Business administration major Alejandra Palma’s dream honors her family

Alejandra Palma (BS business administration, Purdue Global) says the part of her childhood in Chile that serves as her ultimate North Star is the evening walks she used to take with the love of her life — her dad. Every night, they used to catch the views of the city and talk.  

“The first years of my life, it was just me and my father,” she says. “He had to work a lot, so at night after dinner, he took my hand and we walked to a viewpoint where we could see the city. It was our ritual before going to sleep.” 

In true childlike fashion, she would tell him how much she loved him. How she would always love him, just like this. He would tell her, no, she was going to grow up and make a life for herself, and that’s a good thing; they would both be at peace with it. She would say, nope. She was going to bring him along to live with her. “But I’ll be a grumpy old man!” he would say. But Palma thought he could get old and grumpy all he wants, but no matter where her adventures took her, she vowed to be right there with him and love him just the same.  

Those adventures would take her overseas. But that’s where things took an unexpected turn. Rather than fulfilling her dream of opening a permanent-makeup studio in the United States, she found herself facing her own mortality. She says her brush with death gave her a new outlook on herself and the world around her, and it led her to Purdue Global.  

That’s where her comeback began. What she didn’t know was how profoundly her family would feel ownership of it, too. 

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A passion for beauty 

“I’ve always heard that if you don’t work for your own dreams, somebody else will hire you to work for their dreams,” Palma says. That’s why she always knew she wanted to carve her own path as an entrepreneur. And she knew exactly what she wanted to do, too. 

Years after her nightly walks with her dad, she had sisters to play with. More to the point, she had sisters with hair — prime for a fresh cut. At 10 years old, Palma accepted the challenge. 

A lot of people may have had a sibling cut their hair, but the haircut Palma gave her sister was dramatic. Her sister’s hair started out very long and ended up in a chin-length bob. It got a surprising reaction from the grownups. 

“I wasn’t grounded or anything because I made a perfect cut!” she says.  

It was then that she knew. Drawing out the beauty in others was her greatest passion. 

As she grew up, she identified what it was about fashion and cosmetology that brought her joy. “Every woman is beautiful,” she explains. “But if I can help somebody to feel more beautiful or show somebody something they don’t know they have, that’s what means a lot to me.” 

She took the first step as a young adult by going to beauty school in Chile and becoming a licensed cosmetologist. Then, along with a friend, she opened up a small studio. But she still wanted more. She felt like she had the “what” right but not the “where.” Her ultimate dream was doing the same thing in the United States, so she sold her portion of the studio to her business partner and she moved to the States to pursue her highest dream. 

That move saved her life. 

The will to fight 

Her first step after moving to the States was to get the income flowing, so she took a manual labor job in a factory while she worked on plans to open the studio. Three months into the new job, her insurance benefits kicked in, and she immediately made an appointment for a checkup with a primary care physician.  

It was supposed to be routine — she felt completely normal — but it turned into the moment everyone fears. The anomaly. The additional tests. The call. 

Cancer.  

While it’s never a good moment for a cancer diagnosis, the timing couldn’t have been worse. Palma was in a new country, didn’t speak the language, had no network of loved ones nearby. Although she knew she was brave, ready to take on any challenge, this one wiped out her strong will. 

“It changed everything,” she says. “I went from being a completely healthy person to an oncology patient with no desire to fight.” 

Now, so suddenly, she was 37 years old and considering end-of-life decisions. She says she didn’t want to spend her final days anywhere but with her two sons, so Palma went to her supervisor with the intent to quit her job. Her boss wouldn’t have it. She believed Palma could get through this and encouraged her to take a medical leave so she could get paid, keep her insurance and have something to work toward that had nothing to do with cancer. 

It not only gave her the resources she needed to fight cancer, it gave her the will to fight it. And she did. 

“Without a doubt, it was one of the most difficult periods of my life,” she says. “It was full of uncertainties, pain and emotional turmoil, but it also led me to profound personal growth. Now, I feel more appreciation for life. It made me resilient. I am more empathetic. I learned to evaluate my priorities. I saw the fragility and beauty of life, and I saw the spirit of the human being and the connections that can be born.” 

Armed with a fresh will to fight, Palma endured treatments, one after another, and finally received good news. She was in remission.  

But by then, something inside had shifted. She was still dreaming of opening her own studio, but the journey itself mattered more to her now than it used to. While she fought for her life, Palma thought, if she survived, how could she truly give her dream the best shot possible? And where could she find real meaning along the way?  

She remembered her dad always told her never to forget where she came from, and the dream-on-the-way-to-the-dream came into focus. She wanted her journey to reflect her love for her family, too.  

My dream was to be the first person in my family to go to college. My sister told me the other day, ‘You know what? You’re living a dream for all of us.’

Alejandra Palma 
BS business administration, Purdue Global 

An education to move her forward 

“In my country, going to college is a privilege; it’s not a right,” she says. “For a middle-class family in Chile, it’s just not possible. So, my dream was to be the first person in my family to go to college. My sister told me the other day, ‘You know what? You’re living a dream for all of us.’ Living that dream is my gift to myself for being in remission.” 

Once she’d made the decision to enroll in a bachelor’s program after a 20-odd-year hiatus from academics, she says Purdue’s reputation made Purdue Global her top pick. The flexibility offered in a program designed for working adults made it a real possibility. 

“I chose Purdue Global because I wanted to be part of Purdue. I didn’t want any other university,” she says. “And I wanted an online program because I can work and pursue my degree. It’s been the perfect combination between traditional studies and modern skills offered by the digital age.” 

Palma says it’s the best decision she’s made in her life. 

“It’s been essential to prepare my journey through the business world. While it’s true that the art of permanent makeup requires technical skills, running a successful beauty studio requires a deep understanding of business principles,” she says. “Studying marketing opened up a world I was not aware of and provided me with the tools to create a strong brand and target the right audience.” 

She’s nearing the end of the course requirements now, and she finds that her dad was right — she’s found peace at this stage in life — but she hasn’t forgotten her promise to bring him along. She and her boyfriend, who has been extremely supportive all along, plan to fly her parents in from Chile to share her commencement ceremony when the day comes. 

“I haven’t seen them in three years,” she says. “Just thinking about crossing the stage with my parents there, tears of happiness run down my face.” 

It’s never too late to invest in yourself … never forget that every effort you put in brings you one step closer to a brighter and more empowered future.

Alejandra Palma  BS business administration, Purdue Global 

Never too late 

Palma wants people to know that education is a life-changing gift to give yourself. Nothing could be more worth it. 

“The value of educating ourselves goes beyond that paper we receive at the end and hang on the wall. This is a transformation. We see doors open for us both personally and professionally,” she says. 

“It’s never too late to invest in yourself. You must believe in your potential. Embrace the journey and never forget that every effort you put in brings you one step closer to a brighter and more empowered future. Your dedication will be an inspiration to others who want to pursue their dreams, too.” 

Zach Edey, Mason Gillis and Ethan Morton steer teammates in the right direction

It was a gut-wrenching loss at Indiana for the No. 1-ranked Boilermakers. All losses to the intrastate rival Hoosiers are.

When a reporter in the postgame press conference asked guard Braden Smith to explain a late-game turnover that quelled Purdue’s chance for a last-minute rally, junior center Zach Edey grabbed the microphone from his freshman teammate in the crowded media room in Assembly Hall.

“Just to clarify, that was a big play in a critical moment, but every play is big in a game like this,” Edey said. “I didn’t come out with enough energy and had too many turnovers. It’s not just on him; it is on the entire team.”

In retrospect, Edey’s statement made significant steps toward turning one loss into a long-term victory, hoping that the ultimate dividends could pay off this season in late March and April—14 months after the fact.

That is what leadership looks like, and in a public sense, it was a defining moment in Edey’s incredible Boilermaker career.

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Team effort

To use Edey’s word “clarify,” the 7-foot-4 reigning national player of the year has had help in leadership from his four-year teammates Mason Gillis and Ethan Morton. It has been a complementary situation. The senior trio possesses different personalities and perspectives when trying to set the best examples for others to emulate.

“We are very different people,” Edey says. “Mason is OK with having a louder, more in-your-face voice that says what needs to be said. While I have never seen Ethan yell at anyone, he is a great organizer and ensures everyone is in the right place. That’s leadership, too.”

The trio, a crucial part of back-to-back outright Big Ten championship seasons, has adjusted as their roles on the team have changed. Edey was quiet when he came to Purdue in 2020, but as his playing time increased, so did his need to speak out.

“I have had to learn how to speak to people and realize that not everyone can be approached the same way,” Edey says. “Some people are OK with being yelled at; I am that way; it will make me focus more. But some guys on the team will yell back at you in the heat of the moment.

“I am not naturally confrontational, but I will do what it takes in the heat of the moment. If you yell back at me, you better fix it. If you fix it, you’re fine.”

Gillis has more of an alpha dog personality and learned to speak up at a young age. But it didn’t come easy for the New Castle, Indiana, native. At church and other team situations in his youth, others helped Gillis get out of his comfort zone.

