and fell flat on my face. There followed a 100-round burst over my body. People claim I was white as a sheet when I told Charlie what he had done. Charlie was white, too. 42 X

he became the first alumnus to return to campus in an airplane, narrowly beating famed Chicago editorial cartoonist John McCutcheon who was on an airplane coming in from Chicago. Haskins brought with him a petition from the “Dayton Alumni Club,” calling on the Purdue Board of Trustees to start an aeronautical engineering program. With no official Dayton Purdue alumni club at that time, the petition might well have come from Haskins and other Purdue graduates who gathered informally. In the fall of 1921, Purdue responded by offering four elective courses in aeronautical engineering within the School of Mechanical Engineering. The program grew, and in 1929 Haskins returned to Purdue and became a professor in the new erea. Under Haskins’ leadership, Purdue aeronautical engineering grew and gained national prestige. 42 X 40

A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

Early testing conducted by Agnew, Solberg and Spalding

Students with aircraft at Purdue Airport (1930s)

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V-12 military students

In The Story of Purdue Engineering, H.B. Knoll says: For eight years of turbulent development, (he) carried a tremendous load. In this time

T ME Story—World War II and its Impact

the Air Corps made substantial donations of

Purdue Mechanical Engineering made other contributions to the war effort including research associated with aircraft power plants and jet-propulsion devices. Hawkins received the War Department’s Certificate of Appreciation.

equipment, the (Purdue) Airport was established and the Supercharger Laboratory placed in the vanguard of all such laboratories in the country. A wind tunnel of a twelve-inch cross section was constructed for tests on models. …In one period Haskins taught nine different courses, counseled students, prepared laboratory plans and ‘supposedly,’ he said, did research. In 1945, with the importance of aviation clearly established during the war, Purdue separated aeronautics from the School of Mechanical Engineering by creating the School of Aeronautics. 43 X

Morrow airplane project, 1944

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A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

As a result of contracts with the Air Material Commission and the Army Ordinance, deferments from military duty were obtained for all of the Mechanical Engineering staff with the exception of Professors Walter Bergren and Charles Messersmith, who served in the armed services and returned to Purdue in 1945. During the war, 1,250 Army and 1,250 Navy officer candidates arrived on the Purdue campus—all enrolled in accelerated engineering programs. Among the Marine Corps candidates was Arthur G. Hansen, who would become the University’s eighth president. Different semester lengths were established for Army, Navy and civilian students. “You can imagine my headaches in trying to arrange teaching schedules under such circumstances,” Solberg said. Eventually the School of Mechanical Engineering adopted the Navy schedule of three 16-week semesters for all categories of students. From 1942 to 1945, the name of the School was changed to the School of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, reflecting the wartime emphasis on aviation.

Postwar Period The postwar period brought huge numbers of students to Purdue. “Immediately after the war because of the normal output of the high schools, the four-year backlog created by the war and the G.I. Bill, which gave the veterans financial help, we suddenly had about 15,000 students (in the entire University),” Solberg said. “In each of the three successive years, we had over 2,200 Mechanical Engineering students and we granted more than 700 bachelor’s of science degrees in mechanical engineering. “The big problem was staff,” he said. “We could run classes from eight in the morning or even seven o’clock straight through the noon hour until four or five o’clock in the afternoon. The question was, who was going to teach? Fortunately, we came out of the war with our faculty intact.” Solberg also went to the graduate school and looked at students coming to Purdue to get advanced degrees in mechanical engineering. He offered half-time teaching assistantships to about 40 of them. “It worked out fine,” he said. “Most of those men had been officers and as such they knew what it was to assume responsibility, to command and to maintain discipline. The other thing that helped was that the students enrolled under the

T Purdue Leads in Aviation and Aeronautics

Haskins left Purdue in 1937 to work for the Civil Aeronautics Administration. During World War II, he returned to active duty and had several commands. Born in 1892, long before the Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk, Haskins lived a long, successful life. 0O
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Monica, California, watching the Apollo 11 moon landing. He was 77 years old. Haskins—born before powered flight, a World War I pilot, the man who proposed and developed Purdue Aeronautical Engineering as part of Purdue Mechanical Engineering—watched as a 39-year-old Neil Armstrong who had graduated from his program stepped from a lunar lander and onto the surface of the moon.

R.O.T.C. and Military training in the Naval Armory

G.I. Bill were older and more mature. …They were the finest group of students we ever had.”

He was soon told that Solberg wanted to see him.

Some professors had teaching loads as heavy as 24 class-hours a week during the postwar period.

“Now Harry was a crotchety old rooster who talked no nonsense and I assumed that I was going to lose my job,” Fontaine said. “But I went to see Harry in his office and he said sit down and turned to me and said, ’How would you like to work for me in Mechanical Engineering? I didn’t ask what I was to do or what the pay was. I just left happy as a lark.” 44 X

After the war Fontaine, who had been working for Hawkins, was told he would be moved to general engineering to help teach the huge number of students who were enrolling. “No,” he said. “I’m going to resign. If I can’t work for Mechanical Engineering I am going to leave Purdue.”

The son of Haskins’ lifelong friend dating back to World War I, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, followed Armstrong onto the lunar surface. It was a very special moment for this Purdue mechanical engineer and pioneer in the field of aviation. Haskins died just two months later. „

Postwar registration in the Armory Neil Armstrong speaking during dedication of the Armstrong Hall of Engineering in October 2007. A statue of Armstrong during his student days is shown in the foreground.

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CROSTHWAIT David Crosthwait Jr. In 1909, David Crosthwait Jr. arrived at Purdue University and began his amazing journey through the 20th century. Crosthwait was born in Nashville, Tennessee. His ancestors had been slaves. He grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, and attended that city’s segregated schools. He excelled in math and science and wanted to be an engineer. He had supportive parents and dedicated teachers. They all worked together, and Crosthwait enrolled at Purdue on a scholarship. He graduated at the top of his class in 1913 with a B.S. in engineering and went on to earn a master’s degree in mechanical engineering. During the 1920s and 1930s, Crosthwait invented an improved boiler, a new thermostat control and a new differential vacuum pump—all more effective for heating systems in larger buildings. He wrote a manual on heating and cooling. He held 39 patents for heating systems, vacuum pumps, refrigeration methods and temperature-regulating devices. He designed the heating system for Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall in New York. In his field Crosthwait was among the most accomplished people in the world. At the end of his career, Crosthwait returned to West Lafayette and taught at Purdue. He died in 1976 having received an honorary Ph.D. from the University in 1975. „ 44

A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

T ME Story—Postwar Period

Solberg and Hawkins were also instrumental in starting the Cooperative Education Program. “Dr. Hawkins came to me one time and said, ‘What do you think of the Cooperative Engineering Education program?’” Solberg said. “I told him I thought for some of our students it would make their education more meaningful and that for those who were up against it financially it would be a godsend. Moreover, I thought it would be a very simple program for us to operate because we offered practically every required course every semester and every summer session. “The program was a success from the start,” Solberg said. “Professor Fred Morse took over its supervision and it was later copied by most, or perhaps all, of the other engineering schools.” Among Harry L. Solberg’s many lasting contributions to Mechanical Engineering at Purdue, perhaps his greatest was the upgrading of the educational level of the faculty. Anticipating the future academic climate, he strongly urged promising students and beginning faculty to pursue a doctorate if they wanted to make a career of teaching. Many who benefited from Solberg’s support and encouragement came to regard him as a “second father.”

Solberg said: “Right after World War II, I advised all the younger members of our staff to earn a doctorate. The handwriting on the wall was very clear. It wouldn’t be long before the doctorate was a union card for admissions to the teaching profession in engineering as it already was in physics, mathematics and the life sciences.” Solberg noted the upgrading of the staff made it possible to upgrade the curriculum. Looking back on his long career, Solberg said, “Perhaps the greatest satisfaction that I have derived from my 45 years at Purdue is the friendships of these then-young men who earned the Ph.D. degree, made a career of teaching and ultimately became university presidents, deans of engineering, mechanical engineering department heads and professors of mechanical engineering.” Fontaine had similar memories of students and a letter he received in 1956 sums up the studentfaculty relationship of his time and today. The letter said: “I was sending out ‘thank yous’ for graduation presents when I decided that if anyone deserved it, it was you. I sincerely appreciate the little kick in the pants you gave me when I really needed it and I hope you continue to show this concern toward your students.” It was a note Fontaine saved throughout his life. ME Story—continued 57 X

Campus in the 50s

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Zucrow test facility

The Maurice J. Zucrow Laboratories .

Maurice J. Zucrow

At the close of World War II, Purdue University was positioned to play a leading role in one of the most incredible periods of technological development in human history. Some of the most exciting work was in jet propulsion and rockets with implications for industry and national defense. The consensus among scientists was that universities in the United States needed to become better equipped to educate engineers for these critical fields. According to Purdue Mechanical Engineering Professor Emeritus Charles Ehresman, by the end of the war, “a new era had dawned in the propulsion of vehicles in the earth’s atmosphere.” Exploring space was becoming a distinct possibility rather than science fiction.

Student working in the Rocket Laboratory

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Even though the essentials for jet propulsion and rockets were known before 1941, their real potential was realized during the war. And the postwar period brought about incredibly fast developments.

Purdue selects Zucrow In 1946, Purdue’s new President Frederick Hovde, along with Dean of Engineering A.A. Potter, decided the University needed to be a leader in jet propulsion and rocket development. They launched an industry-wide search for a person qualified to establish and teach graduate-level courses in gas turbines and jet propulsion, coupled with developing a grant supported research program. Hovde and Potter selected one of Purdue’s own, Maurice Zucrow, who was working as an engineering technical assistant to the executive vice president of Aerojet in Pasadena, California. Zucrow was born in Kiev, Russia in 1899. His family came to the United States in 1912. A gifted student, he enrolled at Harvard University and received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1922 and his master’s in 1923. In 1928, he became the first student to receive a doctorate degree in engineering from Purdue. Zucrow’s thesis, titled Discharge Characteristics of Submerged Jets, foreshadowed the outstanding contributions he would make in industry and as a Purdue professor and researcher. After receiving his doctorate, Zucrow left Purdue in 1929 and acquired an outstanding reputation in industry, particularly in the areas of gas turbines and rocket propulsion. He played an important part in the research and development of the nation’s first gas turbine, built

ZUCROW

ZUCROW by the Elliott Company in 1942. During World War II, he also helped develop Aerojet Engineering Company’s JATO rocket, used by seaplanes to assist takeoff under adverse conditions. In April 1946, Zucrow accepted Purdue’s offer to return to West Lafayette, and he immediately began forming a course in jet propulsion. By 1948, his groundbreaking text, Principles of Jet Propulsion and Gas Turbines, was published. The first textbook in the field, it extended Zucrow’s influence to engineering students throughout the world.

The Rocket Propulsion Laboratory It soon became evident that a major physical facility was needed to provide adequate space for Zucrow’s research and others he would recruit. Space was made available in the east hangar of the Purdue airport, with a limited experimental area adjacent to the offices. But Zucrow’s work involved rocket engine firings, and the hangar was not set up for hazardous projects. Zucrow discussed this problem with the Office of Naval Research (ONR), which requested a proposal to fund construction of a liquid-fuel rocket test facility. ONR awarded Purdue a $20,000 grant for the facility, and the Purdue Research Foundation matched those funds. With such funding a rocket facility was built on a plot of land at the northwest corner of the Purdue airport. President Hovde personally made the land available for the facility.

The Rocket Propulsion Laboratory, completed in 1948, provided space for two rocket motor firing cells, a common control and instrument room, a small machine shop for rocket motor construction, a chemistry laboratory and space for three onsite graduate student desks used on a first-come, first-served basis. It was a simple beginning. And yet “it was at this laboratory that one of the most significant liquid-fuel rocket research programs began,” said Ehresman, a Purdue graduate who went to industry and later returned to the University to work with Zucrow. Zucrow recruited Cecil Warner during the earliest days of work. In 1949, Warner became a general assistant to Zucrow and remained on the staff until 1973 when he became a full-time mechanical engineering instructor. According to Warner the first building was small and accommodations very simple for the advanced and important research that was taking place:

Werhner von Braun, Maurice Zucrow and Commander H.N. White examine an experimental rocket motor in the Rocket Lab.

Electric power was supplied by a four-cylinder diesel generator set obtained as war surplus from the Navy. A small gasoline engine electric generator unit provided electric power at night. No telephone service to the remote location of the laboratory was available. To provide emergency communication… an army field telephone operated by a hand crank was obtained as war surplus. Lines were strung on existing fence posts. Needless to say, this system was subject to numerous failures during heavy winter snows. Zucrow 49 X

A.R. Graham, Werhner von Braun, R.T. Tucker and E.L. Katz discuss central instrument data recordings. NASA representatives Raymond Bisplinghoff (left) and Donald Holmes (right) flank Purdue President Frederick Hovde at the 1965 ground breaking at the Thermal Sciences and Propulsion Center.

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A complex data acquisition system, designed and installed in 1967 by Honeywell, Inc., permitted researchers to easily observe critical data as rocket engines went through their firing cycle. It simultaneously stored other data for later processing.

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ZUCROW

ZUCROW T Year by year the research area gradually grew.

equipment assembly room.

In 1951 the machine shop was enlarged, and Zucrow added an instrument storage room and graduate student offices. Space was provided for two additional rocket motor cells and control rooms.

Following many years of use, the two surplus high-pressure air compressors outlived their life expectancy. They were replaced by four new air compressors in a new addition to the laboratory, jointly funded by Ingersoll Rand and Purdue.

After a failure in the war-surplus electric generator, the Jet Propulsion Center, as it became known, was connected to Purdue University power, water and telephone service in 1951. At the same time, the additional test cell space allowed for further rocket research. The techniques for obtaining rocket propellant ignition delays that the center researchers developed became the industry standard for many years.

Research Demands New Laboratories By 1953 the new Combustion Laboratory provided much-needed on-site office space for Zucrow, his assistants, two secretaries and several graduate students. The lab had space for three component test cells and control rooms, and an instructional classroom because of the growing number of graduate students in the program. It also had a drafting room for designing research rigs. By 1955 the lab had added four test cells and control rooms to the test cell wing. In 1954 the Gas Turbine Laboratory was added to the site to provide space for an enlarged machine shop, three gas turbine component test cells and control rooms, two Navy surplus high-pressure air compressors, a welding shop and an experimental

“Due to the vision and understanding of Professor Zucrow, the early work during the later 1940s and early 1950s involved the entire scope of problems involved with liquid rocketry performance and heat transfer,” Ehresman said. A major impact of the Jet Propulsion Center derived from early studies that established the relationship between rocket power and high combustion-chamber pressure. Results of this research have been of particular value to the U.S. space program and were most recently applied in the design of the space shuttle’s main engine. Zucrow 50 X

“All systems go,” was the visual report Charles Ehresman received from the elaborate central control panel at Zucrow’s High Pressure Research Laboratory. The panel was the nerve center for the data acquisition system designed and installed by Honeywell, Inc. in 1967. Ehresman led design, construction and activation of the NASA-funded facilities.

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Test of fuel film cooling for Sierra Engineering. The white specks are bits of concrete floor disintegrating under the intense heat.

T Zucrow Laboratories

Combustion-chamber pressure on the shuttle engine reached 3,000 pounds per square inch. When Zucrow began his investigations, conventional chamber pressure was 300 pounds per square inch. Researchers focused other major work on the development of liquid film cooling for rocket motor parts. These findings have also been applied to turbine engine cooling. During the latter half of 1965, the federal government decommissioned a number of Atlas soft-launch installations. It gave the equipment from four of these rocket sites in Wyoming to NASA, which made available to Purdue the large high-pressure gas storage tanks used with these systems. The University obtained four of the very large tanks and nine smaller ones.

Evaluating the behavior of jet fuels at high temperature and pressure from the control room at Zucrow Labs. 50

A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

The large tanks were installed at the High Pressure Rocket Laboratory to store high-pressure air. The smaller tanks were also incorporated in the high-pressure air storage facility, supplying air to the Combustion Laboratory and to all the laboratory buildings, a combined capacity of 3,000 cubic feet of high-pressure air storage. Experimental research in supersonic flow as well as supersonic combustion could now be initiated with the high pressure (2200 psi) and large storage volume now available throughout the laboratory.

Construction began on an administrative center in 1965. It was later named Chaffee Hall in honor of Purdue alumnus Roger Chaffee who died in the Apollo 1 accident at the Kennedy Space Center in January 1967. The new center was designed to provide office space for Zucrow, twelve instructors, thirty graduate students and three secretaries. It also had a large auditorium, computer room, drafting room and a storage vault for classified documents. The computer room initially contained only a punch-card system that required drawers of card decks be carried some two miles to the main computer on campus. By the late 1960s, the center had a line hookup with the main computer. Now, a fiber-optic connection permits high-speed access to an IBM SP with 80 compute nodes and 272 processors and clusters of IBM RISC System/6000 systems. The High Pressure Rocket Research Laboratory, built in 1965, was designed to accommodate experimental rocket motors operating at 5000-psi chamber pressure. The test cell building was located some distance from the control room. A roofed passage connected the control room to the test cell building. The control room housed the experimental system control and instrumentation systems required to operate the two rocket motor test cells. Remote-controlled TV cameras were used to monitor rocket motor firings.

ZUCROW

ZUCROW Leaders of the Post-Zucrow Era Zucrow retired from Purdue in 1968. He died in 1975. In 1998, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the then named Thermal Sciences and Propulsion Center, the research complex was renamed in honor of its founder, The Maurice J. Zucrow Laboratories. “Professor Zucrow was not only able to contribute greatly to the understanding and solution of many of the early problems, but he also contributed greatly by training outstanding young men who left Purdue for other universities, industry or government,” Ehresman said. “His impact in that regard is still significant as the many ‘Sons’ of Zucrow remain active in responsible positions in the research and development community.” Among those who did graduate work at Zucrow was Jerry Ross, receiving a master’s degree in 1972. He became a NASA astronaut and holds the record (tied with one other person) for most launches by any human being. The Jet Propulsion Center that eventually bore Zucrow’s name established Purdue as an international leader in combustion and attracted many outstanding students and faculty, including Professor Bruce A. Reese. Reese received his doctorate under Zucrow in 1953 and was appointed an assistant professor of mechanical engineering. He later served as director of the Jet Propulsion Center and subsequently head of the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Ehresman received his master’s degree working under Zucrow in 1951. He went to Aerojet General Corporation in California before Purdue recruited him to return in 1964. He initially was a visiting assistant professor and in 1966 was promoted to associate professor of mechanical engineering. He had already been given responsibility for the design and construction of the High Pressure Rocket Laboratory. From 1977 to 1981, he served as operations manager of the Thermal Sciences and Propulsion Center. He retired in 1992 and died in 2012. Other faculty recruited by Zucrow included John Robert Osborn, S.N.B. Murthy, Joe Hoffman, Mel L’Ecuyer, Doyle Thompson, James Skifstad, and Arthur Mellor. From 1981 to 1989, Sanford Fleeter served as director of the Zucrow Labs (Thermal Science and Propulsion Center in those days). He initiated the Air Force Research in AeroPropulsion Technology Program. The national AFOSR–gas turbine industry graduate student co-op program provided support for more than 50 graduate students at seven universities, including many in turbomechinery and combustion. He oversaw the renovation of the Propulsion Lab (the original Zucrow building), the upgrading of the high pressure air system and the machine shop. During this time the research at Zucrow Labs served activities of 13 faculty and 45 graduate students. Zucrow 52 X

New lab space in the early 50s allowed for expansion of rocket research. Present day facilities continue to be adapted to meet current research needs.

Propulsion research

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Examining the instrumentation of a pulse-detonation engine

T Zucrow Laboratories

The Zucrow Labs Today

Professor Joe Hoffman, as director of the Thermal Sciences and Propulsion Center from 1989 to 2000, welcomed many new faculty colleagues to the laboratories in the areas of fluid mechanics, combustion and heat transfer, internal combustion engines, and numerical methods and computational fluid dynamics. This helped rejuvenate the laboratory and led to collaboration with faculty from the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Hoffman was dedicated to the mission to provide practical scale controlled experimentation for modern propulsion devices.

The facilities now occupy a 24-acre site adjacent to the Purdue Airport with research including unsteady aerodynamics of turbo machinery, aeroacoustics, combustion, measurement and control, experimental and computational fluid mechanics, particle flow heat transfer and atomization processes.

Keith Hawks, assistant head of Purdue Mechanical Engineering, served for a time as acting director of Zucrow Labs until December 2010. He had been at Purdue, first as a student and later as a faculty member, since 1960. Hawks said:

Dr. Issam Mudawar discusses a hydrogen-storage system for cars with graduate student Milan Visaria (PhD ’11) and Timothee Pourpoint, manager of the Zucrow Hydrogen Systems Laboratory. Researchers created the system's heat exchanger, a critical component that allows the system to be filled quickly. 52

A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

I only knew Dr. Zucrow for a short period after the high pressure lab opened in the late 1960s. He was impressive and an excellent researcher. He really knew the rocket propulsion field. I did enjoy talking with him briefly about NASA, rockets and his vision for rocket research at Zucrow. Of course, that was before the labs were named for him. He was always taking care of business. However, he would take the time to talk with you and explain what was going on. After nearly a decade in which Professor Keith Hawks oversaw the facilities in the Maurice Zucrow Labs, Professor Steve Heister was appointed as the director with joint appointment in Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics and Astronautics.

The Zucrow Labs consists of six buildings, housing 22 individual laboratories, a computer lab with two server clusters onsite, a professional machine shop, and air compressors and air tanks capable of delivering 3,300 cubic feet of air at 2200 psi. Associated with eight of the 22 individual labs are a total of 18 "hazard" test cells and four "high hazard" test cells. Sixteen faculty are active at Zucrow and another comparable number affiliated with the center. One hundred graduate students are currently involved in center work. Director Heister says: It’s an exciting and busy place. We are much more than rockets. Historically, Dr. Zucrow built the lab to study the emerging fields of jet and rocket propulsion in post-World War II era. Today we have a number of projects related to energy—and much more. But our rocket and jet propulsion work continues. This center has had a huge impact on the U.S. space program. A large number of our alumni

ZUCROW

ZUCROW worked in the space shuttle program. Virtually all the shuttle and propulsion prime contractors have graduates from Zucrow Labs. Among Zucrow faculty is Steven Son whose research activities are primarily focused on multiphase combustion phenomena. Using unique facilities available at Zucrow, Son’s research group has also started small-scale explosive blast loading studies to understand and mitigate blast injury. Paul Sojka is a Zucrow researcher working with sprays formed from rheologically complicated (nonNewtonian) fluids, in particular, those for rocket injection. Applications include consumer products, paints/ coatings, spray drying of foods and detergents, spray formation in pharmaceutical manufacturing, gas turbine engines, rocket motors and internal combustion engines. Zucrow researcher Steven Frankel works with Mark Rodefeld, an associate professor of pediatric surgery and medical doctor at the Indiana University School of Medicine, to develop a new heart pump that can significantly reduce open-heart surgeries and increase the lifespan of children. Jay Gore, the Reilly Chair Professor of Engineering, works at Zucrow, and is conducting research in

sustainable energy and environment, combustion and turbulent reacting flows, combustion and heat transfer in materials, biomedical flows and heat transfer and global policy research. He also has worked on understanding spreading of fires, infrared technology for fire detectors and control of fires in oil wells. Nicole Key’s research areas include fluid mechanics and propulsion. Design of more efficient gas turbine engines of low specific fuel consumption and high thrust-to-weight ratio requires low-weight, highly efficient compressors. Compressor weight reduction is accomplished by a decrease in the number of stages and axial gap between blade rows. This results in blade rows with higher loading and increased blade row interactions. Thorough understanding of blade row interactions is required to design efficient compressors for long duration of operation. This is the focus of research in the High Speed Compressor Research Laboratory. Robert Lucht is the Ralph and Bettye Bailey Professor of Combustion in Mechanical Engineering. Though his research areas include combustion, energy utilization and thermodynamics, he is really focused on laser diagnostics of complex flows Zucrow 55 X

Steven Frankel has designed a new type of heart pump (pictured on computer screen) for infants born with univentricular circulation, a congenital heart disease that is the leading cause of death from birth defects in the first year of a child's life.

Xingyan Deng combines a background in controls and robotics with careful study of winged and finned creatures. Collaborating with biologists, she works to replicate those animals in bio-inspired machines. Inset: Deng and doctoral student Liang Zhao test robotic wings in an oil-filled tank. With the use of lasers and high-speed photography, Deng’s team can better adapt her prototypes for maneuverability. 53

Graduate students Michael Bedard, Emerald McKinney, Thomas Feldman and Andrew Rettenmaier work on a rocket engine that might be used in a lunar-landing vehicle. The work is part of the NASA-funded Project Morpheus, which includes research to develop new technologies for future trips to the moon, Mars or asteroids.

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A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

ZUCROW T in combustors and gas turbines in order to

understand the reaction species created. These lead to NOx production and pollution. John Abraham conducts research in combustion, energy utilization and thermodynamics. More specifically, he simulates flows in diesel engines to understand how sprays and swirling can be used to reduce soot formation. He is also beginning to simulate combustion of pulverized coal. Jun Chen is developing experimental techniques in fluid mechanics and propulsion. Hukam Mongia is researching ways to improve combustion and energy utilization. This has impact on efficiencies and energy usage in aircraft engines. Sanford Fleeter, the McAllister Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering is an expert in axial and other high-performance compressors. He became interested in wind power not just because he thought he could “really make a contribution” to the rapidly advancing science, but also because he recognized its commercial potential. “When I looked at wind power, I saw a growing business,” Fleeter said. “With energy costs going up, wind power is not only a green alternative.” It also makes sense economically, since it is not subject to supply-and-demand fluctuations of the marketplace. Fleeter notes, “When you put in a wind farm, you know what the power from that farm will cost in 20 years.”

Zucrow also intersects with the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Three Aero & Astro faculty are particularly active in Zucrow research—Steve Heister, William Anderson and Timothée Pourpoint. Zucrow Director Heister’s research interests span a broad range of propulsion disciplines, including: atomization, injector simulations, hybrid and liquid rocket combustion, pulse detonation engines, gas turbine and rocket nozzles, fuel-based heat exchangers and propulsion system design. Anderson studies combustion instability in both liquid-fuel rocket engines and gas turbine combustors. He also studies heat transfer in liquid-fuel rocket engines. Pourpoint studies advanced propellants for rocket applications and hydrogen storage for automotive applications. Looking ahead, Heister predicts much more research at Zucrow will focus on alternative energy and rockets: We have the infrastructure one needs to study advanced energy generation concepts. We’re moving to those areas. The faculty really decides what the new areas will be, but we’re moving into biofuels, bioreactors, wind turbines and coal gasification. At the same time, we still serve the propulsion community, and we have a very strong program in rockets and gas turbine combustion. I’m very excited about the future. It’s a wonderful crew—a great group of faculty and students. „

Purdue doctoral students Indraneel Sircar, Brent Rankin, Rohan Gejji and Anup Sane created this gasifier to learn precisely how coal and biomass break down in the reactors. The research, led by Professor Gore, aims to strengthen the scientific foundations of a synthetic fuel economy.

A multidisciplinary team of engineers and food scientists work to improve the safety, performance and range of rockets for space and military applications. Timothee Pourpoint led the team that designed the new laboratory in 2009 as a facility to test gelled rocket fuels that have the consistency of orange marmalade. Graduate students Tim Phillips, Mark James, Pourpoint, and Travis Kubal are shown while the lab was under development.

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Machine shop

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A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

T ME Story—continued from 44

Engineering, while serving concurrently as head of the Division of Mathematcal Sciences.

A Legacy of Strong Leadership Through the first 59 years of the 20th century, only three people served as head of Purdue Mechanical Engineering: Llewellyn Ludy (19001912); G.A. Young (1912-1941); and Harry Solberg (1941-1959), which was typical for the era. Purdue also had only three deans of engineering between 1900 and 1953—W.F.M. Goss (1900-1907), Charles Benjamin (19071920) and Andrey Potter (1920-1953). This stable period also had only three Purdue presidents from 1900 to 1971—Winthrop Stone (1900-1921), Edward Elliott (1922-1945) and Frederick Hovde (1946-1971). But by 1959 the times of such long leadership at universities were changing. Between 1959 and 1980, Purdue had seven heads of Mechanical Engineering, beginning with Paul Chenea from 1959 to 1962. A number of these Mechanical Engineering heads went on to distinguish themselves in other Purdue and national leadership roles. Chenea came to Purdue in 1952 from the University of Michigan where he had earned his master’s and Ph.D. and was an associate professor of engineering mechanics. He became Purdue’s head of Mechanical

According to historian Topping in A Century of Purdue and Beyond, Chenea was lured to Purdue by Potter, who was then dean of engineering. And Chenea soon became another member of the mechanical engineering faculty selected for leadership in the Purdue administration. “Within two years Chenea became associate dean of engineering under Hawkins and was the man Hawkins and/or Hovde most often picked to serve as acting head of departments to temporarily fill vacancies,” Topping wrote. In 1961 Hovde named Chenea the University’s first vice president for academic affairs. “Chenea, like Hovde, was deadly serious about the business of higher education and the scholarly life,” Topping wrote. “Although normally soft-spoken, he had a razor-sharp but gentle wit that he would use to deflate an overinflated ego or to unstuff a stuffed shirt. Chenea was one of a handful of men Hovde depended upon in all major decisions.” 58 X

Paul F. Chenea explaining the theory of mechanical wear to A.C. Erigen and J.L. Waling.

1962 Administrators: back row: D.R. Mallett, F.N. Andrews, front row: L.J Freehafer, F.L. Hovde, P.F. Chenea

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CHANGING TIMES Keith Hawks, co-op coordinator for ME, confers with student Amy Ross—1993.

