Purdue College of Science | Spring 2015

:: COLOMBIAN COLLABORATORS :: 3-D PRINTING

ALSO INSIDE@PurdueScience

OUTREACH & ENGAGEMENTYEARS OF

NEW DIMENSIONS

These time-lapsed imag-es of the Purdue “Motion P” being created using 3-D printing demonstrate the capabilities of the technology available to students and faculty in the Department of Computer Science’s Visualization Laboratory located on the third floor of the Lawson Computer Science Building. For more on this story, see page 36.

P H O T O B Y C H A R L E S J I S C H K E

132.2 MINUTES

14.7 MINUTES

29.3 MINUTES

44 MINUTES

58.7 MINUTES

73.4 MINUTES

88.1 MINUTES

102.8 MINUTES

117.5 MINUTES

PRODUCTION & MEDIA

Eric Nelson, managing editor

Julie Sadler, senior graphic designer

Tim Brouk, senior writer and contributing photographer

Charles Jischke, Mark Simons and John Underwood, contributing

photographers

Dan Howell, copy editor

Chris Adam, Elizabeth Gardner, Marti LaChance and Amy Raley,

contributing writers

ADMINISTRATIONJeffrey Roberts

Frederick L. Hovde Dean of Science

George P. McCabe Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

Dennis Minchella Associate Dean for

Undergraduate Education

Elizabeth Taparowsky Associate Dean for Research

and Graduate Education

Tim Brouk Communications and

Media Specialist

DEPARTMENT HEADSRichard J. Kuhn

Biological Sciences

Timothy Zwier Chemistry

Sunil Prabhakar Computer Science

Indrajeet Chaubey Earth, Atmospheric, and

Planetary Sciences

Gregery Buzzard Mathematics

Andrew Hirsch (interim) Physics

Rebecca W. Doerge Statistics

© 2015 by the Purdue University College of Science. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be

reproduced or duplicated without the prior written permission of the publisher. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information included in this publication at the time of printing, the publisher shall not be liable for

damages arising from errors or omissions.

An equal access/equal opportunity university COS-15-5299

This academic year, the College of Science celebrated the 25th anniversary of Science Outreach. The program works closely with Indiana science teachers and brings elementary, middle and high school students to campus for various events, camps and field trips.

The quarter of a century has been filled with success as the amount of teachers involved with Science Express — one of Science Outreach’s key programs — has exploded in recent years. This means the amount of students affected by Science Outreach’s assistance has increased dramatically as well.

In this issue of Insights, we look at the history and what the Science Outreach team does to create awareness and ensure quality in Indiana school science labs and classrooms. From equipment to lesson plans, Science Outreach director Bill Walker and his excellent staff of departmental coordinators are here to help.

Another program that has seen recent, dramatic growth is the influx of Colombian students into the college via the Colombia-Purdue Institute. A program that began in 2014 sees undergraduate students from Colombia visiting Purdue University for three to six months. The College of Science more than doubled the amount of undergraduate students from Universidad Nacional de Colombia, who will work in our labs conducting high-level research this summer and fall. The graduate student part of the program brings in students for a year. Currently, the college has four graduate students from Universidad Nacional and Universidad de los Andes.

As always, our students find interesting ways to shine. Meet Carly Marshall and Anji Li, two freshly graduated seniors who competed for four years on the Purdue women’s swimming team. They were roommates and both swam relay. Of course, they both dove into their studies and helped earn their team the 2014 President’s Cup, which is awarded to the Purdue team with the highest combined grade-point average.

Our faculty members continue to make amazing discoveries in their field. A group in the Department of Computer Science is looking to improve 3-D printing algorithms while David Minton, professor of earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences, teamed up with Distinguished Professor Jay Melosh on asteroid research that suggests the space rocks are formed from planetary embryo collisions.

Yes, the College of Science’s reach goes to outer space, Indiana elementary classrooms and everywhere in between.

Thank you and please have a pleasant summer.

J E F F R E Y T . R O B E R T SFrederick L. Hovde Dean of the College of Science

G R E E T I N G S ,

C O V E R S T O R Y | 0 8For more than 25 years, faculty, staff, students and

alumni from the College of Science have reached out to

Indiana’s K-12 teachers and their pupils with learning

activities, resources, technological tools and hands-on

lab experiences that encourage young people to pursue

the study of science. This issue of Insights celebrates that

half-century of success and its continued impact on the

future.

D E P A R T M E N T S :2 0 B R E A K T H R O U G H S4 2 C L A S S N O T E S4 5 L A S T W O R D

04 I N T H E S W I M O F T H I N G SFormer teammates join the pool of science alumnae

16 W E A T H E R O R N O TColombian science students enjoy a warm welcome from Purdue

26 E N D P R O D U C T SSoftware engineering course turns concepts into creations

36 F R O M T H E O R Y T O R E A L I T Y3-D printing reaches new levels of promise and sophistication

F E A T U R E S :

INSIGHTS | SPRING 2015

C o S L O G ORepresented in each of the radiating arms of this logo are the seven departments of the College of Science. The stability of the inner sphere symbolizes the knowledge and objectivity of science, while the implied movement of the outer configuration suggests the exploratory and interdisciplinary nature of the field.

IN THE

TEAMMATES, ROOMMATES JOIN THE POOL OF SCIENCE ALUMNAE

B Y T I M B R O U K

Carly Marshall and Anji Li’s acceleration through their science studies was rivaled only by their freestyle relay times as members of the Purdue women’s swimming and diving team.

Both competitive swimmers since they were small children, science found them a little later on. However, Li and Marshall maintained passions for both academics and athletics throughout their Purdue careers. Each side of their lives helped the other.

“I think getting into swimming early helped build habits of time management before I even needed them in college,” says Marshall, a biological sciences major with emphasis in neurobiology and physiology. “It demands a more structured schedule, really. I have to plan ahead a little more and maybe be a little more conservative with my social things of the week, but I get everything I want done. Maybe I lose some sleep here or there, but I think everyone in college is in the same boat.”

On Feb. 28, Marshall and Li wrapped up four years each as Purdue swimmers during a meet against Notre Dame, Northwestern and Illinois. They swam well during their four-woman relay event as the memories of years of training, sacrifice and competition came flooding back. And these days, when they aren’t in the West Lafayette rental house they share with two other roommates, the newly retired competitive swimmers still find themselves at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center to encourage teammates training for national competitions.

“The friendships are irreplace-able — priceless even,” says Marshall of her teammates, coaches and team staff members. “I think I had a great advantage with my academics just having those people encouraging me and keeping me on track.”

SCIENCE DREAMSAt Carmel High School in suburban Indianapolis, Marshall had dreams of swimming in the NCAA. At the same time, her other dreams — the ones she had while sleeping — helped guide her toward neuroscience.

“Since middle school, I’ve always had vivid dreams, and I was inter-ested in finding out why and how,” Marshall recalls. “Then encounters with neurodegenerative disease — like a friend of mine’s father having ALS — motivated me to take on the medical side of neuroscience.”

After landing at Purdue, Marshall was able to conduct research during her freshman year in the lab of Stephanie Gardner, assistant professor of biological sciences. Marshall and her student group investigated a potential cause of hearing loss by comparing the prevalence in young and old rat brains of a particular potassium channel in the medial geniculate body — a neural structure that is the last of a series of processing centers along the auditory pathway from the cochlea to the cerebral cortex’s temporal lobe.

“The prevalence of that potassium channel was said to be cor-related to the sensitivity of those neurons,” Marshall says. “The more the potassium channel was present, the less sensitive those neurons were. That was our theory.”

I THINK GETTING INTO SWIMMING EARLY

HELPED BUILD HABITS OF TIME MANAGEMENT BEFORE I EVEN NEEDED

THEM IN COLLEGE. — CARLY MARSHALL

Carly Marshall (Photos by Charles Jischke)

Spring 2015 | 5

That early start in research set a strong academic career in motion. It encouraged her to pursue graduate education or medical school while thriving in the College of Science. Early in her last semester, Marshall succeeded in becoming one of four Purdue candidates for a 2015 Gates Cambridge Scholarship, which is awarded to outstanding applicants from countries outside the United Kingdom to pursue a full-time post-graduate degree in any subject available at the University of Cambridge.

Although the scholarship was awarded to another candidate, Marshall’s resume still shows a stint as senior leader on the swim team as well as the liaison for Purdue Athletics’ role in the annual Purdue University Dance Marathon, which has donated more than $3 million to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis since 2005.

“My older sister (Megan Marshall) was really involved in my high school’s dance marathon. Once I started going and saw the passion of those involved and the gratitude from the Riley families that are on the receiving end, I was just really touched by the efforts people were making to make those families’ lives better,” Marshall says. “Once I heard Purdue’s dance marathon was looking to get more people involved, I thought Purdue Athletics was a great gateway.”

Thousands of Purdue swimming fans got to see Marshall succeed in the water, but Gardner saw her suc-ceed in the lab and classroom. She says Marshall’s early exposure and affinity for research and her time management helped her succeed in biological sciences. It also helped Marshall gain acceptance into the Indiana University School of Medicine, where she will begin classes in the fall.

“Knowing how research is con-ducted in science promotes critical thinking and a deeper understanding of science, which helps students

develop scientific literacy,” Gardner says. “I have great admiration for the students who manage to be at the top of their game in and out of the classroom at a Division I school like Purdue. It takes hard work, and Carly has never shied away from hard work.”

SWIMMING SOUTH OF THE BORDERLi began her swimming career while growing up in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Unlike Marshall’s, Li’s high school did not have a swim team. Li began competitive swim-ming at age 8, mostly at after-school training and weekend meets. A knack for the backstroke as well as for mathematics and computer science brought her to Purdue.