“I didn’t want to talk to older people because I didn’t know how to talk to them,” Gillis says. “My mom, sister and dad pushed me by kicking the bird out of the nest. They taught me to smile, look people in the eye, and shake their hands. That was an important first step.”

Gillis admits he likes studying the psychology of why people react the way they do and says it has helped improve his leadership acumen. He is also philosophical about his approach.

“Being comfortable in an area that I was not naturally comfortable helped me to be more comfortable in areas where I already am,” Gillis says.

It makes perfect sense.

For Morton, leadership is about first being present through thick and thin.

“It is about showing up every day, sometimes even when you don’t want to,” Morton says.

“Communicating at different levels, both on and off the court, is important, very important.

It is more complicated than it looks. Everybody on this team is a competitor. Everyone is going to want more. Even Zach, the best player in the country, wants more. It is what makes us great. The most significant difference is the buy-in, as a result of coach (Matt) Paint(er) recruiting great guys. We have so much continuity every year because guys stay here. That helps.

“But effective leadership is harder than it looks.”

Crediting the coaches

In addition to recruiting quality people, Painter and his staff have created an environment where effective leadership is a natural by-product of the coaches’ message.

“Paint is the best in the country at building a great culture,” says Morton, who credits his dad, former major league pitcher, and Morton’s high school coach Matt Clement, for setting the standard. “There is great synergy. When he needs to put his arm around someone, he knows when to do that. When he needs to get on somebody, he does that.”

For Gillis and Morton, who have had a starting role in previous seasons, it has been challenging to see their playing time diminished at times and to start the game on the bench. However, the challenges of earning playing time may have cultivated different leadership skills.

“Mason and I have talked about it,” Morton says. “But it is life. Sometimes you work and do everything you can, and it still doesn’t work exactly as planned.”

That is where the two most important words in leadership for Morton come to the forefront: mental toughness.

“As a leader, you aren’t always going to be in positions you want to be,” says Morton, who, like Edey, is not confrontational by nature. “I don’t like yelling at guys but having the mental toughness to do it when needed, to have a challenging conversation with somebody, is so important.”

Easing the pressure

Pressure and expectations are always present, especially from a team that has struggled in the NCAA Tournament in past years and yearns to make its first trip to the Final Four in 44 years. Navigating through that, too, takes experienced leadership.

“I remind my teammates that it is just a game,” Gillis says. “The media and others emphasize it, which we understand. But when it comes down to it, you shoot the same way in the tournament and have to play as hard as you do in the regular season. We don’t need to change anything. We need to keep it simple, so when things get going fast, we can stay simple and relax.”

Edey shares Gillis’s sentiment and knows the seniors’ steady hand will help the Boilermakers weather the storm ahead.

“Last year, when we lost a game, we got down,” Edey says. “This year, when it has happened, we know we can be the best team in the country. It is better. No one’s confidence has wavered.

“I don’t like or dislike leadership. It is like tying your shoes. It is a necessary function. I like to be in control of things, and being one of the team’s leaders, our role is to try to get everyone to play better.”

It is that simple.

By Alan Karpick, publisher of GoldandBlack.com since 1996.

Desiré Hunter says her master’s degree in psychology showed her she was capable of so much more.

When Desiré Hunter (MS industrial/organizational psychology ’21, Purdue Global) began entertaining the idea of going back to school, she was in a Target parking lot, waiting for her kids while they shopped. She pulled out her phone, Googled online psychology degrees and found a handful of options. She tapped the first phone number on the list. The person on the other end answered with something rather surprising. 

“Purdue Global; how can I help you?” 

Hunter thought she was calling a different university. She laughed at the sheer poetry of it because there was something the person on the other end of the line could have no way of knowing.  

“I’m from the South, and Purdue is one of the hottest schools that’s talked about where I’m from,” she says, looking back on the exchange. “I always wanted to attend, but I just thought I wasn’t smart enough.” 

Hunter felt like it was a sign from God. 

By the end of the conversation, her path forward was clear. 

When you look back and realize you went from ‘I don’t know if I can ever do this’ to ‘I did it,’ you know you can do anything.

Desiré Hunter 
MS psychology ’21, Purdue Global 

A steppingstone for her whole family in one online program 

But the journey to that Target parking lot, so to speak, was a long one. She’d pictured things going a little differently for her life. One thing, however, was never in doubt. 

The mom of four says, “My greatest dream is that I always wanted to be a mom. I grew up in a family with four kids; that dynamic was my norm. I could never imagine having one or two!” 

“I love that they’re all unique. I used to write things about them. I would say, ‘God blessed me with four angels who are leaders.’ I love that they own their brilliance.” 

During a devastating divorce that took two years to finalize, Hunter and her kids relocated to Chicago from their home in rural Mississippi. There, she found herself working with youth on the west side of Chicago, coaching them on their career goals. But one day, to direct her students toward their gut instincts, she posed a scenario. If someone woke them out of a dead sleep and asked them what one thing they wanted to do in life, what would they say? 

It was … well, effective. The question wouldn’t leave her mind, long after work was done for the day. 

“I found myself asking the same question. What would I do?” she says.  

Having grown up in an area where people didn’t have a lot of career options, Hunter found it deeply meaningful to be able to connect with people and help them better understand their true calling, and then point them in the right direction.  

And yet, it felt like something was missing. So she went back to her roots. As a kid, she’d always wanted to be a psychologist. But her interests shifted when she got older, and she earned her bachelor’s in business from the University of Southern Mississippi. Once she reentered the workforce after staying home with her kids, she found that social services put her interests and skill set to work together.  

She definitely wasn’t on the wrong track. But maybe, Hunter thought, it was time to take it to the next level. She loved helping people figure out where to start in a career, but why stop at the starting line? Why not see it all the way through? 

“I wanted to learn to really dig deeper with people,” she says. “Connect with them on a higher level so they can thrive in their workplaces,” she says. “I wanted to help them accomplish their goals.” 

That’s when she had a date with destiny in a Target parking lot. 

She talked with the Purdue Global admissions counselor about how a master’s in industrial/organizational psychology would neatly pull together all the right things — her backgrounds in business and social services. Her fascination with how the mind works. Her talent for helping people find the right career path and thrive in it.  

“That was a Saturday,” she says. “I had everything I needed to start making decisions on Monday.” 

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How a working student and single mom learned to believe  

Back when she first moved to Chicago, Hunter had to contend with a 14-year gap in her resumé (from when she stayed home with her kids). If the bare-bones resumé, the end of her marriage and the move to one of the biggest cities in the country weren’t enough to make her doubt herself, the interviews with potential employers did it. 

After hearing employers say that her work experience wasn’t enough, she made a decision. “I just started saying yes to some things,” she says. “And the more things I said yes to, the more I started having wins along the way. It helped encourage me to believe in myself.” 

And now, working toward an online degree backed by a university she never realized she was smart enough to attend, she was seeing in real time she could do more than she knew. But a friend pointed out something important. 

“They told me, ‘Desiré, you accomplish these goals, but as soon as you accomplish them, you go right into the next without celebrating your successes.’ I always kept moving because I felt like if I stopped to celebrate, I’d lose my momentum,” she says. 

That’s not what happened. Stopping to celebrate would keep up Hunter’s spirits and motivate her to keep pressing on when things got stressful. And it was a reminder that her accomplishments were worthy of respect. It forced her to remember the wins. Point to them. Count them. Build on them. 

“I used to take myself out,” she says, smiling. “I used to get a slice of key lime pie because it’s my favorite. Now I do things that are creative. I learned how to draw. I make videos. Sometimes I help someone, show some act of kindness. I write handwritten letters — scribbles and all — because those are things that feed the soul for me.”  

Now that she has her master’s degree in hand, she says her hard work has given her the gift of evidence — proof that she’s a force to be reckoned with. 

“No matter what you’re experiencing, you can do anything,” she says, tearing up. “When you look back and realize you went from ‘I don’t know if I can ever do this’ to ‘I did it,’ you know you can do anything. 

“I encourage other moms to let go of the idea that you’re going to harm your children’s futures by trying to secure yours. As a mom, you often think if you take time away from your kids, you’re damaging them. You’re actually giving to them. I’m giving to my kids because I’ll get older someday. And the more I do for myself now, the less they’ll have to do for me then.” 

Nikhil Anand Dhoka is excelling as a Purdue computer science and mathematics student in Indianapolis

For Nikhil Anand Dhoka, earning an A-plus is not about the grade. It’s about the ability to build skills and train for a world that’s ever evolving.

“I know that things will change so quickly in the roles that I’m in,” says Dhoka, a Purdue computer science and mathematics student in Indianapolis. “It’s why I think it’s important to be adaptable to new possibilities.”

Emerging fields in computer science can be challenging to forecast, but he’s building the abilities he’ll need to succeed now. He’s committed to always learning something new and seeking opportunities, setting the foundation for an exciting career in technology.

Receiving a perfect 100 score on the final exam is a byproduct of the greater motivation at play.

“It’s really not about the grade,” he says. “I know that when I push myself to achieve more, I’m preparing for learning and self-teaching throughout my life.”

Selecting computer science in Indianapolis

Blending technology and business is the perfect path for Dhoka, who has long-standing interests in each industry.