The Times They Are a Changin’ Keith Hawks came to Purdue as a student in fall 1960 and joined the faculty in 1968, teaching many different courses throughout the years and later becoming assistant head of the School of Mechanical Engineering. He was fascinated with the space program of the 1960s and became involved with research for NASA. He grew up in Henry County, Indiana, and always wanted to be an engineer. Early on he was interested in agricultural engineering, but went into mechanical because it offered so many different opportunities—just as it does today. i0OF
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student, in all of the classes I had from my junior year on, there were no women,” Hawks says. That’s not the case today. 59 X

Early acetylene welding class 58

A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

T ME Story—A Legacy of Strong Leadership

Following Chenea as head was Richard Grosh (1962-1966). Grosh became dean of engineering in 1966 and then left Purdue in 1971 to become president of Rensselaer Polytechnic in Troy, New York. Peter McFadden was the next head of Mechanical Engineering from 1966 to 1971. He left to become dean of engineering at the University of Connecticut. He was followed by William Cottingham (1971-1975), acting head Robert Fox (1975-1976), Arthur Lefebvre (1976-1980) and Winfred Phillips (1980-1988). Upon leaving Purdue, Cottingham was first named dean of academic affairs at General Motors Institute and then president in 1976. He served in that position until 1991 and is credited with saving the school when it went through a transition from being privately owned by General Motors Corporation. A native of England, Lefebvre did major research on fuel sprays in combustion chambers for turbo propulsion and was recruited by Purdue to head Mechanical Engineering from the Cranfield Institute of Technology in U.K. Under his leadership, graduate enrollment in Purdue Mechanical Engineering increased 36 percent in four years. In 1980, he became Purdue’s Reilly Chair of Combustion Engineering. He was given emeritus status at Purdue and Cranfield when he retired in 1993.

Upon Lefebvre’s death in 2003, the British Section of the Combustion Institute noted: Arthur was a truly great combustion engineer, a gracious and generous man of keen mind and firm view who loved his subject. He was also a renowned raconteur and anyone who had the pleasure to enjoy one of his many after-dinner discourses will have vivid and happy memories of him. His legacy to gas turbine combustion is immense and within this field he was widely recognized as a pioneer and father of many of today’s combustor design tools and methods. His contributions are extensive and include 150 journal papers, 13 patents and 3 textbooks. It would be fair to say that no self-respecting gas turbine combustion engineer would be without copies of Arthur’s books Gas Turbine Combustion and Atomisation and Sprays on their book case. When Lefebvre stepped down, Phillips came to Purdue from Pennsylvania State University where he was associate dean of research. According to the American Society of Mechanical Engineering, “Phillips published numerous important scientific papers and books on biomedical engineering, several of which examined the fluid mechanics of the artificial heart.” He also wrote “extensively on engineering education, technology development, business leadership and product liability issues. Phillips’ research has increased the understanding of the critical relationship between biological fluid flow and the function of the human body’s cardiovascular system.”

In April 1987, U.S. President Ronald Reagan became the first incumbent to visit Purdue, and Mechanical Engineering played a major role in the event. David Anderson, a professor of mechanical engineering, and Warren Waggenspack, a doctoral candidate in mechanical engineering, were among researchers selected to discuss their work during Reagan’s visit. According to a Purdue MEmo, the Mechanical Engineering publication, “Anderson and Waggenspack talked with the President about the role computerPresident Ronald Reagan with Purdue President Steven Beering (left) aided design research plays and Indiana Governor Robert Orr (right). in manufacturing and its contribution to the future Phillips left Purdue to become dean of the competitiveness of U.S. industries.” College of Engineering at the University of Florida, Gainesville. He served as president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1998 to 1999. Under Phillips’ leadership in the 1980s, Purdue Mechanical Engineering’s graduate program continued its strong growth. In 1987, a record 267 graduate students enrolled, almost a 7 percent increase above the previous year. The graduate program had grown 54 percent in a five-year period.

T The Times They Are a Changin’

Beth Holloway is director of the Purdue Women in Engineering Program. She earned a B.S. (1992) and an M.S. (1997) in mechanical engineering from Beth Holloway

Purdue and worked as a research and development engineer

for Cummins Inc. for nine years before returning to the University. Holloway decided to become an engineer because “it’s practical and there are good job prospects.” Also, her father told her engineering “is where the action is.” Holloway is active in encouraging more women to study engineering and in assisting those enrolled in the program to succeed. “Purdue is doing better than the national average

In a speech at Mackey Arena, Reagan said, “To improve our nation’s competitiveness in the world economy, we must strive for new standards of excellence at all levels of economic growth in creating jobs. I salute you,” Reagan said. “In fact, I think I will.” And he raised his right hand to his brow in a military salute to the University and its people. 60 X

in enrolling women in engineering,” she says. “And our data shows that women graduate with engineering degrees at just a little higher rate than men do. What that means to me is that if we can get women here, we can

Ronald Reagan was on campus to address Purdue students and faculty on April 9, 1987.

graduate them.” 60 X Circa 1950 Murray turbine test

CHANGING TIMES

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CHANGING TIMES T The Times They Are a Changin’

Jessica Thompson (left), for example, earned her Purdue bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 2009. She is a project engineer BU
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manufacturing facility in Florence, Kentucky. Thompson’s interest began at a program she attended that the Purdue Women in Engineering office targets to high school students. Instead of PowerPoint presentations highlighting career options, the mechanical engineering workshop offered a hands-on activity—disassembling a hair dryer, where Thompson learned about alternating versus direct current, motors and product design. She also was struck by the excitement about engineering she saw in the Purdue student hosts. As a result, Thompson, who was eying architecture as a career, turned to mechanical engineering, and she’s never looked back. At Purdue Thompson learned the technical understanding and communication skills needed to NBLF
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“Industry is truly global, and it takes clear and sometimes interesting methods of conversation to ensure understanding by all parties involved,” Thompson says. “The tools I learned from the Purdue Mechanical Engineering program have undoubtedly attributed to my success.” 61 X 60

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Experimental setup for testing valves

T ME Story—A Legacy of Strong Leadership

Upon Phillips departure in 1988, Professor Ray Cohen, the director of Herrick Labs at the time, served as acting head, until Frank Incropera was named to the position in 1989. Incropera had joined the Purdue faculty in 1966 with degrees from MIT and Stanford. Before being named head of the school, Incropera was chair of Mechanical Engineering’s Heat and Mass Transfer Area. His research interests included free and mixed convection, double diffusive convection, materials processing and electronic cooling. He is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers as well as a member of the National Academy of Engineering. In a 1993 Purdue MEmo, Incropera said that many of the school’s research projects had become interdisciplinary. He cited Rahmat Shoureshi for his involvement with intelligent building systems, supported by the National Science Foundation; James Braun for developing control strategies for effective use of thermal energy storage available within the structure of all commercial buildings; Satish Ramadhyani with Braun who were investigating the use of ice-storage systems to meet building-cooling requirements; Victor Goldschmidt for developing models for improving the performance of gas furnaces

for home heating; and Goldschmidt and David Tree for assessing the effect of alternative refrigerants on the performance of compression refrigeration systems.

Incropera also cited Werner Soedel for work improving the thermal efficiency of ultra-high speed positive-displacement compressors; Braun and Michael Plesniak for their project to determine the effects of high turbulence and unsteady flow on vortex shedding from bluff bodies to improve air-flow metering for HVAC applications; Matthew Franchek who researched how to increase the operating efficiency and safety of multivariable power-generating systems through the implementation of feedback controls; Peter Meckl, for exploring methodologies of automating the start-up process for fluidized bed combusters; Klod Kokini who researched using ceramic thermal-barrier coatings to make power plants more thermally efficient; Jay Gore, Normand Laurendeau and Clayton Cooper (MSME ’97, PhD Paul Sojka for researching ’00) adjusts the focus of a laser beam that is used to determine the aspects of turbulent concentration of the pollutant nitric premixed combustion as oxide produced by the flame in the a NOx-control strategy chamber. This research may help in advanced gas turbine manufacturers create jet engines that produce fewer pollutants.

sophomores with emphasis on written and oral communication skills throughout the three years of study. He also brought back the area of manufacturing processes through the hiring of Yung Shin and Karthik Ramani in 1990-91. In 1998, Incropera left Purdue to join the faculty at the University of Notre Dame, as the University’s Matthew H. McCloskey Dean of Engineering. After Incropera left for Notre Dame, Warren Stevenson served as interim head for a year. In the late 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century, Purdue Mechanical Engineering has continued to provide leaders for many programs Grad student Tim Bertrand using the refrigeration cycle demonstration in ME 200, the first thermodynamics course—1988. across the country from among its faculty. Professor Osita D. Nwokah left to head the engines; and Osita Nwokah and Anil Bajaj who Mechanical Engineering Department at Southern were researching the development of multivariable Methodist University in Dallas, Professor S.S. feedback-control strategies for high-temperature Rao became the chair of the Department of gas turbine operation. Mechanical Engineering at the University of Incropera noted the School of Mechanical Miami, and Professor Ashok Midha left to head Engineering’s collaboration with many the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace corporations and federal agencies. “Research Engineering at the University of pertaining to the development of control strategies Missouri–Rolla, Matthew Franchek left for quenching metals (steel and aluminum) during to head the Department of Mechanical processing is, for example, being performed by Engineering at the University David DeWitt, Frank Incorpera, Issam Mudawar of Houston, Michael Plesniak and Raymond Viakanta.” Normand Laurendeau was named head of Mechanical and Dwight Senser were exploring how to reduce Engineering at George Washington emissions from industrial burners. University and Jayathi Murthy was appointed chair of Mechanical Incropera was very instrumental in leading the Engineering at University of Texas faculty to develop the current curriculum. They at Austin. ME Story—continued 72 X introduced open-ended design processes to

T The Times They Are a Changin’

Among other outstanding women to earn degrees from Purdue Mechanical Engineering is Moira Gunn. In 1974, she became the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Purdue. She worked for NASA after graduation, and during the 1980s, as an engineering consultant, she aided such Moira Gunn companies as Intel and IBM with electronic chip manufacturing, hard disc handling and robotics. In 1987, Gunn became host of the National Public Radio’s “Tech-Nation: Americans & Technology,” which she continues today. In fall 2010, 13.4 percent of undergraduate mechanical engineering students were women, and 11.4 percent of graduate mechanical engineering students were women. „

Purdue Mall

Amy Ross (left) earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1994 and her master’s in 1996. She is an advanced space suit designer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and helped design the gloves that her father, astronaut Jerry Ross, used in space. 61

Four generations of the Herrick family: Kenneth and Todd Herrick (standing); Ray and Todd Herrick, II (seated) Eckhard Groll demonstrates a prototype portable air conditioning unit that uses carbon dioxide as a refrigerant instead of conventional chemicals. Carbon dioxide is a green alternative to conventional refrigerants, which causes about 1,400 times more global warming than the same quantity of carbon dioxide.

The 1950s were an exciting time in U.S. history. New technologies had emerged during World War II. In Comets Amongst the Stars: The Personal Memories of the Founding Director of the Ray W. Herrick Laboratories, William Fontaine said:

increasingly important as a curriculum offering under the nationally recognized refrigeration engineer, Professor H.G. Venemann. In 1952 Venemann was due to retire, and Fontaine applied for the position with Harry Solberg, head of Purdue Mechanical Engineering.

A flood of scientific developments had accrued because of World War II and it became evident that a change was needed in the engineering curricula. Prior to the war, the mechanical engineering curricula had been largely empirically based, but it was rapidly becoming science-based. These changes brought about a major change in attitudes and learning habits. They encouraged graduate student education concurrent with graduate student scientific research—an idea which became the primary aim of the Ray W. Herrick Laboratories.

Fontaine’s association with Purdue dated to May 1937 when he stopped on campus during a drive from Chicago to Brazil, Indiana. He asked about any open faculty positions for the fall semester. He was interviewed and offered $1,500 a year, which he turned down. He soon received a letter from Purdue with an offer of $1,600, which he also rejected. Then came a telegram with a $1,700 offer that he refused, followed by a telephone offer of $1,800. That’s when his wife, Adelene, told him to accept the offer. Fontaine did, and he became one of Purdue’s notable professors of mechanical engineering during the 20th century.

By then Purdue had long-standing emphasis in heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration. Heating and Ventilating was one of the four original options of specialization offered to mechanical engineering seniors in the 1909-1910 Catalogue.

In a 1981 speech, Solberg remembered when Fontaine later applied for Venemann’s position. “Professor Fontaine had taught thermodynamics for a number of years,” Solberg said. “He knew theory. He didn’t know too much about the problems in the industry nor the leaders of the industry. [But] I felt with Bill’s personality and his initiative, it wouldn’t take him long to fill out deficiencies. So I said, ‘yes.’”

The Ray W. Herrick Laboratories

Professor W.F.M. Goss taught one of the first courses in this area in the 1890s. During the 1930s, under the leadership of the popular Professor William T. Miller, more students graduated from heating and ventilating than from any other specialization. Refrigeration became 62

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HERRICK That spring two men from Tecumseh Products in Michigan came to Solberg’s office. One, Curtis Brown, a 1926 Purdue Mechanical Engineering graduate, had studied under Solberg. “They said the industry was having a lot of difficulty in hiring the number of high class engineers that they needed,” Solberg said. “What could Purdue do to help them and what could they do to help Purdue?” He told them to take Fontaine into the company for the summer. “Get him acquainted with your problems and let him know who the leaders in the industry are,” Solberg said. “Do everything you can to fill out his background so as to make his work more effective. This they did. While he was at their plant, Bill came into contact with Ray Herrick who was the production genius of Tecumseh Products. When he came back in the fall, [Bill]) had a check for $300,000.” One of the most successful laboratories in the history of Purdue University had its start at the counter of a breakfast diner in Michigan. At the end of summer in 1952, Purdue Professor William Fontaine sat on a diner stool eating breakfast with Ray Herrick, the president of Tecumseh Products—the major manufacturer of hermetic compressors for the refrigeration industry. Suddenly Herrick stopped eating, turned on his stool and looked Fontaine squarely in the eye. “I’m 65 years old today,” Herrick said. “My accountants tell me I’ve

got lots of money to spend. If you can get Purdue to set up a lab to study the problems of our industry, I’ll write you a check today. And if you do it right, there’ll be more.” When Herrick asked what he needed to do to get this started, Fontaine took him to a telephone to announce his offer to Purdue President Frederick Hovde. It was a great summer for Fontaine, Purdue and Herrick. The next question was where to put the labs. According to Fontaine, Purdue Vice President and Treasurer R.B. Stewart drove him around campus. “We had driven all over campus looking at possible locations when [Stewart] stopped his car on State Street directly in front of the horse barn,” Fontaine said. “He pointed to the old brick barn, saying, ‘Now you can have that building if you want it. You can start from here and we can build from that.’” The idea worked fine for Fontaine. It sounded like a classic Stewart move, and he figured Stewart had selected the horse barn for the new laboratories even before the drive around campus. In 1957 two new wings were built on each side of the barn, and the Herrick-funded labs were on their way. The south-campus location resulted from an interdisciplinary arrangement between the School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Agriculture, designating that the research efforts there were to determine the effect of climate on animal production. Herrick 64 X

Yoon-Shik Shin (PhD ‘10) and J. Stuart Bolton work on a system that measures how much sound a typical computer fan makes. The research, based at Purdue's Ray W. Herrick Laboratories, aims to reduce noisy office and home environments where audiovisual and information technology equipment is used.

