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Updated: August 23, 2023

Faculty share research ideas in new Distinguished Visiting Professors program

February 28, 2019

The Neil Armstrong Distinguished Visiting Professors program began in March 2019, bringing highly accomplished and recognized scholars and practitioners to collaborate on work with Engineering faculty and students. These professionals visit for several weeks a year over the course of three years.

2019 marks the 50^th anniversary of Armstrong becoming the first man to walk on the moon as commander of Apollo 11. He earned a bachelor's degree from Purdue in Aeronautical Engineering in 1955 and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Engineering from Purdue in 1970.

Arvind Raman, former Executive Associate Dean of the faculty, said the inaugural cohort of visiting professors is highly recognized and represents expertise in diverse areas ranging from heterogeneous catalysis, jet fighter design, remote sensing, construction, and hydrology.

"Purdue Engineering is proud to launch this program to bring highly accomplished and recognized scholars and practitioners to Purdue Engineering to catalyze collaborations that can lead to increased impact and visibility for our visitors and their faculty hosts, schools/divisions, and college," said Raman, the Robert V. Adams Professor in Mechanical Engineering.

The visitors in the first cohort are all National Academy of Engineering members and include:

• Enrique Iglesia, of the University of California, Berkeley, researches catalysts — compounds that speed up or facilitate specific chemical reactions. His work involves synthesizing inorganic solids that are useful as catalysts for transforming molecules into chemicals and fuels.
• Dara Entekhabi, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is an expert in hydrological remote sensing and serves as science team leader for the NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite mission.
• Paul Bevilaqua, formerly at Lockheed Martin, is renowned for inventing the vertical lift concept in the F-35 Joint-Strike Fighter during his time there.
• Randall Poston, of Pivot Engineers consulting firm in Austin, Texas, has championed the repair of existing structures for upward of 30 years and is one of the preeminent structural consultants in the U.S.
• Andrea Rinaldo, of École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, is renowned as co-founder of the field of Ecohydrology (interactions between water and ecosystems) and for his theory of self-organized fractal river networks and efficient transport networks.

Read the original article here.