When he graduated from Purdue in 2008, Jim Mumford didn’t expect to become a pizza expert. But after nearly two decades in the engineering world, he’s now merged his love for cooking with his skill sets in engineering.

One of the most intricate maneuvers in agriculture is unloading grain from a combine into a grain cart while both vehicles are moving. It’s a task that requires near-perfect synchronization between the combine operator and the tractor driver pulling the grain cart.

That same kind of close collaboration recently played out in a project between Purdue University and John Deere. Combining industry experience with research expertise, the two organizations developed an initial demonstration of Auto Unload, a precision technology that improves productivity, reduces operator fatigue, and saves valuable time during harvest.

If you’ve ever watched a Battlebots competition on TV and said, “I want to do that” — now you can! Railside Robotics gives Purdue students the opportunity to design their own combat robots: build them, compete with them, and then watch them be torn to shreds.

In most motorsports, the roar of the engine draws people in. But for Purdue Electric Racing, it’s the high-pitched whine of electric motors powered by a 600-volt battery. This year’s Purdue Electric Racing team enjoyed another unique sound — victory. They successfully completed every event in their competition for the first time in their 12-year history.

Congratulations to Andrea Vacca, inducted into the Fluid Power Hall of Fame.

As crew chief for Trackhouse Racing, Matt Swiderski (MSME ’17) has blazed his own trail in NASCAR. It’s been a circuitous trip that included a stop at SpaceX in California, as well as the self-imposed challenge of an Online Master’s in Mechanical Engineering that took eight years to finish.

Mechanical engineers and the automotive industry go back more than a century. But today’s car companies are more like tech giants than old-school manufacturers. We talked to some Purdue ME interns and alumni in Detroit to discover why they chose to work in the automotive industry.

Andres Arrieta has been named the Doug and Cathy Field Rising Star Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering. Chris Goldenstein has been named the Avrum and Joyce Gray Rising Star Professor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Navier-Stokes equations, Reynolds transport theorem, Bernoulli’s principle — the fundamentals of fluid mechanics can be baffling to engineering students. Purdue University researchers are working to change that. They have collaborated on a virtual reality (VR) educational platform enabling students to visualize the principles of fluid mechanics — even walking inside the wind tunnel to see the unseeable.

Congratulations to Guillermo Paniagua and Carl Wassgren, receiving named professorships! Guillermo Paniagua is now the Reilly Professor of Mechanical Engineering; and Carl Wassgren is the Charles E. and Louise W. Springer Professor of Mechanical Engineering.