The School of Mechanical Engineering Centennial dedication event in 1982

Studying intelligent infrastructure systems

63

Janette Jaques (MSME ’06, PhD ’11) attaches a sensor to a car seat headrest mounted to a hydraulic shaker. As the seat is shaken, the sensors record vibration data that is used to validate results from a computational model. The goal is to silence rattling and squeaking noises in automobile components, a major source of consumer dissatisfaction.

T Herrick Laboratories

Herrick Laboratories opened for business in 1958 with Fontaine in charge. Research was limited initially to problems in heating, ventilating, air conditioning and refrigeration. Subsequently, noise and vibration control was included as the meaning of internal climate was expanded to include acoustics. In later years, energy conservation opened even broader areas of research, including transportation. In 1976 the Transportation and Machinery Noise Control Laboratory for the study of noise and vibration in both internal and external climates opened.

Fontaine and an associate decided the only way to get rid of him was to steal the eggs—which they did every day, taking away quite a haul, which they gave to everyone they knew. One morning they found a sign hanging over the pens that said: “These chickens have been fed radioactive diets.” That didn’t stop Fontaine who kept removing eggs until the chicken cages were finally taken away. “Construction of our new acoustics laboratory was initiated immediately thereafter,” Fontaine said.

Mechanical Engineering’s Herrick Laboratories also served as a resource center for a number of other disciplines. The emphasis on industrial research and the insistence on graduate student participation in all projects have always been an integral part of the Herrick Labs’ philosophy. In an interview years ago, Fontaine said, “We never take on a research project from industry unless we can involve students. If the work we are asked to do isn’t of an academic, basic nature, what good is it to us?” Yet they also had some fun from time to time at Herrick. Fontaine told one story about a head of the poultry department deciding that the old brick barn really belonged to the School of Agriculture. He wanted to study the effect of various diets on egg production and almost overnight filled the high bay area of the Herrick barn with caged chickens, claiming squatter’s rights. 64

A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

Fontaine (left) and man in white lab coat with pigs and chickens in lab

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HERRICK to solve a problem the company was experiencing. In a 2010 talk, Cohen said:

To International Prominence Professor Raymond Cohen succeeded Fontaine as director in 1971. Cohen came to Purdue as a student from St. Louis in 1941, but quickly left to serve in the U.S. Army. He finally received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1947 and stayed to work on his graduate degrees. In 1955 he received his Ph.D. Raymond Cohen

Cohen’s doctoral thesis was entitled, “Vibration of machine gun barrels and their influence on the accuracy of weapons.” He accepted an assistant professorship at Purdue to teach mechanical vibrations. Cohen joined Fontaine at the Herrick Labs in 1960 and retired as director in 1993. From 1994 to 1999, he was Purdue’s Herrick Professor of Mechanical Engineering. In 1999 he stepped down from the University and was named Herrick Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering. “(Fontaine) got everything started,” Cohen said. “I would have never wanted to start from scratch. When I took over, Herrick Laboratories already had a building and the beginnings of a good research program.” After settling at Herrick, Cohen quickly went to work on a project with Tecumseh Products. He went to a meeting with Ray Herrick to make a research proposal

After hearing my proposal, he [Herrick] proceeded to berate his engineering staff and the engineering profession in general—in his colorful way—for having gotten the company into this terrible condition. The company had to replace many failed compressors still under warranty. All of the principal engineers of the company were in the room listening. I really thought I had no chance to have my proposal accepted. It was not very smart of me to do so, but at that point I asked: ‘Mr. Herrick, if that is what you think of engineers, why do you have so many of them working for you?’ You could have heard a pin drop to the floor. Mr. Herrick’s answer will accompany me to my grave. He said, ‘My customers expect me to!’ Herrick 66 X

Werner Soedel and Ray Cohen studying vibrations and generated noise of tires.

Douglas Adams and doctoral student Timothy J. Johnson use their diagnostic system to detect tire damage. Sensor data are displayed in a “wavelet map,” enabling the engineers to not only detect damage but also possibly pinpoint its location on the tire. 65

Early wind tunnel

Sound quality project being conducted by Nancy Gold and Grant Ingram.

T Herrick Laboratories

When Cohen left the meeting, he believed his project was doomed. Then Herrick, with a wave of his hand, ordered that the research be funded. Cohen directed Herrick Laboratories through its expansion and growth to international prominence. “This is my proudest accomplishment,” he said. “Worldwide, everyone knows Herrick Laboratories. In Japan’s and China’s refrigeration and air conditioning industries, for instance, Herrick Laboratories is Purdue.”

Early research on airplane acoustics 66

A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

Not long after joining Herrick in 1960, Cohen and his graduate students solved a problem that was plaguing the refrigeration and air conditioning industry at the time—costly, catastrophic compressor-valve failures caused by vibrations. Their published findings attracted international notice and put Herrick Laboratories on the map.

When Cohen became director in 1971, the timing was just right for expansion. “The industry was ripe,” he said. “There were very few industry-focused research centers within universities at the time.” Consequently, Herrick Laboratories helped spur a shift in research funding nationwide. Corporations began footing much of the bill. “It’s only been since the economic downturn [of 2008] that the government has been the biggest sponsor of research at Herrick Laboratories,” Cohen said. “When I retired, about 60 percent of our funding came from industry sources.” Cohen made numerous other contributions to his field as well, such as publishing nearly 100 papers, initiating two conferences that are still held biennially at Purdue and serving as founding editor of HVAC&R Research, a scholarly journal published by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). Even in his retirement, he continues to serve on ASHRAE’s research administration committee, which means he spends much of his time reviewing thick grant proposals. While Cohen could certainly boast of all that he’s seen and done, a genuine sense of humility shapes his outlook. “I like to say that serendipity is very important,” he said. “Being at the right place at the right time; seeing the opportunity and then taking it.”

HERRICK

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The ME Space Pilots understanding of the Laboratories. He served as a mentor to Patricia Davies when she became Herrick director in 2005.

Cohen stepped aside as Herrick director in 1993 and was replaced by Robert J. "Bob" Bernhard. Bernhard was responsible for bringing interdisciplinary transportation-related centers to the Laboratories, including the Safe, Quiet and Durable Highway Center.

Bob Bernhard

Bernhard later served as Purdue’s associate vice president for research for centers and institutes from spring 2005 to August 2007, when he became vice president for research at the University of Notre Dame.

Bernard came to Herrick as an assistant professor in 1983, and his research was in noise and vibration control, with an emphasis on transportation noise and numerical acoustics. Under his directorship, the first Herrick Labs strategic plan and a space plan were developed, and added the electromechanical systems area.

Davies came to Herrick Laboratories in 1987 after completing her Ph.D. Professor Bernhard and student at the Institute of Sound are involved in road research. and Vibration Research, University of Southampton, United Kingdom. Her research is in the development and application “I consider him to be very important to the success of of signal processing and Herrick,” Cohen said. “He was the director who model building techniques brought about the diversity of the current research for acoustical and vibratory programs. Although there had been some research for systems. Together with other the automotive industry before Bob, he was the one who faculty at Purdue, she started the really made our research for that industry blossom.” Perception-Based Engineering Bernhard worked hard for the faculty and the group, a collaboration between laboratories during his tenure, working with the psychologists and engineers. administration officials to try to increase their Patricia Davies Herrick 68 X

Patricia Davies with students

Three Purdue Mechanical Engineering graduates have played leading roles in space exploration as astronauts for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Don Williams and Jerry Ross all studied mechanical engineering at Purdue, and their experiences on campus had a significant impact on their lives and careers. Williams and Ross also have children who are Purdue Mechanical Engineering graduates, carrying on the tradition of Boilermaker leadership and working in the U.S. space program. 0WFS
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has selected 22 Purdue graduates as astronauts, and a 23rd, Scott Tingle, has just completed his training. Tingle also studied mechanical engineering. All but one of the 23 studied engineering at Purdue. Astronaut Andrew Feustel graduated from the College of Science. 68 X

Scott Tingle

ASTRONAUTS

67

ASTRONAUTS Gus Grissom Grissom, from Mitchell in southern Indiana, came

Doctoral students Dan Van Alstine and Karla Stricker fine tune a diesel-engine test platform in the new Hoosier Heavy Hybrid Center of Excellence at Herrick Laboratories. The work aims to cut fuel consumption in half for commercial vehicles by perfecting hybrid technologies in the world's burgeoning bus and truck fleets.

to Purdue in 1946 after two years in the U.S. Army during World War II. Back in Mitchell after being released from the Army, he was restless and looking for something to do, his wife Betty says. He hoped for flight training in the military, but he never had that opportunity. i0OF
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to go to Purdue,” Betty Grissom says. “It was that simple.” It also came as no surprise to her. She had already decided that’s what her husband should do. She was just waiting for him to catch up. When Grissom attended Purdue studying mechanical engineering, the word “astronaut” was an obscure term people didn’t use or know. There was no talk on campus of going to the moon or Mars or traveling anywhere in space. The focus for many young men like Grissom was airplanes. In 1950, the year he graduated, an Air Force recruiting team visited campus, and Grissom signed up for flight training. This time he received the opportunity he had been seeking for the past six years and became a pilot. 69 X

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A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

T Herrick Laboratories

The Herrick Expansion On April 1, 2011, the University broke ground on a 68,000 square foot building project to expand Herrick Labs. The first phase of the expanded labs will house the Center for High Performance Buildings, where research is focused on new equipment and operational technologies to make possible future buildings that are safer, more environmentally and user friendly, energy-efficient and comfortable. Forty percent of the project’s cost is funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The rest is coming largely from private donors and corporate sponsors as well as Purdue University.

The project’s first phase is expected to be completed early in 2013. The addition—located east of the existing Herrick building at the intersection of State Street and Russell Drive—will roughly double the size of the labs. A special feature will be a “living laboratory,” a working office wing designed with replaceable modular elements, movable walls, doors and windows; a reconfigurable air distribution and lighting system; and instrumentation to monitor systems and occupants. Researchers will use the living laboratory to test and validate new building systems and concepts. One of the major challenges will be to develop an understanding of the relationships between indoor environments and human health and productivity, leading to the design of

“Herrick’s expanded capabilities will enhance Purdue’s ability to attack the challenges surrounding major issues, including energy conservation and indoorenvironmental health,” said former Purdue President France A. Córdova. “Research in the Herrick facilities will help to create buildings that are better for the environment, more comfortable and healthier for people,” said Leah Jamieson, Purdue’s John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering and Ransburg Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “Future building designs will lead to dramatic improvements in health and productivity.”

Groundbreaking of Herrick Labs, Phase I

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T Gus Grissom

Grissom served in the Korean

better building systems, according to Davies. Her multidisciplinary research group will use the new PerceptionBased Engineering Laboratory in Herrick to investigate factors that contribute to occupant comfort and performance. “In this laboratory it will be possible to simulate a wide span of building environments,” Davies says.

Looking forward, Davies said the United States and the rest of the world are grappling with the problems of energy, the environment, and availability of water, all of which will impact research in the years ahead. Qingyan Chen describes the workings of this Herrick-base lab, which recreates the passenger compartment of a commercial airliner, complete with rows of seating. His research aims to develop a system that uses mathematical models and sensors to locate passengers releasing hazardous materials or pathogens inside airline cabins.

Lighting, the acoustic environment, air quality, temperature, humidity, airflow and vibration will be controlled independently and precisely. “The research will lead to the development of models of human comfort under different environmental influences that could be used in the development of advanced building control strategies tested in the living laboratory,” she said. Herrick’s current facilities, such as an advanced engine test area, will be replaced and expanded. The new facility also will house components of a Federal Aviation Administration multi-university center specializing in an airliner cabin’s environment.

“The first two are very much at the heart of much of the research that is conducted at the Laboratories today,” she said. “Energy efficiency and reduced environmental impact of engineered systems are the focus for much of the research at the laboratories particularly in the buildings and diesel engines research. In both of these, and in our other electromechanical research, we are looking at developing and utilizing improvements in sensing, actuation, data processing, information retrieval and controls to reduce energy consumption, reduce emissions and improve performance. We are also interested in how to design systems so that they are sustainable, self-tuning, self-diagnosing, and are manageable and repairable. “Because of the mix of faculty expertise that we have at the Laboratories, our interdisciplinary Herrick 70 X

conflict flying an F-86 Sabre Jet—a plane that had been tested and flown past the speed of sound by George Welch. Welch entered Purdue in 1937 and studied mechanical engineering until 1939, when he switched to science. He finished his degree elsewhere in the military, was a hero during the attack on Pearl Harbor and later as a test pilot is credited as the second person to fly faster than sound, although some claim he was actually the first. Grissom received the Distinguished Flying Cross, completed 100 missions in Korea and was sent home. In 1959 he was selected as one of the seven Mercury astronauts—America’s first space pilots. He was the second American to fly in space. He commanded the first Gemini Mission, and he was commander of the first Apollo Mission with fellow Purdue graduate Roger Chaffee (AA ’57). Both men died January 27, 1967, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida when a fire engulfed their

Research by Frederick Welck, at left, an intern from Institut für Technische Chemie in ClausthalZellerfeld, Germany, and doctoral student Christian Bach will help develop more efficient heat pumps. The improved efficiency could allow residents in cold climates to cut their heating bills in half.

space capsule during a training mission. 72 X

ASTRONAUTS

69

Wind engineers, pictured below at the Benton County Wind Farm in Fowler, Indiana, include Douglas Adams, Kenninger Professor of Renewable Energy; Sanford Fleeter, McAllister Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering; Brandon Ennis (MSME ’09) and White.

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A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

Jonathan White (PhD ’10) atop a Micon mid-scale horizontal axis wind turbine prepares for field testing of a “smart” wind turbine blade at the USDA Agricultural Research Service site, Bushland, Texas.

HERRICK

HERRICK T collaborations across campus and

More than 70 graduate students study at the Laboratories. About one-third are doing a master’s thesis and the others are studying for a doctorate.

with faculty at other universities, we are well positioned to study complex interactions and take them into account when developing engineering Margaret Mathison, who earned her Ph.D. in solutions, such as how to improve air mechanical engineering from Purdue in August Margaret Mathison quality, increase natural lighting and 2011, researched at Herrick. She represented create a good acoustic environment students at the Herrick expansion celebration. simultaneously in a building while controlling costs “On my first visit to campus, I remember being and energy consumption,” Davies said. somewhat shocked to realize that the labs were built A strength of the Laboratories is the focus on practical in an old barn,” she said. “However, after touring problems of interest to industry while also doing the the experimental setups and studying the posters fundamental research that underpins solutions to these hanging in the lab, I felt certain that these labs industry-relevant problems. This focus also paves the way would provide me with the opportunity to not only for future advancements in technology. engage in quality research, but also to have an impact “Faculty and students working on research projects with through interaction with industry. engineers in industry form a very powerful paradigm,” “I know that Herrick Labs will continue to provide Davies said. “Students learn of complex applications students with outstanding research experiences that and working engineers learn of new ways to solve and analyze problems—this is truly an interdisciplinary team will only be enhanced by the unique facilities of the new building,” she said. “I also know that Herrick approach and the projects are journeys of exploration Labs will continue to welcome new students with and learning for all involved. This was at the heart of barbeques and opportunities for mentoring; that Bill Fontaine’s vision for the laboratories, and I see no students will continue to grumble about cleaning better approach to solving complex engineering problems the lab and preparing posters, but will benefit from and no better way of producing the future technical the experience of presenting their research and leaders for industry and academia. In this approach, it interacting with our Industrial Advisory Committee; is important that things truly work when implemented. and I know that students will continue to experience That transition from working in the lab to working an exciting blend of industry and academia at the in the field is also an important part of the research biennial conferences organized by our faculty.” „ at the Laboratories.”

