Winthrop Gustafson - Office of Professional Practice - Purdue University

In 1960, Gustafson joined the faculty in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University and with a research emphasis on hypersonic vehicles and spacecraft. Gustafson was actively involved with a Purdue program that started in 1963 that sought to recruit recent graduates from the Air Force Academy to pursue a master’s degree. A number of those students went on to become astronauts.

In 1980, Gustafson became the associate head of the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics and was the acting head from 1984-85.

Gustafson, born in Moline, Illinois, attended the University of Illinois to study aeronautical engineering and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1950 and a commission in the United States Air Force. After two years of active duty in the Air Force and Propulsion Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Gustafson returned to the University of Illinois and completed a master’s degree in 1954 and PhD in 1956. After college, Gustafson went on to work at the Lockheed Missiles and Space Division in Palo Alto, California, conducting satellite research. 

Purdue experience

Gustafson became co-op coordinator for the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1984 and continued those duties until his retirement in 1998.