$3.25 million in gifts to support professorships, lab expansion
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Cummins Inc. and a former Purdue professor and his wife who together founded the Bach Chorale in Lafayette were recognized Saturday (Sept. 16) for separate gifts totaling $3.25 million to the university's School of Mechanical Engineering.
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A $1.75 million gift from Cummins Inc., of Columbus, Ind., will support a new laboratory and fund an endowed professorship in mechanical engineering. A $1.5 million gift from mechanical engineering professor emeritus Eugene Goodson and his wife, Susie, will support an additional new endowed professorship in the school.
"Thanks to the generosity of the Cummins Group and the Goodsons, we are making great progress toward our strategic plan goals," said Purdue President Martin C. Jischke. "These gifts, in particular, will help support our physical expansions and academic growth in mechanical engineering."
The Cummins' gift will provide $750,000 for the Cummins Professor of Mechanical Engineering. The gift is part of the Purdue Goodwin Challenge to create 20 endowed professorships, which was made possible through a $15 million estate gift from Purdue alumnus George E. Goodwin, who died in 2002. Money from the estate is used to match dollar-for-dollar every new $750,000 gift, and the combined total of $1.5 million will fund each chair.
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"Creating an endowed professorship provides an opportunity for the university to recruit, reward and retain leading researchers and educators in specific fields," said Leah Jamieson, the John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering. "These gifts also help enhance the 92,000-square-foot expansion in mechanical engineering that was announced last year."
E. Daniel Hirleman, professor and the William E. and Florence E. Perry Head of Mechanical Engineering, said increasing the number of endowed professorships is a top priority.
"In 1999 the School of Mechanical Engineering had three named professors, and we set a goal to increase support so that 20 percent of our faculty positions are endowed chairs," Hirleman said. "With these two announcements, we have reached 13 endowed professorships in the school, exceeding our strategic plan goal."
Cummins employs about 900 Purdue graduates, and the company has been a supporter of other programs at the university.
"Cummins has long supported the Global Engineering Alliance for Research and Education," Hirleman said. "This educational program provides an international engineering experience for students through partnerships with the Universitat Karlsruhe in Germany, the Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China, the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in India and other global corporations."
Cummins also has sponsored Purdue research on engine controls, exhaust systems and emissions, acoustics and vibrations, diagnostics, and tribology in the School of Mechanical Engineering. The company also has supported the College of Technology's mechanical engineering laboratory in Columbus, Ind. Cummins has provided funding for scholarships in computer science for the College of Science, Purdue student design projects, the Women in Engineering program, the Purdue Society of Automotive Engineers and the Purdue chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
"Cummins has had a close and productive relationship with Purdue for many years and has benefited both from the research done at Purdue and the academic achievement of its students," said Tim Solso, chairman and CEO of Cummins Inc. "We look forward to strengthening this relationship by partnering on projects with the new Cummins professor and in the new Cummins Power Laboratory."
The Cummins professor will have expertise in advanced research in the integration of engines and power-generation systems and will work closely with research projects at Cummins.
Cummins has particular interest in the development of advanced power systems that will draw on many technical disciplines to improve efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of exhaust emissions and noise, said John Wall, the vice president and chief technical officer of Cummins who worked with Purdue to create the new position.
"The Cummins professorships and Cummins Power Laboratory will strengthen the capabilities of both Purdue and Cummins," Wall said. "We look at this as an investment more than as a gift - an investment in the future of two great institutions."
The second endowed professorship for the school will be the R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Professor of Mechanical Engineering. Suresh Garimella, a professor of mechanical engineering, was named to the position in June. His research interests lie in microsystems engineering, micro- and nano-scale thermal phenomena, high-performance compact cooling technologies, electro-thermal co-design, and electronics packaging and materials processing.
The Goodsons live in Ann Arbor, Mich., and Gene Goodson is a former Purdue mechanical engineering professor and alumnus. Gene was the first director and Susie was the accompanist when they helped establish the Bach Chorale Singers in Lafayette in 1966. Susie Goodson has continued her musical career as organist at several churches, currently at the Emanuel United Church of Christ in Manchester, Mich.
"Susie and I understand the importance of supporting an institution and its faculty," said Gene Goodson. "Outstanding faculty can help in many different ways - from recruiting new faculty and students, to research and securing research funding, to internships and job placement for students, and for enhancing a school's reputation."
Gene Goodson earned master's and doctoral degrees from Purdue in 1961 and 1963, respectively. Until 1981 he was a Purdue faculty member in mechanical engineering. Susie was an organist at Redeemer Lutheran Church in West Lafayette and at the First Baptist Church in Lafayette. Both of their children were born while the couple lived in Lafayette.
While at Purdue, he served as director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Engineering Studies, associate dean of engineering and director of the Engineering Experiment Station. After leaving Purdue, Gene Goodson went on to serve as chief scientist of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Most recently, he has served as president, chief executive officer and chairman of the board at Williams Controls, a manufacturer of electronic throttle controls. After his retirement as chairman and CEO of Oshkosh Truck Corp. six years ago, Goodson began teaching as an adjunct professor at the University of Michigan. He serves on the board of two companies, Williams Controls in Portland, Ore., and CIS Inc. in Grand Prairie, Texas. He recently accepted the position of CEO and president of Southwall Technologies in Palo Alto, Calif. Southwall manufactures energy conserving coatings for the automotive, architectural and display industries.
Purdue's College of Engineering is made up of 12 academic programs: aeronautics and astronautics, agricultural and biological, biomedical, chemical, civil, construction engineering and management, electrical and computer, engineering education, industrial, materials, mechanical, and nuclear. More than 6,400 undergraduate students and nearly 2,500 graduate students are enrolled in Purdue engineering programs.
Cummins Inc., a global power leader, is a corporation of complementary business units that design, manufacture, distribute and service engines and related technologies, including fuel systems, controls, air handling, filtration, emission solutions and electrical power generation systems. Headquartered in Columbus, Ind., Cummins serves customers in more than 160 countries through its network of 550 company-owned and independent distributor facilities and more than 5,000 dealer locations. Cummins reported net income of $550 million on sales of $9.9 billion in 2005. Press releases can be found on the Web.
Saturday's (Sept. 16) announcements are part of a weeklong celebration leading up to Purdue's Sept. 23 Homecoming. Events focus on ways Purdue is improving education and helping the state of Indiana as part of the university's strategic plan and $1.5 billion fund-raising campaign.
Writer: Cynthia Sequin, (765) 494-4192, csequin@purdue.edu
Sources: Leah Jamieson, (765) 494-5346, lhi@purdue.edu
E. Daniel Hirleman, (765) 494-5688, hirleman@ecn.purdue.edu
John Wall, (812) 377-7344, john.c.wall@cummins.com
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
PHOTO CAPTION:Patrick Cunningham, a doctoral student in the School of Mechanical Engineering, conducts diesel engine research at Purdue's Ray W. Herrick Laboratories. Cummins Inc., a diesel industry manufacturer in Columbus, Ind., donated $1.75 million for facility and laboratory improvements and an endowed professorship for mechanical engineering. (Purdue News Service photo/David Umberger)
A publication-quality photo is available at https://www.purdue.edu/uns/images/+2006/cummins-herrick.jpg
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