Boilermakers have taken part in virtually every stage of the program that will bring humankind back to the moon

Purdue astronaut Scott Tingle was one of the last people to speak with the Artemis II crew before they embarked on their historic trip around the moon in April 2026. 

And when the crew splashed down in the Pacific Ocean 10 days later in the Orion capsule, three Boilermakers were part of the team that ensured the space voyagers would return home safely. 

That illustrates Purdue’s importance to Artemis — and the university’s influence on American space history. Ever since the United States chose to pursue space exploration in the 1950s, Boilermakers have taken part in every stage of the process: 

Building better rockets and more efficient propellants. 

Engineering safer spacecraft and more functional spacesuits. 

Leading massive strategic teams and planning missions. 

And, of course, traveling to space and claiming membership in Purdue’s iconic Cradle of Astronauts. 

On and on it goes. Boilermakers have been there for all of it. 

And as NASA prepares to send the first astronauts to the lunar surface since 1972, when Purdue grad Eugene Cernan took humankind’s most recent footsteps there, it’s a safe bet that the work of thousands of Boilermaker alums will help these awe-inspiring missions succeed. 

Alums like these Boilermakers who have played integral roles in the Artemis program thus far: 

Dan Dumbacher

Dan Dumbacher, serving as deputy associate administrator of NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate from 2010-14, led a team of 5,000 people and managed a budget of $3 billion to initiate the Artemis campaign. His work developing NASA’s human exploration program to the moon and Mars included overseeing the Space Launch System, ground systems development, and operation and integration efforts.

Dumbacher’s decades-long career at NASA included work on the space shuttle and multiple experimental vehicles, earning NASA’s coveted Silver Snoopy Award and Distinguished Service Medal. He also served as the CEO for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and on the NASA Advisory Council. 

Dumbacher (BS mechanical engineering ’81) is a professor of engineering practice in Purdue’s School of Aeronautics and Astronautics and was recognized as the Purdue Distinguished Engineering Alumnus in 2025. 

Julie Kramer White

Julie Kramer White was the chief engineer of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) — the cone-shaped crew capsule used for the Artemis missions. President Barack Obama thanked her directly for the vehicle’s development: “Julie Kramer White is helping America launch a new era of space exploration.”  

Kramer White (BS aeronautical and astronautical engineering ’90) has worked at NASA since her internship in the post-Challenger space shuttle era, with Apollo engineers as her mentors. As a structures engineer, she made design changes to make the space shuttle more capable as the International Space Station was being built. 

Those experiences shaped her decisions when designing Orion. Kramer White’s ongoing career at NASA has spanned more than 35 years. She now serves as engineering director for NASA’s Johnson Space Center. She was recognized as a Purdue Distinguished Engineering Alumna in 2023. 

Mark Baldwin

Mark Baldwin has a unique dual background, with degrees in both mechanical engineering and orthopedics. When he joined Lockheed Martin in 2009 as occupant protection lead, he utilized both skill sets working on the Orion capsule. First, he helped to measure the stresses of the vehicle itself, especially during its planned water landing. Second, he worked to secure the safety and comfort of its human occupants, refining the seats, restraints, control panels and more. After an uncrewed mission in 2022, Orion’s full repertoire was finally put to the test on Artemis II in April 2026 — the first crewed mission around the moon in more than 50 years.  

Launch and landing are the two most tenuous times during human spaceflight, and Baldwin (BS mechanical engineering ’97) had prepared 15 years for both. The launch of Artemis II went smoothly, with the four astronauts communicating and functioning successfully through the intense vibrations of the rocket. After the astronauts’ mission around the moon, Baldwin watched eagerly as splashdown approached. “I knew if (the capsule deployed) three good parachutes, the injury and structural risks were very low,” he says. “When those three parachutes inflated to full open, 15 years of stress and anxiety was released. The landing was just as we simulated it.”  

“Success of this mission was built on solid engineering fundamentals through years of dedication and teamwork,” Baldwin says. “I appreciate all that the Purdue engineering program did for me personally and many of my colleagues who helped put Artemis II in the history books.” 

Scott Tingle

Scott Tingle joined NASA’s Astronaut Corps in 2009 and flew his first mission to the International Space Station in 2017. Today, as NASA’s chief of the Astronaut Office, he is responsible for assigning astronauts to their missions and managing their needs before, during and after the mission. 

“It’s a really big job,” says Tingle (MS mechanical engineering ’88). “We need to make sure we’re taking care of our crew, taking care of their families, and making sure our systems are safe, efficient and effective to get the job done.”  

For Artemis II, Tingle was one of the last people to speak to the crew before they entered the capsule — and one of the first to greet them once they splashed down two weeks later. Now he’s focused on guiding the Artemis III crew and eventually choosing the next crew, which will feature the first woman to walk on the moon. 

“We’ve been trying to do this for 50 years,” he says. “We’re focusing on what it takes to get boots back on the moon — and eventually a permanent human presence on the moon.” 

Marie Henderson

Marie Henderson is an assistant research scientist with the Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science & Technology (CRESST), a cooperative agreement between NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, the Southeastern Universities Research Association and four universities. 

Henderson (PhD planetary science ’21) plays a key role in NASA’s Artemis program, having served as deputy lunar science lead for Artemis II and serving as science officer and science imaging integration lead for Artemis III and as a member of the Artemis Science Operations Team. Her work focuses on science operations and how astronauts use cameras to collect scientific observations from orbit and eventually from the lunar surface. As a science officer, Henderson is responsible for lunar science and geology in the Artemis Flight Control Room.  

“It’s amazing to go from the Cradle of Astronauts to working with the astronauts that are exploring the moon with the Artemis program,” Henderson says. “I look forward to putting more boot prints on the surface of the moon.” 

At Purdue, Henderson was a student of Briony Horgan, professor of planetary science in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, whose research focuses on Mars, the moon and planetary surface processes.  

“I’m so proud to see Marie continuing Purdue’s legacy in human space exploration,” Horgan says. “We’ve built an internationally recognized program in planetary science here at Purdue over the past 20 years, and Marie is exactly the type of alumna we hope will shape space exploration and the space industry in the years ahead.” 

Artemis landing and recovery team: Jason Endsley, Rob Lantz and Emily Spreen

When Artemis II returned from its historic journey around the moon, three Purdue alumni were aboard the USS John P. Murtha in the Pacific Ocean waiting to welcome the crew home. Jason Endsley (BS aeronautical engineering technology ’19, MS aviation and aerospace management ’20), Rob Lantz (BS aeronautical and astronautical engineering ’88) and Emily Spreen (BS aeronautical and astronautical engineering ’15, MS astrodynamics and space applications ’17, PhD aeronautical and astronautical engineering ’21) were all members of NASA’s Landing and Recovery Operations team that retrieved both the crew and the spacecraft. 

Their work represented years of preparation and coordination between NASA and the Department of Defense, with Spreen describing their recovery operations as a “carefully coordinated ballet” involving precise timing, real-time data monitoring and complex logistics. Endsley provided critical environmental data to guide decision-making while Spreen led efforts to predict splashdown locations and ensure the safety of both the crew and the waiting recovery team. Lantz and Endsley were both part of the team responsible for recovering the spacecraft and floating it into the well deck of the Navy ship. 

As a fascinated viewing public celebrated the return of the first moon mission in more than 53 years, the Boilermakers on the landing and recovery team helped secure the Artemis mission’s safe and successful conclusion. 

Campus communicators Alan Cesar, David Ching, Jared Pike and David Siple produced this special series of alumni profiles. 

Alumni like James Haber are embedded in America’s most storied institutions, including the Smithsonian

James Haber didn’t become a planetary scientist by accident. It’s something he’s dreamed of since third grade — thanks to an interest in space exploration that his father encouraged.

From the family’s home on Long Island, it wasn’t easy to get a patch of night sky without light pollution, but the Habers made it happen.

“We would go out to golf courses, which are the darkest spots you can find in the suburbs of New York City,” Haber says. “Sneaking onto putting greens at night to look at the stars helped expand my passion for the cosmos. It’s what led me to Purdue.”

Today, as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, Haber (PhD planetary science ’23) explores some of the universe’s biggest questions, like if life exists on other planets.

He does this work at an American institution whose founding mission matches that of his alma mater.

Honoring America’s 250th anniversary provides an opportunity to recognize our national progress and impactful alumni. Purdue was founded in 1869 as a land-grant university with a mission to make education accessible for all. The Smithsonian, which began in 1846, was funded by James Smithson, who said it would be “an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.”

That common thread — the drive to impart knowledge — stitches together achievements that are centuries in the making. It weaves leading organizations like Purdue and the Smithsonian into the historical tapestry of the United States.

