Ronda E. Cassens and Scott Meyer

Ronda E. Cassens (School of Aviation and Transportation Technology) and Scott Meyer (Mechanical Engineering): While at Purdue, I spent 25 years as the director of Purdue Extension's aerospace science workshops. I recently found out that a past participant in one of Monroe County's 4-H aerospace science workshops helped to develop fuel for the SpaceX rocket that took two astronauts to the International Space Station in May. I wanted to recognize Ronda Cassens and Scott Meyer, who helped make these workshops possible. Ronda made sure the workshop participants saw the many facilities at the Purdue Airport and that they were able to take a short flight with a Purdue student pilot. Ronda also arranged for classroom space for constructing rockets. Scott gave a tour of Zucrow Laboratories and showed videos to illustrate the method used in testing rocket fuels. Scott also had his aerospace students talk about their research and arranged for the 4-H’ers to shoot off the rockets they had made as part of the workshop. It's clear that Ronda and Scott's exceptional efforts in these workshops made a lasting impact. -- David S. Caldwell (Purdue retiree)