CRANE, Ind. – A Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane) intern is the youngest person to complete the Analog Astronaut Training Center (AATC) in Krakow, Poland.

For Tom Cunningham, a class can sometimes feel like home.

Angie Zhang had her career figured out before she even enrolled at Purdue University in West Lafayette. She was going to land her dream job at Boeing by capitalizing on one of the best aerospace engineering educations in the country, line up a bunch of internships, excel academically and make sure she wasn't missing out on the college experience.

And then came the first-year struggles. And then the lost scholarship. And then the breakdown during a Florida retreat with girlfriends. And then the doubt. But then the resolve. And the extra work. And the rise. And the restoration of the scholarship. And the major engineering accolades. And so much more, like, ultimately, that dream job.

"When I look back on my Purdue experience, I learned so much through persistence and grit. That’s made me the engineer I am today," Zhang said. "A lot of those skills, I have Purdue to thank. Especially the College of Engineering."

Latest GUV rankings place Purdue at top of all U.S. public universities and among the world's most recognized institutions

Stephen Heister, a professor at Purdue for over 34 years, has won the J. Leland Atwood Award from the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

Funding will energize workforce development and startup efforts in biomanufacturing industry

Even Purdue's globally renowned experts aren't immune from geeking out.