The mathematical requirements for computer science intrigued Li the most, so she soon found a niche in the applied statistics and actuarial science fields. Months before graduation, Li was hired as an actuarial consultant for the life and health branch of Ernst & Young in Chicago, where she will start in the fall.

Li credits the swim team for her academic prow-ess. She, Marshall and their women’s swimming and diving teammates won the President’s Cup as the top academic Purdue Athletics team. The aquatic athletes, who also include biological sciences sophomore Grace Hernandez and freshman Rachel Ho, collectively had a grade-point average of 3.5. It was a team goal to earn the academic honor.

“During finals week, that was definitely motivating — knowing that the team was shooting for the same thing. They were also wanting to excel academically,” says Li, who was also a member of the Women in Science Program’s leadership team and one of two outstanding seniors in the actuarial science program. “Swimming gave me a reason to push myself academically. I didn’t want to have to worry about my academics while we were at away meets.”

Jeff Beckley, co-director of actuarial science at Purdue, taught Li in several courses. He gave her a summer 2014 internship at his company, Actuarial Options, to grant her experience to add to her already impressive resume. In the field or in the classroom, Beckley was impressed with Li’s skills.

“It’s not only the grades she earns in the classroom. She has a great personality, contributes to the class and gets along well with everyone in the classroom,” Beckley says. “She’s just an excellent student.”

Early in Li’s actuarial science studies, she won-dered if she should or could handle both her studies and swimming. Would the swimming affect her grades? Beckley was among those who encouraged her to keep athletics in her life.

“Clearly, it didn’t hurt her grades. She had a 3.9,” Beckley says. “It’s an extremely valuable experience to have, and employers, I believe, put a value on it.”

SWIMMING GAVE ME A REASON TO

PUSH MYSELF ACADEMICALLY.

— ANJI LI

6 | insights

FINAL LAPOn Feb. 18, Li helped establish a new team record. Her four-swimmer relay team scored a 1:39.03 time in the 200-meter freestyle relay, beating the previous record by 0.01 of a second. The meet, held at Ohio State University, was the Big Ten championships. It was an epic note to go out on for Li, but it was also bittersweet.

“I feel very moved and sad to be done.” Li says. “Swimming has been a really big part of my life.”

Since they are both sprinters, Marshall and Li trained together for years. Short-distance relay swimmers expend a tremendous amount of energy in just seconds. Swimming laps as fast as you can takes a lot of energy and hard work. So does succeeding in the College of Science. Li and Marshall prove that doing both is possible.

“I think it’s really all about commit-ting and deciding what you really want to get out of each aspect of your life,” Marshall says. “It’s definitely possible to succeed in every aspect but it takes some discipline and making some hard choices every now and then. But it all ends up being worth it in the end.”

Spring 2015 | 7

Anji Li

What started in 1990 with just one truck and a vision to help K-12 science and mathematics teachers has grown into a statewide program that has helped almost 1 million students build their understanding of science and mathematics and work with research-grade scientific equipment.

Purdue Science K-12 Outreach is celebrating 25 years of partnering with Indiana schools. Elementary, middle and high school students and their teachers — more than 19,000 of them over the years — have easier access to new lab equipment. And we’re not talking about just new beakers and test tubes. Young science students can get their hands on a new ultraviolet

spectrometer or a powerful nuclear scalar much more easily with Science K-12 Outreach and its trusty Science Express fleet of vehicles.

Bill Walker, director of Science K-12 Outreach, and his team also are partnering with schools like Lafayette’s Jefferson High School on student-centered instructional techniques and using technology to support learning in science and mathematics classrooms. Since 2014, Science K-12 Outreach has been working with Jefferson’s teachers to create technology-driven lessons and labs. Science concepts will be delivered at the touch of a button.

With 25 years of experience and more than $16 million spent on lab equipment, programming and train-ing, Science K-12 Outreach is in a good position for another quarter-century. Following are 25 chapters on the history of Science K-12 Outreach and activities that have helped bring the program to where it is today — and help it continue to move forward into tomorrow.

B Y T I M B R O U K

ILLUSTRATING

OUTREACH & ENGAGEMENTYEARS OF

INCEPTION

INSPIRATIONThe birth of Science K-12 Outreach harkens back to the establishment of Purdue University as a land-grant institution. This mission inspired Harry Morrison, for-mer head of the Department of Chemistry and dean of the College of Science. Morrison says he wanted “to fulfill the land-grant mission of servicing outside school systems at the K-12 level.”

Morrison was inspired also by Purdue’s storied Agriculture Extension program, which works with farmers across Indiana. The farmers and Purdue ag researchers work hand-in-hand to discover new methods or improve the tried and true. Morrison envisioned science and mathematics teach-ers across the state using simi-lar help. In return, students become savvier in the class-room and would perhaps pursue more training at Purdue.

1

GOING MOBILEAfter talking to Indiana chem-istry teachers, Morrison real-ized that the biggest need in classrooms was new and better lab equipment. As the 1990s dawned, techniques were becoming more sophisticated and schools could afford only a new beaker or other basic resources. Former Purdue chemistry professor Fred Lytle suggested modeling the pro-gram after a “lending library” for chemistry equipment at Juniata College in Pennsylvania.

Grants for equipment and a truck were received. Enter the “Chemobile.”

3

HITTING THE ROADOf all of the equipment Science K-12 Outreach uses to reach schools, the most important piece has four wheels and flies down the interstates, highways and county roads of Indiana. The Chemobile was the first vehicle at the program’s dis-posal. As the name suggests, it delivered chemistry equip-ment to schools, but in just a couple years, the truck also was used to serve biology and other K-12 courses.

4

IMPLEMENTATIONWith the backing of Purdue chemical education profes-sors Bob Wild and J. Dudley Herron, Morrison’s idea for a chemistry extension was brought to the Purdue presi-dent’s office. President Steven Beering loved the idea, except he wa nted “ex tension” changed to “outreach.”

2 Kenneth Kliewer, who at

the time served as science dean, allocated $50,000 to the new Chemistry Outreach program and Morrison quickly hired its first director, Diane Burnett, an experienced, award-winning chemistry teacher from Indianapolis.

“We wanted to be a bridge between the newest techniques in chemical research and the classroom,” Morrison says.

1

(Photos by Tim Brouk and Mark Simons)

Spring 2015 | 9

THE TEAMAs the years passed, most departments created positions to hire their own outreach coordinators. The man or woman usually has been a former teacher in their depart-ment’s respective field. The coordinators not only visit schools but also host events for teachers and students.

SCIENCE K-12 OUTREACH When Morrison became dean of the college, Dennis Sorge, then director of academic research and services, approached him about a college-wide outreach program. Morrison saw the broad need for K-12 outreach, and all of the Science depart-ments came on board.

“Most of the time we pro-vided the funding out of the college, so that made it attrac-tive,” Morrison recalls. “Sorge and I made a major effort in that time period to get the state to allocate money to absorb the costs, especially for the Chemobile. Other states that we thought we should be ahead of were starting to grab onto the concept and were getting their state’s government to help.”

EXPANSION5

6

The 2015 team has decades of experience working with educators and students. Chemistry coordinator Bill Bayley brings teachers from around the state into Brown Laboratory to show off the latest equipment and to train them on the technology. David Sederberg, outreach coordinator for Physics and Astronomy, leads Quarknet, which helps physics teachers improve lessons with high-energy particle physics research.

Steven Smith, the Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences outreach coordinator, excels at hosting students from across the state for programs. Recently, he led high school students through a zombie apocalypse scenario using new mapping software. Phil Sands, Computer Science’s outreach coordinator, heads the annual summer camp for his depart-ment. For the last couple years, he has treated the students to Lego robot battles and human versus robot Connect Four matchups.

Isidore Julien, outreach coordinator for Biological Sciences, is the most tenured member of the team. Julien brings AP biology students to campus each year to conduct experiments in Purdue labo-ratories. Zach Grigsby has logged thousands of miles on the Chemobile, or what is now called Science Express.

SCIENCE EXPRESSTo help advertise the diversity of Science K-12 Outreach, the Chemobile was renamed Science Express. The original box truck was replaced with a van as demand for scientific instrumentation and outreach programming for schools increased.

Bill Walker, director of Science K-12 Outreach, says his team goes out to schools four times a week. From Evansville to Gary, the outreach team loads up the van and treks to the schools in the name of science and mathematics education.

“It’s who calls us, who has a question, who has a need and how can we best use our resources to address that need,” Walker says.

7

TALES FROM THE ROADGrigsby has logged almost 160,000 miles in his nearly 10 years of driving Science Express. He certainly has seen his routes expand over the years.

“In my first year we had 67 teachers in the program and a little over 5,000 student-instrument interactions,” Grigsby recalls. “We now have 181 teachers and last year we had 23,511 student-instrument interactions.”

He has witnessed some memorable events while behind the Science Express wheel.

“While driving down a country road that I had never been on before, I saw an air-plane coming at me head-on less than 20 feet off the ground,” Grigsby remembers. “Just as I was about to drive off of the road to not get hit, the plane moved to the side about 30 feet and landed on a grass strip next to the road as I drove past.”

8

6

10 | insights

WANT TO PARTICIPATE? HERE’S HOW TO ORDER:

Teachers interested in joining Science Express are trained on equipment use and care at workshops during school semesters or the summer. The workshops are essential for learning theory and pedagogy associated with the labs. Once training is complete, schools pay a $300 annual fee per teacher to join the program, but no school pays more than $1,000. These fees give the teachers access to scientific instrumentation valued at approximately $750,000.