Sneaking onto putting greens at night to look at the stars helped expand my passion for the cosmos. It’s what led me to Purdue.

James Haber

PhD planetary science ’23

Growing as a researcher at Purdue 

As an undergraduate, Haber studied physics, mechanical engineering and astronomy at Cornell University. While searching for graduate programs, he looked at Purdue’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Science (EAPS), where the planetary science division was a fraction of its current size.

Other schools may have had bigger or more established programs, but the chance to work with an incredible advisor and do intriguing fieldwork made it easy to choose Purdue.

When Haber met his advisor, Briony Horgan, he felt a kinship. Horgan had also been a student at Cornell and was originally from a physics background. Add in her experience with multiple Mars missions and it’s an ideal mentorship.

Fieldwork was a gamechanger in Haber’s graduate student experience.

“When we look at pictures of Mars, we have a sense of what’s there, but in order to really know what’s going on, I think it’s important to see things closely,” Haber says.

“There’s this sort of universality of physics and chemistry: The same processes that alter rocks on Mars also alter rocks on Earth,” he says. “The tactile experience of walking around as if you were a rover, picking up rocks and using tools to better understand what you have, enhances everything.”

Members of the department took a trip that Haber still treasures.

“It was incredible to see Arizona and Utah with my cohort,” he says. “Getting to go to the Meteor Crater with professor Jay Melosh, who had so much influence on the world’s understanding of impact craters, is something I could never forget.”

In West Lafayette, he found a space legacy unlike any other, as well as other Purdue-specific perks, like professor Andy Freed’s Geosciences in the Cinema class. Seeing reminders of alumni’s roles in space exploration was inspiring — most days, Haber walked by a photo of NASA astronaut and fellow EAPS alum Andrew Feustel and recognized the impact of the university’s space legacy.

Recently, Haber conducted fieldwork in Iceland for the Smithsonian with a couple of colleagues who also went to Purdue. Horgan let them use some of her instruments, including a handheld spectrometer gun that looks like something out of “Star Trek.”

“Briony is a very kind and compassionate person to work with,” Haber says. “She helped me then and continues to make my role better even now.”

Being among our nation’s biggest discoveries 

As “an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge,” the Smithsonian hosts so much more than only the public-facing exhibits. Hundreds of researchers work within the organization’s 21 museums, 14 education and research centers, and the National Zoo.

Within the National Air and Space Museum, the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies uses data from orbiting satellites, human and robotic space missions, and field studies to expand humankind’s understanding of what’s beyond our atmosphere.

Haber is part of the team of planetary scientists looking at images and datasets from different planets across our solar system. Though the group is small, there are researchers who have been there for decades and dealt with the very first Mars rover missions. It’s a collaborative environment.

As he studies rocks on Mars, Haber compares them to rocks on Earth and tries to figure out what they’re made of and how they indicate the presence of ancient liquid water on Mars.

“My research raises a series of questions,” he says. “Where was the water flowing? Could it have been habitable? What life could have survived or even thrived there?”

Colleagues and friends work in the outer solar system, where missions like the Europa Clipper (on its way to Jupiter) are scouting the edges of what we know. Haber says he looks forward to wherever his career may lead, whether it means continuing to work with Mars or focusing on the outer solar system instead.

“Even in day-to-day work, I think about deep time and the vastness of the cosmos,” he says. “When I look at things that are billions of years old, it’s a reminder that we’re all a part of something much bigger than ourselves.”

Five years ago, Carrie Gurnell was at a crossroads.

She loved her volleyball coaching life at the University of North Texas, just four hours from her childhood residence in Katy, Texas. Life seemed pretty good living in her home state.

But then the call came.

Gurnell saw the name Dave Shondell appear on her phone during a staff meeting. She had kept in touch with her college coach and his forever assistant, Kathy Jewell, since graduating from Purdue in 2010. She was a recruiting coup, of sorts, for Shondell, who was trying to solidify his program’s foundation with the 11th-ranked recruit in the nation and Purdue’s first player from Texas.

But why would he be calling now? It was 2021; COVID was beginning to subside, and Gurnell, despite having recently suffered an illness, was content to be in Denton, Texas, close to her sister, Stephanie, and her nephews, who lived in Houston. Gurnell was establishing her coaching chops as part of the Mean Green program, having spent three seasons there after two years as an assistant coach at Gardner-Webb University.

Well, it turns out the call changed her life. When the dust settled. Shondell offered her the job of Purdue’s supervisor of volleyball operations, but it took a “come to your senses” discussion with her dad, Steven, to get her to return to West Lafayette.

“I called my dad later that day, and he was like, ‘You’re telling me Dave Shondell called you, and you didn’t …’ and I said, ‘Hold up, dad,’” Gurnell says, recalling the seminal moment. “It didn’t take me long to realize that Purdue had all the resources and I had been doing many of the things I would be doing at Purdue at North Texas and coaching, where I wore 17 different hats.”

Twenty-four hours later, she said “yes” to Shondell and accepted his offer, but getting into the rhythm of the new job would take much longer.

Taking time in transition

“After graduating, I remained obsessed with Purdue,” says Gurnell, who knew it was much more than just “staying in touch” with her alma mater. Now, in her sixth season with the Boilermakers, the transition wasn’t always linear or seamless.

“It took me a couple of years to fully buy in that this is what I wanted to do – operations instead of coaching,” Gurnell says. “I had a million questions when I arrived. Once I began to get those questions answered in my mind, I could think more creatively on things I hadn’t had time to spend on in my multiple roles at North Texas. For example, we didn’t have a ton of donors at North Texas, and as a coach I didn’t have the time to sit down and think creatively about how to keep them engaged. At Purdue, that is part of my job. As I got routines down at Purdue, it freed my mind to think creatively and to have more attention to detail in the process.”

It truly has proven to be the best of both worlds for Gurnell. Still as passionate as ever about volleyball, she can lurk on the periphery of coaching, offering a different set of eyes about what is going on the floor. But she also gets to use her artistic talent and next-level organizational skills to do what is needed. Combined with her extremely engaging personality and strong work ethic, she succeeds in doing what her job description truly is: making the lives of the coaching staff and players that much better.

“I love volleyball, and what I see on the court in practice and in matches can be helpful to our coaches because they’re so in it that sometimes they need that outside perspective,” says Gurnell, who recorded 1,045 kills and advanced to two NCAA Regional Semifinals with the Boilermakers while earning a bachelor’s degree in professional writing with a minor in art and design. “I played here, I know the Purdue way and the coaches trust my intentions.”

And the 2026 team, a squad ranked No. 9 nationally preseason with sky-high expectations, has eight new players on it. Gurnell can relate to what it is like for players to have so many new teammates, because she had a similar situation in her senior year.

“I’ve had conversations with the girls on this year’s team,” Gurnell says. “I remember my senior year about having the pressure of thinking I had to perform perfectly or we wouldn’t win. And I didn’t take the time back then to pour myself into those newcomers, and I really regretted that. That is an experience I share with this year’s team.”

Creating a stress-free environment

Gurnell knows how to keep the main thing the main thing. Whether it be the coaching staff or the players, her job is to make it a smooth ride.

“My most important role is to make sure our staff feels great about coaching the team,” Gurnell says. “I don’t want any stress; I want everything to feel organized and flow smoothly because little things not going right can throw people for a loop. I understand that from my experience on the coaching side; I understand how players are.”

And it is obvious the players notice.

“She’s truly everything to this program,” says junior defensive specialist Ryan McAleer. “She has been in our shoes, knows where we’ve been. Sure, she’s great at filling out our schedule and making sure our meals are planned, which is a beast in its own right. But she has played at this level before, which I think is kind of a cheat code to having another coach.”

But being able to anticipate situations before coaches ask for them is also an attribute that Gurnell possesses.

“She is approaching the level of what Elliot Bloom does for Matt Painter,” Shondell says about the men’s basketball director of operations whom he calls “the best in the country” at what he does. “I now have somebody in Carrie that can go to the administrators for things that I don’t have to ask for. She often anticipates things before I have to ask, and that puts her ahead of the game right now.

“She has a soft touch and is sensitive to what people need, but she can also bring the hammer down if needed.”

A recent example of “the hammer” Shondell is referring to was when technicians were working on the Taraflex surface at Holloway Gymnasium. Gurnell was respectful of the work being done, but she also knew what she wanted in the situation to ensure it was installed correctly and wasn’t afraid to say so. After all, getting a state-of-the-art Taraflex surface in Holloway was something Gurnell pushed Purdue to purchase, so like many other things, she was passionate about it.

“She knows how to take control of a situation and work at a really fast pace. That is why Carrie is great at what she does.”

