Trivia: 100 for 100

The music for Purdue’s famed song of loyalty, “Hail Purdue,” was written in 1912 by Edward J. Wotawa, then a senior in the School of Science. The words were by James Morrison, then a sophomore in the School of Science, a science graduate of 1915.
Science courses were already a foundation when the university opened in September 1874. In 1876, President Emerson White developed a preparatory curriculum and created a College of General Science to prepare students for entry into the schools of science and technology. It was not until 1907 that the School of Science was officially formed, with Stanley Coulter as the founding dean. In 1953, liberal arts and education were formally added into the school and the name was changed to the School of Science, Education, and Humanities. Those curricula were separated in 1963 and the name reverted to the School of Science. Renamed College of Science in 2004. Science is central to Purdue’s quest for preeminence — in the seven Science departments, you will find world-leading discovery, learning, and engagement with celebrated faculty, students, and programs. A name change to the College of Science more accurately reflects our strength and standing among our peers.
The first degree from Purdue was given in science — a BS in Chemistry — in 1875.
The first degree-granting Department of Computer Sciences in the United States was established at Purdue University in October 1962.
Richard B. Wetherill was a broadly recognized surgeon and lecturer born in Lafayette, Indiana, in 1859. Wetherill left a large bequest to Purdue for the creation of a chemistry building, which was named the Wetherill Chemistry Laboratory.
The William E. Moore professorship is named for the first African American to receive a doctorate from Purdue’s chemistry department. Moore received his bachelor’s degree from Southern University in 1963 and his doctorate from Purdue in physical biochemistry in 1967. Professor Joe Francisco currently holds this distinguished professorship.
Paul Erdös, one of the great mathematicians of the 20th century, held a research appointment in the Purdue Mathematics Department in the early 1940’s, and he visited the department from time to time over the subsequent 50 years to see old friends and talk about new research. The most prolific mathematician of the century, Erdös was scheduled to receive a Purdue honorary degree in May 1997, but died a few months prior to the ceremony.
Stanley Coulter was named the first dean of the newly established school of science in 1907 and later became the first dean of men in 1919. He was chairman of the faculty in 1921–22.
Philip Fuchs is an organic chemistry professor and has been on Purdue’s faculty since 1973. He previously worked as a postdoctoral fellow with Nobel Laureate Elias James Corey at Harvard University. Fuchs is internationally regarded as a leading figure in synthetic organic chemistry. His research focuses on the use of strategies employing organosulfur chemistry to promote efficiency in combination with computer-based evaluation of potential anticancer agents.
The first Purdue mathematics PhD, entitled “Mathematics, the science of algorithms,” was awarded to James Byrnie Shaw in 1893.
Three Nobel Prize winning physicists have been affiliated with the Physics Department. Edward Mills Purcell in 1952, Ben R. Mottelson in 1975, and Julian Seymour Schwinger in 1965. Edward Mills Purcell (August 30, 1912–March 7, 1997) was an American physicist who shared the 1952 Nobel Prize for Physics for his independent discovery (published 1946) of nuclear magnetic resonance in liquids and in solids. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has become widely used to study the molecular structure of pure materials and the composition of mixtures. Ben Roy Mottelson (born July 9, 1926) is a Danish American physicist. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, and graduated from Lyons Township High School in LaGrange, Illinois. He received a Bachelor’s degree from Purdue University in 1947, and a PhD from Harvard University in 1950. He moved to Denmark on the Sheldon Traveling Fellowship from Harvard, where he began work as a nuclear physicist; in 1971 he became a naturalized Danish citizen. Mottelson and colleague Aage Bohr helped prove the theories of James Rainwater regarding the structure of atomic nuclei. The trio shared the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work. Julian Seymour Schwinger (February 12, 1918–July 16, 1994) was an American theoretical physicist. He formulated the theory of renormalization and posited a phenomenon of electron-positron pairs known as the Schwinger effect. He was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965 for his work on quantum electrodynamics (QED), along with Richard Feynman and Shinichiro Tomonaga. Schwinger was born in New York City where he attended Townsend Harris High School and then the City College of New York as an undergraduate before transferring to Columbia University, where he received his B.A. in 1936 and his PhD (overseen by I. I. Rabi) in 1939. He worked at the University of California, Berkeley (under J. Robert Oppenheimer) and was later appointed to a position at Purdue University.