10

SCIENCE EXPRESS CATALOGIndiana teachers can request and reserve a plethora of lab equipment, from Accumet pH meters to a gel electrophoresis apparatus. In all, almost 100 pieces of equipment, computer programs, manuals and experiments are available.

9

PHYSICS ON THE GOEquipment to teachers isn’t the only thing Science K-12 Outreach delivers. Got a group of kids who would love to learn about physics outside of school but can’t bring them to Purdue? Physics on the Road is for you. Sederberg and a team of stu-dents set up various physics demonstrations and explain the concepts behind the demos to the students. A recent trip to a Monticello Cub Scout lock-in saw the boys learn what kind of physics goes on inside a tornado, how to build a cir-cuit and the science behind a pingpong ball being levitated with a hair dryer.

11

HASTIScience K-12 Outreach is a regular at the annual Hoosier Association of Science Teachers Inc. (HASTI) conference, held at the Indianapolis Convention Center. Hundreds of science teachers flock to the event to see what’s new in their field. In February, Science K-12 Outreach’s impressive booth was a hub for teachers to gather and talk with the outreach team.

The outreach coordinators participated in presentations throughout the 2015 HASTI conference. Smith helped lead the popular rock lottery where earth science teachers bid on rock and mineral specimens to take back to their classrooms.

EFFECT12

TEACHER FEEDBACKNew teachers and those who have taught for decades expressed sincere appreciation for Science K-12 Outreach’s efforts. At the HASTI confer-ence, many hugs and enthusi-astic handshakes were given to the team. To some Indiana science teachers, Science K-12 Outreach team members are rock stars — and that’s not just from the geology teachers.

“I’ve just gotten on the Science Express program this school year,” says Ronda Waters, a chemistry and phys-ics teacher at Merrillville High School. “I’ve had them bring me about five different labs to do and my kids absolutely love it.”

13

10

Spring 2015 | 11

CREATING MEMORIESEach member of the Science K-12 Outreach team organizes events throughout the year — including the summer — with students in mind. Some events are to enhance science stu-dents’ enthusiasm while others help test new lab equipment or methods. For example, over the last few years Smith has helped steward a gold mine rock dis-play and a hallway wall wrap of the solar system, which are self-guided exhibits used to educate Purdue students, K-12 students and community visi-tors about Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) content.

STUDENT SUCCESSThe goal for Science K-12 Outreach is to improve student understanding of science and mathematics. Walker says it can be difficult to demonstrate Science K-12 Outreach success with students: “When working with schools or providing professional development for teachers, it can take a few years to see the impact on students as measured by sur-veys or test scores.

“In the past we have seen improvements in student under-standing of science and math-ematics concepts through involvement in Science K-12 Outreach activities. We are cur-rently collecting data on how students are learning interdis-ciplinary STEM. We look for-ward to learning about the impact the programs have on student understandings through an interdisciplinary approach.”

TEACHER TRAININGIndiana teachers get most of the training from the outreach team, but some out-of-state educators arrive via the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) program. Smith has established Purdue as one of 14 American locations for training in atmosphere and climate, hydrology and soil. Teachers learn to use new equipment and apply new teaching methods while attending workshops at the Celery Bog Nature Area in West Lafayette.

14 15 16 EVENTS

increasing rapidly once he reached his desired elevation. Hess created the term “cosmic rays” as he found that most natural radiation stems from the sun and stars, not the Earth.

Sederberg, physics and astronomy professor Matt Jones, Winamac High School science teacher Jeremy Wegner and then physics senior Chris Kraner took former McCutcheon High School student Stephen Claypool up to 10,000 feet with sophisticated cosmic ray detec-tors and laptops to collect data. Hess would have been envious of the equipment and the safer conditions this Purdue crew endured. Their findings matched Hess’ from a previous century.

UP, UP AND AWAY IN MY BEAUTIFUL ASTROPHYSICS BALLOON!

One event that is still talked about around the College of Science occurred on March 30, 2013, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of Victor Hess’ most daring experiment. An Austrian physicist and 1936 Nobel laureate, Hess was attempting to disprove the notion of all radiation coming from the Earth. Using electro-scopes within a hot-air balloon, Hess rose to more than 17,000 feet and noticed radiation levels

17

16.

17

12 | insights

FORGET SATURDAY MORNING CARTOONS

Sederberg’s newest program draws middle and high school students away from their TV and tablets for one Saturday morn-ing a month. The Saturday Morning Astrophysics team hosts students in the Physics Building to learn about all things space — from how much the sun weighs to how dark matter works. The students learn con-cepts from physics and astron-omy postdocs and then use those concepts to solve a prob-lem at the end of the session. The problems would give most college students a challenge, yet these teens and preteens nail them. They show dedication to wake up early to delve into an astrophysics lesson. The way Sederberg and the Department of Physics and Astronomy pres-ents the material encourages the students to come back early and often.

MATH OUTREACH EQUALS SUCCESSA former high school mathe-matics teacher, Walker has helped make Purdue a hub for state mathematics. He works with the Purdue Mathematics Education Club to host an annual Math Field Day, where teams of middle school stu-dents compete at timed math tasks. They have only 20 min-utes to measure distances and arcs of Nerf missile launches or see how many ways they can make the number 12.

Walker co-hosts the regional MathCounts competi-tion and, every other year, the state competition. Dozens of Indiana middle schools send their top math students for a day at Purdue. The mini math whiz-zes compete against one another in individual and team tests. They also compete in the Countdown Round, where the top 16 students are pitted against one another in tourna-ment bracket style. Each student must successfully complete two out of three problems shown on a video screen to advance to the next round. Often, Walker can’t finish reciting the word problem before a student buzzes in with the correct answer.

MathCounts is a big deal. Thousands of scholarship dol-lars are available at the state level. And the top few students advance to the national round, where more scholarship money is up for grabs.

18 19 A MISSION WITH

METRICS

SINCE 1989-90, SCIENCE OUTREACH’S WORK HAS INCLUDED

MORE THAN:

IN 2013-14, PURDUE SCIENCE K-12

OUTREACH WORK INCLUDED MORE THAN:

500EVENTS

360SCHOOLVISITS

1,000 TEACHERS PARTICIPATING IN ACTIVITIES

28,000STUDENTS PARTICIPATING IN EVENTS

$16MILLIONFOR K-12 SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS PROGRAMS

19,000 TEACHERS PARTICIPATING IN ACTIVITIES

5,000

SCHOOLVISITSNEARLY

1 MILLIONSTUDENTS PARTICIPATING IN EVENTS

19

Spring 2015 | 13

OUTREACH STATPurdue student groups con-tribute to the outreach and engagement work in the College of Science. They help with events and develop new activities and lessons. One such group is Statistics in the Community (StatCom), a vol-unteer community outreach organization started by Purdue’s Department of Statistics in 2001. Directed and staffed by graduate stu-dents, it provides professional statistical consulting services to governmental and nonprofit g roups f ree of cha rge. StatCom also has a special group of students who work on K-12 activities to promote interest in and understanding of statistics.

IT’S MAGICPurdue’s Computer Science outreach team created Mentors for Aspiring Girls in Computing (MAGIC), a service organization with enthusiastic female com-puter science students who strive to get girls of high school age interested in computing career paths. Partnering with four high schools, Purdue stu-dents met during after-school club meetings and taught stu-dents about programming through a variety of themes including generative art, games, artificial intelligence, app development and security.

Although the number of female students in Purdue’s computer science program has increased in recent years, the male undergraduate students still outnumber females by about nine to one. Led by Sands, the department’s outreach team is working hard to make those numbers more even.

HOMEGROWN TEACHERSScience K-12 Outreach has had an increased presence in helping groom tomorrow’s science teachers coming out of Purdue. In Biological Sciences, the program has worked with award-winning biology education professor David Eichinger, who has joint appointments in biological sciences and the College of Education. Eichinger has helped make biology educa-tion a strong program, and Science K-12 Outreach is there to help him make it even more successful.

Equipment from Science Express is used in Eichinger’s methods class, and he meets with Bayley a few times throughout the semester. In the Department of Chemistry, outreach also enables the strong, storied chemical education program.

“That’s one way we’re helping the College of Science — working with faculty to help future teachers learn about using equipment or teaching strategies,” Walker says.

SUMMER BIOLOGY EXPERIENCERoss Reserve is a unique living laboratory for several Biological Sciences faculty and their graduate students. In the sum-mer, Ross is opened up to K-12 students and teachers to explore the lush, wooded area’s trails while learning about native plant and animal species. They also learn how Purdue research-ers use the area in rural Tippecanoe County for impor-tant work that helps research-ers understand flora and fauna behaviors and actions in differ-ent conditions.

20

USA BIOLOGY OLYMPIADJulien Isidore and BioMedia Center Director Clark Gedney are longtime organizers of the USA Biology Olympiad. The top 20 biology students from around the nation descend upon the West Lafayette campus for a week of lectures, study sessions and lab exercises led by experts in fields that include microbiol-ogy, plant anatomy, physiology, ethology, genetics and biosyste-matics. The top four finalists move on to the International Biology Olympiad. Despite some competition, the students bond during their stay and get an early taste of what university science life will be like.

21

22 23 24 GOALS

21

14 | insights

WHAT’S NEXT?Walker acknowledges geo-graphical limitations with Science Express. There are only so many hours in the day and Science Express can go only so fast to deliver micro-centrifuges to a school. He also says that Science K-12 Outreach must continue to increase school partnerships.

Another challenge on the horizon is keeping his pro-gram on the cutting edge of technology.

“Schools are changing,” Walker says. “For example, in our current work with Lafayette School Corporation, every les-son we have developed has been technology-intensive, whether it’s iPads or access to Internet resources and measurement devices such as photogates, gas chromatographs and tempera-ture gauges. The technology needed to teach science and mathematics effectively is becoming a great need and an area we need to stay on top of.”