Glitz and glam

When it comes to creativity, Purdue volleyball fans will experience Gurnell’s artistic flair firsthand when they attend matches this fall. The hallway leading to the doors of Holloway has undergone a complete facelift. While it won’t be fully finished until after the season, it is a dramatic and impressive change.

“I pushed to do the hallway — I wanted some of the vibe basketball has downstairs in Mackey brought upstairs to Holloway,” says Gurnell with a gleam in her eye. “The thought process is as we update the hallway we’re also making room and space for upgrades as things progress. I had plenty of ideas for what we could do, and in the end, I wanted it a little more blacked out, almost like a movie‑theater feel. That works in conjunction with the fact that when you leave the hallway, you walk into a bright, welcoming Holloway.

“It’s about showcasing our players, but it’s also about the fan experience and letting people see progress so they get excited.”

The players have noticed.

“If you look great, you play great,” freshman outside hitter Syndi Vice says. “I feel fortunate to be a member of this amazing team, and I think our program deserves something like this. It fits who we are, and what we want to be as a team.”

McAleer concurs with a big smile.

“Carrie truly gets it,” says the 2025 second-team All-Big Ten honoree. “She understands the value that seemingly little things like that can bring to a program. Certain programs would just overlook a detail like what Carrie has helped create and not put in the money (thanks in part to a gift from Art and Connie Euler), but Carrie is persistently pursuing improvement, and this an amazing example.”

Running on emotion and competitiveness

Yet it may be passion and emotion that set Gurnell apart. She admits to “bawling” after a recent camp attended by 600 volleyball players, overcome with feelings of another successful event for the program.

“I texted Dave and Kat and just said how thankful I am to be here,” says Gurnell, who shares an emotional streak with Shondell when the duo thinks about how far things have come.

The feeling is clearly mutual.

“Carrie has a passion for making things flashy,” Shondell says. “But she backs it all up with an unbelievable effort that we not only appreciate, but the entire program benefits from because she is a big part of who we are and what we do.”

Written by Alan Karpick, publisher of GoldandBlack.com.

The all-Purdue suborbital spaceflight will make Jason Williamson the first Boilermaker civil engineer to travel to space

Early on in their dating life — in that tricky stage where potential partners share their goals and ambitions — Jason Williamson told his future wife, Edna, about a dream that has driven him since childhood. 

“I said, ‘Hey, by the way, I’m going to space. I don’t know how or when or who or what, but I’m earmarking this dream, and it’s going to happen,’” says Williamson (BS civil engineering ’97), a senior vice president at Dunaway, a Texas-based engineering services firm. 

Her first thought: Sure, why not? 

“We were talking about what we’d always wanted to do, and that is one of the first things that he told me,” she recalls. “He said, ‘I’ve always had this dream of going to space.’ And my response, not really knowing a lot about what that looked like, was, ‘Why don’t you? Why haven’t you gone to space yet?’” 

If only it were that easy. At that point, Edna was not yet the space enthusiast she has become over the course of their relationship. She did not know that a physical limitation — Jason is colorblind — could prevent someone like him from even being considered as a NASA astronaut candidate or that joining a commercial suborbital program is often an expensive and arduous process.  

But it quickly became clear that this was no fleeting interest. It was a true passion that would drive Jason to do whatever it took to fulfill. 

It was apparent when he showed off his prized copy of the 1993 story that his hometown newspaper, the Anderson (Indiana) Herald Bulletin, published about his trip to Space Camp at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. 

It was evident when he signed up for Virgin Galactic’s Future Astronaut community and excitedly took advantage of every opportunity to participate in the commercial suborbital spaceflight provider’s activities. 

And it was perhaps most obvious in the way his face lit up when he and Edna attended two Virgin Galactic launches at Spaceport America and watched the VSS Unity spacecraft begin its voyage beyond Earth’s atmosphere. 

“It was beautiful,” she says. “It just brings you to tears watching somebody fulfill their dreams.” 

Little did the Williamsons know while watching the Galactic 06 and 07 crews that they were also seeing their future.

Launching Purdue 1 

Behind the scenes, Virgin Galactic was working with Jason’s alma mater, Purdue — an institution he has supported as an ambassador for two-plus decades — to initiate Purdue 1, a first-of-its-kind commercial suborbital mission where all five crew members would be Boilermakers. Because of his loyalty to both Virgin Galactic and Purdue and excitement over all things space-related, Williamson was an obvious choice when the parties evaluated which alumni they would invite to join the mission. 

“That means a great deal to me,” Williamson says. “I want to make sure that I’m giving my best for Purdue, I’m giving my best for Virgin Galactic, and I’m giving my best for myself, my company and my family. I want to do right by everybody because it is such an incredible privilege to get to do this.” 

When Virgin Galactic’s new Delta Class spacecraft lifts off in 2027 carrying the all-Purdue crew, Jason will not only accomplish the space dream that he first described to Edna, but he will also become the first Boilermaker civil engineer to join the university’s iconic Cradle of Astronauts. 

“It’s really mind-blowing for a mere mortal like myself to have this opportunity to go to space,” he says. “Purdue and Virgin Galactic and space — it’s like they just squished it all together and said, ‘Here are your dreams, young man.’ It’s unbelievable to me that all of this is coming together. Talk about a full-circle moment.” 

A covert meeting in plain sight 

When Williamson visited the Purdue campus in August 2025, the primary purpose was to speak with Boilermaker civil engineering students. As a longtime Dunaway executive who specializes in healthcare and commercial developments, he has a wealth of engineering experience from which to draw during these frequent sessions where he discusses working in his industry. 

But Williamson also had a secondary motive during this particular visit to West Lafayette. He hoped to meet with a pair of Boilermakers who would soon become two of the most important people in his life. 

Williamson already knew the identities of these two fellow Purdue 1 crew members — Steven Collicott, a professor in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and graduate student Abigail Mizzi (BS aeronautical and astronautical engineering ’25) — but the trio had each signed nondisclosure agreements stating they would not publicly reveal that the mission was in the works. Nonetheless, they requested clearance from Virgin Galactic to meet in person, and the company signed off on their plan to meet somewhat indiscreetly that day in August. 

As Collicott, Mizzi and Williamson walked through the Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering, chatting and checking out displays spotlighting Purdue’s space history, Williamson stopped a student in the hallway. Then he handed him his cellphone and asked him to take a picture of their group standing in front of an exhibit spotlighting Purdue students who have experienced weightlessness in flight — just like the Purdue 1 crew will experience for several minutes during their upcoming mission. 

Perhaps the Boilermaker student who took the photo will see it here and recognize his unique place in Purdue’s space history: This random passerby took the first photo of the Purdue 1 crew (or at least three-fifths of the group) a month before Purdue and Virgin Galactic officially announced the mission in September 2025.

“Nobody knew who these three people were,” Williamson recalls with a laugh. “That was kind of our little secret way of getting to meet each other.” 

But it was actually not the first time that Williamson and Collicott had crossed paths. There was a Virgin Galactic connection on that special occasion, as well. 

When the Williamsons attended the Galactic 07 festivities in 2024, they were surprised to see several young people buzzing about wearing Purdue gear. They soon discovered these young people were Boilermaker students assisting Collicott, whose autonomous experiment to study propellant slosh would fly aboard the spacecraft that day. 

“I’m fanboying these college kids that are flying their autonomous payload onboard this spaceship that I get to go watch, and I remember being out on the tarmac and saying, ‘Hey, can I have a selfie with you guys?’” Williamson says. “So I took a picture with these students and learned of Steven. Didn’t know Steven from Adam. And then literally a year or so later, Steven and I are crewmates.” 

Preparing to take flight

The Purdue 1 crew members have continued getting to know one another since the initial announcement, and they have since added two newcomers to the group. Purdue and Virgin Galactic announced in April that veteran commercial astronaut Beth Moses (BS AAE ’92, MS AAE ’94) and retired senior research scientist Florence Stahura (MS chemistry ’92) would complete the five-person crew.  

As their launch date approaches, the group hopes to train together to not just prepare for the mind-blowing experience of traveling in zero gravity and seeing Earth from beyond the clouds, but also the logistical issues they’ll need to conquer. 

Collicott, Mizzi and Moses will all have research responsibilities during the trip — there will also be two Purdue-initiated autonomous experiments aboard the ship — so everyone involved needs to understand how to share the space within the spacecraft. 

Collicott and Mizzi’s human-tended experiments will study fluid dynamics in zero-gravity conditions. Meanwhile, Moses will wear a set of health sensors that will allow researchers from Purdue’s Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering to monitor her physiological characteristics throughout the mission. 