Graduate student Woohyun Kim (MSME ’09) and James Braun use a new technique designed to save energy and servicing costs by indicating when air conditioners are low on refrigerant, preventing the units from working overtime. Currently, technicians must remove and weigh all of the refrigerant, a time-consuming procedure that requires a vacuum pump.

Jonathan White (PhD ’10) checks sensors on the smart blade developed by Sandia National Laboratory Wind & Water Technologies group in collaboration with Purdue Professor Douglas Adams. Adams, director of the Purdue Center for Systems Integrity, says, “The smart blade is equipped with a built-in sensor network that enables more cost effective and reliable operation by providing accurate measurements of important variables in utility scale wind.”

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ASTRONAUTS Don Williams

Arun Bhunia, a microbiologist; Paul Robinson, professor in the School of Veterinary Medicine and the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering; and Dan Hirleman, former William E. and Florence E. Perry Head of the School of Mechanical Engineering, collaborated in 2009 on a food pathogen research project.

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near Lafayette in 1960 and enrolled at Purdue where he soon entered the School of Mechanical Engineering. “Since I grew up on a farm and operated a lot of different machinery, I was interested in how they work, designs and usage,” he says. 8JMMJBNT
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covered his tuition, and he lived in a co-op. “Going from a small community to Purdue was a huge step for me,” he says. “However, I quickly learned how to adapt to college life. The classes were difficult, especially freshman and sophomore math, chemistry and physics. I recall that the material came rather fast and furious for the first couple of years. I worked pretty hard to keep up. Faculty members that taught the junior and senior classes were very dedicated and 73 X

T ME Story—continued from 61

s Developing the School’s strategic plan.

Achievements During the Early 21st Century

s Starting the Global Engineering Alliance for Research and Education (GEARE)—a comprehensive study and internship abroad program for engineering students.

In 1999 Purdue named Dan Hirleman as professor and the Head of the School of Mechanical Engineering. He came to Purdue from Arizona State University where he was on the faculty of mechanical and aerospace engineering and electrical engineering. He served in several administrative posts including vice chair for aerospace engineering, acting chair of mechanical and aerospace engineering and associate dean for research in its college of engineering.

s Creating 5-year BS/MBA, 5-year BS/MS, and direct-to-PhD degree tracks. s Initiating an innovation awards competition, highlighting student design projects and encouraging discovery with delivery. s Growing the faculty by more than 20 percent.

Hirleman’s research was in the areas of optical sensors for surface characterization, semiconductor manufacturing, particle and flow diagnostics and biohazard detection. Because Hirleman received all his degrees at Purdue, he was excited to return. His accomplishments were noted by Anil Bajaj who succeeded him first as interim head and then head of the School in mid-2011. Hirleman became Dean of Engineering at the University of California, Merced in 2010. “Under Dan’s leadership the school’s research, curriculum and engagement programs continued significant progress,” Bajaj says, citing these accomplishments:

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Computer-controlled, GPS-equipped, dune-buggy style car for the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge. This event placed unmanned vehicles in the Mojave Desert in order to navigate a 175-mile, obstaclefilled course. GEARE students from Purdue and Germany built the suspension.

s Raising $142 million in the Campaign for Purdue, which included funds for the Roger B. Gatewood Wing of the Mechanical Engineering Building and Phase I of the new Ray W. Herrick Laboratories, the first and third LEED-certified buildings on Purdue’s campus, respectively. s Establishing GlobalHub—the world’s first virtual organization dedicated to global engineering education and research. During Hirleman’s tenure at the School, he helped develop strategic partnerships with such companies as Cummins, Dow, Ford, GM, John Deere, Shell, Siemens and United Technologies. The School also developed partnerships with universities around the world, including the University of Karlsruhe in Germany, Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China and IIT Bombay in India for the GEARE program.

Faculty’s Specialized Research Under Hirleman’s leadership the School tripled fiscal activity, increased student participation in credit-bearing international experiences, doubled the doctoral graduation rate, doubled archival journal publications, tripled research expenditures, tripled the number of endowed professorships in mechanical engineering and quadrupled the value of scholarships and fellowships. Purdue Mechanical Engineering’s research and faculty accomplishments during Hirleman’s leadership are notable. The faculty expertise base expanded, including micro- and nanosystems, structural health monitoring, renewable energy and sustainability, for example. More researchers began working on interdisciplinary projects involving other Purdue schools, colleges and even other Universities. Monika Ivantysynova came to Purdue in 2004 from Germany’s Technical University of Hamburg. She is the MAHA Power Systems Professor in Mechanical Engineering, as well as Agricultural and Biological Engineering. Her research interests include advanced energy-saving hydraulic actuators; computer-based pump and motor design; gap-flow simulation of displacement machines; drive line control and active oscillation damping of off-road vehicles; virtual prototyping of power split drives; condition monitoring of mechatronic systems; and modeling and simulation of hydraulic systems. 74 X

T Don Williams

really knew a lot about their subjects. As I got into those classes, I enjoyed interacting with all of the mechanical engineering professors.” Williams earned a bachelor of science degree from Purdue in 1964. After completing Navy flight training, he served four tours of duty in Vietnam, flying 330 combat missions. He was accepted by NASA for astronaut training in 1978 and flew two shuttle missions—as pilot in 1985 and as a commander in 1989. He left NASA at the end of 1989. “I think the most important thing that I learned in mechanical engineering was to take a structured approach to each process,” Williams says. “This requires thinking about the problem, then applying the things I have learned to help solve the problems. In my opinion, mechanical engineering will always be needed to keep our nation functioning. There are a lot of new processes and procedures that have grown out of the principles that I learned at Purdue. I would recommend mechanical engineering as a great program for anyone who wants to learn and apply the processes and procedures that have helped make our nation into one of the most productive in the world today.”

Graduate students working with Monika Ivantysynova, director of the university's MAHA Fluid Power Research Center, evaluate methods to improve the efficiency of hydraulic pumps and motors in heavy construction equipment and reduce the machinery's fuel consumption.

His daughter, Barbara Williams Corso, graduated from Purdue with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1999. She works for NASA at the Johnson Space Center. 74 X

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ASTRONAUTS Jim Jones, Issam Mudawar and Charles Krousgrill

ME Story— Achievements During the T Early 21st Century Ivantysynova was awarded the 2009 Joseph Bramah Medal by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers for outstanding commitment to international fluid power research and education, particularly in the field of hydrostatic pumps and motors.

Jerry Ross No person has been launched into space more times than Jerry Ross, who earned his Purdue undergraduate mechanical engineering degree in 1970 and his master’s in 1972. Ross grew up in Crown Point, in northern Indiana, and started making scrapbooks of anything that had to do with space long before Grissom made his historic flight. “People were just starting to talk about this, and it captured my imagination,” he says. “Werner von Braun was on Walt Disney. I knew enough about all this to know that science, engineering and math were important, and I knew Purdue was involved in the space program. I decided in fourth grade to go to Purdue and become an engineer so I could work in the space program. From that time on, every dime I made went into an account to pay for my Purdue education.” 76 X 74

A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

Cagri Savran worked with a team using microand nanotechnology to develop biosensors with the potential to cost less and be more user friendly. William Peine teamed with medical doctors to develop less expensive, portable and versatile robots for operating rooms. Ben Hillberry led a team using spines from human cadavers to develop machines and software models that will help create better implants for aching backs. Steve Frankel used computational fluid dynamics to help predict and better understand the violent loops, eddies and swirls in atherosclerotic arteries. Bumsoo Han looked at cancer therapy and tissue engineering from a mechanical engineering perspective, while Xinyan Deng studied winged and finned creatures trying to mimic them in the machines she’s building. Issam Mudawar, Jim Jones and Charles Krousgrill were named to the Purdue Book of Great Teachers, joining their colleagues already in the book: Robert Fox, George Hawkins, Frank Incropera, Charles Rezek, Harry Solberg, H. Gerald Venemann, G.A. Young and Maurice Zucrow. In its strategic plan under Hirleman, Purdue Mechanical Engineering set the stage for the

future by continuing on a course it has followed since its founding in 1882. It states:

One factor in the success of the Purdue Mechanical Engineering education has been our ability to stay ahead of the world in delivering an advanced educational experience consistent with the ever-changing needs of the mechanical engineering profession, be it in industry, government or graduate school. A key ingredient has been our legacy of a very rich laboratory (experiential learning) environment. ME must continue to lead in providing facilities, mentors, and the environment where hands-on experiences are integrated into the learning process. …Our facilities must be a magnet for students, offering the best environment and infrastructure for learning and discovery in the multidisciplinary, collaborative workplace of tomorrow. The importance of the research component of our mission will become even more crucial as industries outsource discovery activity and as expectations for positive impact on economic development in the state increase. But a rich environment of inquiry and discovery is fostered by the faculty and furthered by the students, and the top talent comes to (or remains at) Purdue because of the excitement associated with high-impact, cutting edge research programs. Finally, the School and the education it provides is only as good as the people involved. We need to recruit and continue to retain the best and brightest faculty, staff and students to grow our leadership position. 76 X

Purdue Test Car

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ASTRONAUTS T Jerry Ross

When he arrived at Purdue, his intention was to study aeronautics. But people with aeronautics degrees at that time were having trouble finding work.

ME Story— Achievements During the T Early 21st Century

“The more I learned about mechanical engineering and how flexible it was and its wide applications, the more I wanted to study mechanical,” Ross says. He also knew a great deal of rocket work was in mechanical, and he was more interested in rockets than airplanes. NASA accepted Ross for astronaut training in 1980. His first mission was in 1985, and he has flown six more times since then. Ross started with NASA five months before the first shuttle flight, retiring in the summer of 2011 after the last shuttle flight. “Throughout my career I did a lot of Ross on a space walk things more attuned to an aero background, but I found my mechanical engineering education put me in good position to perform those tasks,” he says. “Purdue gave me a very practical, great foundation.” „ 76

Issam Mudawar and doctoral students Myung Ki Sung (PhD ’08) and Jaeseon Lee (MSME ’04, PhD ’08) at work on a liquid-cooling approach for computers and electronics that uses “microjets” to supply a liquid coolant into tiny channels on top of microchips, cooling five times better than conventional high-performance systems.

A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

Even as new areas of research open, Purdue Mechanical Engineering continues excellence in its traditional fields. Professor Issam Mudawar and former doctoral student Jaeseon Lee wrote “Two-Phase Flow in High-Heat-Flux Micro-Channel Heat Sink for Refrigeration Cooling Applications: Parts I & 2.” The International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer ranked their papers as the first and second mostcited papers during the period of 2005 to 2008.

Heat Transfer Memorial Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Garimella received the award for “innovative and pioneering work on basic and applied problems in microscale heat transfer, thermal management of electronic systems, phase change heat transfer and materials processing, leading to extensive contributions to archival heat transfer literature and an impressive impact on industry.” 78 X

Suresh Garimella, the R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering and director of the Purdue Cooling Technologies Research Center, received the 2010

Tannaz Harirchian (PhD ’10) holds up special chips provided by Delphi Electronics and Safety that she and Garimella used to simulate what happens in a real chip.

University residence halls

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SAE Greg Shaver and David Snyder (MS ’09, PhD ’10) discuss how to add a fully flexible, multi-cylinder variable valve actuation system to a 2007 6.7L Cummins diesel engine.

Hands-On Racing Design Members of the Purdue Society of Automotive Engineers design and build several cars for competition each year. The Formula SAE Competition is for SAE student members to

Making an Impact

conceive, design, fabricate

When the Gatewood Wing officially opened in fall 2011, Mechanical Engineering had the largest undergraduate program in Purdue engineering with close to 1,100 students. Its graduate program was the second largest in engineering at 535, with 61 faculty members.

and compete with small formula-style racing cars (open wheel, open cockpit). The restrictions on the car frame and engine are limiting so that the knowledge, creativity and imagination of the students are challenged. The cars are built with a team effort over a period of about one year and are taken to the annual competition for judging and comparison with approximately 120 other vehicles from universities throughout the world. The end result is a great experience for young engineers in a meaningful engineering project as well as the opportunity of working in a dedicated team effort. 79 X

Formula SAE car

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A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

The mechanical engineering field has always evolved with the changing times, and it is likely to transform even more rapidly in the 21st century, according to Anil Bajaj, The William E. and Florence E. Perry Head and Alpha P. Jamison Professor of Mechanical Engineering. “A lot of new ideas in research are going on,” Bajaj says. “In the end, ultimately the quality of life that people live, that’s the most important thing we’re interested in. People don’t always notice how much engineering affects their lives. Especially with mechanical engineering. When they think about it, they think of cars. But there is so much more going on in terms of sustainability, health care and on and on. Our faculty really feels energized and excited when their research leads to something that impacts the quality of life.” For example, mechanical engineers are working on sensors to quickly detect different bacteria; prevention of head injuries to football players; repair and regeneration of cartilage; hybrid cars and trucks; and alternative fuels and renewable energy.

Alternative Automotive Technologies In 2011 Purdue was selected as one of 16 teams to participate in EcoCAR 2: Plugging in to the Future, an international competition to develop advanced automotive technologies. The Purdue team is a multidisciplinary effort led by Vahid Motevalli of the Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology. The competition was established in 2009 by the U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors Corp. to speed the development of vehicles aimed at reducing petroleum consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. “The Purdue team will create a prototype using advanced design and engineering principles, drawing on the expertise of our top faculty and students and the capabilities of our excellent laboratory facilities,” said Leah Jamieson, Purdue’s John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering and Ransburg Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “The goal is to bring the car of the future closer to reality.” The teams have three years to convert a regular Chevrolet Malibu into an advancedtechnology vehicle by using electric, hybrid, plug-in hybrid or fuel-cell hybrid power systems. The vehicles also will use renewable energy or renewable fuels to minimize their petroleum consumption.

T Hands-On Racing Design

For the purpose of this competition, the students are to assume that a manufacturing firm has asked them to produce a prototype car for evaluation as a production item. The intended sales market is the nonprofessional weekend autocross racer. Therefore, the car must have very high performance in terms of its acceleration, braking and handling qualities. The car must be low in cost, easy to maintain and reliable. In 1979, Purdue University established an elite design class for the top engineers in their class. Its purpose was to teach the art of vehicle design. They design and build the SAE Baja and Mini Baja cars.

2008-10 solar car, Pulsar

In spring 2011, the Purdue Solar Racing team won Shell’s EcoMarathon for the fourth consecutive year. The team’s solar-powered urban commuter car achieved the equivalent of almost 2,400 miles per gallon in the international competition. The Celeritas prototype can handle a fullsized driver seated upright in a car equipped with headlights, taillights, a trunk, energy regenerative braking, pothole-handling suspension and rearview backup cameras. The car, equipped with five onboard computer systems, generated so much electricity, it was

in jeopardy of overloading its onboard batteries. The team was drawn from an array of undergraduate programs including Mechanical Engineering. It spent one year designing the $90,000 prototype and one year building it. The effort was funded largely through contributions from corporations and several Purdue schools and colleges and the team was advised by ME professor Galen King.