“I have always been fascinated by technology,” he says. “I remember my first interaction with impressive technology was when my father imported the iPhone 3G around 2008. That was the first time I interacted with a touch-screen mobile phone.”

Ever since, he’s been interested in learning how things work. “I’ve always asked a lot of questions,” he says. “How does technology interact with your fingers? How does it affect your user experience? How can it be better?”

In high school, he became more interested in business and realized that working on the finance side of the technology world would be his most ideal fit. He started searching for universities and came across Purdue.

“Obviously, Purdue stuck out to me,” he says. “It established the first computer science department in the United States. It is consistently ranked as a top program. It made my decision easy.” Coming from Pune, a large city in western India, he was looking for an urban environment that could offer new connections.

“I knew some people that went to Purdue, so I was aware from them that I would be getting an excellent education as well as a vast number of opportunities,” he says. “That was really meaningful and made me choose to go here over other schools.”

Obviously, Purdue stuck out to me. It established the first computer science department in the United States.

Nikhil Anand Dhoka Purdue computer science student in Indianapolis

Leaning into lifelong learning  

A degree in computer science with a minor in mathematics is the result of careful consideration and collaboration with academic advisors.

“I need to understand fundamentals in order to work on the finance side of tech,” Dhoka says. “How is software built? How do products work internally? How can I help make scalable applications? I want a well-rounded understanding.”

Growing up, he learned through resources he sought out himself in his spare time, like watching YouTube videos to find out more about financial markets and banking principles. Now he’s able to collaborate with faculty and students to expand his knowledge.

“Even though I’m only in my second year, I’ve had so many hands-on projects here,” he says. “My professors and teaching assistants have been really helpful in navigating the intricacies that come with these technologies.”

It’s been rewarding to connect learning principles to real-world applications. In one of his courses, he developed a virtual auction house via Java’s object-oriented programming language, which allowed users to log in and experience all of the components of an in-person auction — including an effective timer and responsive bidding system.

Between classes, Dhoka is a software engineering researcher. Last year, he worked with a group of peers and mentors to develop an augmented reality (AR) platform using programming languages and a 3D-printed headset. The platform was designed to provide tutorials for visual and tactile learners. Together, the group explored ways that AR and virtual reality can enhance education.

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Finding ways to connect

Outside of classes and research, Dhoka has met people through his involvement in student organizations. He finds that much of his schedule is spent on campus, from studying in the Honors College lounge at the library to meeting with the Computer Science Club, where he serves as treasurer.

He’s also the chief technology officer for the undergraduate student government and the graduate and professional student government. Through collaborating with students, faculty and staff, including IT professionals and security experts, he’s able to introduce bills that bring innovative digital tools, platforms and applications to the university.

Everything’s building a base for life after graduation.

Nikhil Anand Dhoka
Purdue computer science student in Indianapolis

Off campus, Dhoka loves living downtown. His favorite part about Indianapolis? The fact that everywhere he turns, he finds a new opportunity. Coming to the university at age 17 was his first time in the U.S., and he’s created a home for himself through networking.

“It’s been amazing,” he says. “If I search something I’m interested in on the internet, there are ways to get involved. If I want to network, there are people not only at school, but around Indy.”

There’s always something to explore. He believes that pushing himself to continually learn and reach out to new people will pay off.

“I’m getting the experience that I came for,” he says. “Everything’s building a base for life after graduation.”

He’s devoted his life to providing students with the safety, support and odds for success that he didn’t have 

Raised in rural Alabama, Purdue Global English and rhetoric professor Josef Vice says if he can make a comeback, so can other working adults.  

I fully believe that writing is putting yourself on a page. It’s vulnerable. A lot of students don’t want to do it. But if they can see they have something worth sharing, they can see they have something worth hearing.  

One of the things I do to help students build confidence is talk about challenges. Lately, I’ve been telling them about my doctoral degree. I completed all my coursework in 1987, but my dissertation never got off the ground. I wanted to write about something relevant to LGBTQ+ issues. I knew that wasn’t of much academic interest at the time, so I proposed writing about the concept of “the outsider” in medieval literature. I was looking at Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales” — some characters have less binary gender and sexual identities, so maybe there was something there. I was shot down immediately.  

At the same time, I was very involved in petitioning the university to allow us to create a student LGBTQ+ group. To rally support, I came out in a letter published in the school newspaper. I argued for equality: We’re your friends. Your family. Your teachers.  

I felt like my recent comeback was a reclamation of what should have been. I got to reach back 35 years and finish the doctorate I couldn’t finish at the time.

Josef Vice 
Professor, Purdue Global 

We won in the end. But when the letter was published, I lost my assistantship. I was also teaching part time at a local community college, and I was fired from that, too. They said it didn’t align with their morality clause. In that climate, writing a dissertation on what mattered to me seemed impossible. 

I felt like my recent comeback was a reclamation of what should have been. I got to reach back 35 years and finish the doctorate I couldn’t finish at the time. It energized me. It gave me a real sense that this is something that should be written about, researched and embraced by an academic community.  

A lot of my students have faced setbacks, but they’re here, giving it another try. I get to share my story with them and tell them it’s never too late. You don’t have to give up on that dream. There’s a good fight out there, and whatever you’ve been through, you can come back. Your dream is worth it. 

It’s never too late. You don’t have to give up on that dream. … Whatever you’ve been through, you can come back. Your dream is worth it.

Josef Vice  Professor, Purdue Global 

Five Boilermakers reflect on what it was like to be a Black student-athlete at Purdue

Pioneers.

There have been many in Purdue Athletics history. But perhaps none more important than those among the first Black student-athletes to compete for the Boilermakers.

The list of five former Black Purdue student-athletes below is just a sample of the stories of many who forged their path. Each agrees that Black History Month is the time to honor and celebrate the diverse experiences and perspectives of their time at Purdue. It is also time to educate.

“I think the celebration of all history is important, and it is important at least for one month that people take the opportunity to study our Black heritage, our culture,” says Roland Parrish, a standout track athlete at Purdue from 1971-75.

“We all had experiences, and we all had challenges.”

Willie Merriweather, men’s basketball, 1957-59

A teammate of Oscar Robertson at Crispus Attucks High School, Merriweather was a standout player for coach Ray Eddy. He was good enough to be inducted into the Purdue Athletics Hall of Fame, averaging 20 points per contest in his senior year. He played at Purdue during the first large influx of Black basketball players, crossing paths with Lamar Lundy, Wilson “Jake“ Eison, Harvey Austin and Charlie Lyons.

“It was great to have those guys as teammates, and I had a good experience at Purdue,” says Merriweather, who went on to have a four-decade career as an educator in Detroit. “We were treated well as athletes. We adjusted to how things were then, even when told by Coach Eddy that they couldn’t simultaneously play more than a couple of us (African Americans).”

Socializing was not easy for Black people on Purdue’s campus in the 1950s, when students of different races were not treated equally.

“So we focused on our studies, and I was proud to make the dean’s list,” Merriweather says. “It meant a lot to me to be a good student.”

Merriweather has enjoyed watching all the changes that have occurred for Black athletes and all athletes in the past 60 years.

“It’s a whole different world today for the kids,” Merriweather says. “I am glad most people celebrate our history. It’s not perfect by any means, but having the opportunity to play when I did, I had some role in making things better for those that came after me.”

Billy McKoy, football, 1966-69

William (Billy) McKoy was a standout defensive end for coach Jack Mollenkopf and played for Boilermaker teams that compiled a 24-6 record from 1967-69 and won a Big Ten championship. Additionally, he was part of the first program in college football to beat Notre Dame three consecutive seasons.

Coming to Purdue from the segregated South was initially a shock for McKoy, a native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The same school had produced Herman Gilliam to Purdue a year earlier. Purdue football had been integrated in the 1950s and produced Lamar Lundy, the only Boilermaker to earn MVP honors in football and basketball in the same school year.

“I credit my good experience to Coach Mollenkopf because the team was like a family, and he created that environment,” says McKoy, who went on to play in the NFL for the Denver Broncos. “It was seamless. Despite the racially charged times, our team had no racial hiccups.”

The environment on campus was mostly a positive experience for McKoy, although he recalls a few unpleasant interactions with fellow residents of Wiley Hall and professors who didn’t always embrace his perspective.

“My high school teachers had me ready for college, so I was confident I could do college work,” says McKoy, who ended up with a several-decade career in human resources and as senior vice president for operations at the YMCA in Atlanta. “But it was an adjustment for all of us.”

The importance of Black History Month is not lost on McKoy.

“I am a glass half-full person, but there are some places where people are trying to change the narrative of our history, and that is concerning to me as it should be to everyone,” McKoy says. “It remains unfortunate that we are still hearing too many times, ‘This is the first African American to do this, this is the first African American to do that.’ I thought we might be further along in my lifetime.”

McKoy cites one of his best moments as his long-time relationship with a teammate who had never met a Black person before he came to Purdue.

“The fact that we are still friends today is important to me,” McKoy says. “One of the things about ‘ball’ is you had to figure out how to win the game that was in front of you. Winning, however you define it, was what it was all about. That helped me survive and thrive at Purdue.”