The Association for Computing Machinery ranked the CS department 9th in the country in 2007.
Physics has been at Purdue University since the university first opened its doors on September 16, 1874, but it was always associated with an engineering program until the establishment of an independent Department of Physics in 1904.
The department of Biological Sciences includes the largest structural biology group in the country.
Herbert Charles Brown (May 22, 1912–December 19, 2004), a chemistry professor, won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1979 (along with Georg Wittig) for his work with organoboranes. Brown was born Herbert Brovarnik in London to Ukrainian Jewish immigrants. He moved to the United States at a young age and was educated at the University of Chicago, earning a BS and PhD in 1936 and 1938, respectively. He became professor at Purdue University in 1947 and joined Alpha Chi Sigma there in 1949. He held the position of emeritus until his death. The Herbert C. Brown Laboratory of Chemistry was named for him on Purdue University’s campus. During World War II, while working with Hermann Irving Schlesinger, Brown discovered a method for producing sodium borohydride (NaBH4), which can be used to produce boranes, compounds of boron and hydrogen. His work led to the discovery of the first general method for producing asymmetric pure enantiomers. The elements found as initials of his name H, C and B were his working field.
The Department of Statistics at Purdue was formed in 1963 as part of what was then the Division of Mathematical Sciences and became an independent entity within the College of Science in 1968.
As of fall 2006, all of the science buildings amass 725,000 square feet of space.
The Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS) is currently viewed as one of the world’s leading centers for research and education in areas of information security that are crucial to the protection of critical computing and communication infrastructure.
Distinguished Faculty
1. NSF CAREER Awardees in last 10 years.
Distinguished Professors
members of National Academies
(deceased) Nobel Prize winner
Purdue’s analytical chemistry program ranks second in the country, leading the way for several top honors for the College of Science in the U.S. News & World Report’s survey of the nation’s top graduate schools
a. Analytical Chemistry — 2nd
b. Computer Science — 18th
c. Math — 26th
d. Chemistry — 22nd
e. Physics — 35th
f. Biological Sciences — 40th
From 1939 Exponent article regarding the “guinea pigs” experiment curriculum in science: “An experimental curriculum for the Science School featuring survey courses in the exact sciences was authorized at the regular meeting of the University faculty Monday afternoon on the recommendation of the Committee on the Education of women. The course which will be open to only 30 to 40 freshmen women is offered for those who have interests with technical background but are not of an intensively scientific nature. The girls will enroll in the school of science and will be given their technical background in a series of survey courses; during the first year, survey courses in mathematics and physics and during the second year courses in biology and chemistry. These survey courses will try to cover the basic principles of the science and in addition, a historical background and appreciative attitude toward these sciences. They will try to develop the interrelationship of the sciences to each other.”
The College of Science took another step toward meeting multidisciplinary goals with the establishment, along with the College of Education, of CRESME—the Center for Research and Engagement in Science and Mathematics Education. The two jointly hired spectacular co-directors Eric Riggs, with a primary home in Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, and John Staver, with a primary home in Curriculum & Instruction. CRESME studies learning at the K–12 and college levels and fills the coordinating role in the new statewide I-STEM resource network, with executive director Bill Walker from the College’s K–12 Outreach group.
The Science Diversity Office is also very active with our undergraduate and graduate students. This year, corporate representatives from several companies met with students to offer advice on resumes, interviewing, and securing summer internships. Programs like this also help students explore the wealth of careers that a science degree can enable.
In the current May/June 2006 issue of Small Times magazine, Purdue’s nanotech industry outreach effort was third best, while its facilities ranked 10th, even though the Birck Nanotechnology Center just opened its doors last fall. Overall, Purdue’s program tied for 11th nationwide in a survey that considered 50 U.S. universities based on education, facilities, commercialization, and industrial outreach.
Rita R. Colwell, who earned a master’s degree in biology from Purdue in 1958, received a 2007 National Medal of Science, the nation’s highest scientific honor. The prize recognizes achievement in the physical, biological, mathematical, social, behavioral, and engineering sciences. She studied marine microbes and the agent that causes pandemic cholera. She was also director of the National Science Foundation from 1998 to 2004, and has also served Chairman of the Board of Governors of the American Academy of Microbiology, President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, among many other positions.
Every year, the Science Diversity Office, directed by Barb Clark, welcomes middle and high school students to campus for the ScienceScape camp and the College of Science Summer Institute. The very first ScienceScape alums will be graduating from high school this year.
Last fall, the College of Science launched the Science Laureates program, in partnership with the Provost’s office, UDO, Discovery Park, the Libraries, and all 10 academic schools and colleges at Purdue. The event brought nine science journalists from around the world to Purdue, where they interacted among themselves and with our amazing faculty and shared their experiences with us.
What’s in a name? Science, 1874; 1907 (School of Science officially formed); 1953 (name changed to include School of Science, Education, and Humanities); 1963 (name reverted back to School of Science), and now College of Science (2004).
There have been nine Deans of Science.
Stanley Coulter, 1907–1926
Richard Moore, 1926–1931
Howard Enders, 1932–1948
William Ayres, 1948–1961
Felix (Phil) Haas, 1963–1973
Allan Clark, 1975–1986
Kenneth Kliewer, 1986–1991
Harry Morrison, 1992–2002
Jeffrey S. Vitter, 2002–
In 1907, the Chemistry Building, which was located on the site of the today’s Liberal Arts Building, was the first building solely occupied by the department.
Another milestone of change occurred in the department’s history in 1985 when the Department of Geosciences changed its name to Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.
Did you know President France A. Córdova is a Science Woman of Purdue? Córdova graduated from Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in English and received her PhD from California Institute of Technology in astrophysics. She was the youngest person and the first woman to hold the position of NASA Chief Scientist. She was the recipient of the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the agency’s highest honor. Córdova has published over 100 scientific papers and was named one of “America’s 100 Brightest Scientists Under 40” by Science Digest magazine. Córdova was also named one of the “100 Most Influential Hispanics” by Hispanic Business Magazine, and she received the Hispanic Achievement Award in Science and Technology from Hispanic Magazine. She has served on the President’s National Medal of Science Committee, and the Fundamental Science Committee of the National Science and Technology Council. She served for three years as Vice President of the American Astronomical Society.
Mathematics professor Louis de Branges proved the Bieberbach Conjecture in 1984.
One of the highest priority projects in 2007 has been the undergraduate curriculum revision. The curriculum at the College level had remained unchanged since Phil Haas began the College in its current configuration in 1963.
Advancement efforts in the College of Science throughout The Campaign for Purdue have definitely had a facilities focus. The college celebrated the dedication of the Richard & Patricia Lawson Computer Science Building in October, which required raising $9 million in private funds to go with $13 million in state funding.
Eugene H. Spafford (known colloquially as “Spaf”) is a professor of computer science at Purdue University and a leading computer security expert. A historically significant Internet figure, he is renowned for first analyzing the Morris Worm, one of the earliest computer worms, and his participation in the Usenet backbone cabal. Spafford is a member of the President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC), has been an advisor to the National Science Foundation (NSF), and serves as an advisor to over a dozen other government agencies and major corporations.
The winners of Purdue’s Outstanding Commercialization Award from 2004–2007 have all been chemists. Graham Cooks’ mini mass spectrometer is being produced by Griffin Analytical in Purdue Research Park and could revamp everything from healthcare to speeding up the waiting lines at airport security. Fred Regnier and Physics colleague David Nolte developed the BioCD and formed the company QuadraSpec, a winner of the Burton Morgan competition. Using CD technology, the BioCD will eventually allow doctors to run thousands of diagnostic tests on a blood sample — all within minutes and at the doctor’s office. Phillip Low’s “Trojan horse” method of using folates to deliver chemotherapy drugs helped create the company Endocyte. The method targets cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue.
Groundbreaking for the new Wayne and Mary Hockmeyer Hall of Structural Biology will happen on October 19, 2007. The building will ultimately house faculty from three colleges, primarily from the College of Science.
Did you know the new laboratory to be housed in Hockmeyer Hall of Structural Biology, named for the Science Women of Purdue, is the first facility space at Purdue to be totally funded in a collective effort of alumnae?
In 1907 Dean Stanley Coulter founded a new School of Science, consisting of the departments of physics, biology, chemistry, industrial arts, and sanitary science. The express purposes of the school included the training of professional scientists.
By 1930, the first two PhD degrees in Chemistry were awarded.
Mary Ellen Bock was the first female head of the Department of Statistics and also the first female department head in the college.