25 LONG-TERM PARTNERSHIPS

WITH K-12 SCHOOLS

B Y B I L L W A L K E R

Since 2005, the College of Science K-12 Outreach program has partnered with school districts to improve the quality of instruction for science and mathematics by teachers and to develop scientific and math-ematical literacy for all stu-dents. College of Science faculty and staff work with teachers and administrators to increase the subject matter knowledge of teachers, increase the use of student-centered instructional strategies and increase student achievement in science and mathematics.

School district partners have included Community S c ho o l s o f F ra n k for t ; Shelbyville Central Schools; Metropolitan School District of Wa s h i n g to n To w n s h ip (Indianapolis); Metropolitan School District of Decatur Township (Indianapolis); and Gary Community School Corporation, among others.

The partnerships are three-year commitments. Each year includes a 10-day sum-mer workshop for teachers, a two- or three-day summer enrichment experience for students, classroom visits by science outreach coordinators to provide teacher support and at least two follow-up work-shops during the school year.

The summer workshops are where the intense work happens. Each year the partnership teachers participate in an activity that models the instructional and achievement goals for the partnership. These activities have included a forensics activity called “Milton is Missing,” a paleontology dig, and a magnetism activity called “Breaking the Force.” By participating in the activities, teachers get to experience learning science and mathematics like a K-12 student. This experience is central in helping teachers find new curricular materials or redesign lessons to provide student-centered instruction.

In 2014, a partnership was formed with Lafayette School Corporation. A new aspect of this partnership was to create interdisciplinary instructional units that offer opportunities for students to apply knowledge across science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Although it is not difficult to identify interdisciplinary STEM topics like wind energy or water conservation, using these topics to develop grade level-appropriate curricular units is not a simple task. Teachers from Lafayette School Corporation designed interdisciplinary units during the summer workshop and have been using the lessons throughout the academic school year. Evidence from classroom observa-tions shows that the teachers are implementing the units in a student-centered manner and that students are engaged in interdisciplinary STEM learning.

Partnerships are a great opportunity for the Purdue College of Science to share expertise with K-12 schools. As points of emphasis for schools change from inquiry-based science and mathematical problem solving to interdisciplin-ary STEM, Purdue faculty and the Science K-12 Outreach program are positioned to use current research to meet the science and mathematics needs of K-12 schools.

Spring 2015 | 15

Most Purdue students know that Indiana weather isn’t always filled with sunshine, seasonable tem-peratures and butterflies. And although Colombian graduate student Elizabeth Suesca’s first experience with a North American winter was something she could have lived without, a warm recep-tion from the College of Science helped melt the ice.

Suesca is among a growing number of students from Colombia at both the undergraduate and graduate level who have been streaming into Purdue and the College of Science since 2014, building on the climate of cultural diversity and collaboration that has gained the University a global reputation for research and teach-ing excellence.

These young men and women are vehicles for scientific exchange between Purdue and Colombia’s two largest universities, both of which are located in the country’s capitol city of Bogotá. Most recently, the Universidad of Los Andes sent three graduate students to the College of Science — Suesca, Lucas Barrientos Correa and Felipe Leonardo Gomez Cortes — while Universidad Nacional de Colombia provided grad student Sergio Alonso Gutierrez Duarte. The four students arrived in late January and will work in their respective mentors’ research labs for the rest of 2015.

STUDENTS FROM COLOMBIA ENJOY A WARM WELCOME FROM THE COLLEGE OF SCIENCE

B Y T I M B R O U K

Spring 2015 | 17

BEGINNINGSFor most of the Colombian stu-dents, the first few months of their stay are devoted to familiarizing themselves with the work of their mentoring professor. Research is the focus, and although the stu-dents take extra English classes to prepare themselves, most of the professors they are matched with are not fluent in Spanish.

Biological sciences professor Morris Levy, who has been conduct-ing research in Colombia since 1990, helped establish the country’s connection to Purdue. His wife, Maria Levy, is of Colombian heri-tage and recognized Colombia as a country that could aid Purdue’s research initiatives. When the College of Engineering started the Colombia-Purdue Institute, he and his wife joined that initiative rep-resenting the College of Science. A foundation was built, and the visit-ing students are a byproduct of Levy’s work and that of many other faculty and administrators.

“I’m on my 13th Colombian graduate student,” Levy says. The quality of students in Colombia is partly due to its K through 11 edu-cational system, but earning a bac-calaureate degree in the country requires five years of study. “That extra year, they generally do an honors thesis. For graduate students, it’s delightful because they essen-tially come here with half a master’s degree. We have had enormous success with Colombian student recruitment.”

Each of the students received Colciencias Graduate Research Visits grants, which provided them $5,000 for research expenses as well as the cost of airfare, lodging and subsistence for the entire visit. They also were screened for science experience and their comprehension of the English language. Upon their arrival in West Lafayette, Suesca and her Colombian peers encoun-tered new, high-tech labs and top-notch instruction from faculty. They also got a dose of Midwestern culture — and its nasty winters.

“This weather is very difficult,” Suesca says while looking out a lab window at gray skies and falling sleet. “But I am trying to know this place — Lafayette and West Lafayette — and I’ve joined an English conversation group (at the International Center). It’s been an interesting experience for me. I’ve met people from different countries and different cultures, and I’m exchanging experiences with them.”

Suesca brought intriguing nanoparticle targeting data and skills with her to Purdue. Her chemistry niche deals with targeting liposomes for drug delivery to gliomas and other brain tumors. Chemistry professor David Thompson is hosting her in his lab within Bindley Bioscience Center.

“The idea is that the liposomes have a lipid that can interact with proteins that are found in brain tumors,” says Suesca, adding that she sought out Thompson after read-ing one of his nanoparticle papers.

Suesca makes the liposomes from a thin coating of lipids on a glass vessel. Aqueous components are then added, which disturb the lipids. The mixture is agitated vigorously with an ultrasonic homogenizer, which vibrates the solution 20,000 times a second. The materials inside are sheered and dispersed as small liposomes that are relatively uniform in size.

EARTH, ATMOSPHERIC, AND PLANETARY SCIENCES

STATISTICS

MATHEMATICS

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

INCOMING UNDERGRADS(BY DEPARTMENT)

professors Maxim Lyutikov and Dimitrios Giannios, respectively. Laura Cruz Castro worked under statistics professor Bruce Craig, who will host another visiting Colombian student this summer.

In Fall 2014, Cruz Castro’s work was in collaboration with the Purdue horticulture program. She investigated the relationship between the occurrence of bark splitting on young maple trees and the type and amount of fertilizer provided. She has been using her skills to determine how best to analyze binary (Yes/No) outcomes given the complicated experimental design and limited replication.

“I think it’s been a wonderful experience and I’d be happy to do it again,” she says. “This allowed me to be more independent. It was very different but very good.”

Cruz Castro, Diaz Castillo, Fajardo and the rest of the 2014 Nacional students graduated this spring and are considering graduate school for 2016. Many of the students are expected to apply to Purdue.

SUCCESSThe undergraduate program, which is funded through the Colombia-Purdue Institute, various Purdue colleges, Universidad Nacional de Colombia and the students them-selves, has almost doubled in a year’s time. In 2014, 25 students arrived from Nacional. In 2015, 49 undergraduates are expected to participate in the program, which begins in the summer and runs through the end of the fall semester. Of those, eight will be stationed in the College of Science: three in earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences; two in statistics; two in mathematics; and one in biological sciences.

Last year, the college welcomed a trio of undergraduates from Nacional. Saida Diaz Castillo and Wilmar Fajardo conducted research in the labs of physics and astronomy

THE FUTUREPurdue Agriculture research scientist Tamara Benjamin’s hitch in the Peace Corps as well as working with floral, coffee and cocoa farmers in Costa Rica made her another good candidate to help the Colombia-Purdue Institute generate momentum.

Benjamin assists with student placement and is looking forward to seeing how the College of Science students fare. She says one student will be heavily involved with EAPS outreach activities, assisting outreach coordinator Steve Smith while also working with EAPS professor Larry Braile to collect data about how such efforts benefit young students and the department.

Two other EAPS students will work in seismology, which is a hot topic in Colombia. The country is an eastern part of the Ring of Fire, a geographic half circle that includes the western edge of North America and South America and the eastern edge of Asia. The entire Andean region is susceptible to earthquakes.

Benjamin interviews each student in English. If a student’s English proficiency isn’t adequate, a follow-up interview is required. The students also are matched with an area host family during their stay.

“They had to take some intensive English classes, and all of them passed,” Benjamin says. “They’re really dedicated. They know that language is the biggest hurdle.”

The first few months of Suesca’s stay have been positive. She was able to bring her husband, Miguel, for her visit as well as her 8-year-old son, Miguel Angel, who finished third grade at Klondike Elementary School. And she brought a new cell line that will benefit Thompson’s lab.

Although snow and subzero temperatures are unfamiliar to Suesca, high-level scientific research is not. “She will soon be able to start showing my students how she prepared her samples and how her samples are interacting with neural cells,” Thompson says. “That part of her work is unfamiliar to us.”

Colombian graduate student Elizabeth Suesca and chemistry professor David Thompson at his lab in Bindley Bioscience Center. (Photo by Tim Brouk)

Spring 2015 | 19

Researchers have identified a bacterial protein that triggers a self-inflicted cell death pathway in immune system cells and could lead to a better understanding of an important cellular structure.

The protein, RpsL, initiates a cascade of events that leads the lysosome, a cellular structure filled with enzymes that break down and digest cellular material, to open holes in its membrane and release enzymes that destroy the cell, says Zhao-Qing Luo, an associate professor of biological sciences at Purdue who led the research.