“At some point through our training, we want to try to choreograph how we all interact with one another so that everyone can really get the full value of what they’re doing,” Williamson says. “But Abby and Steven, in particular, will have a very specific task at hand.” 

Pursuing your dreams 

The Purdue 1 crew members are approaching their respective roles on the flight as opportunities to exemplify Purdue’s land-grant mission of teaching, research and engagement. 

Collicott, Mizzi and Moses have the teaching and research aspects covered, so Williamson and Stahura are sharing the responsibility to engage the public about what this mission means. 

And they have amazing stories to tell.

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In Williamson’s case, the message is all about persistence. Traveling to space must have seemed unlikely for a first-generation college student whose parents — a General Motors alternator assembler and a sheet metal worker — had to work hard for everything they had. That reality is in part why attending Space Camp as a high school graduation gift is such a special memory for Williamson. 

“I had such a beautiful time,” he says. “I fell in love with what they do, how they do it, the educational component to it, their curriculum, the simulators and all the things of that nature. But it’s also teaching you teamwork and leadership skills and how to communicate effectively with one another.” 

He enjoyed it so much, in fact, that he has returned twice for camp as an adult, including a six-day visit earlier this year where he and Edna both participated in the Adult Advanced Space Academy. The unique bonding experience inspired the Williamsons to sponsor young people of limited means so they could also enjoy Space Camp. 

“It was so cool just to go back and visit,” Williamson says. “I think because of my passion for Space Camp and what they do for these young students, adults and educators, I want to do everything I can to give back to them.” 

After all, you never know what such a formative experience might spark in a bright, ambitious young person. Williamson’s story is proof, as he proceeded from Space Camp to Purdue, where he expanded his engineering and interpersonal skills, and into a three-decade career, where he became a leader in his field. 

Williamson wants others to see where he is today, on the cusp of achieving an unlikely dream, and recognize that amazing things can happen for those who chase their passions with patience and persistence. 

“What I like about this mission is we all have a unique lens of why we were selected or why we’re doing it,” Williamson says. “So much of this is from the heart for me, where for others, it is heart, but there’s also a tangible thing that they’re responsible for. The biggest thing that’s on me is what a beautiful platform. What a beautiful way to inspire others. What a beautiful way to say it doesn’t matter how you grew up. It doesn’t matter the path you took to get there. What matters is you’re still pursuing your dreams. 

“Purdue talks a lot about the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap,” he adds. “That resonates with me very, very vividly.”

Boilermakers shaped iconic projects like the Hoover Dam and Golden Gate Bridge. Today’s students are creating what’s next.

Just as America’s population has steadily grown throughout its 250 years, so too has the need for roads, bridges and dams — anything to help move and connect.

Generations of Boilermakers have transformed America’s infrastructure. They’ve designed and built some of world’s greatest engineering marvels, including the Golden Gate Bridge and Hoover Dam. Today’s efforts safeguard achievements and make the future even stronger.

“There’s increasing complexity in all types of engineering, and demands are especially high in civil engineering,” says Paul Giroux, a professor in the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering. “At Purdue, there’s always been a strong focus on teaching theory and practice. To meet emerging needs, Purdue has also been a leader in innovation.”

Unique, hands-on training

Purdue’s Steel Bridge Research, Inspection, Training, and Engineering (S-BRITE) Center hosts the next generation of bridge engineers and inspectors.

S-BRITE developed directly from the transportation industry’s need for a better-trained workforce. Director Robert Connor is Purdue’s Jack and Kay Hockema Professor in Civil Engineering and the director of S-BRITE and the Center for Aging Infrastructure. His conversations with the Indiana Department of Transportation spurred action — after cracking in steel welds closed a bridge spanning the Ohio River, something had to change.

Connor helped create S-BRITE’s Bridge Component Gallery, a multiacre site featuring dozens of actual steel-bridge structures and components that are available for hands-on educational and training purposes.

“Tactile learners need something beyond a PowerPoint,” Connor says. “Pictures of damage don’t show well on a slide. What I wanted were real components with real problems.”

When students can physically approach something like corrosion, noticing the way it looks and feels in reality, they’ll be better equipped to identify these issues as professionals. The gallery has examples of damages as well as components that demonstrate a sound structure.

“When people come to the gallery — whether they’re students, visiting lecturers or industry professionals — they say, ‘I want to be a part of this,’” Connor says. “It’s one of a kind.”

Training doesn’t stop in Indiana, or at the physical site. S-BRITE spans the country. It’s the best way to solve problems that people in every state are experiencing. National partners look to Purdue to help with their problems; S-BRITE experts are available for on-call support.

Connor has also influenced the advancement of the Robert L. and Terry L. Bowen Laboratory for Large-Scale Civil Engineering Research, a 66,000-square-foot facility that’s reimagining the way students learn about structural models and elements.

The work happening inside the center demonstrates that infrastructure is not only about maintaining what already exists. It’s about imagining what comes next — a tradition carried forward from the earliest days of Purdue’s engineering program.

The minds behind monumental projects

Civil engineering professor Giroux, who has almost 50 years of industry experience with Kiewit, is nationally recognized for his expertise on America’s most iconic projects. He’s had leadership and speaking roles at anniversary events like the Brooklyn Bridge 125th, the Hoover Dam 75th, the Golden Gate Bridge 75th, the Panama Canal 100th, the Grand Coulee Dam 75th and the Transcontinental Railroad 150th.

At Purdue, Giroux teaches CE 59700 (The Great Projects: Essential Lessons From the Great Builders), which examines major events in civil engineering to understand each case’s technical, professional and personal lessons. It helps demonstrate how impactful and holistic solutions are found.

That history includes American landmarks with distinct Boilermaker connections.

Purdue alum Elwood Mead (BS agriculture 1882, MS civil engineering 1888, HDR engineering 1902) was the chief engineer for the Hoover Dam, constructed between 1931 and 1936. Built during the Great Depression, the dam transformed water management and power generation throughout the American Southwest, demonstrating how infrastructure can drive economic growth and improve quality of life for millions.

Lake Mead, the reservoir formed by the Hoover Dam, was named in his honor.

In the same era, Charles Alton Ellis played an integral role in designing the Golden Gate Bridge, which was named one of the “Seven Wonders of the Modern World” by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1994. He made thousands of calculations, wrote contracts and supervised siting for the bridge, which opened to the public in 1937.

Despite his significant contributions, Ellis went largely unrecognized for decades. In 1931, after the bridge design has been finalized, Chief Engineer Joseph Strauss removed him from the project amid ongoing professional disagreements and mutual frustration. However, during the bridge’s 75th anniversary celebration that Giroux chaired, the American Society of Civil Engineers placed a plaque at the bridge honoring Ellis’ structural design work.

Ellis joined the Purdue faculty in 1934 as a professor of structural engineering and remained here until his retirement in 1946.

“Civil engineering has a remarkable heritage with amazing stories,” Giroux says. “It’s gratifying for me to introduce young engineers to the past and help them prepare for what’s ahead of them.”

A future based on our foundation

As a land-grant institution founded to serve the public good, Purdue has prepared generations of engineers, builders and problem-solvers who transformed ambitious ideas into lasting structures.

Purdue’s curriculum is expanding to offer opportunities that haven’t been available in the U.S. until now. The Bridge Engineering Education Program includes new courses and seminars, as well as plans for a concentration, that will serve as a national model.

“These students will be the future leaders of the profession,” Giroux says.

Along with training structural engineers, Connor hopes to expand the program to help the inspection side of the industry, offering resources for technicians and people currently operating in the field. It would provide a clear path to certification and ensure that inspectors have the knowledge necessary to keep the public safe.

“It’s not only about the initial years,” Connor says. “We’re talking about continuing education. It serves everyone.

“We’ll get a call about a bridge that’s over 100 years old, followed by a call on bridge design that’s using new materials and methods that we use today. And we figure it all out.”

See how these Boilermakers made their rooms their home at Purdue

Your residence hall room is more than just somewhere to sleep. It’s the place on campus that you call home — and your room should reflect what makes you feel comfortable.  

University Residences provides many of the basics for your room, such as a bed, dresser and desk. These serve as your starting point. The rest is up to you! Your favorite colors. Your interests. Your space. Below, you’ll find tips on how to bring your room to life with themes, lighting and personal touches that fit your style.  

Ava Alter and Alysse Martin combined their love of the West and the ocean to create the theme for their room in Shreve Hall. Framed pictures, a neon light, and turquoise and pink decor bring their coastal cowgirl look to life.

“The theme is coastal cowgirl!” Ava says. “My roommate and I both grew up in rural Indiana and love the western look. We also wanted to give the room a girlie pop of pink and loved the combination of blues and pinks in the coastal cowgirl theme. Our nickname for the room is the Barbie Dream House!”

