Purdue News Roundup
Purdue News Roundup
Items such as space food, a tile from a space shuttle, an American flag that traveled on the Mir space station with Purdue alumnus John Blaha, and an eight-foot-tall satellite image of Indiana will be on display in the lobby of the IMAX 3D Theater at the White River State Park in downtown Indianapolis.
The IMAX 3D Theater just began running the films "L5: First City in Space" and "Mission to Mir." The movies and the Purdue display will continue through February.
Some of the other display items, which were donated by several Purdue departments, include: a tree grown from seeds that flew in space; photos of Purdue's astronaut alumni; a video of Purdue students flying weightless aboard a NASA research plane; and model aircraft and spacecraft.
The 416-seat IMAX 3D Theater has a screen as tall as a six-story building and is the only IMAX 3D theater in Indiana. Movie-goers receive a pair of polarized glasses, like large sunglasses, that create three-dimensional images.
The 3D movie "L5: First City in Space" depicts life in a future self-contained space city located between Earth and the moon. In "Mission to Mir," which is 2D, American astronaut Shannon Lucid takes the viewer on a tour of the Russian space station and explores the cooperation between American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts.
In September, Dr. David Wolf will become the second Purdue alumnus to fly on board the Russian station. The first was Blaha.
Admission for "L5: First City in Space" is $8 for adults, $7 for seniors, and $4.50
for children ages 3-12. Admission for "Mission to Mir" is $6.50 for adults, $5.50
for seniors, and $4.50 for children. Double-feature prices are $13 for adults, $11
for seniors and $8 for children.
CONTACT: Donna Imus, deputy director, Indiana White River State Park Development Commission,
(317) 233-2421.
Incoming freshmen Tasha Foster of Lafayette and Jamillah Sherls of Gary, Ind., will receive $2,500 and $1,000, respectively. Foster plans to major in food science. Sherls plans to study business management.
The scholarship committee renewed awards for Erika Anderson of Gary, Ind., and Joneé Ward of Lafayette . Anderson, a mechanical engineering major, received her first $2,500 Silance Scholarship before the 1995-96 academic year. Ward, an accounting major, received her first $1,000 Silance Scholarship before the 1996-97 school year.
The scholarships were established in 1994. Silance, who died in 1988, stipulated that part of the proceeds from her estate be used to establish a scholarship fund for deserving undergraduates. Silance received a bachelor's degree with distinction in 1932 and a master's degree in 1933, both from Purdue. She taught English, mathematics and other subjects at Roosevelt High School in Gary, Ind.; Fisk University in Tennessee; and Sumner High School in St. Louis, where she lived for many years before returning to Lafayette, where she was active in the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church and the Federated Women's Club.
NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: Personnel from the National Geodetic Survey will be at the Purdue Airport on Wednesday (8/13), Thursday (8/14) and Friday (8/15) from about 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. each day taking data with a global positioning system receiver. For information about areas involved with in the survey, call (765) 494-2165.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Purdue University engineers are helping coordinate a statewide effort to establish a network of highly accurate reference points for use in surveying and navigation.
"Most of the existing reference points in Indiana were determined many years ago using older technology, so many may be in error," said Boudewijn van Gelder, professor of civil engineering in the area of surveying engineering. "Redetermining the exact position of these points using new, sophisticated global positioning system (GPS) equipment will result in much more accurate surveys."
Global positioning technology relies on gathering data from satellites using special electronic receivers. The data is then used to determine positions on the Earth very accurately.
Van Gelder is the Indiana liaison to the National Geodetic Survey, which has been using global positioning technology to measure reference points across the country for about 10 years. The national organization is responsible for measuring some 20 sites in Indiana during the next five weeks. One of those sites is at the Purdue Airport, and NGS personnel will be taking measurements there Wednesday through Friday.
About another 100 Indiana sites are being measured by a private contractor and volunteers from the Indiana Department of Transportation, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, and various private surveyors.
Two representatives from the National Geodetic Survey are stationed near Purdue for the next five weeks to collect all the data gathered around the state. The information then will be processed and made available on CD-ROM in about a year, said Thomas Mahon, a Purdue engineering graduate student involved with the survey.
Surveyors must know the exact position of reference points in order to determine the positions of unknown points. For example, reference points are used in construction projects, property boundary surveys and locating underground utilities.
Geographic information gathered from GPS surveys also can be incorporated into graphical computer displays used by city and county planners. Pilots also use it for navigation, which is why many of the GPS reference points being measured in Indiana are at airports.
While not all surveyors use GPS technology, all will benefit from the more accurate reference points, van Gelder said.
CONTACTS: van Gelder, (765) 494-2165; e-mail, vngelder@ecn.purdue.edu
Mahon, (765) 494-2164; e-mail, mahon@ecn.purdue.edu
Sing 'n Swing 1997, on Friday, Sept. 12, at the Ackerman Golf Course (formerly Purdue South) is for PMO Club members, PMO alumni and all friends of PMO.
Registration for the first-ever outing begins at 10 a.m., with the shotgun start, scramble tournament beginning 11 a.m. Box lunches will be provided, and golfers also can register for a reception and dinner following the tournament.
Reservations for golf, lunch and dinner are $50 per person; golf and lunch only are $35 per person; dinner only is $15 per person. Reservations must be made by Aug. 15.
For those wanting to make a weekend of it, tickets for the President's Council pre-game
buffet and Purdue vs. Notre Dame football game on Saturday, Sept. 13, also are available
through the PMO office. Kickoff will be at 2:30 p.m.
CONTACT: PMO Club, (800) 893-3041 or (765) 494-3947.
-- Issam Mudawar, professor of mechanical engineering, has been named Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Mudawar has received numerous teaching awards, including Purdue's Charles B. Murphy Award for Outstanding Teaching. Mudawar is internationally known for his research on novel heat transfer mechanisms for electronics and avionics, nuclear reactor thermal hydraulics and intelligent materials processing. He is director of the Boiling and Two-Phase Flow Laboratory and the High Heat Flux Research Center. He also is president of Mudawar Thermal Systems, a research and development firm in the Purdue Business and Technology Center that provides solutions to complex thermal management problems in aerospace devices.
Compiled by J. Michael Willis, (765) 494-0371; e-mail, mike_willis@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu
