When COVID forced all students to become online learners in 2020, the School of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University made the most of the opportunity. Students and faculty collaborated to create a solid mechanics curriculum based around Minecraft, the best-selling video game in history.
Winfred M. "Win" Phillips, who served as head of Purdue Mechanical Engineering from 1980 to 1988, has died.
Purdue University has the #3 mechanical engineering program in the country over the last five years, according to the world's most comprehensive scholarly analytics platform, ScholarGPS.
A new collaboration between the College of Engineering and the Rosen Center for Advanced Computing (RCAC) will simulate energetic materials for the Department of Defense, modeling them at multiple scales to help predict and prevent unwanted detonation.
Every workplace has that one person everyone turns to when they need a problem solved. In the School of Mechanical Engineering, that person is Bert Gramelspacher. While his official title is Electronic Design Engineer, to the students, staff, and faculty of Purdue ME, his real title is “miracle worker.”
No one on the planet knows more about the operation and management of NASA’s Space Shuttle than Wayne Hale (MSME ’78). He served as Flight Director for nearly a third of all Shuttle flights. He helped NASA return to flight after the disasters of Challenger and Columbia. And he eventually rose to manage the entire Space Shuttle program, overseeing 25,000 people and an annual budget of $5 billion.
But this unassuming hero doesn’t give off typical “right stuff” spaceflight vibes. In fact, during our interview at Space Center Houston, nobody would have recognized him — had he not been wearing the bright blue NASA jacket normally reserved for astronauts. “A retirement gift from the Astronaut Office,” he laughed.
Eckhard A. Groll, the William E. and Florence E. Perry Head of Mechanical Engineering and Reilly Professor of Mechanical Engineering, has received the F. Paul Anderson Award from ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers), the society's highest honor.
Andrea Vacca, Maha Fluid Power Faculty Chair and Professor of Mechanical Engineering, has been elected a Fellow of ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers).