In 1994, Dean Harry Morrison established the School of Science Dean’s Advisory Council, now called the Dean’s Leadership Council.
During the Campaign for Purdue that ended June 30, 2007, Science raised over $100 million to move the College forward in achieving its Strategic Plan goals. (Give totals for each of the Campaign strategic areas as on the attached).
The Office of the Indiana State Climatologist was established at Purdue in 1956, which continues today.
Andy Feustal (MS in 1991 in geophysics) will become Purdue’s first non-engineering graduate and astronaut to fly aboard the Space Shuttle in a mission targeted for 2008.
The Accelerator Laboratory is located beneath the Purdue Mall. This two story building was built to house an 8 million volt FN Tandem Van deGraaf accelerator in 1968. The subterranean structure with the accelerator is now called the PRIME Lab, or the Purdue Rare Isotope Measurement Laboratory, a dedicated research and service facility for accelerator mass spectrometry.
The Department of Biological Sciences is proud to announce that Daoguo Zhou has recently received the Independent Scientist Award (K02) from the NIH. The Independent Scientist Award provides five years of salary support for newly independent scientists who can demonstrate the need for a period of intensive research focus as a means of enhancing their research careers. This award is intended to foster the development of outstanding scientists and enable them to expand their potential to make significant contributions to their field of research.
Harvey Washington Wiley (October 30, 1844–June 30, 1930) was a noted chemist best known for his leadership in the passage of the landmark Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 and his subsequent work at the Good Housekeeping Institute laboratories. Following a brief interlude at Harvard University, where he was awarded a B.S. degree after only a few months of intense effort, he accepted a faculty position in chemistry at the newly opened Purdue University in 1874. While at Purdue, Wiley was asked by the Indiana State Board of Health to analyze the sugars and syrups on sale in the state to detect any adulteration. Wiley was offered the position of Chief Chemist in the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Wiley accepted the offer after being passed over for the presidency of Purdue, allegedly because he was “too young and too jovial,” unorthodox in his religious beliefs, and also a bachelor.
The first PhD in Atmospheric Science was awarded to Tan-Sun (Mark) Chen in 1972. In 2006, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Purdue University, having served as Taiwan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and as Chief of Staff for President Chen.
The Felix Haas Hall: In 1908 Purdue alumni and friends gave $82,000 for the erection of the Memorial Gymnasium in memory of those who lost their lives in the Purdue football wreck, which occurred on October 31, 1903.
K–12 Science Outreach Programs works with pre-college students and teachers to increase interest and achievement in science and mathematics. Science K–12 Outreach offers professional development for teachers, such as Inquiry Science workshops and Technology Integration in the Classroom. It also offers student programs such as Focus on Science and Physics on the Road that demonstrate scientific and mathematic principles in fun and exciting ways. More than 2,400 teachers and 500,000 students throughout Indiana have benefited from Science K-12 Outreach activities.
Harry K. Daghlian (BS ’42, Physics) was one of several Purdue physics graduate students and faculty who were invited to join the Manhattan Project in the 1940s. While conducting a dangerous experiment, Daghlian was exposed to a fatal dose of radiation and died 26 days later. Though not well publicized, he was the first American casualty of the atomic age.
In 2002, a Purdue group, including Wei Zhang, Ying Zhang, Tuli Mukhopadhyay, Paul Chipman, and others, led by Michael Rossmann and Richard Kuhn, in collaboration with Tim Baker, mapped the structure of the mature dengue virus, a mosquito-borne pathogen that causes fever, muscle aches, headache, rash, and hemorrhagic complications. The virus kills more than 24,000 people worldwide each year. In 2003, the team produced high-quality images of the immature dengue virus still forming in its cellular host, a finding that shed more light on how this kind of virus reproduces. Two short years later, Rossmann, founder of structural biology at Purdue, and Kuhn, whose research interests focus on lipid-enveloped viruses — like rubella, Ross River, and Venezuelan equine encephalitis viruses — and flaviviruses, which include yellow fever, dengue, West Nile, and hepatitis C viruses, announced they had solved some of the structural puzzles of West Nile virus.