“Immune cells have various ways to detect and defend against the presence of pathogens or danger, and cellular death induced by molecules from the pathogens is a common way to fight infection because it cuts off the stream of nutrients and supplies to the patho-gen,” Luo says.

“No one knows how the selective release of the enzymes within the lysosome occurs, and no one had been able to induce the process,” he says. “Now we can. We know that in the presence of this pro-tein, holes open in the lyso-some and enzymes are released. This is a critical ability needed to study lyso-some function.”

Researchers identify a new trigger of CELLULAR SELF-DESTRUCTION

Researchers discovered a new protein involved in the process that determines the fate of cells under stress and whether they fight to survive or sacrifice themselves for the greater good.

A protein named HYPE orchestrates a response to misfolded proteins within the cell, mistakes that increase when a cell is under stress from disease or injury, says Seema Mattoo, an assistant professor of biological sciences at Purdue University who led the research.

Correct protein folding dictates the structure of a protein, which is as important to its ability to function as the molecules that make it up, she says. It also is critical in maintaining a sta-ble environment within the endoplasmic reticulum, a structure within the cell responsible for protein synthesis.

The cellular pathway that maintains this process in response to stress is called the unfolded protein response, Mattoo says.

Like a person folding a pile of clothes fresh from the dryer, proteins within the endoplasmic reticulum usually handle the chore of protein folding neatly and methodically. Sometimes mistakes are made and items need to be refolded. Usually, the amount of refolding needed is manageable and efficiently fin-ished, but stress on the cell leads to an increase in misfolded proteins and, like the laundry, misfolded proteins can pile up. Unlike the laundry, however, how well a cell keeps up with the task of refolding proteins is a matter of life and death.

“If a cell is stressed and misfolded proteins begin to occur more frequently, the cell tries to pick up the pace and refold the proteins in an effort to survive,” Mattoo says. “If the stress is sustained, more misfolds occur and eventually the cell can’t keep up with the necessary refolding. At this point, a switch is flipped that activates cell death. This isn’t always a bad thing, as it is a mechanism that can help prevent the spread of infection and offer benefits to the surrounding cells.”

The team next will study whether different stress signals elicit different responses and will try to identify the signal that activates HYPE.

BREAKTHROUGHSPROTEIN determines life or death fate of stressed cells

“There are hundreds of proteins for which we have no idea what they do,” she says. “Studying proteins is a little like playing with Russian dolls. When you investigate the role of one, it often leads to another protein and something sig-nificant about its role. It goes on and on, and, as a researcher, I follow where it takes me.”

Seema Mattoo, an assistant professor of biological sciences, shows a slide of the HYPE protein in human epithelial cells on an inverted fluorescence microscope designed for cell imaging. (Photo by Charles Jischke)

A research team led by Zhao-Qing Luo, an associate pro-fessor of biological sciences at Purdue University, identi-fied bacterial protein RpsL as a trigger of self-inflicted cell death in macrophages. (Photo provided by Laurie Iten and Rodney McPhail)

20 | insights

A skeleton named Little Foot is among the oldest hominid skeletons ever dated at 3.67 million years old, according to an advanced dating method.

Little Foot is a rare, nearly complete skeleton of Australopithecus first discovered 21 years ago in a cave at Sterkfontein, in central South Africa. The new date places Little Foot as an older relative of Lucy, a famous Australopithecus skeleton dated at 3.2 million years old that was found in Ethiopia. It is thought that Australopithecus is an evolutionary ancestor to humans that lived between 2 million and 4 million years ago.

Stone tools found at a different level of the Sterkfontein cave also were dated at 2.18 million years old, making them among the oldest known stone tools in South Africa.

A team of scientists from Purdue University; the University of the Witwatersrand, in South Africa; the University of New Brunswick, in Canada; and the University of Toulouse, in France, performed the research, which will be featured in the journal Nature.

There had not been a consensus on the age of the Little Foot skeleton, named for four small foot bones found in a box of ani-mal fossils that led to the skeleton’s discovery. Previous dates ranged from 2 million to 4 million years old, with an estimate of 3 million years old preferred by paleontologists familiar with the site, says Darryl Granger, a professor of earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences at Purdue, who in collaboration with Ryan Gibbon, a former postdoctoral researcher, led the team and performed the dating.

The dating relied on a radioisotopic dating technique pioneered by Granger coupled with a powerful detector originally intended to analyze solar wind samples from NASA’s Genesis mission. The result was a relatively small margin of error of 160,000 years for Little Foot and 210,000 years for the stone tools.

The technique, called isochron burial dating, uses radioiso-topes within several rock samples surrounding a fossil to date when the rocks and the fossil were first buried underground.

“If we had only one sample and that rock happened to have been buried, then re-exposed and buried again, the date would be off because the amount of radioisotopes would have increased during its second exposure,” Granger says. “With this method we can tell if that has happened or if the sample has remained undisturbed since burial with the fossil. It is expensive and a lot of work to take and run multiple samples, but I think this is the future of burial dating because of the confidence one can have in the results.”

Purdue’s Rare Isotope Measurement Laboratory, or PRIME Lab, is one of only two laboratories in the nation with equipment capable of performing this kind of dating, says Marc Caffee, a Purdue professor of physics and director of the PRIME Lab who was involved in the research.

“Only a few detectors of this kind exist in the world,” Caffee says. “One of the reasons I came to Purdue was to be a part of the revolutionary science that can be done when such resources are applied to challenging problems. These results high-light what can be accomplished through a collaboration that spans multiple disci-plines. It couldn’t have happened without the unique skills and resources each per-son brought to the table.”

BREAKTHROUGHS

— All stories by Elizabeth K. Gardner

Purdue University professors Darryl Granger (left) and Marc Caffee stand in front of the gas-filled magnet detector in the Purdue Rare Isotope Measurement Laboratory. The detector was used to date the Little Foot skeleton. (Photo by John Underwood)

Sterkfontein

New instrument dates old skeleton; ‘LITTLE FOOT’ 3.67 MILLION YEARS OLD

Spring 2015 | 21

PLANETARY SCIENTIST STUDYING COLLISIONS IN SPACE TO UNDERSTAND ABIOGENESIS ON EARTH

B Y M A R T I L a C H A N C E

22 | insights

(Photo by John Underwood)

Even science geeks like a good story. Which is why planetary scientist

David Minton studies the tumultuous history of our solar system. “It’s the story of our home,” Minton says. “In the modern era, the formation of the solar system is our creation myth.”

As a child, Minton was capti-vated by accounts of space explora-tion, watching Cosmos on TV with his parents and following the exploits of the Voyager spacecraft. Although he majored in aerospace engineering as an undergrad, he gravitated toward science. In 2009 he graduated from the University of Arizona with a PhD in planetary science.

THE IMPACT YEARSMinton’s research centers on a particularly unruly period called the Late Heavy Bombardment, or LHB. Soon after the Earth and the other rocky planets formed 4.5 billion years ago, the inner solar system was shattered by an onslaught of collisions, many of them massive. Large and small objects smashed into the planets and cratered the surfaces of the Earth, the moon and Mars.

This period is crucial, Minton says, because it’s just after the LHB ends that we start seeing evidence of single-celled organisms in Earth’s fossil record. Ultimately, he says, “We want to know what it was like on Earth when life began. Was it molten? Could life have formed or survived underground?”

It’s hard to read Earth’s cra-tering record directly. Plate tec-tonics and weather have obliter-ated evidence of these ancient bombardments.

“So, much of my research focuses on places where we can see evidence of the Late Heavy Bombardment, like the moon, which, with its gigantic impact basins, bears the scars of the rocks raining down,” Minton says. Mars, which probably had running water

during that time, also provides tantalizing clues.

But even studying static sur-faces is problematic. Cratering records can be ambiguous. Planetary scientists are unsure how long the LHB lasted. Were the inner planets bombarded continuously after their formation? Or was there a quiet period shattered by a relatively short period of destruction?

MODELING DATATheorists like Minton use obser-vational data to generate computer models and make predictions. Data come from objects like lunar rocks, which allow researchers to infer the age of craters and other features on the moon, which in turn allow for inferences about bombardment rates during a given period of time.

“Every crater you see on the moon was once an asteroid or comet,” Minton says. “From the craters you can infer there was a population of small bodies orbiting the sun, and some fraction of that population was intercepting the orbit of the moon and colliding with it.”

Minton models the orbits of such asteroid groups. In a current project, he is working with a team studying evidence of a giant, 10,000-kilometer impact crater on Mars. Minton’s simulations of the impact-debris may reveal how much Martian rubble ended up colliding with the Earth and the moon. And how much of it was swept up into the asteroid belt. “We’re trying to figure out if this collision on Mars could be linked to the Late Heavy Bombardment,” he says.

Minton also looks at the outer solar system. “Cratering records of outer satellites of the giant planets can tell us about this same period,” he says. “Places like Callisto and Iapetus, moons of Jupiter and Saturn.”

Minton is using these data to devise ways to constrain the Nice Model, the field’s currently held theory for describing the migration of the giant outer planets that many researchers believe is linked to the LHB. “I’ve done a lot of research using models of giant planet migra-tion to understand whether giant planets were responsible for the LHB or not,” he says.

LIFE’S ORIGINS ON EARTHFurther evidence lies underfoot. Meteorites, Earth-bound fragments of asteroids, are fossilized bits of the planet-forming process. Other indications lie in layers of tiny, bead-like rocks called spherules, which are created by impacts so massive they vaporize rock. (Think Chixculub, the crater linked to the extinction of the dinosaurs.) “In space the rock vapor actually con-denses into these millimeter-sized glassy beads which rain back down on the earth,” Minton says. “Spherule layers actually may be telling us about the end-stage of this Late Heavy Bombardment.”