Baja cars are single driver, off-road vehicles that are designed to perform in a variety of static, dynamic and safety competitions. The vehicles have to follow specific guidelines presented by the International Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and be able to withstand a vigorous 4-hour endurance race. „

The team’s previous solar-powered prototype, Pulsar, won Shell’s 2008-2010 EcoMarathon. 80 X

2011 solar car, Celeritas

Mini Baja SAE car

SAE

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BIOENGINEERING Brain Injuries of Football Players A 2010-2011 study by researchers from various colleges and schools at Purdue—including Mechanical Engineering—suggested that some high school football players suffer undiagnosed changes in brain function and continue playing even though they are impaired. Eric Nauman, an associate professor of mechanical engineering and, by courtesy, in Basic Medical Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, was deeply involved in the study. Nauman is the director of the Human Injury Research and Regenerative Technologies (HIRRT) laboratory. His research focuses on the mechanisms of human injury and the application of adult stem cell-based therapies to damage in the musculoskeletal system, central nervous system and eye. “All of these systems exhibit a fascinating mechanical response to external loading, yet repair strategies must extend beyond mechanics to include cell physiology, transport phenomena, micro- and nanoscale effects, and biophysical stimuli,” he says. From the perspective of human injury and degenerative diseases, Nauman’s early work at Tulane Eric Nauman University and the University of California, Berkeley focused on elucidating the mechanisms by which 81 X 80

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Ross-Ade Stadium

T ME Story—Making an Impact

Measuring Oil Spill Volume Steven Wereley, a mechanical engineering professor working in Discovery Park at the Birck Nanotechnology Center, has devoted his career to studying gold chips, red blood cells and other particles too tiny to view with the naked eye. All that changed very suddenly with the British Petroleum oil spill in 2010. National Public Radio science correspondent Richard Harris was looking for an expert to estimate the amount of oil that had been gushing into the Gulf of Mexico since the Deep-water Horizon blowout began. Wereley’s research areas include fluid mechanics and propulsion, bioengineering and nanotechnology. Since Wereley had co-written a textbook on particle image velocimetry, a method of obtaining fluid measurements, Harris asked him to review a 30-second video clip.

Group, charged with providing official numbers to the U.S. government. Once the leak was capped and more precise measurements could be taken, the group announced that initially 62,000 barrels of oil had been spilling daily, tapering to 53,000 by the time the valves were turned off. Remarkably, those numbers were within the range of Wereley’s initial estimates, even though the original video he analyzed was short and of poor quality. Since that incident, Wereley, who received a U.S. Geological Survey Director’s Award for his work, has been leading the newly created Oil Spill Research Community to examine how faculty expertise at Purdue can be used to prevent another similar accident in the future.

Wereley first created freeze-frame shots of the video to track movement over time, then, after calculating the trigonometric formula on paper, ran a computer analysis for verification. He estimated the flow at an average of 70,000 barrels a day—more than 10 times what British Petroleum had been claiming to the public. Within a few weeks, Wereley had been quoted in more than 800 media outlets, had testified before Congress and had joined the National Incident Command’s Flow Rate Technical

Steven Wereley analyzes a video clip of the oil well leak in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

Public Policy and Diplomacy It is unusual for an academic to the have an opportunity where their expertise and insights can help guide U.S. foreign policy. In 2010, two Purdue Mechanical Engineering professors, Suresh Garminella and Jay Jefferson Science Fellows, U.S. Department of State Gore, were selected as Jefferson in Washington, D.C. or an assignment at a Science Fellows for the U.S. Department of U.S. foreign embassy or mission. State. They are among ten fellows selected. Their appointment carries a five-year “As a Jefferson Science Fellow, I hope to commitment, including one year of active duty learn about the role scientists can play in truly influencing public policy,” Garimella says. “With my background in energy and information technologies, I would be looking to provide accurate scientific information to inform public policy debate in these areas.” Gore adds, “I plan to learn more about global policy aspects of grand challenges in areas ranging from energy to medicine. I also hope to learn how institutions of higher education such as Purdue can help in finding solutions to some of these problems.” 82 X

Timothy Fisher and Suresh Garimella hold a silicon wafer containing experimental "ionic wind engines" being developed to cool computer chips. Fisher and Garimella are using the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition equipment shown here to make the devices sturdy enough for the rigors of everyday use in laptops and consumer electronics.

Helmet prototype

T Brain Injuries of Football Players

noncontact ACL injuries occur and the factors that govern glaucomatous degeneration in the eye. He then extended his efforts to large clinical data sets, exploring the interaction between scoliosis, osteoporosis and disc degeneration, a project that provided substantial information about the musculoskeletal system’s response to mechanical loading. Subsequently, the HIRRT lab at Purdue began examining the effects of mechanical trauma on spinal-cord physiology and function in conjunction with Purdue’s Center for Paralysis Research. The relatively simple geometry of the spinal cord white matter was a useful foundation for the development of multiscale models linking mechanical forces to tissue and cellular-level damage. In 2008, at Purdue Nauman began working with Thomas Talavage, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Larry Leverenz, clinical professor of health and kinesiology, to study traumatic brain injuries. This work led to the discovery that a substantial portion of football players exhibit altered neurophysiology without readily identifiable symptoms and changed the way in which researchers think about brain injury. The study was featured by numerous news agencies and made the cover of the November 1, 2010 Sports Illustrated. „

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Doctoral student Yaguo Wang (PhD ’11) works with a high-speed laser at the Birck Nanotechnology Center to study thermoelectric generators (TEGs). The devices harvest heat from an engine's exhaust to generate electricity, which could reduce a car's fuel consumption. Xianfan Xu leads a team that is collaborating with General Motors to develop a prototype, to be installed in the exhaust system behind the catalytic converter.

Doctoral student Baratunde Cola (PhD ’08) looks through a view port in a plasmaenhanced chemical vapor deposition instrument while postdoctoral research fellow Placidus Amama adjusts settings. The two engineers recently have shown how to grow forests of tiny cylinders, called carbon nanotubes, onto the surfaces of computer chips to enhance the flow of heat at a critical point where the chips connect to cooling devices called heat sinks.

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Bioengineering and Nanotechnology

Research Trends

Wereley is part of a team that developed a technique that uses a laser and holograms to precisely position numerous tiny particles within seconds, representing a potential new tool to analyze biological samples or create devices using nanoassembly.

Mechanical engineering as a discipline is undergoing breathtaking transformations that have the potential to significantly advance new technology development for the global challenges of energy, housing, health care, safety, security, transportation and water resources. Interdisciplinary collaborations and research are expected to support fundamental contributions as well as development of innovations in nanotechnology, and biological and large-scale systems. Nanoscale phenomena coupled to understanding of biological and chemical processes are providing building blocks to solve problems in diverse fields including medicine, new materials for energy storage and conversion and mechanobiology of disease. Spurred by advances in mechatronics, significant research and applications are arising at the interface of biological and man-made actuator systems (e.g., sensors, etc.) as well as energy conservation and sustainability. “Top down” design of materials, their modeling and fabrication techniques and computational approaches for design/process simulations are some of the key areas presenting unprecedented opportunities. 82

A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

The technique, called rapid electrokinetic patterning, is a potential alternative to existing technologies through which patterns can be more quickly and easily changed. The method offers promise for using electronic chips with “high throughput” to analyze biological samples for medical and environmental applications. Wereley, who conducts research at the Birck Nanotechnology Center, says entrepreneurship will be an important aspect of 21st-century mechanical engineering—taking discoveries to the marketplace where they can impact economies, create jobs and change lives. Timothy Fisher is another mechanical engineering professor doing research at the Birck Nanotechnology Center. His interests include nanoscale energy transport and conversion, synthesis of nanomaterials and the cooling of microelectronics and microfluidics. He is director of the Nanoscale Transport Research Group that works on a broad range of problems, primarily involving the transport and conversion of energy carried by electrons,

phonons and photons. “We seek to solve problems with high importance to applications in clean energy (for example, direct energy conversion, hydrogen storage) and in major industrial segments (for example, micro- or nanoelectronics, sensors).” Fisher, in collaboration with Jay Gore and Issam Mudawar, has developed research programs that address heat and mass transfer in hydrogen storage systems, enhanced bioanalytic functionality in devices that combine nanomaterials, and microfluidics and modeling of thermal systems. Also doing research at the Birck Nanotechnology Center, Cargri Savran is interested in the adaptation of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and nanotechnology to chemistry and biology. The Savran Research Group focuses on the development of novel and robust chemical and biological sensors for rapid and sensitive detection of biomolecules, and cells and chemical stimuli for pathogenic, medical and environmental applications. “Two research areas that remain of top importance are healthcare and energy,” Savran says. “The contribution of mechanical engineering to energy needs no explanation, as energy is a discipline of mechanical engineering. As for healthcare,” he continues:

Many of the research problems that are dealt with today, sooner or later intersect with a mechanical engineering discipline, such as thermodynamics and heat transfer (there is always something that needs to be heated or cooled or kept at a constant temperature, such as a chemical process), fluid mechanics (there is always a fluid that needs to go somewhere whose behavior should be modeled and understood to develop novel devices, such as microfluidic medical devices), measurements and controls (something always needs to be measured or controlled, such as temperature, pH, salt or other molecules), mechanics (something always moves or flexes or breaks, which we need to understand, such as the bones in the human body), design (this too needs no explanation because the first step toward a working device, such as a surgical robot, is a solid design that takes all relevant constraints into account, including size, power requirement and cost). 84 X

Euiwon Bae (PhD ’06), faculty in ME, positions a bacterial culture being viewed using a new low-cost system that quickly identifies bacteria by analyzing scattered laser light. The light-scatter pattern appears on a computer monitor in the background. The system can accurately distinguish between different strains of E. coli, a potentially valuable way to screen the food supply.

CAPTION?????

Jong Hyun Choi and doctoral student Benjamin Baker (BSME ’09) use fluorescent imaging to view a carbon nanotube. Their research is aimed at creating a new type of solar cell designed to self-repair like natural photosynthetic systems. The approach might enable researchers to increase the service life and reduce costs for photoelectrochemical cells, which convert sunlight into electricity. 83

Birck Nanotechnology Center

T ME Story—Research Trends

Mechanical Properties of Cancer and Viral Cells

properties of cancer cells and viruses.

For example, the technique could be used to study Arvind Raman has assembled how cells adhere to postdoctoral, doctoral and tissues, which is critical masters students in a research for many disease and group that studies important biological processes; how and interdisciplinary problems cells move and change in science and engineering by shape; how cancer cells using the principles of evolve during metastasis; nonlinear dynamical systems, and how cells react to fluid-structure interaction mechanical stimuli needed and mechanics. Arvind Raman to stimulate production The Raman Group is of vital proteins. Findings investigating the nonlinear were published in Nature Nanotechnology. oscillations of microcantilevers in atomic The work involves researchers from Purdue force microscopy (AFM). Their research and the University of Oxford. helps scientists working worldwide in Collaborating with the Department of nanoscience and nanotechnology to interpret Human Kinesiology, the researchers are images, and improve metrology, speed and investigating the nonlinear dynamics compositional contrast while scanning over of human posture. The goal is to use a wide range of samples, such as living cells, experimental measurements of human sway bacteria, viruses, composite materials and to identify whether subjects suffer from semiconductor devices. neuromuscular disorders such as Parkinson’s Using this knowledge, the researchers are disease and multiple sclerosis, or if they may collaborating with biophysicists to develop be particularly susceptible to stumbling and new AFM-based tools for biomechanical falling—a particular concern in geriatric assays of living cells and viruses. Their health care. 86 X ultimate goal is to help cancer specialists and scientists understand the mechanical 84

A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

Undergratuate students Patrick Hathaway, Matt Morris and Otto Gottlieb complete their animech propotype, the Turtle Tank.

Karthik Ramani, the Feddersen Professor of Mechanical Engineering, integrates his intruction and research interests in geometric design of shapes, development of new kernels for shape design and analysis, and higher dimensional geometric methods. Here, undergraduate students Caitlin Cavanaugh and Bryan Lane discuss their team’s final project in ME 444: Computer-Aided Design. Ramani says, “The course balances hands-on design, creativity and innovation. Toy design provides a scaffold for students to learn the design process holistically.”

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Kristofer Jennings, Peter Meckl, Galen King, Scott James and Neha Chandrachud with a 2007 Cummins turbo-diesel engine.

T ME Story—Research Trends

Thermomechanical Designs and Biomechanical Inventions

Purdue researcher Klein Ileleji found that a 20 percent blend of degummed soybean oil performed well in home furnaces and reduced sulfur emissions.

Klod Kokini’s research area is the thermomechanical response and thermal fracture of complex high-temperature materials, such as thermal barrier coatings (TBC), and functionally graded coatings developed for use in aircraft engines, gas turbines and diesel engines. The National Science Foundation and companies such as Cummins, Caterpillar and Praxair Surface Technologies have funded his research. Kokini has done interdisciplinary research on the biomechanical behavior, design and processing of small intestinal submucosa (SIS), a natural extracellular matrix (ECM) used as a soft tissue implant material in such applications as tendons, ligaments and body wall repair. He is a co-inventor on three patents related to this research. He has also collaborated on research related to the biomicromechanics of the response of ECM under mechanical loads and ECM-cell interactions.

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Klod Kokini and doctoral student Yoshimi Takeuchi (MS ’91, PhD ’97) use infrared lamps to test the performance of ceramic-coated metal under temperature conditions that simulate the inside of a diesel engine. The researchers are studying how ceramic coatings may be used on engine parts to protect them from extreme heat, increasing their durability.

Less Polluting Combustion Engines and Quieter Diesel Engines Peter Meckl’s research primarily involves two areas—command shaping for motion control and after treatment system control and diagnostics. In the area of motion control, rather than rely solely on measurement feedback from on-board sensors to tailor the motor commands, his strategy uses an understanding of the system to design motor commands that minimize the excitation of vibrations. The benefits of this approach allows for faster motions with minimal vibration, while simplifying the design of the control system.

His current research focus in engines is to develop tools for virtual sensing and diagnosing faults on engines. Meckl’s research group has developed several techniques to identify which sensor signals are useful for creating mathematical models of engine subsystems and for selecting a minimum sensor set that will provide enough information to differentiate faulty engine behavior from healthy performance. Meckl is also looking at the diesel oxidation catalyst used to remove some of the troublesome emissions from engine exhaust and studying the effect of catalyst degradation on the production of nitrous dioxide, NO2. This has important implications for the performance of downstream after treatment systems. Recently, Meckl led an interdisciplinary project to develop a quiet diesel-powered generator set. The goal was to design a fueling strategy for the engine that uses multiple injections of fuel to shape the cylinder pressure pulse so as to reduce acoustic noise emissions while maintaining engine efficiency. The team developed a new electronic fuelinjection system with the capability to produce up to five injections per cycle and optimized the parameters. Meckl sees several important developments coming in mechanical engineering in the 21st century:

Internal combustion engines will continue to be necessary in the foreseeable future for transportation, so efforts to increase efficiency and reduce fuel consumption will be key. In addition, efforts to develop biosystems with mechanical engineering concepts will become even more important as various devices for sensing hormone levels (e.g., insulin) inside the body are designed and implemented.