Roland Parrish, men’s track & field, 1971-75

A native of Hammond, Indiana, Parrish came to Purdue on a full-ride track scholarship. After growing up in a Black neighborhood, the middle-distance runner attended Hammond High School, which was only about 3% Black.

“Coming to Purdue wasn’t the culture shock for me as it was for many people of color,” says Parrish, who was voted team captain and twice earned team MVP honors. “Back then we didn’t have Black coaches for mentors, but I was very fortunate to have Dr. Cornell Bell, the head of Purdue’s Business Opportunity Program (BOP). He was a no-nonsense man who didn’t let you make excuses.”

Parrish credits Bell and others for helping him be disciplined. He studied, went to track practice and was a musician for the Second Baptist Church in Lafayette, where he played keyboard on weekends.

“I believe in the saying, ‘The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing,” Parrish says. “When I break it all down, it is really that simple.”

In Parrish’s mind, Black History Month is a time to recognize the people that came before. In athletics, Parrish was forever touched by the life and times of Leroy Keyes, Purdue’s two-time All-American football player who came to campus six years before Parrish.

“I always looked up to Leroy and I stand on the shoulders of those who walked in my shoes when things weren’t quite as evolved as they were when I was in school,” Parrish says. “Even 40-plus years later, Purdue continues to evolve. I like what I see out of the university regarding race, but there are always paths to travel for improvement.”

Parrish has had a stellar business career, which includes owning more than two dozen McDonald’s franchises in North Texas near his Dallas home. He has given time and treasure back to Purdue in many areas, including funding a renovation of the former Management and Economic Library a dozen years ago. He has also funded a scholarship in Bell’s memory and remains devoted to the Keyes family after Keyes’ passing in 2021.

“There were challenges for Blacks when I was at Purdue,” Parrish says. “But I look at all the programs available to Black kids today and all the role models that Purdue’s athletes have access to, and that makes me hopeful that we are making progress.”

Pat Harris, women’s basketball, 1979-82

The study of Black history has to be more than one month. My message to kids is: ‘Learn how we got here and volunteer.’

Pat Harris
Purdue women’s basketball (1979-82)

With a reputation for calling it as she sees it, Harris is happy to embrace her trailblazer status in the history of the Boilermaker women’s basketball program. She admits she was as much a pioneer in women’s sports as a Black athlete at Purdue.

“Because women’s basketball was still in its infancy when I came to Purdue (it began officially in 1975-76), I guess you can call me a pioneer,” Harris says. “Women’s sports weren’t embraced by the athletic administration at the time.

“Years after graduating, I remained involved with Purdue Athletics because athletics director Morgan Burke embraced the growth of women’s sports, in part with his advisory council, which I was proud to serve on. He brought Purdue into the 20th century. So my challenge was as much being a female athlete as it was being one of the first Black basketball players at Purdue.

“I credit our head coach, Ruth Jones, and assistant, Nancy Cross, who also coached field hockey at Purdue, for moving things forward to build the foundation for women’s basketball and women’s sports at Purdue.”

Harris was raised in a traditional Black home with hard-working parents, but like Parrish, attended a predominantly white high school in Columbus, Ohio. Yet, she embraces the necessity of teaching Black history. Not just to Black kids, but everyone.

“Black History Month is very important as kids aren’t taught it as much as they should be. I worry that today we are in a tenuous political time, and we are taking some steps backward as a society when it comes to race relations and understanding one another. The study of Black history has to be more than one month. My message to kids is: ‘Learn how we got here and volunteer.’”

Harris practices what she preaches. She freely gives of her time in Indianapolis, her home for the past 40 years, while continuing various roles in administration and business. A long-time women’s basketball season ticket holder, Harris frequently makes the trip up I-65 from Indianapolis and is forever connected to the university.

“I had a very good experience at Purdue,” Harris says. “My mentors were my parents, who raised me in an environment where I was not given many extra things but was encouraged to take advantage of opportunities. So, I did. I took full advantage.”

Cathey Tyree-Smith, women’s basketball and track & field, 1984-87

In a word, Tyree-Smith had a “happy” experience during her days as a Boilermaker from 1984-87. It didn’t hurt that she was one of the most talented dual-sport athletes in Purdue history.

“I loved my playing and competition days at Purdue,” Tyree says from her home in Deming, New Mexico.

A native of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Tyree-Smith was selected Purdue’s Female Athlete of the Year and the team MVP for both basketball and track & field in 1987. In track, Tyree-Smith was a three-time All-American and Drake Relays champion in the heptathlon.

She also was the Big Ten record-holder in the heptathlon, a record she held when she was one of the earliest inductees into the Purdue Athletics Hall of Fame 26 years ago. Tyree was a three-time honorable mention All-Big Ten selection on the basketball court, averaging 10.8 points and 7.4 rebounds during her four-year career.

“I always felt welcome and comfortable at Purdue,” Tyree-Smith says. “When I was recruited, Coach (Ruth) Jones was the only one who would let me play two sports, which made choosing Purdue easy.

“Purdue was intimidating, but not because of race. It was intimidating because it was such a big university and a big place. Growing up where I did, nothing ever bothered me. I was always around people with whom I could easily blend in. I never had controversy regarding race or anything like that. It was hard to go through Coach Jones getting sick and having several coaches, but our team stuck together.”

One of the first six freshmen to earn full scholarships in women’s basketball, Tyree-Smith always remains grateful.

What is the message of Black History Month from Tyree-Smith’s perspective?

“Going to Purdue for any person of color is very prestigious,” Tyree-Smith says. “I learned to keep my head level through everything. I realized that others before me didn’t have the opportunities I did, and I appreciate those who came before me.”

Written by: Alan Karpick, akarpick@goldandblack.com

Previous experiences with mentors drive Purdue professor in Indianapolis to help her students succeed

That could mean sharing life or career advice after they graduate. It could mean staying in touch via LinkedIn and helping them make contacts that can advance their careers.

Or it could involve providing opportunities to teach or mentor the next generation of students who come through the project management education program the associate professor oversees.

However the “forever” aspect of her position takes shape, the bottom line is that Reed Hughes — known to her students as “Dr. K.” — feels a responsibility to help her students achieve long-term success. Maybe that’s because she recognizes how a teacher’s guidance helped create a path for her own upward trajectory.

Childhood lessons

Reed Hughes was raised in Wilson City, Missouri, a rural sharecropper’s village where “nobody had much, but it was still a great way to grow up,” she says.

What made it great?

For one thing, she came to understand at an early age that community is important. While playing every day with her friends from sunup to sundown, she learned how to form close personal bonds with her neighbors.

The setting also taught her valuable lessons about empathy.

The youngest of five siblings, Reed Hughes was the only child in the family whose chores didn’t include going out into the field to chop beans. She remembers watching her older siblings put on two pairs of socks and then wrap their feet with plastic bread bags to keep them dry while working in the muddy fields.

“I could tell it wasn’t easy,” she says.

Despite the poverty that surrounded her, Reed Hughes says her childhood was a happy one. However, her earliest years in school were a struggle because of what she now realizes was an undiagnosed case of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

She excelled in math but had difficulty reading at grade level until a sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Stapleton, managed to connect with her in a way that previous teachers had not.

(My sixth grade teacher) saw something in me, and I was inspired, and she probably taught me some tools that I didn’t have and no one else really took the time to help me with. I’ve been a great student ever since then.

Katrenia Reed Hughes
Purdue organizational leadership professor in Indianapolis

“She saw something in me, and I was inspired, and she probably taught me some tools that I didn’t have and no one else really took the time to help me with,” Reed Hughes says. “I’ve been a great student ever since then.”

Such a great student, in fact, that attending college was an easy decision once making the school honor roll became a standard outcome starting that year with Mrs. Stapleton. And once Reed Hughes launched a collegiate career, she kept adding new knowledge and credentials.

She followed her high school guidance counselor’s advice and pursued a psychology degree at Missouri State University, then added a master’s and doctorate in psychology at Indiana State University and a master’s in business administration at Butler University.

As a first-generation college student, she completed that academic journey with virtually no advance preparation on what to expect about attending a university.

“My mom loved the idea that her daughter was going to college, and so did my dad, but they still didn’t really understand things like why you couldn’t come home sometimes and stuff like that. Or just even basic stuff,” Reed Hughes says. “It kind of felt like everyone else had a book that told them how to do these things, but I didn’t.”

She figured it out, though, and worked at the Purdue University Student Health Center immediately after completing a doctorate in clinical psychology (PsyD) degree. She transitioned from the field of mental health to the corporate world while completing her MBA, spending the next decade helping people and organizations effectively change human behavior to meet business goals. But many aspects of the university environment eventually beckoned her back to higher ed:

The energetic community on campus.

The ability to build personal connections with students and colleagues.

The opportunity to share knowledge and help others.

“When I left corporate, I said I was going home,” she recalls.

Building essential career tools

At Purdue, Reed Hughes found a place where her organizational leadership and coaching skills could make a meaningful difference.