For Molly Love and Abby Jones, lighting sets the mood. These two roommates wanted warm lighting in their room in Earhart Hall, so they relied on string lights and lamps to create an atmosphere where they can relax. Music decor adds to the ambience.  

With a few personal touches, you can create your desired atmosphere. Lighting, colors, photos and decor can all be used to create the mood you want — whether that’s cozy, energizing, calming or fun.  

“We decided upon a cozy atmosphere,” Molly says. “We decided that we wanted to incorporate plants, ambient lighting and spacious rugs to portray a home away from home. We also made one rule: Don’t turn on the big light!”

Having an open space to relax at the end of the day was important to Kylie Iloski and Vanessa Vega, which is why they collaborated to ensure that everything has a place. With thoughtful storage, these roommates in Shreve ensured they have everything they need without too much clutter.  

“Our theme is cozy and modern with a touch of pink and gold,” Kylie says. “We wanted the room to feel bright, welcoming and put together, while still showing our own styles. The matching details tie it all in, and the neon and name sign make it fun and personal.” 

By planning ahead, you can fill your room with personality while leaving space to unwind at the end of a long day.

These Boilermakers became close friends after they were assigned as roommates

Tori Jones, Deirdre Hostettler and Madeleine Yee had never met prior to being assigned as roommates as first-year students. The three women became close friends despite differing personalities and majors. 

FaceTime sessions prior to move-in day helped the trio get to know each other, and late-night conversations, pranks and embracing each other’s interests solidified a friendship built on mutual support and humor.

Q+A

Before coming to Purdue, what aspects of having a roommate made you nervous?

My biggest concern was clashing personalities. Sometimes, if people are too different, things get messy. I think because we were all new, we were very open to learning about and growing with each other in a way that didn’t have big clashes with our personalities.
– Tori Jones 
Electrical engineering 
Washington, D.C.

Q+A

Once you moved in, how did you start getting to know each other?

We each had different passions, and we were able to translate those passions into different activities that we could do around campus. I really enjoy going to the gym, so it was nice to show my roommates around and explore this new area while doing things together.
– Deirdre Hostettler 
Pharmaceutical sciences 
Indianapolis

Q+A

When did it click that you were going to be good friends?

We took the time to get to know each other and have those late-night conversations, get to see each person for who they are and share their experiences. When one of us gets a win, it’s all of us. If one of us is not feeling great or is sad, we all pitch in and help. 
– Madeleine Yee 
Aeronautical and astronautical engineering 
Los Angeles

Sharon Miller designs experiences to help students gain real-world skills

For Sharon Miller, being an educator isn’t just about passing on technical knowledge — it’s about giving students the tools to recognize their strengths and gain confidence in settings that help turn theory into practice.  

“I love helping students understand their superpowers,” says Miller, associate professor of engineering practice in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering (BME) and assistant vice provost in Indianapolis. “I think each student has a super strength — and sometimes they don’t know what it is. I get to discover what that is in my conversations and work with students. Figuring out what aspects of themselves they can lean on makes them better people.”  

Miller applies her research in engineering education to design experiences that help Boilermakers practice what they learn in teams and real-world settings. Whether she’s planning courses, attending faculty meetings or connecting with local healthcare industry partners, Miller focuses on creating environments where students can succeed in the classroom and beyond. These experiences include immersion in hospitals and local clinics, job shadowing, internships and senior capstone projects.

“We especially see gains in performance when students have to do something over and over,” Miller says. “We design those experiences so they don’t feel rote, and they instead feel confidence-building.”

With hospitals and clinics just steps away from campus, Purdue students in Indianapolis have access to the kind of real-world learning opportunities that are hard to replicate in the classroom. Miller has used this proximity to build connections with clinicians who serve as partners for immersive experiences and help BME students practice what they’re learning while getting an inside look at the healthcare industry. For many students, it’s their first look at how engineering can impact patient care every day.

In support of this mission, Miller led the creation of the INdiana Summer Clinical Residency in Innovation for Biomedical Engineers, also known as (IN)SCRIBE. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, this paid, six-week experience places BME students in clinical settings for immersion and team-based design work totaling approximately 30 hours per week during the summer. Participants complete an innovation camp and clinical rotations, then design solutions based on what they observe.  

“There’s a level of ownership, investment and innovation that these students build over the summer,” Miller says. “We have examples of them taking what they’ve learned into their capstone projects.” 

Capstone projects in Indianapolis are unique in that they take place over two semesters, giving students more opportunities to fully develop their designs while building relationships and gaining valuable feedback from medical professionals. For example, one student group is currently working on a training tool that can be used to simulate emergency surgeries designed to relieve eye trauma caused by blunt force. 

“When the eye starts to swell, there is a need to relieve pressure built up on the optical never — else, the patient may go blind in that eye,” Miller explains. “Someone in the emergency department has to be trained to snip a tendon. Our students are working on a tool that can replicate that procedure, and during capstone, they can meet the people who are going to use it and get feedback in real time. They were able to go in and get the input of 25 surgical residents.” 

The strong connections built with the local medical community extend to the camaraderie Miller fosters within the BME program. Beyond the immersive experiences are smaller moments — an extra email or message to make sure every student is informed of an upcoming opportunity, encouragement for undergraduates to support their TA at a presentation, an introduction to an alum or even a discussion about the best place to get a pizza.

“We’re here to help students explore data and help them build the confidence and technical depth that get them the job or interview,” Miller says. “But we’re also here to introduce students to new people. It’s more than faculty and staff — it’s a whole ecosystem they get to be part of.”  

Miller can feel the closeness of the program when she walks around campus.  

“When I’m in Indianapolis, I literally can’t walk from building to building without running into someone I know,” Miller says. “The size of our program in a big city really makes it feel like we can provide everyone with the ability to be part of it and have access to our partners, industry and the city.” 

For Miller, these everyday connections are a reminder of how far BME students can go — and how personally she takes their success.  

“The most energizing part is seeing students walk across the graduation stage,” Miller says. “When that happens, it means all of Purdue’s systems have worked in a way that allows those students to have success. No matter what their journey in BME has looked like, I know every single name. The end of every semester brings many smiles when I get to see everyone who has made it.”

I love helping students understand their superpowers. I think each student has a super strength — and sometimes they don’t know what it is. I get to discover what that is in my conversations and work with students. Figuring out what aspects of themselves they can lean on makes them better people.

Sharon Miller
Associate professor of engineering practice in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering and assistant vice provost in Indianapolis 

How Purdue alumnus Mike Moran’s love for coins grew into scholarship, public service and opportunities for Boilermakers.

When Mike Moran talks about coins, he is talking about much more. 

For him, a conversation about coins is about power, policy, art, economics and ambition. A silver dollar is never just a silver dollar and dimes aren’t just change. Whether newly struck by the U.S. Mint or passed from hand to hand, each piece carries evidence of the country that produced it. In Moran’s hands, coins become a way to read American history. 

That makes him a fitting Purdue voice for America’s 250th anniversary. Moran, who earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Purdue, has built a career by seeing what small details can reveal about large systems. At Purdue, he says, he learned to solve problems. That skill stayed with him through business, writing, public service and a legislative achievement that brought two classic American coins back into production. 

A problem solver on a large scale 

When a young Moran transferred to Purdue in January 1967, he worked toward his civil engineering degree within what today is the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering, and then moved into what Purdue then called industrial administration — a master’s program in business that predated the MBA and gave him the business grounding he wanted.

The combination suited him. Engineering taught structure; business taught judgment. And his extracurricular involvement at Theta Chi Fraternity taught him that he could lead. Later, as an officer in what was then Ashland Coal Inc., Moran helped guide more than $2 billion in mergers and acquisitions. He says the work let him build something. By the time he left the company, the operation he helped grow was producing one of every 10 tons of steam coal mined in the United States. 

For his second act, he invested in a wholesale building-products supplier in western Colorado, growing it into a chain and steering it through the brutal housing downturn of 2008-09. 

The same discipline shows up in his research of coins. Moran is an award-winning author, lecturer and researcher whose latest book, “When Coins Were King: The Coins, Power Struggles, and Personalities That Defined a Nation,” treats coinage as financial history in miniature.

It comes disguised as a coin book, but it is a full financial history of the United States from the Civil War brought to life through coins.

Mike Moran

Purdue alumnus and author of “When Coins Were King: The Coins, Power Struggles, and Personalities That Defined a Nation”

Inspiring and advocating on a big stage 

Moran’s influence extends beyond business and bookshelves. 