Human Motor Control, Earthquakes and Robots George Chiu has research interests in dynamic systems and control, mechatronics, digital printing and imaging systems, human motor control, functional printing and digital fabrication, motion and vibration control and perception and embedded systems. Chiu also encourages engagement efforts between Purdue undergraduates and local high school students in the U.S. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics program. His mentorship fosters student leadership, innovations and teamwork. Xinyan Deng’s research is centered on biological locomotion and bio-inspired robots, from investigating the underlying principles of animal locomotion to the construction and control of intelligent 88 X

Engineering students team with Tippecanoe County high school students to create a functional robot for a regional robotics competition held in 2000. Purdue Mechanical Engineering Professors, George Chiu, Gordon Pennock, and Raymond Cipra all volunteered as faculty advisors. 87

NSBE The National Society of Black Engineers

Dimitrios Peroulis holds a new MEMS sensor at an “environmentally controlled probe station.” The wireless sensors are being developed to detect impending bearing failure in jet engines. The probe station recreates extreme conditions inside engines, enabling researchers to test the sensors.

At Purdue University two mechanical engineering majors played leading roles in creating the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), one of the largest

T ME Story—Research Trends

student-governed organizations in the nation.

machines for similar tasks or environments. Her group is particularly interested in insect flight and fish locomotion. They use experiments and mathematical analysis to reveal the physical principles of flapping flight, its fundamental fluid mechanics and flight dynamics and control.

With more than 35,700 members, NSBE was founded in 1975 and includes more than 394 college, pre-college and technical professional/alumni chapters in the United States and abroad. The mission of the organization is “to increase the number of culturally responsible black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community.” It all started in 1971 with Purdue undergraduate engineering students Edward Barnette and Fred

Shirley Dyke develops novel ways to make infrastructure networks and communities resilient to significant natural and manmade events. Most of her research focuses on investigating ways to reduce losses and property damage from earthquakes through the innovative use of structural control and

Cooper. They saw a need for an organization that would help recruit and retain African American students in engineering. Barnette and Cooper received support from Purdue’s Dean of Engineering, John C. Hancock, who appointed Arthur J. Bond as advisor to the program. Bond, an electrical engineer,

monitoring systems for improving the lifecycle performance of structural systems. Raymond Cipra’s research experience is with the design, analysis and simulation of mechanical systems, including kinematics, dynamics, robotics, manufacturing and automation. His work on the kinematics and dynamics of complex robotic systems currently investigates robots with the capability of hopping, swinging and climbing. Other studies include path planning and innovative actuation schemes for binary (digital) robots and cooperating unit-modular robots that employ the same actuators for manipulation and locomotion to cooperatively lift and transport an object while avoiding obstacles along the path.

was the only African American on the engineering faculty at that time. The new organization was named the Black Society of Engineers. Under Bond’s leadership, the Black Society of Engineers had great success. Minority enrollment in Purdue engineering grew from 28 in 1971 to 304 by 1978. 90 X 88

A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

William Peine operates hand controls for a surgical robot under development. The system is designed to give surgeons the dexterity they will need for operations by mimicking the human wrist in providing “seven degrees of freedom,” or roll, pitch and yaw. A small camera provides a magnified view of the robotic probes in action, and a real-time picture is displayed on a monitor mounted on the surgeon's console.

Working jointly with Thomas Siegmund, robotic manufacturing research includes the design of a rapidly reconfigurable surface for prototyping carbon fiber composites. Cipra is also currently examining macroscale meta-materials with such multifunctional properties as easy repair, damage containment and acoustic noise reduction. His research in microsystems addresses assembly using 90 X

Jeffrey Rhoads and graduate student Venkata Bharadwaj Chivukula (MSME ’09) use vacuum probe station in research to develop a new micro electromechanical system (MEMS). An early prototype, shown on the monitor at right, contains vibrating, hair-thin structures that could be used to filter electronic signals in cell phones. The work is conducted on top of a special vibration-absorbing platform critical to making the precise measurements.

Farshid Sadeghi, the Cummins Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and his doctoral student make minute adjustments prior to taking stress measurements. As founder of the ME Tribology Laboratory, Sadeghi’s research has created a better understanding of thermal effects in heavily loaded lubricated contacts, friction reduction through surface modification, effects of material microstructure property and topology on rolling contact fatigue and MEMS for condition monitoring of machine components.

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NSBE T The National Society of Black Engineers

According to the National Society of Black Engineers,

Ganesh Subbarayan takes complex systems and looks for ways to design them by piecing together their elements. Here, he describes a study to determine the optimal orientation of a hole in a plate that leads to the smallest stress.

along with Bond, six Purdue students from the mid-1970s are credited with taking the organization nationwide. Called the “Chicago Six,” they are Anthony Harris (ME ’75), Edward A. Coleman (ME ’75), Brian Harris (IDE ’75), Stanley L. Kirtley (CE ’75), John W. Logan Jr. (CE ’75), and George A. Smith (EE ’76).

T ME Story—Research Trends

vibratory motion and near-net shape composites for biomedical applications. Most recently, he developed an innovative remotely operated surgical assistant for laparoscopic surgery. The Purdue School of Veterinary Science and the IUPUI Medical School will help test a prototype.

Material Systems and Manufacturing Processes

Anthony Harris, president of the Purdue chapter, is credited with writing a letter to 288 engineering programs inquiring about their interest in a national organization for African American engineers. He received positive responses from about 80 of the schools and discovered a number of them had black student organizations.

At a national meeting in 1975, 48 students representing 32 schools formed the National Society of Black Engineers. Anthony Harris also earned an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business in 1979. He was named a 1VSEVF
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a Purdue Distinguished Engineering Alumnus in 2008. Bond received an honorary Doctorate in Engineering from Purdue in 2009, citing him as a founder of the National Society of Black Engineers. „ 90

A Story of Purdue Mechanical Engineering

Thomas Siegmund and students of the Microstructure Testing and Analysis Laboratory study modeling and simulation environments for the mechanical behavior of materials. “While in the past the development of novel

materials, as well as the assessment of the lifecycle of a material was primarily based on experimental investigations, the 21st-century engineering environment will be one in which such investigations are performed by simulations with only selected experimentation needed for model validation,” Siegmund says. More recently, Siegmund has also conducted research in the area of biomechanics. In this field, computational mechanics can play a significant role during investigations

Doctoral student Hui Zhang (MSME ’02, PhD ’06) and Issam Mudawar work on a flight apparatus used to conduct experiments on a NASA aircraft that creates reduced gravity conditions such as those found in Earth orbit and on the moon and Mars. The apparatus has a backlighted window that enables engineers to take high-speed pictures and video of fluid flowing through tubing during reduced gravity.

of diseases and treatment options in silicon. In particular, his group has investigated the biomechanical processes in phonation and voice production and conducted studies related to osteoporosis and aging bone. Genesh Subbarayan is contributing significantly to the modeling of the physics of failure of interfaces and assemblies/packages in micro electronic systems. He is pioneering

computational techniques that use CAD models directly without intervening meshing steps. Yung C. Shin, Donald A. and Nancy G. Roach Professor of Advanced Manufacturing oversees manufacturing courses and laboratories, which are equipped with state-of-the-art facilities worth well over $4 million. Shin’s research areas include laser processing of materials, intelligent and adaptive control of manufacturing processes, machining of advanced materials, process monitoring and automation. He established the Center for Laser-Based Manufacturing, which develops laser-based manufacturing and materials processing technologies for many collaborating industrial companies.

Wenqian Hu (PhD ’11) works on a complex optical setup that is part of research at Purdue University to uncover details about the behavior of ultrafast laser pulses. The technology may have new applications in manufacturing, diagnostics and other research.

Mechanical engineering offers wellbalanced and diverse training and background to students for the research very much needed in the 21st century. While traditional rigid boundaries between conventional academic disciplines are disappearing, mechanical engineering offers many necessary elements of research spanning design, analysis and manufacturing that allow students to easily expand into many scientific and technological arenas. 93 X

Jason Vaughn Clark is leading work to create a new online learning tool that has been shown to improve the performance of engineering students taking traditional in-class exams, raising their scores more than a letter grade. The tool, seen on the computer screen in the background, can be helpful for students taking courses in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM subjects.

Doctoral student Chengying Xu (PhD ’06) and Yung Shin, review information on data acquisition and monitoring for a "computer numerical control" grinding machine, pictured in background.

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Animated Engineer: Bob Peterson (MSME ’86), at Pixar Studios, was the lead writer and co-director of Up, a 2009 Oscar winner.

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T ME Story—continued from 91

Renaissance Engineers Students of today come to Purdue with dreams just as they did 130 years ago. They study mechanical engineering because of their interests and the broad range of opportunities in the field, just as generations did before them. Like all students through the history of the program, they find the curriculum challenging and the learning environment stimulating.

Amazing Careers Mechanical engineering is a field that can lead to success in a huge variety of careers. For example, Ken Decker, who received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1964, is a patent attorney consultant and in 2009 was named an Outstanding Purdue Mechanical Engineer.

Bob Peterson received a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue in 1986. He went on to be lead writer and co-director of the 2009 Pixar animation film, Up. At Pixar Peterson has directed commercials, worked in animation on Toy Story, supervised the story on Monsters, Inc. and wrote screenplays for Finding Nemo and Up. He also did the voices for Roz in Monsters Inc., Mr. Ray in Finding Nemo and Dug the dog in Up. At Purdue, in addition to studying mechanical engineering, he drew and wrote a cartoon strip for The Exponent, “Loco Motives.” Like many before him and many more yet to come, Peterson found mechanical engineering the perfect field of study to enter a host of careers—even those in Hollywood. 94 X

“I was able to apply my vocation, which was engineering, to my avocation—drawing cartoons,” Peterson told Purdue’s Engineering Impact in fall 2010. “I’ve told students, “I knew engineering was a great springboard into a lot of different professions. If we could all combine what we do in our off-hours with what we do at work, we’d all be happy people.”

The Exponent’s campus comic strip from August 26, 1985

He says, “The rigorous Purdue engineering program prepared me well for everything I have accomplished since graduation. After Purdue Mechanical Engineering, law school seemed easy, even though I was working full time. As a patent attorney, I prepared and prosecuted patent applications in diverse technical areas that used virtually every area I studied at Purdue. Mechanical engineering prepared me to learn, which I have had to continually do throughout my career.”

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MALOTT Purdue Mechanical Engineering building in the 1930s

Thomas J. & Sandra H. Malott Innovation Awards “The competition reminds you how good a Purdue engineering degree is,” said Thomas Malott, one of the competition judges and retired president and chief

T ME Story—Renaissance Engineers

executive officer of Siemens Energy and Automation.

More recent mechanical engineering graduates also find themselves Renaissance engineers combining creativity with technology and working in a variety of fields.

“The Purdue students really know their profession and are prized by industry in many engineering fields. They are hard working and team oriented.” The competition serves to cap Purdue's strong engineering programs, said Dennis E. Warner, another judge and president and chief executive officer of Aero Engine Controls in Indianapolis. “It was interesting to see how the students reacted to a challenge that said you will be rewarded for both innovation and for the technical rigor of your design, which is a totally different thought process than how students are normally taught,” said Warner, a Purdue engineering alumnus with degrees in mechanical engineering and aeronautics and astronautics. “I have always been impressed with the applicability of a Purdue degree. We recently hired six new engineers, and four of the six were Purdue grads.” The senior design teams are advised by faculty members, including Ray Cipra, Eckhard Groll, Bumsoo Han, Monika Ivantysynova, Issam Mudawar, Eric Nauman, John Nolfi, William Oakes, Karthik Ramani, Tahvia Reid, Xiulin Ruan, John Starkey, Xianfan Xu, and Fu Zhao. „ 94

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Jessica Thompson, BSME ’09, works for L’Oreal and is often asked why a company such as L’Oreal needs engineers: “In fact, we bridge the gap between the creative ideas from marketing and designs that are efficient for production and effective for consumer use,” she says. “My work definitely requires creativity. Integrating new machines with existing equipment and processes can become complicated. It involves not only coupling electronics and conveyors, but also how people interact with these systems. A good imagination is needed to visualize how everything will work together in the future.”

basketball. When he turned 13, Bryce did something even he thought was impossible—he rode a bike. Now a member of the advanced design group at Allison Transmissions in Indianapolis, Schoolcraft is developing a new product, a continuously variable traction-drive transmission for commercial vehicles. “Our team’s senior project was an excellent example of what mechanical engineers can do when they see a problem that demands a solution— whether it’s on a machine or the human body,” he says. “I’ve never considered myself an artist, but I am very creative mechanically. I get great pleasure in coming up with new ideas and applying that creativity to help someone who has a need.”

Innovation Brian Schoolcraft received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 2010. While a student at Purdue, Brian learned about a boy named Bryce Duncan who struggled with such activities as riding a bicycle because one of his legs was four inches shorter than the other. In his senior mechanical engineering design project, Schoolcraft led the “Leg Up Design” team that developed a new, more flexible leg for Bryce. Within a year, Bryce was playing

2009 Malott Innovation Awards: Judges and winning “Leg Up Design” team pose with prosthesis recipient Bryce Duncan and his mother.

global engineering and gained first-hand experience with Chinese culture and language barriers. In her senior year design course, her team used technical knowledge and global awareness to design and build a basic utility vehicle for use in the Republic of Cameroon, Africa. The wood-based truck is low cost and built from raw materials available locally. She then traveled to Cameroon and helped officials there set up a manufacturing plant for the vehicles. Fueled by these experiences, she now works as a global rotational development trainee at Cameron International. She works with customers in Europe and Asia. Mechanical engineering students Erik Cowans and Mackenzie McNamara (BSME ’10) sit in the uncovered cab of a new multipurpose vehicle designed and built by Purdue students, as John Lumkes, assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering, stands by the bed.

Global Perspectives Also from the Purdue Mechanical Engineering class of 2010, Mackenzie McNamara has always been intrigued by different cultures and lifestyles across the globe. Her personalized studies in mechanical engineering allowed her to pursue her interests. She spent a semester abroad in Shanghai studying

Mackenzie McNamara

“The School of Mechanical Engineering exposed me to experiences—abroad and in the classroom—showing me how much engineering can positively impact the world and how I can be a part of it,” she says. “At my job I analyze data to determine key points, decide where to make improvements, brainstorm and then implement changes—everything engineers thrive on. My international experiences gave me a competitive advantage during my job search. Not only were they great conversation pieces, but employers were impressed that I could effectively adapt to change and see the bigger picture.” 96 X

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Launched in 2009, this rocket uses a new type of propellant made of a frozen mixture of water and "nanoscale aluminum" powder. The propellant, called ALICE, is more environmentally friendly and could be manufactured on the moon, Mars and other water-bearing bodies.

He also loves the hands-on opportunities of this field of engineering, which sparked his interest in Purdue’s FIRST Robotics program. In high school his FIRST Robotics team sponsor was Rolls-Royce. At Purdue he mentored the same high school team. Hart says Purdue encouraged and nurtured his love for tinkering and prepared him well for his job today as a manufacturing and process engineer at Rolls-Royce, helping design and build turbine engines for helicopters.

