School of & Astronautics

An Electronic Newsletter for Friends and Alumni of the School of Aeronautics & Astronautics Spring 2004 Welcome To our new faculty Welcome to our new E-Letter The School of Aeronautics & Astronautics welcomed two new faculty members in fall 2003. Dr. Charles L. Merkle As Head of one of the most respected aeronautical is one of the world’s leading and astronautical programs in the country, I am figures in modeling and com- committed that we continue to be a positive and putational analysis of fluid supporting influence, not only with our students, flows related to propulsion. He joined our school and the but with alumni and friends. With this new E - School of Mechanical Engi- Newsletter, our goal is to keep you abreast of the neering as the Reilly Profes- activities in the School of Aeronautics & Astro- sor of Engineering. nautics and across Purdue University. We hope that Dr. Ivana Hrbud joined our you find this information useful and relevant. As school from NASA Marshall alumni and friends we look forward to working Space Flight Center and with each of you to reach new levels of excellence. brings with her expertise in With your help and support we can accomplish electric propulsion. great things. Professor Thomas Farris We hope that you enjoy the layout and format of Head, School of Aeronautics the new newsletter. As always, please do not hesi- & Astronautics tate to call our office with any questions or con- cerns. Our desire is to be a valuable resource to you. Please give us your input on your informa- Ivana Hrbud tional items, particularly if there is some topic you would like us to focus on.

Tom Farris Raisbeck Engineering Purdue Alumni Visit Campus Raisbeck Engineering Purdue alumni flew into Purdue University on October 10, 2003 in a Learjet 35 complete with new Raisbeck ZR Technology.™ The Rais- beck team held a seminar for student of both the School of Aeronautics & Astro- nautics and the School of Aviation Technology. Entitled “Raisbeck Learjet Reduction Program– How things are done in the outside world. CEO James Raisbeck AES ‘61 explained that the goal of the program is to reduce the cruise drag of the Learjet 30-serieis by a minimum of 10% at typical cruise mach numbers.

L-R A&AE Prof. John Sullivan; Raisbeck Team, Randall Dean (AT’00) Nate Lachendro (MSAA ‘00) Pete Reynolds (AES ‘66) Purdue President Martin C. Jischke, James Raisbeck (AES ‘61) Tom Farris, Prof. and Head of the School of Aeronautics & Astronautics & Thomas Carney Prof. & Head of the Dept. of Aviation Technology Update on the Millennium Building

At the October 4, 2003 Homecoming celebration near the Purdue Bell Tower, Purdue announced it had raised $6.5 million in private gifts for its planned $46 million Millennium Building towards the $10 million required to com- plement state funding. Kenneth O. Johnson BSAAE ‘50 of Cincinnati gave a gift of $1million. Johnson holds more than 20 patents from his five-decade career, said that he wanted to give back to Purdue because of the importance of his education to the successes of his life. “My dream had al- ways been to design things that could improve people’s lives,” said Johnson. “Purdue helped me to achieve those dreams. I only hope that the improvements that the Millennium Building will make possible will help the next generation to achieve their dreams in the same way.” The Homecoming celebration took on a special meaning this year as two of the School of Aeronautics & Astronautics astronaut alumni attended the announcement. Neil A. Armstrong BSAAE ‘55 and fellow astronaut Mark Brown BSAAE ‘73 took center stage along with Jayleen Gut- tromson, a senior in the School of Aeronautics & Astronautics School of Aeronautics & Astronautics alumni Neil A. Arm- from Fargo N.D. strong and Mark N. Brown with AAE senior Jayleen L. Guttromson January 2004 marked the halfway point of the Cam- paign at which point over 65% of the $1.3 billion Campaign goal had been reached. The Millennium Building is the largest piece of the Schools of Engineering facilities master plan. Located on the intersection of Northwestern and Stadium avenues, the building will house the School of Aeronautics & Astronautics along with other Schools of Engi- neering and the Office of the Dean of Engineering. Ground breaking is expected fall 2004.

Purdue Celebrates National Engineers Week with a Generous Gift Announcement

Purdue University celebrated National Engineers Week with engineering accomplishments and a mix of activities for students, alumni engineering societies and corporations. One very impor- tant event that took place was the announcement of the generous gift of Heddy Kurz to name the Herman and Heddy Kurz Atrium in the new Millennium Engineering Building. Her gift of $1.9 Million was announced on Thursday February 26th 2004. Heddy is from Louisville, KY and is very proud to be associated with Purdue University. Heddy’s late husband, Her- man, was a graduate of the School of Electrical Engineering and she made the lead gift last fall to name the Herman and Heddy Kurz Lobby in the new Computer Science Building.

Heddy Kurz

Aero Advancement Tim Bobillo Director of Development

at Purdue to study structural and year cam- The need for financial support is aerodynamic design. In 1950, he be- paign has great. Your contributions do make a gan working for General Motors, already difference to us and help us in achiev- where he analyzed and designed gas raised ing our mission in teaching, research turbines and rocket engines, contrib- $857.6 mil- and service. uting significantly to the design and lion in pri- development of the Minuteman vate funds During the course of the year, I meet rocket engine. for the uni- many alumni who have contributed versity. to our school in many ways. Kenneth He is an associate fellow for the Johnson also O. Johnson is one such alumnus who American Institute of Aeronautics received the continues to have very close ties with and Astronautics, to which he be- Distin- our school. longed for 52 years. Johnson was in- guished Pinna- Tim Bobillo ducted into the General Electric Air- K.O. Johnson’s career in aeronautics cle Award, a craft Engineering Hall of Fame in began before he came to Purdue. In recognition for leadership gifts and 1987 and was awarded a NASA Cer- 1943, he joined the Air Force as a philanthropic gifts to the university. tificate of Recognition. second lieutenant and flew ground Tim Bobillo support air missions in Germany. Johnson’s gift is part of the $1.3 bil- Following the war, Johnson enrolled lion Campaign for Purdue. The seven K.O. Johnson Receives The Distinguished Pinnacle Award L~R Linda Sally Mason; as- “My dream has been to design P.B. Katehi, Purdue’s tronaut alumni things that could improve John A. Edwardson Neil A. Armstrong peoples lives, Purdue helped me Dean of Engineering, honor Johnson achieve those dreams” Purdue President Martin with the univer- K.O. Johnson C. Jischke, alumnus sity’s Distin- Kenneth O. Johnson, Purdue Provost guished Pinnacle Award. Purdue Celebrates National Engineers Week Purdue University’s Inaugural Engineers Week Lecture on Tuesday February 24, 2004 featured alumnus David Spencer BSAAE ’89, MSAAE ‘91, Deputy Manager of Flight Systems at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. From 1997 through 2002, Spencer was the Mission Manager for the Mars Odyssey Project which has been orbiting Mars since 2001, mapping the min- eral and chemical composition of the planet. During his lec- ture, Spencer chronicled the history and the future of the exploration of Mars. Out of 52 worldwide launches, only 17 have been successful, with the Spirit and Opportunity rovers landing in January 2004. Spencer said that he would hope that humans would get to Mars within 20-30 years and NASA has future plans with the Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2005, the Phoenix Lan- David Spencer der in 2007 and the Mars Telesat Orbiter in 2009. NASA has recently added $1 billion to & Prof. Kathleen Howell its budget and re-directed $11 billion for crew exploration. 2nd Annual Engineering Staff and Faculty Recognition Awards

The Schools of Engineering Awards of Excellence were initiated to honor outstanding Staff and Faculty. Now in its 2nd year, the School of Aeronautics & Astronautics is proud to have a repre- sentative for both the staff and faculty categories. Linda McClatchey Flack was honored at the Engineering Staff Recognition Banquet on October 17, 2003 for the Customer Service Award in recognition for her outstanding service.

Prof. C.T. Sun Neil A. Armstrong Distinguished Professor of Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering receives the faculty award in the category for Research and was honored at the En- Linda Flack gineering Faculty Recognition Banquet on February 28, 2004. Prof. C.T. Sun

Astronaut Alumnus to Lead Discovery Park “Super Projects” Guy S. Gardner MSAAE ‘70 was named on January 13, 2004 Director of Super Projects in Purdue’s Discovery Park e-Enterprise Cen- ter. For the first time in its history, Purdue University has hired one of its twenty-two astronaut alumni. Gardner will oversee research projects with at least $1 million in funding deemed “super projects.” He will primarily work on a number of complex projects with im- plications for homeland security and manned trip to Mars. He will also generate more super- projects for e-Enterprise Center researchers and will seek additional funding sources. Gardner received a bachelor’s degree from the Air Force Academy in 1969 and a master’s in aeronautics & astronautics from Purdue in 1970. Selected by NASA in May 1980, he is a veteran of two space missions and has worked in many areas of Space Shuttle and Space Station Devel- opment and support. During his eleven years as a NASA astronaut, he was pilot of STS-27 Atlan- tis which had fellow Purdue alumni Jerry Ross on board and STS-35 Columbia which flew in December 1990. He left NASA in June 1991 to command the USAF Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base and he returned to NASA in 1992 as the initial program director of the joint American and Rus- sian Shuttle – MIR program. He also served as mission director and director of quality assurance. In 1995, Gardner joined the Federal Aviation Administration, where he worked with research and development and was responsible for oversight and regulation of civil aviation. In 2000, he com- pleted a second master’s degree in math and physics education at Virginia Tech. Gardner has also worked as a high school math and physics teacher and is an inspirational speaker. Guy S. Gardner

21st Annual Design News’ Awards

Dr. Paul Bevilaqua, MS ’68, Ph.D.’73, OAE ’02, was honored on February 24, 2004 as the Design News’ Engineer of the Year. Bevilaqua is the chief engineer of Advanced Development Projects at , and was selected by the magazines readers. He has been honored for his inven- tion of the Lift Fan Propulsion system that has made possible the stealthy, supersonic, vertical– lift Joint Strike Fighter, a new-generation fighter to be used by the U.S. Air Force, Marines and Britain’s Royal Navy. Bevilaqua’s propulsion system was the only one of several proposed that achieves both supersonic flight and vertical lift. Bevilaqua also serves as a member of the Indus- trial Advisory Council (IAC) of the School of Aeronautics & Astronautics. Paul Bevilaqua Your Comments and Thoughts The School of Aeronautics & Astronautics at Purdue University values your privacy. Information provided by you is used to de- liver up-to-date news and other information. We will not share your information with any other person or organization. This newsletter is improved by your input. Please send us your thoughts or suggestions about its content or what you would like to see covered. Phone (765)494-9124 or email at [email protected]