She committed to improving student success and retention. And she has done the same for her co-workers — particularly those from marginalized backgrounds — by working with senior faculty to constructively mentor their junior counterparts.

But as valuable as Reed Hughes’ campus service has been, perhaps her greatest contribution has been the success of the project management program — particularly with the project management (PM) certificate curriculum that helps students build the skills necessary to fill positions that have become increasingly vital to the global economy.

A 2021 study by the Project Management Institute estimated that by 2030 approximately 102 million jobs would exist across the globe for project managers and those who possess PM skills. The study further indicated that 25 million new project managers would be necessary by 2030 to meet demand as more industries become projectized.

Demand is especially high in fields like software development and analysis, manufacturing and construction, information and publishing, and finance and insurance. Reed Hughes attributes the field’s expanded presence to businesses’ observations that projects were more likely to fail when a project manager was not present to facilitate communication between project stakeholders and generally keep things on track.

“Do they meet their outcomes? Do they meet their goals?” Reed Hughes asks. “The percentage of that is so horrible that maybe 10 years ago, people started to see, ‘Oh, project managers increase our success. And if our initiatives and our operational projects that we need to get done, if those are successful, then our business is actually more efficient.’”

Do they meet their outcomes? Do they meet their goals? The percentage of that is so horrible that maybe 10 years ago, people started to see, ‘Oh, project managers increase our success.’

Katrenia Reed Hughes
Purdue organizational leadership professor in Indianapolis

In addition to the technical tools that Reed Hughes teaches her students how to use, she also promotes skills like efficient communication, leadership, relationship building, strategic thinking and problem-solving that are essential to the success of most complex projects. Those skills are useful even if a student chooses not to seek Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.

“With the graduate-level certificate, I’ve already had several students who left the class immediately or sometime after that take the PMP exam, and they’ve all passed,” says Reed Hughes, a certified PMP herself. “And then some of them didn’t take the PMP, but they were able to go out and market their skill set. And when I say that, I mean if you go to an interview and you say you know project management and you don’t, and there’s someone in the room who does, you can make a fool of yourself. But these students, they know what they’re doing, and they know what they’re talking about, and they can go in there and speak confidently about it.”

Mentorship matters

Reed Hughes’ service to her students goes far beyond the walls of the classroom. She is actively involved in multiple mentorship initiatives, including as a founding member of the Midwest Experiences in Mentoring Excellence (MEME) collaborative that started at the university level and has since gone national.

“I’m very excited because we showed that we could have an impact at a smaller level with very little money, and now we’re expanding that and taking it out and testing it within industry,” she says of MEME’s efforts to support scholars from underrepresented groups who are part of STEM faculties that teach and mentor diverse groups of students.

Effective mentorship is a cause that is close to Reed Hughes’ heart because of her own lived experiences. She benefited from positive interactions with many mentors, but also recalls being a mentee in collegiate and corporate environments where the absence of common ground contributed to strained relationships.

She understands better than most that those personal connections can make a difference for someone who simply needs guidance on how to focus their talents to achieve their goals. It’s why she mentors students — and she’s good at it, too, having won the 2023 Outstanding Graduate and Professional Student Mentor award — and it’s why she teaches job skills that should have long-term viability.

In both cases, Reed Hughes finds it energizing to support and affirm others, giving them the tools to succeed in places where their unique abilities can provide value.

“I tell my students you can do any project management job,” she says. “You’re following a tried-and-true process that’s proven to be successful.”

Boilermakers given rare opportunity to send two crews on back-to-back Mars Desert Research Station missions

Most Purdue students spend their winter break at home with family and friends, soaking up the good tidings and cheer of the holiday season.

Gabriel Skowronek and 13 other Boilermakers spent two weeks at the closest thing to Mars on Earth, the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS).

“The uniqueness of the opportunity — I just couldn’t pass it up,” says Skowronek, a senior majoring in physics and astronomy. “Being together as a team at MDRS during a time when we normally might be back home with family and friends really contributed to the community-building aspect of the mission.”

The Mars Society, which owns and operates MDRS, granted Purdue a rare opportunity to send two crews on two-week, back-to-back missions. Purdue’s missions to MDRS were timed to coincide with the university’s winter break: Crew 288 was on-site Dec. 9-23, 2023, and Crew 289 was there Dec. 24, 2023, to Jan. 6, 2024.

The two crews of Boilermaker analog astronauts comprised a diverse mix of undergraduate, master’s and PhD students, plus a research scientist, an alumnus and a Purdue University Online graduate student.

Crew 288 executive officer Riley McGlasson, a PhD student in earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences, says that the MDRS location itself makes the mission worth it, no matter the time of year. “I’ve spent a fair amount of time in this part of Utah. It’s one of my favorite places in the world. And I will take any excuse to go back,” she says.

“As someone who studies Mars, you really can’t ask for a more perfect analog,” she adds.

Water and Spam

Time with loved ones is just one of the sacrifices that MDRS analog astronauts make. They are also constrained in their living conditions. Food is dehydrated or in a can. And water is limited to 400 gallons total, which must last seven people for two weeks.

This became an opportunity, not a problem.

“Our daily usage of water was less than anyone expected,” says Sara Paule, an online master’s degree student in communication and Crew 289 executive officer/crew journalist. “We got really good at washing dishes and being mindful of waste.”

She adds, “All the food is dehydrated, so if you want to cook with any kind of vegetables, you must soak them before you can use them. But if you’re smart, you can take that water and then reuse it. It can become your risotto liquid or your pasta water. One day we had very blue blueberry pancakes because we added the blueberry water to the pancake mix. And they were yummy.”

Hunter Vannier, a PhD student in earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences and Crew 288 geologist, says conserving water is a habit he plans to carry forward. “I’ve been thinking about my own practices since returning from MDRS. I am so aware now of the amount of water I consume,” he says.

Vannier made the most of the station’s limited food pantry, too, adding several recipes to the community cookbook, which resides in the habitat kitchen and gets handed down from mission to mission.

His signature dish? “I made Spam fried rice — salty deliciousness.”

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Cozy quarters

The MDRS habitat, affectionately known as “the Hab,” is a two-story, 8-meter-wide cylindrical building that one crew member describes as “cozy.” It’s also home base to the seven astronauts for their two-week mission.

“Everyone had their own individual sleeping quarters, and spaces were small, but it was doable. The overall habitat was compact, but in a cozy way,” Paule says.

The close environment created many opportunities for building community and teamwork, which is an essential part of the MDRS experience.

“The friendships I saw develop during the mission were heartwarming to me,” says Crew 289 commander Adriana Brown (BS environmental geoscience, ’22). 

“People getting along makes my job a lot easier, but hearing engaging conversations about everything from the nature of reality to favorite karaoke songs and watching the team coalesce in real time was special,” she says.

Vannier’s crew had a similar experience. “There was no conflict at all. We were extremely cohesive and had a lot of fun with one another,” he says. “I think one of the biggest disagreements was a debate about the validity of the world building in Harry Potter compared to other sci-fi and fantasy fiction.”

He adds, “Everyone seemed to understand common courtesy and how to operate in a group. When there were chores to be done, no one waited for someone else to do it. They just immediately volunteered.”

Novel research

In addition to experiencing what harmonious daily life might be like for an astronaut on Mars, one of the most compelling reasons for MDRS participation is the opportunity to conduct rigorous field studies and research under the constraints of a high-fidelity, simulated Mars mission.

“For me, it all comes back to why I came to Purdue,” says Jesus Meza Galvan, a PhD student in aerospace engineering and Crew 288 engineer.

“Designing and building space hardware is what I want to do,” he says. “One of the big selling points of Purdue is that we are the Cradle of Astronauts. To have something like MDRS, where you’re actually getting exposure to practical problems that some space missions would face, is a phenomenal opportunity.”

Crew 289 astronomer and health/safety officer Skowronek agrees, “With my background in physics and astronomy, I delve into developments in planetary science. Just getting an opportunity to actually be at MDRS and see what it’s like to do novel research was really exciting.”

“Novel research” is a good description of the work that the two crews performed during their time at MDRS. Every project worked toward addressing real-life situations that future missions to Mars may face.

Designing and building space hardware is what I want to do. … To have something like MDRS, where you’re actually getting exposure to practical problems that some space missions would face, is a phenomenal opportunity.

Jesus Meza GalvaN A PhD student in aerospace engineering and Crew 288 engineer

Structured but not rigid

The MDRS simulation is structured, but not rigid. Crews are usually composed of seven members who fulfill the roles of commander, health and safety officer, greenhab officer, crew engineer and crew journalist. Other roles can also be assigned depending on crew members’ research interests (crew geologist, crew biologist). And a single crew member may serve in multiple roles.

Within this framework, each scientist proposes a research project that goes through an approval and then refinement process.

“I originally just proposed a dust coverage project,” Skowronek says. “But I have done work with photometry data analysis, which led to adding a secondary photometry research study using the MDRS telescopes.”

Meza likewise pivoted slightly with his research. “When I proposed my research project, I was fairly ambitious,” he says. “I wanted to make a solar panel at the station. But in talking to the MDRS directors, I learned there are a lot of safety considerations. You can’t have harmful chemicals, things like acids, which are sometimes required in fabrication. I had to find feasible solutions for this problem, so my project definitely evolved over time.”