As he models solar system orbits, examines cratering rates and predicts bombardment sequences, Minton is constantly trying to determine the condition of our planet when life arose.

“What does it really take for life to originate?” Minton asks. “Was life snuffed out every time there was a major impact? If life origi-nated relatively early, then it may be more common in the universe than we might otherwise think.

“It ’s important to place human civilization in context of the billion-year time scale. When things move too fast, we miss that cosmic perspective.”

US

ING

IMPA

CT

S TO TRACE ORIGINS

Spring 2015 | 23

What a way to start your final semester at Purdue: Ian Klein, a PhD student in the Department of Chemistry, was named to Forbes magazine’s “30 Under 30” list just five months before he is set to graduate.

Klein, 27, was honored in the manu-facturing category. Klein has excelled in his work at Purdue, but his work for the Purdue startup, Spero Energy, got the most notice by the folks at Forbes. Klein helped forge the startup with Mahdi Abu-Omar, professor of chemistry, in spring 2014. The company, which specializes in extracting chemicals from wood lignin for use as biofuels, fragrances and flavors, has gained momentum during the past several months.

“We wanted to break down plants to useful fuels or useful chemicals,” Klein says. “We began to see that this was a new way to use lignin that no one else has used before. They were burning lignin for low value, but we found we can upgrade it to high-value chemicals that had interesting, large markets in the flavor and fragrance industries.”

STARTING

PHD STUDENT EARNS EARLY RECOGNITION AS AN ENTREPRENEUR

B Y T I M B R O U K

Spero Energy recently received small business grants from the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation.

The company is based in the Purdue Research Park, but a lot of related work is still done in Klein and Abu-Omar’s lab within Brown Laboratory at Purdue. As with any new company, operations began on a small scale with the hope of expan-sion. To grow, the scientists had to reach out to the business-minded.

Spero had the foresight to ask for business help from Purdue Foundry, a hub for Purdue faculty, staff and students, to find fast, effective ways to move its ideas to the marketplace.

“We didn’t have a business background,” Klein says, “but they were able to give us the tools to learn about the business side, connect us with MBA students and other busi-ness-minded people to teach us the business side of things, and learn how to take this technology from the laboratory and move it to commercial production.”

Tim Peoples, Purdue Foundry entrepreneur in residence and regulatory affairs officer, took the lead in giving Spero business guidance.

“The Foundry team helped Ian and Professor Abu-Omar solidify their business plan, prepare their go-to-market strategy and get ready to pitch their company to investors,” Peoples says. “We also got them connected to alumni in the same industry as Spero for mentoring.”

Spero is still a new company. Peoples says he believes Klein, Abu-Omar and the rest of the team must scale up their technical process and have their products tested by customers; and on the business side, he says Spero must “validate their product with cus-tomers, identify strategic partners in the industry and hire a business development person to further develop their sales processes.”

But Peoples says he is impressed with Klein and Spero’s start: “I believe Spero has a bright future with the production of fine chemicals from renewable sources. They have additional technologies to help expand their portfolio as they grow. I believe this is the first of several startup companies for Ian. I think he has the bug and the right makeup and character to lead technology startup companies.”

Abu-Omar says his first impression of Klein was that he was “a thoughtful young graduate student, looking forward to doing research in a vibrant lab. He was very interested in pursuing problems in sustain-able chemistry and research in renewable energy.”

A few years later, Klein is one of Abu-Omar’s most trusted scientists at Spero.

“He is very thorough in his science, clear in his communication and an excellent problem solver,” he says of his student. “He works well with others as well — is a team player.”

Klein says he is pleased to be in on a startup that is fueled by his scientific passion.

“I’ve always been very interested in the thought of renewable fuels,” he says. “When I came to Purdue, I was interested in making renewable fuels but we found we were able to make some very interesting renewable chemicals that have a demand in the marketplace.

“I never expected to get this entrepreneurial and business experience in my PhD studies at Purdue, but I think it’s an invaluable asset I’ve gained working with the foundry and Purdue Research Foundation. As a scientist, I think it’s important for every scientist to be able to sell your ideas, whether it’s in an entrepreneurial setting or if it’s in an academic setting where you have to sell your ideas for your project to get funding.”

With his Forbes fame now behind him, Klein is concentrating on finishing his graduate studies and continuing a career and company that is already established.

“My plans are to stay and work full time with Spero,” Klein says. “We have some big milestones coming up in 2015 as we move to commercialization. We’re building larger reactors and also purchasing some reactors to demonstrate that this technology can work on a larger scale.”

Abu-Omar was happy to see Klein on the Forbes list. He says the young scientist is deserving of some national exposure.

“He has proven himself as one of our star graduate students in the lab,” Abu-Omar says, “and he has shown a knack for entrepreneurship and innovation. He is not afraid to try and learn new things. He ventured out of the normal comfort zone of a graduate student and started learning about the chemical business and green manufacturing.”

Spring 2015 | 25

END PRODUCTS

26 | insights

Pitching an idea for a new software product can be a bit trepidatious for a young computer scientist.

Effective communication is essential, so answering basic questions is a must. What makes your software as good as or better than thousands of other software developers’ creations? Why should anyone purchase or download it? What does it give the user that nothing else does?

Luckily for senior Zach Simpson, he has excelled in the software engineering track in the Department of Computer Science. A veteran of BoilerMake and other hackathons, which demand new creations in 24 or 36 hours, Simpson, joined by five other seniors, experienced few challenges presenting the team’s product for CS 49000-SEP (Software Engineering Senior Project), a required course supervised by H.E. “Buster” Dunsmore, associate professor of computer science, with support from graduate student Alina Nesen.

“This was a lot more relaxed than a hackathon,” Simpson says, smiling.

Simpson and his teammates received positive comments for their product, a software program called Pureddit they created to simplify and enhance the use and design of Reddit, an entertainment, social networking and news website.

The course has no lectures or official classroom time. Instead, seniors form teams of four to six and decide on a semester-long project and determine how and when they will work on the project. Group members then meet with Dunsmore and Nesen periodically to show their progress. They also use Blackboard Learn, a Web-based course content management system, to document their work. The senior project approximates the kind of indepen-dent — yet team-oriented — work the students will find at Amazon, Google or a technology startup.

The student teams had 15 minutes on a Friday afternoon to show how their work is going so far. They prepared a PowerPoint presentation, demoed Pureddit, and f ielded questions from Dunsmore and Nesen.

“I always feel confident with this sort of thing as long as you do what you need to do,” says Eric Flick, one of Simpson’s Pureddit teammates. “I’ve been doing it for quite a while.”

Flick’s internship experience at Amazon also helped him in his soft-ware engineering journey. Working in a team environment has prepared him for industry success.

Dunsmore is a 37-year veteran of the Department of Computer Science and is the chairman of the software engineering track. After computer science majors complete six core courses, they must choose one of nine available tracks. Software engineering is the most popular track by far.

“If you are part of a team working together to produce soft-ware, that is software engineering, and that is what happens in indus-try due to the size and complexity of projects being developed now,” Dunsmore says. “In software engineering, there is not only programming but a lot more. There is communicating with your team members; there’s communicating with the users about what software

SOFTWARE ENGINEERING PROJECT COURSE HELPS CS STUDENTS TURN CONCEPTS INTO CREATIONS

B Y T I M B R O U K

Another team of students led by Yunkai Sun created MyMapper, an app that models geographic locations of various points of interests in real time. From left to right are Chen Gong, team leader Sun, and Ben Pastene.

Spring 2015 | 27

(Photos by Charles Jischke)

they need; there’s designing the software; there’s testing. As I explain it to my students, think of it as a giant jigsaw puzzle. Each of us is working on pieces and when we’re all done, we’ll put those pieces together. And they have to fit.”

Enrollment in the software engineering track has exploded in recent years.

“The reason for that is pretty simple: that’s where the jobs are,” Dunsmore says. “When the recruiters come into the Lawson Commons area, they are typically looking for software engineers.”

Dunsmore says companies demand versatile recruits who possess the ability to flourish in a team environment and are well-versed in design, program-ming and communication. The advent of smartphone and tablet technology has also contributed to the influx of software engineering students. The market for new applications is still growing, and the “on the go” format has attracted students. A decade ago, most students were creating products for desktop computers. That is no longer the case.

Another spring-semester senior project, GetFit, a phone and tablet application to help users find gyms and workout buddies, exemplifies this trend.

“There are a lot of fitness apps out there, but there’s no fitness app that helps you find workout partners nearby,” says senior Gurmukh Uttamchandani. “You can then chat or message them and schedule a workout. We also added a custom workout feature where you can create your own workout with the number of reps you want to do and add it to your schedule. Anyone can see your schedule and they’ll be able to see what time they can work out with you.”

Nesen, who has the role of project coordinator (just like software engineers have in industry), says she was impressed with what the students have done. Each project charter states the team’s goal and requires a product backlog; a list of system requirements; design plans; and the completion of three “sprints” every few weeks to get the program or app to function better until its completion.

“During the sprints, they have a team leader and a deputy leader, just in case the team leader is gone; Professor Dunsmore and I don’t interfere,” Nesen says. “I think it’s a very great experience for them. When they get to the workplace, they already know how to collaborate with people — not just how to discuss ideas. They learn how to use software repositories like Git or SVN (SubVersioN), where they can collaborate and share their code.”

Many seniors will continue to work on projects after they graduate. Dunsmore says that although there hasn’t been a new Facebook or Instagram forged from his software engineering classes, some projects have been marketed.