Michael G. Rossmann was given the first Gertrude B. Elion Award for Scientific Excellence at the 13th ICAR. The award is presented by ISAR each year to Society members selected for outstanding scientific contributions in the antiviral field. Dr. Rossman was honored for his pioneering research on the structure of a virus at the atomic level, and for the use of the antiviral compound pleconoril (WIN 63843) in defining the architecture of the capsid of rhinovirus 14. He and his collaborators established that pleconoril and similar members of this chemical scaffold bind in a deep pocket within the capsid and compete with ICAM-1 virus receptor, preventing effective virus absorption and infection of cells.
Since the creation of the Distinguished Science Alumni program in 1990, the college has awarded 143 Distinguished Science Alumni Awards.
Since 1977, more than 100 science graduates have been part of the Purdue “All-American” marching band’s Block P formation, which also turns 100 this year.
Nick Giordano, Hubert James Distinguished Professor of Physics and Department Head, has a very interesting hobby working with pianos and researching guitars. One of his goals is to develop a physical model of the piano. This model starts with a physical description of the instrument; i.e., the dimensions of the soundboard, the lengths of all the strings, the compression characteristics of the hammers, and many more such properties. Using Newton’s laws of motion (i.e., F=ma) to calculate the motion of the hammers, strings, soundboard, and room air when a note is played. One of the results will (hopefully) be a realistic piano sound. A more important result will be an understanding of why a piano sounds the way it does.
A panel in the mathematics department publishes a challenging problem once a week and invites college and pre-college students, faculty, and staff to submit solutions. The objective of this is to stimulate and cultivate interest in good mathematics, especially among younger students.
Gabriela Weaver in Chemistry is the director of The Center for Authentic Science Practice in Education (CASPiE), which is a multi-institutional collaborative effort designed to address major barriers in providing research experiences to younger undergraduate science students.
Mary Ellen Bock, professor and head of the Department of Statistics, is the president of the American Statistical Association
Hilkka Kenttamaa, professor of Chemistry, is a member of the Finnish Academy of Science.
Noah Diffenbaugh, assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, received the 2006 James R. Holton Award, presented in December 2006 at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in San Francisco. This award is presented by the Atmospheric Sciences Section of the AGU in recognition of outstanding contributions by a young scientist within three years of his/her PhD. Noah is known for his advances in understanding the mechanisms and impacts of climate change, particularly on regional-scale natural and human systems. His work also includes high-resolution projections of future climate change, as well as comparisons of paleoclimate simulations with the geologic record.
Chemist and atmospheric scientist Paul Shepson has retrofitted a light aircraft with equipment for specialized atmospheric research. It’s known as the Airborne Laboratory for Atmospheric Research (ALAR) and measures fluxes of gases between the biosphere and the atmosphere. A primary hypothesis being pursued as part of this effort is that deposition of atmospheric nitrogen will significantly impact uptake of carbon dioxide in forest environments. This is part of a global effort aimed at better quantifying the northern hemisphere carbon sink
The Geomathematical Imaging Group (GMIG), established through a partnership between Purdue’s College of Science and industry partners ExxonMobile, Total, and BP, works to develop improved technology to meet the complex challenges of modern day prospect evaluation, enhanced oil recovery, and general geological study of the Earth’s subsurface by expanding the boundaries of knowledge of seismic imaging, inverse scattering and tomography through collaborative scientific activities and breakthroughs. GMIG will put significant resources in multi-scale approaches to wave-equation modeling, scattering, inverse scattering imaging, global seismology, reflection seismology, and tomography. This cross-disciplinary program is being developed in conjunction with the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, the Department of Physics, the Department of Statistics, and the Computing Research Institute. The center will be housed within the Center for Computational and Applied Mathematics at the College of Science, as an industry and government funded, multi-disciplinary, inter-institutional graduate education and research program. Professor Maarten de Hoop, Director of Purdue University’s Center for Computational and Applied Mathematics, has been named the center’s group leader.
Strategic planning in 2003 established the need for multidisciplinary centers of emphasis. Dubbed COALESCE areas, to reflect the broad range of skills and expertise needed to address the societal problems they represent, these seven priorities have guided some of our very successful hiring and faculty growth. As priorities are revised to meet changing needs, the COALESCE areas are being reformulated into the more inclusive COALESCE II.