As a member of the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC), a federal advisory committee that collaborates with the U.S. Mint, he advises on designs for U.S. coins and medals.  

In preparation for the nation’s 250th birthday, he got a special assignment.  

“I was in a working group within the mint that was pulled from the CCAC membership. We started meeting in late 2022,” he says.  
 
There was no single coin minted to represent the nation’s 250th birthday. To carry out the provisions of the law authorizing special coinage for the 250th, the working group took a lead role in developing themes that would embody 250 years of American ideals.

That work required knowing what a coin can hold — visually, legally and historically. 

Moran’s most consequential contribution, though, may be the 1921 Silver Dollar Coin Anniversary Act. Moran helped push the legislation that authorized the U.S. Mint to issue new Morgan and Peace silver dollars, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the end of one classic silver dollar and the beginning of another. 

It took two years. There was House and Senate maneuvering, crowded congressional offices, pandemic delays, and timing so tight that Moran feared the bill might die at the end of the session. Instead, it became law Jan. 5, 2021. 

“For me, it was a major accomplishment,” Moran says. “It took all my business and leadership skills to get it done.” 

A wider world for students 

Moran’s giving to Purdue follows the same logic that runs through his life: Understand the system and learn how the world works. He now helps others see more broadly. 

He has generously funded a study-abroad scholarship for engineering students through Purdue’s GEARE program because his own business experience taught him that the American way of doing business is not the only way. International partners from Germany and Spain showed him how differently decisions could be made across cultures.

His GEARE scholarship is meant to get students “across the pond” so they can study in Europe, encounter other cultures and understand how other people live, think and work. 

The best returns 

For all Moran has built, written and influenced, Purdue remains personal. He credits his Purdue years with shaping the foundation of his life — including the relationship with his wife, Dee Dee, whom he married the summer after they reconnected during his time as a student.  

That devotion is still visible. At the time of this writing, in the summer of 2026, Moran was rearranging his days around her recovery from shoulder replacement surgery: the schedule of a busy man organized around care. 

That care extends to students he may never meet. He provides them with a scholarship gift that is more than financial; it extends his conviction that a wider world rewards those who study carefully, think clearly and keep showing up until the work is done. 

Coins may be the artifacts that first taught Moran to read history in miniature. But his Purdue legacy is minted in something more lasting than metal — in the students whose lives are changed by the opportunities he and his wife have made possible.

Ava Flynn pursues innovation in honor of her mother, her own cancer journey and the legacy of Tyler Trent

For Ava Flynn, medicine was never just a career path — it was personal. 

The Purdue biomedical engineering student grew up watching cancer reshape her family’s life.  

“My mom’s whole story is what initially drew me to healthcare,” Flynn says. 

Born in Dublin, Ireland, Flynn moved to the Caribbean with her family and had a picturesque childhood until her mother was diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma, a rare and aggressive cancer. 

Her family relocated from the Caribbean to the United States in search of treatment, bouncing between New York, Connecticut, Maryland and Miami while her mother underwent surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation and experimental treatments. Flynn was 12 years old when her mother died in 2015. 

Years later, Flynn faced her own cancer diagnosis. 

During high school, after months of worsening symptoms and multiple misdiagnoses, she learned she had Stage 4 Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Chemotherapy followed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, isolating her from friends, school and much of everyday life.

Still, she refused to let her cancer diagnosis define her future. 

“I don’t care what’s happening around me,” Flynn says. “I’m going to get through whatever I want to get through.” 

That determination — and her commitment to using hardship to help others — earned Flynn the 2025 Tyler Trent Courage and Resilience Award, which recognizes Purdue students who embody the perseverance and selflessness exemplified by late Purdue student and cancer activist Tyler Trent. 

Persistence is the refusal to succumb to adversity. Instead of letting life hold you back, you’re using it to fuel what you can do for the world around you.

Ava Flynn

Biomedical engineering student

Finding a new direction

Before her diagnosis, Flynn planned to pursue medicine through a traditional premed track. But after years spent in hospitals as both a daughter and patient, she found herself searching for a new way to channel her passion for science and healthcare. 

She started learning more about biomedical engineering, a field that combined her interests in math, science and medicine. When it came time to choose a college, the choice was clear.  

“As an engineering student, of course, where are we going to go?” Flynn says. “We’re going to go to Purdue.” 

At Purdue, Flynn found both academic rigor and opportunity. She was especially drawn to the university’s Global Engineering Alliance for Research and Education program, which allowed her to pursue another lifelong passion: international travel. 

Last spring, Flynn studied abroad in Spain, living with students from around the world while navigating an entirely new culture independently. 

“There is nothing you can compare study abroad to,” Flynn says. “It’s the best choice you can make as an undergraduate. It’s the fastest way to learn who you are.”

Building a future through empathy

Flynn is pursuing Purdue’s 4+1 biomedical engineering program as an Engineering Honors Program student, along with minors in French and global engineering studies.

She hopes to attend medical school after graduation while continuing to explore how engineering and medicine intersect. She remains interested in oncology and has also discovered interests in areas such as electrophysiology and medical device innovation. 

During her senior capstone project, Flynn worked alongside physicians to design and prototype a medical device using Purdue’s biomedical engineering labs. 

“It was a lot of fun,” she says. “Getting hands-on experience has been important to me.” 

Last summer, Flynn lived in France while conducting research on heart regeneration. She’ll return to France this summer for work through a Purdue research collaboration.  

Beyond academics, Flynn remains committed to supporting others affected by cancer. This summer, she will serve as a counselor at Camp Kesem, a camp for children impacted by a parent’s cancer diagnosis — an experience that holds special meaning as a former camper herself. 

Carrying Tyler Trent’s legacy forward

Flynn first discovered the Tyler Trent Award while searching for scholarships. The more she learned about Trent, the more connected she felt. 

“I felt like I was reading a little bit of my own story,” Flynn says. 

Receiving the award, she says, felt deeply validating — not only because of academic achievement but also because of the personal implications.

“This award recognizes something different,” Flynn says. “It’s about strength of character.” 

For Flynn, persistence means refusing to allow adversity to determine the course of her life.  

“Persistence is the refusal to succumb to adversity,” she says. “Instead of letting life hold you back, you’re using it to fuel what you can do for the world around you.” 

It’s a mindset she believes Tyler Trent embodied. And it’s one she hopes to carry forward through medicine, research and service to others. 

On a flight into space, Purdue researchers will test forces that could determine how we find our way, build and survive in space

A drop of liquid released in space doesn’t fall. It hovers, clings and stretches into shapes that defy earthbound expectations. And for engineers, that drop resists prediction.  

In 2027, Purdue researchers will follow that bead of liquid aboard a Virgin Galactic spacecraft and into microgravity, chasing answers that could determine how spacecraft navigate, how manufacturing for the supply chain can be accomplished in space, and how humans can survive and function there.  

The Purdue 1 mission is a first: a university-led, research-focused suborbital flight with an all-Boilermaker crew. In a few minutes of weightlessness, experiments that span quantum physics, manufacturing and fluid dynamics will test whether the systems that humanity will need in space can be made efficient, reliable and operationally resilient.  

The research is critical if space is to one day become a place where humans live and work. All of the systems we take for granted on Earth have to work in an environment where gravity, the consistent assumption behind nearly all existing engineering, no longer dominates.  

Navigation without GPS: Wayfinding in deep space

On Earth, navigation is invisible. Satellites beam signals, and a blue dot appears on our phones or vehicle screens to reassure us that the technology knows where we are and how to get where we’re going.   
   
In deep space, that system collapses.  

“When you go to Mars, you won’t have a GPS signal,” says Shengwang Du, the Scifres Family Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a professor of physics and astronomy. “You have to rely on new technology.”  

That technology — quantum positioning, navigation and timing, or Q-PNT — is at the center of one of Purdue 1’s experiments.   

Du is working to reveal how laser-cooled atoms behave in microgravity along with colleagues Alexandra Boltasseva, the Ron and Dotty Garvin Tonjes Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Vladimir Shalaev, the Bob and Anne Burnett Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Joseph Lukens, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, in collaboration with the company Infleqtion.  

When intensely cold, atoms can become remarkably precise. That’s the idea behind the researchers’ experiment to understand how atoms behave when gravity nearly disappears.  

Using laser light, the team will cool atoms to microkelvin temperatures — just a millionth of a degree above absolute zero (minus 459.67 degrees F). That’s colder than deep space. At these temperature extremes, atoms barely move. And when motion nearly stops, precision takes over.  

“Even a tiny error makes a huge difference,” Du says.  

On Earth, atoms jitter and drift, like a metronome knocked slightly offbeat. But at near absolute zero, their motion becomes steady and predictable.  