WHEN THEY GET TO THE WORKPLACE, THEY

ALREADY KNOW HOW TO COLLABORATE WITH

PEOPLE — NOT JUST HOW TO DISCUSS IDEAS.

— ALINA NESEN

“There was a team that did an app that if you were walking around campus and wanted to go to one of the ITaP (Information Technology at Purdue) labs, then you could see where the nearest lab was that had seats available,” Dunsmore says. “ITaP was interested in it, publicized it and included it in their app.”

Simpson, Flick and the rest of the Pureddit team are confident in their skills and plan to keep their project moving forward after finish-ing the software engineering track.

“If we have time, we definitely want to make this a mobile app,” says Ryan Mason, another member of the Pureddit team. “If we don’t get to finish it by the end of this semes-ter, we can work on it after the semester is over. Most of us are avid Reddit users, so this is definitely a project that will hold our interest.”

28 | insights

<H1>ADDRESSING

CYBER_INSECURITY</H1>

In March 2012, FBI Director Robert Mueller told a national cybersecurity conference audience, “I am con-vinced that there are only two types of companies: those that have been hacked and those that will be.”

Ariful Khan, a PhD student in computer science, hopes to prove Mueller wrong by developing algo-rithms that hide the most sensitive personal-identity information from the savviest of hackers. His progress to that end earned him a third-place award in one of the top-tier interna-tional conferences for high-perfor-mance computing. Khan’s winning work was among 144 submissions to the 2014 International Conference on High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis, known as SC14.

The goal of Khan’s work is to foil hackers’ practice of stealing

individuals’ identities by piecing together harvestable data from mul-tiple sources. Today, a hacker may break in and steal information about individuals from a retailer’s data-base, but still needs the customers’ Social Security numbers. However, by matching street addresses to data held by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, for example, the hacker may be able to gather the rest of the information needed for identity theft.

Khan’s algorithm foils the hack-ers because it hides each individu-al’s identity so that hackers cannot see it regardless of what strategies they use. “No matter how hard you try,” Khan says, “you’re always going to get an answer of ‘k’ results, and within this ‘k,’ you will never be shown who is who. So nobody can be uniquely identified.”

To demonstrate how the algorithm would be put to practical use, Khan cites the hypothetical example of Purdue University’s need to share its employees’ data with a health insurance company. “Purdue would give that original database to our algorithm and the algorithm would produce a database which has some data plucked out of it,” he says. “Then Purdue would give that data — the output of the algorithm — to the insurance company.”

Some of Khan’s algorithm work was done while he interned with Intel Corp. in summer 2014; he also is collaborating with Google, which is interested in the practical applications of his algorithm. After he finishes his doctorate in about 18 months, he hopes to go to work for one of the two firms.

In the meantime, Khan is quick to point out that his work continues to evolve. “If you have a database with billions of columns of data that must be divided among hundreds of computers, those computers need to collaborate in solving this problem,” he says. “This is a different level of complexity. We are working on that level now.”

<H2>DOCTORAL STUDENT’S AWARD-WINNING ALGORITHM FOILS HACKERS</H2>

B Y A M Y R A L E Y

(Illustration by iStock)

Spring 2015 | 29

E X P A N D I N GNEW STUDENTS

AND FACULTY SPUR GROWTH OF COMPUTER

SCIENCE PROGRAM

30 | insights

(Photo by Mark Simons)

In today’s digital world, it’s easy to browse the news headlines and quickly find a story about a new app helping to change lives. That’s one of the reasons Sunil Prabhakar, Purdue computer science professor and department head, calls computing a great enabler and equalizer. It’s also why he’s excited about the progress being made with the expansion of the computer science program.

“I am amazed by the power that computing puts into the hands of every individual,” Prabhakar says. “It is very possible for an individual to develop an app or program that can change the world. Personally, I am excited to be in a field that is rapidly redefining our capabilities and pushing the boundaries.“

Prabhakar is helping to lead the charge as Purdue’s Department of Computer Science expands its own boundaries — in terms of students and faculty. He says the department already met one of the key goals of the expansion — undergraduate enrollment has reached 1,000 students. The department met the goal three years ahead of schedule. Graduate enroll-ment also has increased and is on track to reach the target of 350 students within the next three years.

“By admitting and graduating more students in computer science, Purdue will make an excellent career choice available to more students from Indiana and beyond,” Prabhakar says. “The demand for high-quality computer science graduates is currently unmet, and is only going to grow in the coming decades.”

One of the challenges in retaining top-quality students for computer science has been ensuring that any lack of prior programming experience does not become a drawback. To help address the issue, the department created a summer bridge program for admitted freshman students. Those students can attend on-campus or online programming courses. The department also created similar online courses for Indiana high school students.

According to Prabhakar, “Our hope is that the bridge program and our online course offerings will increase the number and diversity of students choosing computer science as a major, and will increase retention in the program at Purdue.”

FOCUS ON FACULTYThe department has begun to hire additional faculty and staff to handle the increased enrollments. The new hires include an instructional lab coordinator to manage teaching labs and infrastructure, a new adminis-trator of undergraduate programs and services, and a new graduate program coordinator.

Three faculty members were hired last year as a part of the expan-sion — one in machine learning and natural language processing; another in programming languages and compilers; and the third in security and programming languages. The hiring focus for this year is big data, security and systems.

“The addition of new faculty members will allow us to meet the growing demand for courses in machine learning and security, and enable us to launch new degree programs,” Prabhakar says. “In addition, the increase in faculty will

bring leading researchers to Purdue who will join those already here in shaping the future and making Purdue and Indiana a source of high-tech ideas and innovation.”

Jennifer Neville, associate professor of computer science and statistics, says the department is more than halfway through the interview season and already has a pool of very strong faculty candi-dates whose research covers a large range of computer science topics.

“If we are successful at hiring even a few of these top candidates, there will be a noticeable impact on the department, since they will grow existing areas of research strength and expand us in new directions,” Neville says. “I am personally excited about the increased opportunities for col-laboration that will open up as a result of our new faculty hires.”

Both Neville and Prabhakar say increased collaboration across the entire University is one of the key goals for the department’s expansion.

“In addition to strengthening Purdue’s current position as a top school for engineering and science, the expansion of computer science also will provide opportunities for students and faculty across the campus to integrate computer sci-ence skills into their disciplines,” Neville says.

Prabhakar adds, “The spirit of innovation and entrepreneur-ship runs strong in computer science students and faculty. I expect that with the expansion, this will continue to grow with transformational outcomes.”

THE DEMAND FOR HIGH-QUALITY COMPUTER

SCIENCE GRADUATES IS CURRENTLY UNMET, AND IS ONLY GOING TO GROW

IN THE COMING DECADES. — SUNIL PRABHAKAR

B Y C H R I S A D A M

Spring 2015 | 31

eakingBr35

rriersBa56

After receiving her PhD under famed chemist Michael J. S. Dewar at the University of Texas at Austin, Donna Nelson landed in the lab of Professor Herbert C. Brown, just two months after the Purdue chem-istry legend accepted his Nobel Prize for his work with boron compounds that revolutionized synthetic organic chemistry. His discoveries at Purdue opened entirely new avenues in both aca-demic and industrial chemistry.

ALUMNA ADVISES AWARD-WINNING TV SERIES WHILE ADVANCING CHEMISTRY RESEARCH

B Y T I M B R O U K

As a postdoc from 1980 to 1983, Nelson worked hard in Brown’s lab and picked up not only more knowl-edge about her field but also ways to pave a successful career.

“I was happy every day to work with Dr. Brown,” says Nelson from her office at University of Oklahoma, where she has taught classes and conducted research on mechanistic patterns in alkene addition reac-tions and on single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) functionaliza-tion and analysis for about 30 years.

“I remember I had about 30 minutes a month with him, and I was very grateful for every second. We (postdocs) had to be very well-organized, and we tried to solve our problems the best we could before we bothered him with them,” she says.

Nelson’s career at Oklahoma has seen her make advancements in diversity and in education issues in chemistry. Her work also attracted the interest of Vince Gilligan, pro-ducer, director and writer of the Emmy Award-winning AMC televi-sion series Breaking Bad. Nelson was one of the critically acclaimed drama’s science advisors. Chemistry was a running theme throughout the five-season run of the show and Nelson was on set or on hand to lend her expertise to writers, directors and producers.

All of these accomplishments made Nelson an easy choice for her upcoming role as president-elect of the American Chemical Society (ACS). She will assume leadership of ACS, the world’s largest science organization with over 158,000 members, on Jan. 1, 2016.

My philosophy is you don’t want to run for office unless there’s some-thing you believe you can contrib-ute, something you can do. And I felt that I could. One of the things I was concerned with and want to work on is making more contact with the public and changing the public’s thoughts about science and scientists. One unfortunate general perception is that science is hard and boring — scientists are all the same, as if shaped by one cookie cutter. We scientists are a wide range of fabulous people. A lot of people have been working on this and changes have happened, but there is room for more change and improvement. That is part of the reason I ran for the presidency.

Q:01

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON BECOMING ACS PRESIDENT?

Spring 2015 | 33

When I began working with Breaking Bad, I was curious why there were so many scientific mistakes on television and in the movies. It seemed odd to me. I learned that there was sort of a myth that if they brought on a sci-ence advisor, the scientist would try to turn the show into a science documentary. Another myth is that producers don’t want to hear what scientists have to say. However, their prime goal must be to have a hit and survive. I knew that if I dampened their creativity, I wouldn’t be welcome. I was a guest, and I wasn’t there to dictate to them what to do. When they asked me questions, I answered, but I understood that their writers knew how to have a hit show, and I did not. I had a lot of respect for the writers, so I gave them different ways to solve problems and let them select the solution they were comfortable with.