Amazon doesn’t deliver to Mars

Meza’s pre-trip revisions point to a vital aspect of the MDRS simulation — the ability to problem-solve in a limited environment. Astronauts can’t run to the local hardware store or place an online order on Mars. They must use available resources to diagnose and solve problems.

“At one point we noticed that the furnace didn’t seem to be working,” Crew 289 executive officer Paule says. “It was a windy day and the temperature inside the Hab started dropping. So we had to get on comms with the MDRS director, and he had to walk us through what to do to fix the problem.”

The crew also had to innovate when they noticed that humidity levels were getting dangerously low in the greenhab environment. Several student research projects, including one simulating the effects of Mars radiation on plants, required living specimens.

“Our efforts were led by Riya Raj, our greenhab officer and crew biologist,” Crew 289 commander Brown noted. “But the whole team pitched in.”

After trying several solutions that didn’t work, Raj came up with the idea of wrapping the plants with a clear plastic film and then misting inside of them regularly. “You could see a little pocket of humidity develop right around the plant,” Brown says.

Not all problem-solving opportunities were so serious.

“This is a very silly example,” McGlasson, 288 executive officer, says. “But we had an inflatable baby Yoda in the Hab for the holidays and the plug broke. And it’s not like you can ship yourself a new one, so our crew engineer (Meza) took it to the engineering bay and fixed it.

“Even for small things you have to be self-sustaining and figure it out if something fails.”

Rocks and robots

Extravehicular activities (EVAs) are the foundation of field research at MDRS. They take crews into the surrounding area, and they require the most from participants in terms of simulation. Analog astronauts must suit up in protective gear and carry a weighted pack before leaving the Hab via a simulated air lock.

Among other research activities, Crew 289 collected 90 oyster fossils and 93 sediment samples during their EVAs. Brown, who graduated from Purdue in 2022 with a degree in environmental geoscience, will use them in her doctoral research at the University of Michigan.

“I’m very grateful to my crewmates for going with me into the field and being willing to kneel in the dirt and feed samples into tiny tubes for a long period of time,” she says.

Crew 288 completed 10 EVAs, each lasting four hours to mirror oxygen capacity on Mars. Vannier, crew geologist, used some of these EVAs to train other team members how to implement classic geologic sampling techniques comparable to those that astronauts are instructed to use on the moon. The goal was to create a consistent workflow in the investigation area.

“There has to be two or three people present, each with well-defined roles,” Vannier says. “The EVAs I led were especially helpful in understanding time management. On another planetary surface, every second is precious.”

For her EVA research, McGlasson used a 450-megahertz ground-penetrating radar to measure the moisture content and subsurface structure in the top meter of the soil surrounding MDRS. Her research had an extra layer of complexity added to it; she broke her leg right before leaving for the mission.

“Even with my broken leg, I was still able to participate in EVAs. My total distance walked ended up being 10 miles,” she says.

In March, McGlasson will present a poster on her MDRS research, co-authored with Vannier, at a conference on planetary science.

“Another thing Crew 289 was excited about was our robotics experiment,” commander Brown says. “We had a small origami robot named Elf that we took out into the field to test different resistances. To our knowledge, origami robotics has not been tested at all at MDRS. And so we were able to do something really new and cutting edge and something that will be beneficial on Mars.”

Crew 288’s fieldwork with robotics was successful, too. They used drones to make deliveries from the Hab to a field work site and back.

Every mission is different

What are Purdue’s next steps at MDRS?

“We have already been invited back,” says Cesare Guariniello, Purdue research scientist and commander of Crew 288. “Our next big decision is how many rotations we want to request and when to do it. Until now, we’ve always gone over the winter holidays, but some students have expressed interest in going to MDRS in the spring.”

One thing is clear, new missions will mean new discoveries.

“This is my sixth mission to MDRS,” Guariniello says. “I like the fact that even after six times, every mission, every crew is different.”

Myson Burch, an IBM research scientist, uses skills he sharpened at Purdue to address complex health issues

As he reflects upon his journey in computer science, Dr. Myson Burch can pinpoint the experience that transformed the discipline from something he enjoyed to a purpose-filled passion.

That opportunity, where Burch (PhD computer science ’23) discovered how his computer and mathematics skills could improve health outcomes, inspired him to pursue graduate study at Purdue. And it eventually guided him toward a career at IBM research, where his team’s innovative work in artificial intelligence and quantum technologies will advance the quality of health care on a massive scale.

All Burch needed was a spark, and it ignited as an undergraduate student at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) when he assisted professor Julia Arciero on an applied mathematics project that addressed patients’ vascular conditions. Arciero’s computational modeling project, conducted in partnership with Indiana University Health, provided an exciting first glimpse of how Burch’s expertise could affect positive change.

“At the time I was like, ‘OK, computer science is cool. There are a lot of different applications,’ but I never really had my hands on anything or saw the fruits of impacting something or someone,” Burch says. “Once I was a part of that project with her, it really opened my eyes to seeing that this can really impact somebody and make a change, and it was something that I really wanted to do.

“It led me to pursue my PhD at Purdue and drove me to work on how computer science impacts health and how technology can improve our outlook on human health and disease,” Burch says.

The ripple effects from that initial inspiration will likely resonate for generations to come.

Influencing the future of health care

Today, Burch works as a research scientist at IBM, helping the company build tools that will accelerate scientific discovery in health and life sciences — including prediction of complex diseases and disorders, as well as drug discovery.

Burch’s role at IBM builds upon his work at Purdue, where he created a technique to use the volumes of available health information to more accurately identify genetic markers that make individuals more susceptible to conditions like Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia and cardiovascular disease.

Only now, he’s looking for other applications where he can apply the research tools he built at Purdue under mentor Petros Drineas, professor and associate head of computer science.

“At IBM, they’ve really challenged me and pushed me to broaden that aspect of health and life sciences, saying, ‘You know, genomics isn’t the only aspect where you can apply your skill set and your toolkit,’” says Burch, who served as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow while conducting genomics research at Purdue. “And so I’m really looking at other things with drug discovery, with predictive models and with generative models for building small molecules and foundation models and different things like that. I’m stretching my domain knowledge, but still using the same skill set built at Purdue.”

In the short term, Burch is excited about seeing IBM partners like Cleveland Clinic deploy the AI applications his company builds to immediately improve patients’ lives. But he also sees significant long-term promise in his team’s work.

“IBM, in particular, has had a huge push in trying to be cutting-edge with quantum and explore how far we can push those limits with that type of technology and that type of science,” he says. “That puts us at an interesting moment because I think we’re pioneering this new technology and we’re pioneering these new applications that are really just at their inception in terms of applying or theorizing.”

The pioneering aspect of his team’s work is one that Burch finds especially meaningful. He acknowledges that AI’s rapid emergence has created widespread concern over technology’s future role in our daily lives. That’s why he says it’s important for innovators to responsibly consider the potential of the tools they create before turning them loose upon the public.

“One of the reasons why I got into research the way I did was because I wanted to be front and center of something that was going to create a change and going to create an impact in my community and really do something that’s important,” Burch says. “When you’re in research and working on some of these tools, you definitely feel that. You feel that significance and you feel that importance and you feel different ways that you can contribute to these different things.
 
“I definitely appreciate being able to work at IBM and not be a bystander to some of these changes and really be a part of affecting the change and being a part of that development.”

One of the reasons why I got into research the way I did was because I wanted to be front and center of something that was going to create a change.

Myson Burch PhD computer science ’23

Building community

Burch’s aversion to being a bystander revealed itself in numerous ways during his time at Purdue — and not just when creating tools that can change health care as we know it today.

He was one of just three Black PhD students in computer science when he enrolled at Purdue in 2017, and two of them completed their graduate studies shortly after his arrival. However, Burch says one of those students, Dr. Amber Johnson, made an enormous impression during the short time that they overlapped in West Lafayette.

Johnson — the first Black woman to earn a PhD in computer science at Purdue — taught Burch that if a community he desires to be part of does not exist somewhere, he can always work to create that community himself.

“It’s difficult to succeed in a space that you don’t see yourself in or you don’t see faculty of color. You just really don’t see those pathways exist for you because you don’t see yourself in the space,” Burch says. “She really imparted on me to find success in that, embracing the challenge of being the first. If you don’t see yourself there or you don’t have a previous example to lean on, then be a trailblazer.

“I really looked up to her quite a lot in terms of all the things that she’s been able to achieve and all the things that she accomplished while she was at Purdue and beyond,” he adds. “I kind of homed in on that and tried to view it less as an obstacle and more as something that I wanted to achieve personally.”

If you don’t see yourself there or you don’t have a previous example to lean on, then be a trailblazer.

Myson Burch
PhD computer science ’23

And so he got to work. He worked with another mentor, Lillian Evans, the Department of Computer Science’s former diversity specialist, to expand outreach to underrepresented minority students. He joined Purdue’s Black Graduate Student Association, serving as vice president and undergraduate outreach chair. And he served on the Purdue Equity Task Force, whose goal is to remove barriers to success of Boilermaker students, faculty and staff of color.