That rhythm becomes a kind of internal clock. By measuring its consistency with extreme accuracy, researchers can track motion and position from within the system itself, without satellites.  

That precision could be the future of navigation everywhere.   

Today’s global positioning systems are vulnerable in ways that quantum technology would not be. Satellites are susceptible to outages, interference and attack. Q-PNT points to a different future for both outer space and Earth: navigation that doesn’t depend on satellites. In the long term on Earth, that could mean more reliable timing and positioning for cars, airplanes, ships, financial systems and power grids.   

Quantum systems that can operate without GPS would be more resilient and harder to disrupt and hack. Spacecraft traveling to the moon, Mars or beyond could navigate independently, without relying on signals from Earth.  

Still, navigation is only one of many challenges. To live and work in space, humans will need an entire infrastructure, from guidance systems to orbital manufacturing, capable of producing semiconductors and metals in orbit.

Manufacturing off Earth: Building what you need, when and where you need it

If navigation answers where you are and where you’re headed, manufacturing answers what you can do once you get there. 

Ajay Malshe and his team’s experiment addresses a constraint as old as spaceflight itself: that every component, every replacement part, every system must be carried into space from Earth. That model isn’t sustainable on a large scale as we move away from individual space missions to operating in space.  

“We are in what you would call Space 2.0,” says Malshe, the R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering and co-pioneer of the concept “factories in space,” alongside his son, Harsha Malshe, co-founder and chief technology officer of Arkwright Space. “If human habitation, human presence, human operation is going to go to space, the electronics, the semiconductors, chips, quantum and the digits all have to go to space.” 

Malshe’s PRISM team — Purdue Research in Space Manufacturing — has designed its Purdue 1 experiment as a compact, autonomous micro-lab for understanding the science and engineering intrinsic to the in-space manufacturing of electronics and semiconductors. Inside it, researchers will test whether the earliest building blocks of manufacturing can happen in orbit under conditions that are fundamentally different from those on Earth.

The work builds on years of research from Purdue’s Center for In-Space Manufacturing, where engineers, students and industry partners rethink how production happens without gravity. 

Instead of relying on large, energy-intensive systems like furnaces, the experiment uses a far more targeted approach. A diode laser module — drawing less than 50 watts of power — delivers controlled, localized energy to ultrathin layers of silicon and metal.  

The goal is to gently reshape their internal atomic structure and study performance without the standard constraints of bulky scale or the energy demands of traditional manufacturing. 

Beginning with the liquid phase, the experiment also will observe how materials change phases in microgravity and how digital tools can guide manufacturing processes with minimal human intervention. Together, these elements point toward a system that can operate at the point of need with increasing autonomy — a necessity when distance and delay make real-time control from Earth impractical. 

At its core, the work asks a  simple question: Can critical components be made, repaired and adapted when they’re needed and at the rate they’re needed? 

In space, that capability defines resilience. It determines whether a mission can continue when something breaks, whether systems can evolve in place and whether infrastructure can scale beyond one-off missions into sustained operations. 

When liquids refuse to behave: The hidden problem of spaceflight  

On Earth, liquids are obedient. They settle at the bottom of a container. They pour. They drain. In space, they do none of those things.  

“On Earth, liquids just go downhill,” says Steven Collicott, professor of aeronautics and astronautics, who will go up in the Purdue 1 spacecraft to conduct his fluid-dynamic experiment. “That’s all due to gravity. Without gravity, other things draw where the liquid wants to go.”    

Those other things include surface tension and capillary forces, which dominate in microgravity. They determine where fuel collects in a tank, whether water reaches a plant’s roots and whether life-support systems function as intended.  

Every spacecraft depends on liquids for fuel, drinking water for astronauts, coolants for electronics and fluids for medical systems.   

And yet, as Collicott notes, engineers have designed those systems on Earth, guided by intuition that does not apply in space.    

Purdue 1 carries two experiments designed to close that gap.

Controlling liquids when gravity no longer does  

Collicott’s experiment focuses on a deceptively simple question: How do liquids spread across surfaces in microgravity?  

On Earth, gravity dominates fluid behavior. In space, liquids cling, wick and move in ways that are difficult to predict and even harder to model.    

Collicott’s test uses adjustable plates to observe how liquids advance along surfaces under different conditions. The goal is to build models that can predict space-based fluid behavior reliably.  

The lack of those models has had tangible negative consequences. Spacecraft must carry extra fuel, add redundancies and accept inefficiencies. Collicott’s work will pave the way toward spacecraft and space systems that are lighter, cheaper and more precise.   

“If you don’t have a good knowledge of how to handle and separate liquids and gases,” Collicott says, “you’re just wasting precious fuel.”    

In extreme cases, misunderstanding fluid behavior can lead to failure: overheating tanks, losing propulsion or compromising life-support systems.  

The experiment will collect rare, sustained, high-quality data in true microgravity, gathered not by automated systems, but by a researcher adapting in real time.  

That human presence matters. “You put the brain power up there,” Collicott says, adding that the power to adjust conditions maximizes what can be learned.  

When motion complicates everything

Collicott’s work will study liquids at rest. Abigail Mizzi’s will examine them put in motion.  

Mizzi, a graduate student in aeronautics and astronautics, will join Collicott aboard the Purdue 1 spacecraft. She is leading teams of undergraduate researchers in preparing the experiment designed to learn about rotational slosh — how liquids that are set into motion behave without gravity to slow them down or stabilize them.

On Earth, a shaken cup of coffee quickly settles. In space, it does not. “How long does it take for it to stop moving?” Mizzi asks. “There’s no gravity to make it stop.”    

That question carries enormous implications because moving fluids can shift a spacecraft’s center of mass, affect stability and navigation, and complicate fuel delivery.  

Mizzi’s team is building an experiment that will induce motion by rotating and disturbing liquid systems, then measure how they behave.  

The goal is to develop and improve models used to simulate spacecraft systems. Current simulations contain uncertainty, forcing engineers to compensate with extra fuel, weight and cost.  

“We can’t fly humans to space based on assumptions,” Mizzi says. “We need data.”    

That data will inform propellant systems, life-support systems in spacesuits and water delivery for plants.   

Even something as simple as watering crops in space depends on knowing where the liquid is and whether it can be moved where it’s needed.

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A team effort from the ground up  

The rotational slosh experiment is also a study in how space research is built — not by individual researchers, but by teams learning in real time. Mizzi’s team is filled with Purdue undergraduates who are getting real-world research experience they will likely never forget.  

Owen Fix, who received his bachelor’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics in May, is among them. He describes the project as the kind of engineering he used to envision but rarely encountered in the classroom.  

“It’s kind of what I always imagined engineering would be like,” he says, referring to his experience with Purdue’s signature hands-on, iterative learning tied to real-world outcomes.    

His role among several undergraduate researchers on Mizzi’s team is focused on motors and control electronics. It has involved trial, error and the occasional failure in the form of burned components, unexpected results and lessons learned.  

Failures in this process are not flaws; they are inherent to learning. And for Fix, they can also be exciting.   

“I’ve made a lot of mistakes in it,” he says. “But that’s kind of part of the fun of doing something that actually matters.”    

For Mizzi, leading the project means managing not just technical challenges, but people. She trains students every semester as seniors graduate and new students join her team. Documenting the work done and progress made while maintaining continuity in a changing team is an ongoing challenge.  

Mizzi takes it all in stride. She understands that space research is not an individual pursuit. “It takes so many people to collaborate and work together to make something massive happen,” she says.

Minutes that matter  

The Purdue 1 mission will provide only minutes of microgravity — minutes that will be choreographed down to the second. Each of the research projects, whether automated or human-run, must activate, capture data and, if needed, receive real-time adjustments.   

Preparation includes simulation, rehearsal and even centrifuge training to replicate the forces of launch. Researchers must be ready to act immediately, without hesitation.  

“Plan, prepare, practice,” Collicott says. Because in space, there are no second takes.  

Moments for momentum  

Each of the Purdue 1 experiments addresses a different piece of a much larger puzzle.

A fifth experiment to be overseen by Beth Moses, astronaut and associate professor of engineering practice, will test wearable technology. 

Individually, they are incremental. Together, they point toward a future where space systems are not just functional, but reliable enough to support sustained human presence.

Opening space to more than astronauts  

The Purdue 1 mission is also part of a broader shift that extends beyond technology.  

Malshe calls it the “democratization of space,” a move from a domain once limited to a few astronauts to one that includes universities, industry and government. He says that this is as it should be. “As a land-grant university, we engage our citizens.”  

Partnerships with NASA, the U.S. Space Force, Northrop Grumman and companies like Infleqtion help move ideas from lab to orbit.  

