Happy 120th Anniversary
The School of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AAE) celebrates our 75th anniversary this year at the same time we celebrate the College of Engineering’s 120th anniversary. From the 1945 launch of the School to today’s record student enrollment, Purdue AAE has had – and will continue to have – a major impact on aerospace. Neil Armstrong may be the most immediately recognized Purdue alumni astronaut, and 16 of the 25 Purdue alumni astronauts have AAE degrees.
AAE has awarded more than 11,000 degrees to aerospace engineers, who collectively have brought advances across aeronautics and astronautics, serving in important leadership and technical positions in aerospace companies large and small and in government laboratories. We consistently are rated among the top aerospace engineering programs. Our education and research promote safe, sustainable air transportation; access to and exploration of space; maintenance of defense and security; and use of aerospace to facilitate new opportunities.
Our facilities and related research continue charting new territory. We are a partner in Zucrow Labs, where AAE faculty focus on rocket and spacecraft propulsion. In hypersonics, AAE is home to the world’s premier Mach 6 quiet flow wind tunnel, we await the arrival of the HYPULSE shock tunnel, and we are designing the world’s first Mach 8 quiet flow tunnel. Our Unmanned Aerial Systems Research and Test Facility, the world’s largest indoor facility of its kind, just opened. We have other facilities and strengths too numerous to mention here. Drs. Ran Dai and Carson Slabaugh provide insights on their work in autonomy and propulsion, respectively, in this month’s Purdue Engineering Podcasts.
The future opportunities and needs for aerospace remain vast and exciting despite the current COVID-19 challenges, and AAE is ready and eager to address them.
Happy 120th to the College, and happy 75th to Aeronautics and Astronautics!
Regards,
Bill Crossley
J. William Uhrig and Anastasia Vournas Head of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Medium articles:
- Snooping on Our Water from Space - Jim Garrison
- Star Wars: Coming Soon to the Skies Near You - Dengfeng Sun
- Virtualizing Combustion to Cut Aircraft Engine Emissions - Haifeng Wang
- Virtual Defects Uncover Real Failures - Michael Sangid