Purdue completed its annual rite of spring with 10 commencement ceremonies held Thursday through Sunday (May 15-18) at Elliott Hall of Music. For the first time, Purdue’s main campus conferred more than 10,000 degrees in a single commencement. The spring 2025 class included 7,997 undergraduates, 2,167 graduate students, 220 students from professional programs and 85 students from Purdue Polytechnic Institute’s statewide programs who were eligible to participate in the ceremonies.
Purdue faculty members Mark Lundstrom and Vladimir M. Shalaev have been named members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honorary societies. They join nearly 250 new members in the Class of 2025, recognized for their accomplishments across academia, the arts, industry, policy, research and science, and will be inducted in October in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Concrete structures of the past weren’t built to withstand the fury of an earthquake, but a groundbreaking solution from engineers at Purdue could change that. A research team led by Akanshu Sharma, the Jack and Kay Hockema Associate Professor in Civil Engineering and an expert in structural engineering hazard solutions, is testing a cost-effective, minimally invasive technique to fortify older concrete buildings against earthquakes, potentially saving lives and preserving structures worldwide.
In this post, Aaron Specht, an assistant professor in the College of Health and Human Sciences and a member of the Purdue Institute for a Sustainable Future, discusses his research “Benchtop X-ray Fluorescence to Quantify Elemental Content in Nails Non-destructively,” which was recently published in Science of the Total Environment.
As preparations are made for the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500, Purdue will have an outsized presence inside the garages at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Thanks to the university’s renowned mechanical and motorsports engineering programs in West Lafayette and Indianapolis, dozens of Boilermakers are powering teams in the 33-car field of this month’s race, such as current leader and defending IndyCar season team champion Chip Ganassi Racing, 20-time Indianapolis 500 champion Team Penske, Andretti Global, Arrow McLaren, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and many more.
While work continues on several capital projects at the West Lafayette and Indianapolis locations, various travel impacts are scheduled for the summer. Check out the sidewalk and parking restrictions that will be in place during the coming months.
Two of my first-year students recently visited the Purdue Airport to learn about the culture of Purdue’s aviation program. During their exploration, they spontaneously stopped by Michael’s (School of Aviation and Transportation Technology) office. He very generously spent over an hour giving them insights into what makes Purdue’s program one of the premier aviation programs in the United States. They came away inspired to adopt the values of discipline and bravery shown by the many aviators who have trained or taught at Purdue over nearly a century. — Joseph Sorell (Purdue Language and Cultural Exchange)