Shalaev sees that collaboration as essential: “The fact that we’re doing this with industry is very important,” he says, “because it could speed up this new technology. This will help to bring the work we do closer to real technological application in the field of quantum.”

We are in what you would call Space 2.0. If human habitation, human presence, human operation is going to go to space, the electronics, the semiconductor, the quantum all have to go to space.

Ajay Malshe

The R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Boltasseva points out that what follows is competition, momentum and progress. “I think there will be a race to get things into space and test them, and that is great because competition drives technology and fundamental discoveries forward,” she says.  

She also sees something less tangible but in her view just as important: a chance to spark curiosity.  

“I think we are in an important stage right now because quantum for many people is still something mysterious,” she says. “Educating people about quantum technologies at large and their emerging future impact on many aspects of life, technology and science is very important.”  

Purdue’s next chapter in space  

Purdue’s legacy of astronauts, missions and milestones in space is well known.  

Purdue 1 represents a different kind of first — ownership. Purdue is designing and operating its own research in human spaceflight.  

In many ways, it represents a return to the university’s land-grant roots of applied research, real-world problem-solving and practical outcomes. Only now, the field extends beyond Earth.  

When the spacecraft arcs above the planet in 2027, the experiments will last just minutes. But the questions they ask and the answers they yield will endure. Before humans can live in space, they must first understand it. And to gain that understanding, even a drop of liquid matters.

When Samuel Vessat arrived in the United States chasing a basketball dream, he never imagined he might one day represent France in track and field. 

Yet, that possibility now feels increasingly real.

The Purdue standout has emerged as one of the nation’s top 400-meter runners despite having less than three years of serious track experience. His journey — from a basketball-obsessed childhood in France to NCAA All-America honors and Olympic aspirations — reads more like fiction than reality.

“It’s really been a Cinderella story,” says Marquita Mines, who helped mold Vessat as the former track coach at Edward Waters University, a Division II school in Jacksonville, Fla. 

That Cinderella story took another remarkable turn in June, when Vessat finished fourth in the 400-meter dash at the NCAA championships while also being part of a Purdue 4×400-meter relay squad that finished fourth. 

Basketball was always the plan 

Vessat grew up in Saint-Denis, France, a bustling suburb just north of Paris near the Stade de France, home of the French national soccer team. While soccer dominates much of the country, it never captured his attention.

“My dad was a basketball player, so I grew up in a basketball family,” Vessat says. “It was basketball, basketball, basketball.”

His father played professionally in Spain after developing through France’s basketball system. Naturally, Vessat followed the same path. 

He admired competitors more than superstars. Dennis Rodman, Isiah Thomas and former Michigan standout Tariq Abdul-Wahad (ne Olivier Saint-Jean) were among his favorite athletes. He modeled his game after defensive-minded guards such as Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverley. 

“He was like an old soul,” says Ron Stewart, a family friend who helped mentor Vessat. “He was incredibly mature, professional and focused. That’s really the best way to describe him. He always seemed to know what he wanted. He was meticulous, serious and intentional about everything he did. That’s just who he is.”

But basketball wasn’t the only thing shaping his future.

Unlike the American collegiate system, the French system often forces athletes to choose between elite sports and academics. Vessat wanted both. 

“Basketball was part of it, but academics were a major reason,” he says. “In France, it’s difficult to balance high-level sports and college studies.” 

That desire eventually brought him across the Atlantic.

Knocking on doors 

Determination was about all Vessat had when he arrived in Atlanta. After attending a basketball camp in Georgia years earlier, he maintained contacts in the area and decided to pursue opportunities in America. The process was anything but smooth. 

He visited campuses, including Georgia Tech, Georgia State and Kennesaw State, hoping for workouts and tryouts. 

“I flew over and started knocking on doors,” he says. 

What he didn’t realize was that NCAA rules prohibit the kind of tryouts he envisioned. 

Eventually, a prep school gave him a chance. He spent six months bouncing between two schools while navigating visa limitations and searching for an opportunity. 

That opportunity arrived at Edward Waters, where he accepted a basketball scholarship. 

Track remained as little more than conditioning practice. At least initially.

The accidental track star 

Like many basketball players, Vessat ran to stay in shape. 

Back home in France, he occasionally trained alongside national-team athletes and friends who competed in track and field. When basketball season ended at Edward Waters, he approached the track coaches about joining workouts. 

Coach Mines gladly welcomed him. At the time, Vessat described himself as an 800- and 1,500-meter runner. The coaches quickly disagreed. 

“We watched him and quickly realized he wasn’t an 800-meter runner,” Mines says. “We decided to try him in the 400 and the 200.” 

Then came a revealing moment. Before his first race, Vessat admitted he didn’t know how to set starting blocks. 

“I had to show him how to set his blocks before the race,” Mines says. 

Minutes later, the novice sprinter ran a 49-second 400. 

“We looked at each other and thought, ‘This kid is going places,'” Mines recalls. 

Every race brought improvement. The raw talent was undeniable. 

“We knew he had 46- or even 45-second potential,” Mines says. 

A difficult choice 

Despite his rapid rise, basketball remained his first love. For a time, Vessat believed he could continue pursuing both sports. Eventually, reality forced a decision. 

“It was very difficult,” he says. “I always thought I could do both sports throughout college.” 

Then circumstances changed. Several coaches and staff members left Edward Waters. At the same time, Vessat wanted to test himself against better competition. 

The transfer portal beckoned. 

Why Purdue? 

Purdue track and field coaches saw the potential immediately. 

The Boilermakers’ staff wasn’t simply recruiting a promising sprinter. They were recruiting an elite athlete with uncommon upside. When Vessat visited West Lafayette, the culture sold him. 

“What stood out was how connected everyone was,” he says. “The culture felt like a family.”

Says Purdue track coach Tony Miller: “Our jumps coach, Coach (Jamaal) Barnes, had a connection with one of Sam’s coaches and reached out. Sam decided to transfer to Purdue, and it’s been a tremendous blessing for our program ever since.” 

Purdue’s reputation also resonated internationally. 

“Purdue is one of those schools you hear about internationally, along with schools like Stanford and Princeton,” Vessat says. 

He arrived in West Lafayette with plenty of potential, and he quickly lived up to all of it and more.

Built for the 400 

Purdue coaches believe Vessat possesses a rare combination of physical gifts and mental toughness. At 6-foot-4, he covers ground effortlessly. 

“His stride length is really good,” Miller says. “He keeps his hips up and wastes very little motion.” 

Yet the physical attributes only tell part of the story. His confidence stands out even more. 

“Ninety-five percent of being a great athlete is confidence,” Miller says. “Sam has that.” 

The confidence is never arrogance. Instead, it fuels relentless preparation. Coaches describe him as a meticulous worker who strings together quality workouts week after week and embraces difficult challenges. 

His character may be his greatest strength. 

“He’s the type of athlete every coach wishes they had,” Mines says.

A 4.0 student at Edward Waters, Vessat earned praise not only for his athletic development but also for his maturity, discipline and character.

The moment that defined him 

Perhaps no story captures Vessat better than the one that happened before a national championship race. 

As he prepared to compete against some of the country’s best runners, he approached Miller with a simple statement: 

“Coach, I’m making the final.” 

Miller smiled and responded that he hoped so. Then Vessat went out and did exactly what he predicted. 

“That’s who he is,” Miller says. “He genuinely believes in himself and then backs it up with action.” 

Eyes on 2028 

The next chapter could be even bigger. Purdue coaches believe Vessat possesses legitimate Olympic potential. 

“If he stays healthy and continues developing, he could be one of France’s top 400-meter athletes,” says Miller. “In two years, I believe he can become a 44-low runner.” 

Vessat isn’t shying away from those expectations.

“The 2028 Olympics are a goal,” says Vessat, who has another year of college eligibility. 

For now, however, he’s focused on daily improvement while enjoying the All-America honors he earned in 2026 and helping Purdue finish in the top 25 — one of the program’s best team performances in more than a half-century. 

Vessat’s parents help keep things in perspective. Although thrilled by his success, they continually remind him to stay grounded. 

“Their message is always the same,” Vessat says. “Stay focused and keep working.” 

It’s advice he has followed since leaving Saint-Denis years ago. 

From knocking on doors in Georgia searching for a basketball opportunity to becoming one of Purdue’s brightest track stars, Vessat’s path has never been conventional. But that’s exactly what makes it remarkable. 

The basketball player who once didn’t know how to set starting blocks is now chasing a spot on France’s Olympic team. Based on everything he has accomplished so far, few would bet against him.

Written by Tom Dienhart, who has worked with GoldandBlack.com since 2019.