Mike Atallah, Professor of Computer Science and Associate Director of CERIAS, has been selected as a Fellow of the Association of Computing Machinery. The ACM Fellows Program was established by ACM Council in 1993 to recognize and honor outstanding ACM members for their achievements in computer science and information technology, and for their significant contributions to the mission of the ACM. Mike was selected for his contributions to parallel and distributed computation, secure protocols, and information hiding. The ACM Fellows serve as distinguished colleagues to whom the ACM and its members look for guidance and leadership as the world of information technology evolves. Mike was inducted at the ACM Awards Banquet on June 9, 2007. He now joins an elite group from Purdue, who have been named as Fellows, including Elisa Bertino, Doug Comer, John Rice, Ahmed Sameh, Eugene Spafford, and Jeff Vitter.
The College of Science has awarded 6,500 degrees since the 1996–97 academic year.
In addition to being a highly respected structural biologist and the college’s associate dean for research, Jeff Bolin also holds the existing records at Purdue for the indoor long jump (7.91 meters), set in 1972, and the outdoor long jump (7.98 meters), set in 1974.
The Book of Great Teachers, which honors outstanding teaching faculty who have demonstrated sustained excellence in the classroom, has many College of Science faculty. Included are: David J. Asai, Biological Sciences; Mikhail J. Atallah, Computer Sciences; Bernard Axelrod, Biochemistry; Harry Beevers, Biological Sciences; Robert Benkeser, Chemistry; Anna W. Berkovitz, Biological Sciences; Bharat Bhargava, Computer Sciences; George M. Bodner, Chemistry; Karl G. Brandt, Biochemistry; Herbert C. Brown, Chemistry; Johnny E. Brown, Mathematics; Larry Butler, Biochemistry; J. Alfred Chiscon, Biological Sciences; Martha O. Chiscon, Biological Sciences; Douglas E. Comer, Computer Sciences; Stanley Coulter, Biological Sciences; Derek A. Davenport, Chemistry; H. E. Dunsmore, Computer Sciences; Michael Forman, Biological Sciences; William Fuller, Mathematics; Nicholas J. Giordano, Physics; Michael Golomb, Mathematics; Susanne E. Hambrusch, Computer Sciences; William A. Hiestand, Biological Sciences; Vivian A. Johnson, Physics; John Karling, Biological Sciences; Henry E. Koffler, Molecular Biology; Clifford P. Kubiak, Chemistry; Robert L. Livingston, Chemistry; Fred E. Lytle, Chemistry; Frank Martin, Chemistry; Dennis J. Minchella, Biological Sciences; David S. Moore, Statistics; William B. Morgan, Mathematics and Engineering; Van E. Neie, Physics; Joann J. Otto, Biological Sciences; J. H. Porsch, Geometry; Samuel N. Postlethwait, Biology; Justin J. Price, Mathematics; John R. Rice, Computer Sciences; Ian P. Shipsey, Physics; Eugene H. Spafford, Computer Sciences; Joseph W. Vanable, Biological Sciences; Isidor Walerstein, Physics; Harvey Washington Wiley, Chemistry; Joseph Wolinsky, Chemistry; Gerhard N. Wollan, Mathematics; Robert E. Zink, Mathematics.
Al and Martha Chiscon have taught over 65,000 students in their 70 years of combined teaching and they have left an indelible impression on many of the students who passed through the department during their years at Purdue. Al retired June 30, 1998 and Martha on July 31, 2000. In recognition of Al and Martha’s excellence in teaching and dedication to students, the Department of Biological Sciences named the Undergraduate Teaching Award, the Al and Martha Chiscon Undergraduate Teaching Award.
EAS postdoctoral student, Fred Leslie (1979–80), flew EAS memorabilia aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia in October/November 1995. Display of memorabilia can be seen on 4th floor of Civil Engineering Building. The space shuttle Columbia in a later flight exploded on re-entry into the atmosphere.
A reorganization the Purdue Board of Trustees, approved in November 1948, changed the name of the Department of Biology to the Department of Biological Sciences.
The first honorary degree, an honorary doctor of science or Doctor of Science honoris causa, was awarded to Alembert Winthrop Brayton.
The first Purdue graduates of each gender were John Bradford Harper of Indianapolis, Indiana, with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1875; and Eulora J. Miller of Lafayette, Indiana, with a bachelor’s degree (major unknown) in 1878.