“I’m proud of the work that (the Black Graduate Student Association) did, and I’m really glad that I was able to get involved in a community like that because I think you have to develop that kind of community and that sort of support system for other minorities to really gravitate toward the program. You have to develop those cohorts,” Burch says.

Burch also worked outside the university to help other students potentially follow in his footsteps. He served as a mentor under Dr. Temi Adeoye with the Heads Up Tutoring and Life Skills Program, which helps Greater Lafayette youth living in government-assisted housing complexes pursue their academic, professional and personal goals.

“I loved being part of that space, and Temi allowed me to come in as a mentor and encourage building life skills,” Burch says. “In that type of work, you want to be a good role model and a good example for others to lean on and follow. Hopefully they’ll do even better and achieve things that I wasn’t able to achieve in my time at Purdue and go above and beyond.”

As Burch’s journey in computer science proves, you never know what might happen when a bright young person sees an opportunity to make a difference.

Abbey Ellis has made her mark on the court halfway around the world from home

Libby Ellis says her daughter, Abbey, avoided drama as a child and was hesitant to speak up for herself.

“We would go to a fast-food restaurant, and if they forgot to put something on her sandwich, she would tell me,” her mom says. “I told her to go and get it fixed, but she would just eat it the way it was. I’m more of a confronter, but that didn’t fit her personality then.”

Watching the 5-foot-6 Ellis now compete as the smallest player on the court for Purdue women’s basketball contradicts that notion. She regularly throws her body around on the court, shows her emotions to the crowd, and isn’t afraid to give a questioning glance or gesture to a referee she feels is in error.

“Purdue has made her grow. It’s been amazing to watch. Not everything has gone smoothly, but she’s figured out how to get through it,” Libby says with pride.

Court beginnings

Abbey, the second of four daughters of Martin and Libby Ellis, first set foot on a basketball court in Melbourne, Australia, at age 6.

“Mom put me on the court with my best friend then — and she’s still my best friend — and I immediately liked it,” Ellis says. “It wasn’t until I was 13 or 14 that other girls started growing taller than I was, so my coach decided then to put me at point guard.”

Ellis also played netball, a game similar to basketball but with key differences. Played on a rectangular court with seven players per team, teams shoot a ball into a net that does not have a backboard. There is no dribbling, bouncing or running while possessing the ball.

Ellis says netball helped her learn to see the floor and anticipate what would happen. Her mother agrees.

“Footwork is very important in netball, and learning how to play angles is vital,” Libby says. “Given her lack of height, Abbey had to learn how to maneuver around the court in both sports. Each coach wanted her to specialize in their particular sport, but she was determined to play both.”

One popular sport in Australia that Abbey was not permitted to play was Australian Rules Football, a game with strong similarities to rugby known for its physical nature. Ironically, Martin was an Australian Rules Football official who worked 244 matches in 13 years, including the 2001 Grand Final.

“We had to protect her from getting hurt so she could play her other sports,” Libby says.

Coming to America

Around the age of 15, Abbey was watching the NCAA Tournament on television and started to get the itch to take part in March Madness. She and her family had been to the United States a few years earlier to visit Disneyland, and she went on tour through the Australian National Youth system to play in Dallas in 2018.

This is what she wanted to do, and she had been gifted with the talent and opportunity to do it.

Libby ellis
Abbey’s mother

She began setting up Zoom sessions with coaches to find her best fit for college and committed to play for Cal Poly, a member of the Big West Conference located in San Luis Obispo between San Jose and Santa Barbara.

For Abbey, the move to college was a long plane flight. For Libby, it was a difficult time to let go.

“I was thrilled for her, but right before she left, I was a mess,” admits Libby, who has delivered babies as a midwife for more than two decades. “I eventually had an epiphany that I was spoiling her moment. This is what she wanted to do, and she had been gifted with the talent and opportunity to do it.”

Abbey adapted well, starting 52 of her 53 games at Cal Poly. She averaged more than 15 points per game, shot better than 86% from the free-throw line, and was named to the Big West All-Freshman team in year one and was a first-team All-Big West selection as a sophomore.

She was able to return home for a short time after every season. The most difficult time came after her freshman year, when she was quarantined for 12 days in a hotel room because of the COVID pandemic. “I thought I was part of a social experiment after about 10 days,” she admits.

Next giant leap

After her sophomore season, Ellis decided to enter the transfer portal.

“I wanted to push myself to get better, and I felt I was ready to play against great players,” she says. “Purdue was the first team to reach out.”

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Katie Gearlds was hired in March 2021 to the Boilermaker coaching staff with the plan to become the head coach for the 2022-23 season. The timeline was moved up when Sharon Versyp announced her retirement in September.

Gearlds had been in contact with Ellis, knowing Purdue had weaknesses to address. “We knew we needed to add a guard who could score, and Abbey was a great fit,” Gearlds says. “We liked her bubbly personality and the fact that she had been in pressure situations at Cal Poly. When she got here, she was exactly who we thought she was.”

Ellis admits she was somewhat taken aback by the flat geography and the cold of her new Midwest home. She hadn’t seen snow before coming to Purdue, and the coldest weather she typically saw in her home country never dipped below 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

It took her a few games to get acclimated to the on-court differences between the Big West and the Big Ten, most notably the more physical nature of the games. But she had a solid rookie season with the Boilermakers, averaging 11.5 points and three assists per game and earning All-Big Ten honorable mention status.

Ellis continued her improvement in the 2022-23 season, again averaging better than 11 points a game. She led the Big Ten and was third in the nation in free-throw percentage at 91.7% and was again named All-Big Ten honorable mention. The Boilermakers played in their first NCAA Tournament game since 2017, winning 19 games overall.

Bonus year

Ellis decided to stay and play a fifth year at Purdue, as all student-athletes were allotted an extra year of competition after the 2019-20 season ended prematurely because of the pandemic. She leads the team in scoring this year and cracked the 1,000-point mark as a player at Purdue, becoming the 36th player in program history to do so, after scoring 818 points at Cal Poly.

Her parents, aunt, and uncle will fly to Indiana to participate in Senior Day activities. Ellis has relished her time playing for the Boilermakers, and particularly in Mackey Arena.

“It’s such a great family atmosphere. It’s electric when the arena gets loud, and we really feed off each other,” she says.

She’ll wear another ribbon in her hair that night, just as she has in every game since her youth. Libby sends her several options each year, and Abbey selects the color for every game.

She’ll undoubtedly throw her body around the court with reckless abandon, as she’s done throughout her career. She’ll graduate with an early childhood education degree in May and would like to continue to play basketball, most likely in Europe, before beginning a teaching career either in Australia or the United States.

Whatever her future holds, Gearlds says Ellis’ legacy as a Boilermaker is secure. She came in as a transfer the same year as Jeanae Terry (from Illinois). Along with Madison Layden and Cal Baptist transfer Caitlyn Harper, that quartet provided a solid senior class for this year’s team.

“We haven’t won as many games this season as we wanted, but this group has left our program a much better place,” Gearlds says. “When you look at culture, our locker room, and our practices, you can see we’ve added good people.

“Abbey is right at the top of that list. She’s adored by the community, and she knows no strangers.”

As a result, chances are she gets her restaurant food to order these days.

Written by: Tim Newton

Eric Jakubiak remodeled his basement bathroom in gold and black during a pandemic quarantine

You wouldn’t necessarily look at the photo and understand its significance unless you were a Boilermaker — and even then, you’d need to be Eric Jakubiak or one of his friends to know the full story.

The photo features a group of college-aged boys wearing loud Hawaiian shirts and posing with a mustachioed, middle-aged gentleman wearing an outfit that emphasizes the black in Purdue’s signature gold-and-black color scheme.

The boys wearing Hawaiian shirts are Jakubiak and some of his Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity brothers from Purdue. “They did a blackout game at Mackey Arena for a basketball game and, for whatever silly reason, we all decided to wear Hawaiian shirts so we’d stick out like a sore thumb,” recalls Jakubiak (BSME ’03).

And the older gentleman in the photo who actually followed instructions by wearing black to the game? That’s Joe Tiller, the Boilermakers’ iconic football coach, whom Jakubiak and his buddies just happened to bump into in the basketball arena’s restroom. Fortunately, somebody had the good sense to snap a photo for posterity’s sake.

“That’s definitely a good memory,” Jakubiak says.

The photo’s value is purely sentimental, and yet it’s one of Jakubiak’s favorite items in the handcrafted lockers in his basement that showcase his Purdue memorabilia. And it’s a perfect example of why so many folks love to create fan caves like his.

Whether you call it a fan cave, a she shed, a man cave or any of the countless variations, the great thing about these spaces is that they give their owner an opportunity to show visitors who they are.

What their interests are.

The cool stuff they’ve collected.

Personal accomplishments.

What they like to do in their free time.

Who, and what, they care about.

The basement of Jakubiak’s home in the western Chicago suburbs is just such a space. There’s a pool table and beer-related paraphernalia. There are models of equipment from Caterpillar, where he has worked for nearly two decades. And there’s enough Chicago Cubs memorabilia to make it abundantly clear where his loyalties lie during baseball season.

Then there’s the huge, gold-and-black basement bathroom, which the DIY enthusiast remodeled a couple of years ago during a 10-day quarantine after coming down with COVID-19.

Every time I walk in that bathroom, I have good memories.

Eric Jakubiak BSME ’03

“Fortunately, I only felt bad for a day and then I had nine days of doing nothing,” Jakubiak says. “And I can’t do nothing, so I worked on the bathroom the whole time.”

He had his dad drop off construction materials and then went to work, building the lockers for his Boilermaker collection out of some old doors. Adding to the locker room aesthetic, he hung two Boilermaker jerseys in there: the No. 15 jersey made famous by Super Bowl-winning quarterback Drew Brees on the side that houses mostly football items, and a plain Purdue basketball jersey on the side that is largely dedicated to hoops.

Jakubiak hopes to someday replace the two jerseys with one autographed by Brees himself, plus another signed by Purdue basketball legend Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson, the 1994 national player of the year and No. 1 overall NBA draft pick.

“(Robinson) was a little bit before my time, but he was a guy that I watched when I was younger before I went to Purdue,” says Jakubiak, who grew up in Muncie, Indiana. “He’s one of the reasons I became a Purdue basketball fan.”

In the football locker next to the photo of Tiller, Jakubiak and his Hawaiian shirt-wearing pals is a ball that Tiller autographed with the inscription “Remember the Rose Bowl,” a reference to Purdue’s 2001 appearance in the oldest and most historic bowl game of them all.

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But in reality, Jakubiak has no difficulty remembering Brees’ and the Boilermakers’ trip to Pasadena. He was there, too, and his ticket from the game is on display inside the case.

“That’s a cool memory because I got to fly out to the Rose Bowl when Purdue went there, and we haven’t been back since. It might have been a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” Jakubiak says. “We lost to Washington, but it was a blast being there over New Year’s. That was super fun.”

Among other notable items in the lockers is another prized possession — a basketball autographed by Hall of Fame Boilermakers basketball coach Gene Keady — and lots of additional items with sentimental value like Purdue gifts from his family, fraternity big-brother paddles, and drinkware and art from the West Lafayette bars where Jakubiak and his friends spent many memorable nights in college.

The location of Jakubiak’s Purdue fan cave may seem a bit unusual — a fan bathroom is unique to say the least — but he nonetheless found a way to use the available space to memorialize a well-rounded college experience that he treasures. Taken as a whole, the displayed items strike a balance between memorabilia that any loyal Boilermaker would love to own as well as pieces that are significant only to him.

“Every time I walk in that bathroom, I have good memories,” he says.

As it should be in any fan cave.

Ishita Sameer Bhedi is making the most of her time as a Purdue biomedical engineering student in Indianapolis  

“I knew that I could thrive in my engineering degree here,” says Ishita Sameer Bhedi, a Purdue biomedical engineering student in Indianapolis. “And it turns out that I’ve gotten pretty involved along the way.” 

Involved to the extent that her resume reads like that of a professional with decades upon decades of experience — not a 22-year-old college student. Bhedi has built her success story in the Indianapolis community — around campus and in classes — making connections and already activating her career.  

She’s earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees through a five-year accelerated degree track. As of the beginning of November, she finalized plans to add a new chapter: She accepted a full-time position with Eli Lilly and Co. 

“Every day is interesting,” she says. “I’m always wondering what tomorrow will bring.” 

I knew I could thrive in my engineering degree here.

Ishita Sameer Bhedi  Purdue biomedical engineering student in Indianapolis

Choosing Indianapolis  

Indiana’s capital city isn’t Bhedi’s hometown. Her first visit to the U.S. was when she arrived for her college move-in day in 2019. She was born in India, lived in Dubai for 10 years, then lived in Qatar for seven. While she was in high school, a university representative relayed the chance to get a Purdue degree from an urban campus. 

“I had heard of Purdue, because who hasn’t?” she says. “For someone interested in engineering, it’s recognized around the world to be a top choice. I knew I wanted to go to Purdue, and then I learned about how Indianapolis supports so many industries and organizations in the medical field. It was perfect.” 

Biomedical engineering has been her passion for years. She became interested in medicine while taking biology as a high school freshman and was excited about the chance to focus directly on biomedical engineering in college instead of resorting to other institutions’ more generalized majors. 

The Indianapolis location ties Purdue’s leading education to the exact program that she was seeking and offers a unique downtown environment that she’s loved getting to know. 

“I love it here,” she says. “For me, being in the city has been perfect. I can live here, work here, study here. I’m surrounded by all of these different perspectives and a lot of ways to connect with others.” 

I’m surrounded by all of these different perspectives and a lot of ways to connect with others.

Ishita Sameer Bhedi 
Purdue biomedical engineering student in Indianapolis 

Thriving in the Indianapolis community 

Through networking around Indianapolis, Bhedi has made new friends, been introduced to mentors and formed the foundation for her career. Today, her connections can be found everywhere: volunteering at Coburn Place, being a part of the Indianapolis 500 and working at Eli Lilly. 

“A friend of mine started the Domestic Abuse Prevention Student Organization after a group of us decided we wanted to spend time volunteering in Indy,” she says. “We contacted Coburn Place and started regularly helping with their services.” Coburn Place provides survivors of domestic violence and their children with support and safe housing.  

She has also been a part of the 500 Festival Princess Program, dedicated to celebrating Indiana’s civic-minded, academically driven young women. Through this, she met 32 other program ambassadors from around the state. 

“It was nice to meet girls from all over and hear about their college experiences,” she says. “I heard about the program from a friend, who was actually a TA in one of my classes freshman year. I had kept it in the back of my mind while I was becoming more and more familiar with Indy, and by senior year I was really excited to apply.” 

Within the last couple of years, she has cultivated other lasting connections that have led to reputable results: her role at Lilly. She’ll be a senior scientist in manufacturing and quality there once she graduates with her master’s degree in 2025.  

“I’m excited to see all of the people I’ve met there again,” she says. “During my junior year, I was an intern at Lilly doing research in the Medicines Innovation Hub and Drug Discovery and Development department. Since I like the rules and regulations side of the processes, I switched my focus to manufacturing and quality.”  

She is graduating with a few friends who are also headed to Lilly. Just as she networked around the Indianapolis community, she found Boilermakers around campus who enriched her college experience as they spent time together in a variety of student clubs. 

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Joining clubs on campus 

“How cool would it be to run the school?” 

Bhedi and a friend were hanging out in a residence hall room during their freshman year. To some, asking what it would be like to lead the university would be a purely rhetorical question. To them, it was the start of an ambitious plan.  

Bhedi says, “We went down this rabbit hole of research on student government, and we decided, ‘You know what? Let’s do it. By senior year.’”  

First, Bhedi became part of the Engineering and Technology Student Council and a student government representative. She started becoming more familiar with the cares and concerns of students and learning what she could eventually do to help. In their junior year, she and her friend assembled a council of representatives from every school within the university.  

The committee helped the duo stay informed on students’ cares and concerns and advocated for an exciting milestone the following year: Bhedi was elected student government treasurer, and her friend was elected president.  

“It all started with one casual conversation,” she says. “I loved being in student government so much as an undergraduate that I transitioned over to the graduate and professional student government. I’m the vice president now. It’s been a very fruitful experience.” 

Serving the student body comes in more than one form for Bhedi. In addition to her involvement with the Domestic Abuse Prevention Student Organization and student government, she also manages the Mathematics Assistance Center and served as executive director of legal and logistics for TEDxIUPUI. Her leadership abilities stem from her own learning experiences and her love for problem-solving.  

“We tutors love the word ‘yet,’” she says. “It’s a mindset. Students come in and say, ‘I don’t think I can do this,’ and we say, ‘Yet.’ You don’t understand this equation … yet. You are not confident about the exam … yet. You will learn.” 

Accepting the “yets” and embracing challenges has been a big part of her progression through college.  

“Coming to the U.S. for the first time to be at this university was not an easy step,” she says. “But I really think my advisors and professors helped me branch out because they made sure I was comfortable. I had a good foundation to jump into all these opportunities.” 

Excelling in classes 

While advancing in her professional and personal pursuits, Bhedi has also been an academic powerhouse, leading the way in her courses and research labs. She’s been gathering the insights she needs before jumping into the pharmaceutical world full time.  

“With biomedical engineering, you can go into prosthetics,” she says. “I’m not as into mechanics, so I pivoted toward biomaterials, which is anything that goes into someone’s system. It could include pharmaceuticals, as well as tissue engineering and implantable materials.” 

Day-to-day schedules look different, depending on which club is meeting, what exam is on the horizon or when research steps are happening. In her research, she’s studying the relationship between biomedical engineering education and health equity and how the two complement one another.   

As a senior, Bhedi was recognized as a top 10 student by IUPUI. Each year, select students are honored for their commitments to academic performance, campus leadership and community engagement.  

“It’s definitely been a roller coaster,” she says. “And I can’t wait to experience what’s next.”