Purdue News
Purdue News
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April 26 2002 JOURNALISTS: Here are story ideas and a list of selected Purdue events during the next two weeks. Rare Amelia Earhart memorabilia lands at PurduePurdue University will enlarge its longstanding association with Amelia Earhart Thursday (5/2) by becoming the largest, most comprehensive repository of materials relating to her life, career and mysterious disappearance. The details will be announced at noon in Hangar One at the Purdue Airport, West Lafayette, Ind. Journalists are invited to attend, but must call (765) 494-2079 to RSVP. The event honors the gift of almost 500 of Earhart's personal papers and memorabilia, many never seen publicly. B-roll video will be available by satellite feed at 3 p.m. Central Time or 4 p.m. Eastern Time that afternoon. The Purdue News Service also will issue a news release featuring the rare collection items, as well as an interview with Sally Chapman Putnam, Earhart's step-granddaughter. Earhart, whose Purdue-purchased plane disappeared over the Pacific Ocean on her around-the-world flight in 1937, served as a woman's counselor and visiting instructor at Purdue from 1935 to 1937. The announcement of the new Earhart acquisitions also will launch Purdue's "Countdown to 100 Years of Flight" celebration, which acknowledges the anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first manned, powered flight and the university's ongoing role in aviation and aerospace history. Satellite Information Coordinates Trouble reports call: 1-800-321-3959 or (765) 423-7326 CONTACT: Jesica Webb, Purdue News Service, (765) 494-2079, jwebb@purdue.edu. Purdue prepares for commencementCommencement ceremonies will be Friday, May 10,-Sunday, May 12, in the Elliott Hall of Music for Purdue students at the West Lafayette campus. During ceremonies 920 students will receive graduate degrees, and 4,277 students will earn undergraduate degrees. Dates and times for the schools' ceremonies are: Division I: 8 p.m. Friday, May 10. Education and Engineering. Student speaker: Matthew C. Newton, an electrical and computer engineering major from Vernon Hills, Ill. Division II: 9:30 a.m. Saturday, May 11. Liberal Arts; Pharmacy, Nursing and Health Sciences. Student speaker: Jill E. Butler, a Health Sciences major from Indianapolis. Division III: 2:30 p.m. Saturday, May 11. Agriculture, Consumer and Family Sciences, Science, Veterinary Medicine. Student speaker: Eric Steiner, an Agriculture Education major from Berne, Ind. Division IV: 9:30 a.m. Sunday, May 12. Management, Technology. Student speaker: Brian LeRoy Amos, a building and construction management technology major from Granger, Ind. .Purdue President Martin C. Jischke and Purdue Alumni Association president Phillip A. Wade also will speak at each ceremony. The media will need tickets to cover the commencement ceremonies. Contact Jesica Webb at the News Service at (765) 494-2079 to reserve space. For other information, contact Melinda Gardner, assistant registrar of academic programs and commencement, at (765) 494-8219, mgardner@purdue.edu Purdue graduate plans to go far, close to homeWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Kara Dailey can go far when she receives her diploma from Purdue University in mechanical engineering on May 10, but she said she plans to do that close to home. Dailey, of Crothersville, Ind., will be applying her degree in Indiana at a time when the state is trying to stop the brain drain of graduates to other states. She already has a standing employment offer to be a manufacturing engineering with Aisin USA Manufacturing Inc. in Seymour, Ind., which manufactures automotive components. The offer met three of Dailey's requirements: a hands-on engineering job, upward mobility and proximity to her family's 120 acre farm. It was growing up and working on that farm with her father, Dan, and mother, Wanda, that inspired Dailey to pursue an engineering education. Dailey enters the job market with the kind of hands-on experience manufacturers need and require from today's engineers, said mechanical engineer and senior design class instructor John Nolfi, manager of the university's Product Engineering and Realization Laboratory in the School of Mechanical Engineering. The only woman in her senior design class of 23, Dailey was nominated to be manufacturing team leader by her peers in the conception, engineering, development and production of a "mechanically enhanced man" or MEM. It is believed to be the only project of its kind being built by colleges students in the United States. The machine is an approximately 6 and a half feet tall aluminum exoskeleton that would enable the average person to lift and move objects weighing 300 pounds. The machine, which can have both military and industrial applications, is an innovative form of forklift that would provide many advantages over conventional equipment. It would be more compact, have greater mobility, be less expensive, follow movements of the human operator and weigh less than conventional forklifts, Nolfi said. "The projects in these courses require you to be an engineer, as opposed to a student," Nolfi said. When recruiters have called him for references for Dailey and her classmates, they want to know if the prospective engineering employees can "hit the ground running," he said. "They are looking for well-rounded engineers who can work in teams from conception to engineering to the end product. They want more from engineers than theoretical design," Nolfi said. Of the seniors in the two classes that Nolfi supervises, about 80 to 85 percent already have employment. Of the remainder some have not started looking. But Nolfi has no doubt his seniors will succeed. With roots deep in the state, Dailey said she feels Indiana provides ample opportunity for engineering students to grow professionally and personally. For now, Dailey said she will try to achieve that balance close to home. Her experience at Purdue taught her another lesson. "If you are determined enough and work hard enough then you can achieve anything," Dailey said. A photo of Dailey and the mechanically enhanced man is available at no charge at this URL: ftp://ftp.purdue.edu/pub/uns/nolfi.MEM.jpeg CONTACT: Kara Dailey, (765) 495-8489, kdailey1@purdue.edu CONTACT: John Nolfi, (765) 765-496-7869 or (765) 474-0078, nolfijg@ecn.purdue.edu Purdue graduate overcomes cancer and heavy workload to earn diplomaAfter 14 years of preparing diplomas and assisting with commencement ceremonies for everybody else, Marilyn Marshall will finally get the chance to walk across the Elliott Hall of Music stage herself on Sunday, May 12. Her accomplishment is no small feat. Marshall, who serves as the assistant registrar for academic record services, has been taking two classes a semester for twelve years to earn her degree in organizational leadership and supervision. As if her workload weren't enough, she also has been battling multiple myeloma, an incurable form of cancer, for more than three years. Marshall is in remission after several rounds of chemotherapy, radiation and a stem cell treatment. Yet, doctors say the cancer could reoccur after approximately five more years. Marshall is optimistic that technological advances in health science will assist her in the future. Meanwhile, she is proud and relieved to have her diploma in hand after more than a decade of night-time studying. Contact: Marilyn Marshall, (765) 494-6158, mkmarshall@purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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