The first woman faculty member was hired in 1875. Mrs. Sarah Allen Oren was employed as “female teacher of the university” for $1,000 annually to begin September 15, 1875. Her title was found to be awkward by then President Shortridge and changed to “assistant professor of mathematics.” On August 31, the Board of Trustees decided to appoint her as professor of botany and raised her salary to $1,500.
Winthrop Ellsworth Stone (1862–1921), fifth president of Purdue, was appointed chair of chemistry at Purdue University in 1889. After the death of President Smart in 1900, Stone was appointed his successor. President Arthur Hansen has MS and PhD degrees in mathematics.
Former president Martin Jischke has a BS in Physics.
Watson and Crick spoke at the dedication of Lilly Hall.
Once completed, the Hockmeyer Structural Biology building will have the only BSL-3 containment facility in the Midwest. BSL-3 containment facilities are used for clinical, diagnostic, teaching, research or production facilities where the infectious agents have the potential for transmission through the air and the diseases can have serious or lethal consequences if treatment is not administered. Examples of infectious agents that require BSL-3 laboratories include West Nile virus and the bacterium that causes tuberculosis. Research on many infectious diseases requires a very specialized facility. The facility must be built to complex specifications for design, facilities, operations, maintenance, and operating procedures that ensure a high level of containment, or “biocontainment” since researchers are working with biological materials. The Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health provide containment guidelines, depending upon the types of biological materials under study. These range from biosafety levels 1 to 4 (BSL-1 to BSL-4). These requirements are designed to provide an environment that maintains safety for the research, the researchers, and the adjacent communities.
Indiana is home to a $13.6 billion life sciences industry that includes Eli Lilly and Co., Cook Inc., Roche Diagnostics, and Dow AgroSciences.
As part of a major U.S. presidential initiative to combat bioterrorism, the National Institutes of Health awarded two grants totaling nearly $18 million to biological sciences researchers to help study viruses believed to have potential as biological weapons.
Purdue computer scientists, in collaboration with Boeing, have enhanced the performance of unmanned air vehicles (UAV) through the development of a real-time Java-based system. This system supports autonomous navigation and provides intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance during exploratory missions.
The Climate Change Research Center at Purdue is an international leader of research on climate change and its mitigation. This center is a focus for multidisciplinary research on climatic and environmental change, leveraging existing strengths in Science to understand environmental problems.
Atmospheric Science was part of department started by Phillip Smith, who joined the faculty in September 1967. The first atmospheric science course was offered spring 1968.
First two undergraduate atmospheric science students joined the department during the 67-68 academic year as junior transfers from other departments. These two students received the first atmospheric major undergraduate degrees in May 1969.
The Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences was given permission in 1968–69 to grant both master’s and doctoral degrees. The first four atmospheric science graduate students were accepted for Fall 1969.
The college has one living astronaut — Andrew J. Feustel (BS ’89, MS ’91, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. He was selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to participate in an 11-day mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. He will be part of a seven-member crew that will launch sometime between spring and fall, 2008, according to a NASA announcement. Feustel has been designated one of the four crew members who will undertake space walks to make repairs on the ailing telescope.
Four of the first five recipients of the Outstanding Commercialization Award are faculty, or affiliated faculty, in the College of Science. The Outstanding Commercialization Award is given to a Purdue tenure-track faculty member in recognition of outstanding contributions to and scucess with commercialization of Purdue reserach discoveries.
Biologists at Purdue University have taken a "snapshot" of a Velcro-like protein on a cell's surface just after it attached to the dengue virus, a linkup thought to initiate the early stages of infection.
A new technology for cancer detection that eliminates the need for drawing blood has been developed by Purdue University researchers.
The Purdue Climate Change Research Center seeks to increase scientific and public understanding of the causes and impacts of climate change through fundamental research and effective education and outreach.
The Science Kids Club is the perfect group for kids of any age. Coordinated by the College of Science at Purdue University, club activities and materials focus on encouraging the inquisitive scientist in every child.
The current logo for the College of Science represents the seven departments. In each of the radiating arms of this geometric logo are biological sciences, chemistry, computer sciences, earth and atmospheric sciences, mathematics, physics, and statistics.
The Science Journalism Laureates Program is a unique, ongoing program designed to foster a global community of science journalists and thought leaders.
Purdue University’s College of Science, as part of a University-wide initiative to target compelling national research priorities that require insights and contributions from multiple disciplines, has embarked on adding 60 additional new multidisciplinary faculty positions during this decade.