T ME Story—Renaissance Engineers

Hands-on Experiences

Pat Hart

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Since his early years in high school, Pat Hart, who received his bachelor’s degree in 2011, knew he wanted to be a mechanical engineer. He’s drawn to the solution-driven role he can play in the many careers available to mechanical engineering graduates—industrial, biomedical, aerospace and much more.

“In effect, I’ve been interviewing for this job since high school,” he says. “And after 23 years of schooling, I look forward to applying the skills I’ve acquired at Purdue and elsewhere in the real world. I enjoy taking things apart and putting them back together to see how they work. My mind just works that way. It’s all about the process, the mechanics and what makes the system work—and importantly, how I can make it run more efficiently. “I love helping people and communicating with fellow students and others interested in how things work. That’s probably why I’ve been drawn to the social aspects of this field, mentoring high school teams participating in the FIRST Robotics program at Purdue.”

Critical Thinking In middle school Tiffany Legge, BSME ’11, was selected to join Science Bound, a partnership between Purdue, Indianapolis Public Schools and the Indianapolis business community. The program encourages students to pursue degrees in science, technology, engineering and math. Science Bound provided Legge with hands-on experience, including two internships, and she enrolled at Purdue with two full four-year scholarships.

Tiffany Legge

She chose mechanical engineering because of its marketability and numerous career options. She enjoyed the many ways her team-oriented projects applied to industry, learned communication and leadership skills and had internships with Eli Lilly & Co. and Procter & Gamble. She now works at P&G in Cincinnati, improving processes to provide customers with optimal products. “My ultimate goal is to help people,” Legge says. “A lot of people saw potential in me and helped me along the way. I want to do that for others. The world needs engineers. Through my experiences, I’ve seen how mechanical engineering can be applied in just about any area. I love laughing and just having fun. The academic and social organizations I was involved in outside the classroom were a great

outlet and helped me be more successful.”

Sustainable Solutions Ted Pesyna’s goal for the next decade is to design and build an electric car. His 2011 Purdue bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering has equipped him to accomplish his goals as he embarks on a career with aerospace giant Lockheed Martin. Sustainable technology in the transportation sector has been his passion since his days in high school. He loves to toy with anything mechanical, particularly automobiles. While at Purdue, the door opened for him to make a significant impact in that area—he served four years with Purdue Solar Racing, becoming president his senior year.

Ted Pesyna, sits in Pulsar, the winning 2009 Shell Eco-Marathon solar car.

Pesyna has demonstrated the feasibility of developing an electric car that requires no burning of fossil fuels. He’s well on his way in a career where he can have a direct and positive effect on people’s everyday lives. “I believe the most important skill an engineer can learn going into the workplace is communication,” he says. “No matter what career you pursue as a mechanical engineer, an ability to communicate effectively 98 X

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Commencements, 1903

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holds it all together. It’s the heart of your degree. As a mechanical engineer, you have the ability to learn and develop the analytical side to a solution and apply it in a more practical way. “I’ve always been a fixer, a doer. Ever since I was young, I’ve loved to create, to imagine, to explore, and had visions of being an architect or an engineer. In 10 years, I believe these characteristics will be my guide. I’ve discovered that it’s not just about me or a particular job, it’s about going into a career where I’m making a difference.” And as they have since 1885, when Charles L. Ratcliff received Purdue’s first bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, today’s students are excited when their chance to impact the world finally arrives.

was very impressed by the wide range of opportunities presented to me, including research, career and campus involvement. “I am originally from Chennai, India, and completed my high school in Shaker Heights, Ohio. I felt that my diverse background fits in very well with the global engineering focus of Purdue Mechanical Engineering. “Mechanical engineering itself is a very unique major,” she said. “I have had internships ranging from a concrete inspector to making cereal in a manufacturing plant. I knew coming in that I could go into any field I wanted to with my mechanical engineering degree. However, these opportunities came with a price of their own—a challenging curriculum.

A Unique Major Samhita Pennathur graduated from Purdue in May 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. “I came to Purdue because I wanted to study mechanical engineering,” she said shortly before commencement. “When I visited, I instantly felt like I belonged on this campus. I 98

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Samhita Pennathur at the 2010 Award Convocation, proudly displaying her Boeing Scholarship certificate

Mechanical engineering classes are difficult and require a lot of hard work. I have learned how to learn and how to get past failure, two things that I know will be very important for my success in the future.” With her degree in hand, Pennathur moved to Lodi, California, to begin a career with General Mills. “I am very excited to apply my mechanical engineering degree to the real world,” she said. „

Mechanical engineers of the 19th, 20th and 21st century are dramatically different from one another, and yet remarkably the same. Engineers of the 19th and early 20th centuries didn’t have computers, jet propulsion and rockets capable of taking people beyond the bonds of earth. But the engineers of yesterday, today and tomorrow are all driven by the same curiosity; the passion not only for designing, but building; a desire to use engineering to improve the lives of people. Mechanical engineers research, design, build, manufacture and test. They work in a flexible field that allows them incredible individuality to use their knowledge in a wide variety of areas—to be Renaissance engineers. Mechanical engineers drive industry and technology. Mechanical engineering is widely called the largest, broadest and oldest of the engineering disciplines. At Purdue, the Gatewood Wing is building on all that came before it—Mechanics Hall, Heavilon Hall, locomotives, Michael Golden, W.F.M. Goss, G.A. Young, Harry Solberg, G.A. Hawkins and many more. Mechanical engineering students of the 21st century are being prepared to meet challenges we can hardly imagine that will open the future of our dreams. 99

Purdue University Presidents

Mechanical Engineering Heads continued

Richard Owen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1872–1874 Abraham C. Shortridge . . . . . . . . . . 1874–1875 John Hougham (acting) . . . . . . . . . . . 1875–1876 Emerson E. White . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1876–1883 James H. Smart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1883–1900 Winthrop E. Stone . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1900–1921 Henry Marshall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1921–1922 Edward C. Elliot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1922–1945 Andrey Potter (acting) . . . . . . . . . . . .1945–1946 Frederick L. Hovde . . . . . . . . . . . . .1946–1971 Arthur G. Hansen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1971–1982 John W. Hicks (acting) . . . . . . . . . . . .1982–1983 Steven C. Beering . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1983–2000 Martin C. Jischke . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2000–2007 France A. Cordova . . . . . . . . . . . . .2007–2012 Timothy D. Sands (acting) . . . . . . . . .2012–2013 Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr . . . . . . . . 2013–present

Lt. William H.P. Creighton, U.S.N. . . 1887–1892 John J. Flather. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1892–1898 Charles Benjamin . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1898–1900 Llewellyn V. Ludy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1900–1912 George Amos Young . . . . . . . . . . . . 1912–1941 Harry L. Solberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1941–1959 Paul F. Chenea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1959–1962 Richard E. Grosh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1962–1966 Peter W. McFadden . . . . . . . . . . . .1966–1971 William B. Cottingham . . . . . . . . . . 1971–1975 Robert W. Fox (Interim) . . . . . . . . . . . 1975–1976 Arthur H. Lefebvre . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1976–1980 Winfred M. Phillips . . . . . . . . . . . . 1980–1988 Raymond Cohen (Interim) . . . . . . . . . 1988-1989 Frank Incropera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1989–1998 Warren Stevenson (Interim) . . . . . . . . 1998-1999 E. Daniel Hirleman. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1999–2010 Anil K. Bajaj (Interim) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2010-2011 Anil K. Bajaj . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2011–present

Deans of Engineering W.F.M. Goss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1900–1907 Charles H. Benjamin . . . . . . . . . . . . 1907–1920 Andrey A. Potter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1920–1953 George A. Hawkings . . . . . . . . . . . 1953–1966 Richard E. Grosh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1966–1971 John C. Hancock . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1972–1984 John F. McLaughlin (Interim) . . . . . . . . . . . 1984 Henry T. Yang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1984–1994 John F. McLaughlin (Interim) . . . . . . .1994–1995 Richard J. Schwartz . . . . . . . . . . . 1995–2001 P.B. Katehi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2002–2006 Leah H. Jamieson (Interim) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2006 Leah H. Jamieson . . . . . . . . . . . 2006–present

Mechanical Engineering Heads Lt. William R. Hamilton, U.S.A. . . . .1882–1883 Lt. Albert W. Stahl, U.S.N. . . . . . . . .1883–1887 100

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Directors of Herrick Laboratories William Fontaine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1957-1972 Raymond Cohen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1972-1993 Robert Bernhard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1994-2005 Patricia Davies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2005-present

Directors of Zucrow Laboratories Maurice J. Zucrow . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1946-1966 Bruce A. Reese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1966-1973 Douglas Abbott . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1973-1977 Charles Ehresman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1977-1981 Sanford Fleeter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1981-1989 Joe D. Hoffman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1989-2000 Stephen Heister . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2011-present

OUR PEOPLE

OUR PEOPLE Current Mechanical Engineering Faculty John Abraham David C. Anderson (Associate Head, by courtesy in Computer Science)

Kartik Ariyur Euiwon Bae (research faculty) Anil K. Bajaj (Head) J. Stuart Bolton James E. Braun (joint with Civil Engineering)

Richard Buckius (Vice President for Research)

David Cappelleri Jun Chen Qingyan (Yan) Chen George T. C. Chiu (by courtesy in Electrical & Computer Engineering)

Jong Hyun Choi Raymond J. Cipra Patricia Davies Xinyan Deng Shirley Dyke (joint with Civil Engineering)

Timothy S. Fisher (by courtesy in Aeronautics & Astronautics)

Sanford Fleeter Steven Frankel Suresh Garimella (Chief Global Officer)

Jay P. Gore (by courtesy in Aeronautics & Astronautics)

Eckhard Groll (Director, Office of Professional Practice)

Bumsoo Han (by courtesy in Biomedical Engineering)

Stephen Heister (joint with Aeronautics & Astronautics)

Monika Ivantysynova (joint with Agricultural & Biological Engineering)

James D. Jones (Associate Head)

Nicole Key (by courtesy in Aeronautics & Astronautics)

Sangtae Kim (joint with Chemical Engineering)

Galen B. King Klod Kokini (Associate Dean of Academic Affairs)

Marisol Koslowski Rebecca Kramer Charles M. Krousgrill Kai Ming Li Robert P. Lucht (by courtesy in Aeronautics & Astronautics)

Steven F. Son (by courtesy in Aeronautics & Astronautics)

John M. Starkey Ganesh Subbarayan Lin Sun (research faculty) John Sutherland (Head, Environmental & Ecological Engineering)

Andrea Vacca (joint with Agricultural & Biological Engineering)

Pavlos Vlachos (by courtesy in Biomedical Engineering)

Carl Wassgren (by courtesy in Industrial & Physical Pharmacy)

Amy Marconnet Peter H. Meckl (Assistant Head) Hukam Mongia (visiting professor) Issam Mudawar Sameer Naik (research faculty) Eric A. Nauman (by courtesy in

Justin Weibel (research faculty) Steven T. Wereley Xianfan Xu (by courtesy in Electrical

Basic Medical Sciences, joint with Biomedical Engineering)

Professors with Courtesy Appointment (primary area)

Liang Pan Jitesh Panchal Gordon R. Pennock Arvind Raman Karthik Ramani (by courtesy in Electrical & Computer Engineering)

Tahira Reid Jeffrey Rhoads Xiulin Ruan Farshid Sadeghi Cagri A. Savran (by courtesy in Biomedical Engineering and Electrical & Computer Engineering)

Justin Seipel Gregory M. Shaver Yung C. Shin Thomas Siegmund Paul E. Sojka

& Computer Engineering)

Bin Yao Fu Zhao

Gary Cheng (Industrial Engineering) Carlos Corvalan (Food Sciences) Ahmed Hassanein (Nuclear Engineering)

W. Travis Horton (Civil Engineering) Klein Ileleji (Agricultural & Biological Engineering)

Joseph Irudayaraj (Agricultural and Biological Engineering)

Matthew Krane (Materials Engineering)

George Nnanna (Purdue Calumet) Dimitrios Peroulis (Electrical & Computer Engineering)

Adjunct Professors Douglas E. Adams Jason Vaughn Clark Ioannis T. Georgiou Lori Groven Ashlie Martini Sanjay Mathur John McNett Jayathi Murthy William Peine Michael Plesniak Yudaya Sivathanu Yuan Zheng

Professor Emeritus Stephen Citron Raymond Cohen Robert Fox Victor Goldschmidt James Hamilton Keith Hawks Ben Hillberry Joe Hoffman Mel L’Ecuyer Joseph Pearson Robert Schoenhals James Skifstad Werner Soedel H. Doyle Thompson David Tree Raymond Viskanta

Li Qiao (Aeronautics & Astronautics) Athanasios (Thanos) Tzempelikos (Civil Engineering) Chenn Zhou (Purdue Calumet)

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References Agricultural College Act of 1890 (Second Morrill Land Grant Act), ch. 841, 26 Stat. 417, 7 U.S.C. §§ 322 et seq. Armstrong, Neil, foreword in A Century of Innovation: Twenty Engineering Achievements That Transformed Our Lives, by G. Constable and Bob Somerville. National Academies Press, 2003. Constable, G. and Bob Somerville. A Century of Innovation: Twenty Engineering Achievements That Transformed Our Lives. National Academies Press, 2003. Cross, Coy F. Justin Smith Morrill: Father of the Land-Grant Colleges. Michigan State University Press: 1999. Fountaine, William. Comets Amongst the Stars: Personal Memoirs of the Founding Director of the Ray W. Herrick Laboratories. Purdue University School of Mechanical Engineering, 1990. Fox, R.W. and D.P. DeWitt. Mechanical Engineering at Purdue: 100 Years of Progress. Purdue University School of Mechanical Engineering, 1982. Knoll, H.B. The Story of Purdue Engineering. Purdue University Studies, 1963. Kriebel, Robert C. The Midas of the Wabash, a Biography of John Purdue. Purdue University Press, 2002. Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862, ch. 130, 12 Stat. 503, 7 U.S.C. §§ 301 et seq. Norberg, John. A Force for Change: The Class of 1950. Purdue University, 1995. Norberg, John. Wings of Their Dreams: Purdue in Flight. Purdue University, 2003. Purdue Reamer Club, ed. A University of Tradition: The Spirit of Purdue. Purdue University Press, 2002. Topping, Robert W. A Century and Beyond: The History of Purdue University. Purdue University Press, 1988. Wiley, Harvey W. Harvey W. Wiley: An Autobiography. Bobbs Merrill Company, Indianapolis, 1930. The archives of the Purdue University News Service and Purdue University Office of Marketing and Media, as well as the many Purdue University School of Mechanical Engineering publications and websites, were frequent sources during the research phase of this history.

Photography Credits Tom Campbell, Andy Hancock, Debabrata Roy, Mark Simons, David Umberger, Vince Walter, NASA, Pixar, Purdue News Service and Purdue University Libraries Karnes Archives Special Collections (pages 1, 13, 15, 17, 19, 20, 22, 25, 26, 33, 35, 37, 43, 46, 57)

Acknowlegements Managing Editors Susan Ferringer and Heather Coar Designer Debra Pohl Green Copy Editor Carol Bloom

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