Learn the stories behind the Purdue ME 2023 Calendar

Each month, the Purdue ME 2023 Calendar tells a story of our amazing faculty, staff, and students. Here are the stories behind the stories:


Intro: The New Hammer

For more than 25 years, Purdue Mechanical Engineering students have learned how to use the machine shop by making their own small hammer. Now, students have introduced a new design to bring the hammer into the 21st century.


January: Wintry World

Ordinarily, this solar system sculpture illuminates Purdue’s Discovery Park. But in winter, it looks more like the icy surface of a distant planet.


February: We Got This

Professors Monique McClain, James Gibert, and Tahira Reid Smith come from different backgrounds and study different fields, but their message is the same: when it comes to diversity in research, be intentional.


March: Launch Madness

The "mad" rocket scientists of Purdue Space Program design and launch the most advanced student rockets in the world.


April: Champion

Purdue ME alum Angela Ashmore had a dream – to win the Indy 500. After years of hard work, she made it happen in 2022 as part of Marcus Ericsson’s championship crew!


May: We Did It!

Every year, more than 500 Purdue ME students graduate to join the family of Boilermaker engineers! Look through a photo gallery of Purdue Engineering commencement!


June: Finishing Strong

Purdue Formula SAE designs and builds a new race car every year. Last year, they finished 2nd place among all university teams.


July: Red Hot & Blue

Mars soil contains large amounts of perchlorates. Could we convert them into rocket propellant? Researchers at Zucrow Labs showed it was possible, and demonstrated how the resulting fuel burns with a brilliant red, white, and blue flame.


August: Home Sweet Home

Purdue hosts several “living laboratories” to study HVAC and smart buildings. This 1920s house has been retrofitted to function entirely on DC power, with solar panels to supply its own efficient nano-grid.


September: Putting It Together

Students in this mechatronics class collaborate in multiple disciplines to build successful robots!


October: Power Plants

Modern tractors are as complex as spaceships. Andrea Vacca studies how hydraulics can power these machines more efficiently.


November: Mighty Microbot

David Cappelleri creates micro-robots to deliver targeted medical treatments by “tumbling” inside the body’s complex topography.


December: Tie The Knot

This trefoil knot is only 25 microns wide... about one third the width of a human hair. Even more remarkably, its smooth curves were 3D printed in a fraction of a second! Xianfan Xu’s lab combines multi-photon lithography with spatiotemporal focusing of femtosecond laser pulses to demonstrate rapid, continuous printing of complex 3D structures.