For example, when Vince Gilligan wanted to justify making the meth blue, he asked me what I thought about it, and I said I wouldn’t do it. But they had to give the main character, Walt, played by Bryan Cranston, a trademark. They had to have something that would distinguish his product from others, and I understood that.

From the beginning, I tried to make our interactions pleasant and beneficial, so that anyone with the show who had contact with me would tell others that it was a good experience. I hoped it would influ-ence other shows to similarly use science advisors.

I felt very privileged to get a glimpse of their work. I got to peek into a different world.

He received the award in December 1979, and I came to Purdue in February 1980. My first year with him was his Nobel laureate year. He was very busy, out speaking all the time. I was very fortunate to observe how to handle a busy career. Each day when I woke up, I real-ized how thankful I was for being where I was. He was such a fabulous role model, and he talked about and understood some of the barriers for women that I would face. He was Jewish and discussed how to regard sometimes being marginalized. You can’t let it get you down. You keep going. He was an extremely courageous person. He said to be persistent and don’t let other people dissuade you and to look for your opportunities. You have to be smart and work fast. He was very suc-cessful with so many fine qualities, not just in chem-istry but also as a human being.

I spent most of my time in the lab, of course. It was while I was a postdoc at Purdue that I had my son, Christopher Brammer. I started taking him to the lab, and later he grew up doing things in the lab with me. He became a chemical engineer. Back then it was unusual for women to have children while they were postdocs. I hid my pregnancy as long as I could. I intended not to take off too much time, and I didn’t. Professor Brown said it amazed him that I was able to do that. Nowadays, it is obvious that a young woman can both have a good career and a family. You just have to be well-organized.

Q:02

WHAT WAS IT LIKE WORKING WITH PROFESSOR HERBERT BROWN, ESPECIALLY RIGHT AFTER HE RECEIVED HIS NOBEL PRIZE?

Q:03

WHAT WAS YOUR EXPERIENCE LIKE WORKING AS A SCIENCE ADVISOR ON BREAKING BAD ?

Q:04

HOW IS THE BEGINNING OF YOUR ACS PRESIDENT-ELECT YEAR GOING SO FAR?

This is the year that I’ll set my goals for my three years in the presiden-tial sequence. In some cases, I’ll build on projects that presidents before me started. However, I do like to peek outside of chemistry and extend typical boundaries, such as by connecting with Hollywood and working on STEM diversity. Now I’m interested in bridging to industries with connections to chemistry, such as the oil and gas sector. I would also like to have more contact with Congress. Connecting with and learning from other communities will help us influence the public perception of chemistry and chem-ists. After all, the quality of people’s lives is so improved by the wonder-ful things that chemistry has pro-vided them: cosmetics, computers and car parts, just to name a few. I think the public should love us for our contributions [laughs].

34 | insights

with faculty before a question-and-answer session with mathematics graduate students. The Purdue chapter of the Association of Women in Mathematics sponsored the discussion.

Su visited with undergraduates and faculty during the pie/pi party before beginning his colloquium on “Combinatoria l F ixed Point Theorems” in the Lawson Computer Science Building. He completed his Purdue stay by hanging out with the math club in Recitation Hall and talking with undergraduate and graduate students. He also demon-strated his mathematical prowess in the social sciences in his lecture, “Voting in Agreeable Societies.”

“We talked about using methods in geometry and common combina-torics to study problems in the social sciences, particularly by making predictions about how people will vote,” Su says.

To celebrate the occasion, stu-dents and faculty brought in about 20

Do you recall where you were at 9:26:53 a.m. or p.m. on March 14?

Number fanatics in the Purdue Department of Mathematics and around the world remember where they were.

That moment — in digit form — captures pi to make March 14 the “Pi Day of the Century.” Pi is rounded to 3.141592653, which equates to the numerical date of the celebration on March 14, 2015, at the precise time of 9 hours, 26 minutes and 53 sec-onds. Because of the number 15 in the sequence, the next Pi Day won’t occur until 2115.

For the occasion, the mathemat-ics department brought in Francis Su, president of the Mathematical Association of America, and Benediktsson-Karwa, professor of mathematics at Harvey Mudd College. Su was in Indiana to speak at Taylor University in Upland on the actual Pi Day, March 14. He arrived at Purdue early on March 12 for lunch

fruit, pumpkin and pecan pies to the Mathematical Sciences Library.

“There was more pie there than I have ever seen in my life,” says Edray Goins, associate professor of mathematics. “Pi Day is not so much about the research behind pi or what pi means to mathematicians. It’s more about raising math awareness. For the math department, it’s a day to build community and celebrate being around each other.”

Purdue’s Pi Day celebration started in 2014 when members of the student chapter of the American Mathematical Society brought pies into the Mathematical Sciences Library lounge. Goins wanted to make the event bigger and to help balance the sweets with Su’s knowledge and experience.

“I think he wowed the audience with what he had to say,” Goins says. “He’s been very gracious coming out here meeting with students, postdocs and under-graduates, really just getting to know everyone.”

Actuarial science freshman Sarah LaFrancois was thrilled to celebrate Pi Day before she left for her hometown of Salem, Virginia, for spring break. She was among the dozens celebrating pi and pie.

“It was really cool,” LaFrancois says. “In high school, not many of my teachers celebrated Pi Day, so this was a new experience for me. I really enjoyed it, and I also enjoy pie.”

B Y T I M B R O U K

Spring 2015 | 35

(Photo by Charles Jischke)

As 3-D printers have become cheaper to produce, research has gone from creating practical objects for everyday use to encoding objects to foil cybercriminals. Perhaps one of the most promising areas of research is bioprinting of human parts for medical purposes. In the College of Science, researchers are exploring all of these and more.

One program uses the technology for multiple research efforts while another uses a printer to help build parts for analytical chemistry research instruments and initiatives.

Two 3-D printers are a large part of the Department of Computer Science’s Visualization Laboratory stationed on the third floor of the Lawson Computer Science Building. Daniel Aliaga, associate professor of computer science, brought in the two printers to fuel his research

3-D PRINTING RESEARCH SPANS CLOTHING TO FORENSICS TO LIFESAVING DISEASE DETECTION

B Y T I M B R O U K

efforts. Layer by layer, the printers take spooled or powdered plastics to create objects. The objects can be a simple shape — even a traditional Purdue P — or it can be an algorithm created by Computer Science faculty brought into the three-dimensional world.

“Definitely, 3-D printing is increasing in popularity, even more so since 3-D printers are becoming cheaper and more savvy,” Aliaga says. “Many different things can be printed such as clothing fabric. You control the specifics of where it’s stronger, where it’s weaker, how stretchable and bendable it is. It’s not here yet but the uses for 3-D printing have been exploding the last few years.”

Most common 3-D printers take spools of plastic and flow the material in the shape of a scanned object. The filaments are heated into a “paste” that is close to the consistency of toothpaste. The paste is heated to more than 440 degrees F as the object is modeled. The platform is kept a toasty 240 degrees F as the piece forms.

The scan of the object is imported into the machine using programs such as 3-DSMax from Autodesk. The programs turn the scan into stacked “slices,” which serve as maps for the printer heads to trace one by one. For experts like Aliaga, the scanning takes minutes, but the actual printing takes an hour or more depending on the size and complexity of the object.

Spring 2015 | 37

3-D PRINTING IN THE LIFE SCIENCESIn the Department of Chemistry, graduate student Zane Baird’s interest in 3-D came after a couple years working in Professor Graham Cooks’ labs in the b a s e m e nt o f B r o w n Laboratory. Baird helped form the Purdue 3-D Printing Club in 2013, and he pieced together his own printer for the lab. Based around com-ponents from a MakerFarm

Prusa i3v model he inherited from the club, Baird’s printer is used to build components for his analytical chemistry research. Recently, Baird was creating nylon extrusions used to prepare surgical biopsies for analysis. The extrusions are scraped across slides to create smears for pathologists looking for different kinds of cancer. The project is a collaboration with the Indiana University School of Medicine.

“We can prepare samples on demand and examine them using desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) in the operating room,” Baird says. “We take these and smear a small portion of tissue across a glass slide and then we have our DESI set up in front of a mass spectrometer. We scan across the tissue section and look at the chemical signatures and lipid profiles that come from this tissue. From that, with some statistical analysis, we can diagnose cancer types, states and grades.”

Over the years, Baird has worked diligently to improve the accuracy and speed of the printer.

“I added improvements and changed the configura-tion,” he says. “I use it to make life in the lab easier because there are a lot of little components that are really specialized. Rather than going to the machine shop and having a longer turnaround time making it a lot more expensive, this really simplifies the work process.”

Baird published a paper from an experiment where he used conductive plastic hewn from the printer. The components were used in ion mobility spectroscopy to detect hazardous materials, and the work could improve airport security as similar methods are used for screening.

Cooks, the Henry Bohn Hass Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, appreciates Baird’s work, which has become valuable in prototyping parts for new and smaller mass spectrometers. Though sometimes the printed parts are “imprecise,” Cooks says, the printer is a welcome new piece of equipment that allows ideas to be tried rapidly.

TOP OF THE LINEAliaga’s main piece of research equipment is the Objet Alaris 30. The printer uses plastic powder, layer by layer, that is selectively solidified by a laser within the machine to create fine, detailed pieces.

“The piece appears gradually on the platform,” Aliaga says. “The platform lowers as the printer head moves back, forward, left, right. The lightweight object is then taken to a water station where the extra plastic is shot off.”

Aliaga is working on creating a three-dimensional watermark to adhere to objects such as 3-D-printed car parts.

“Some years ago, we got a grant to start exploring encoding information in 3-D objects,” Aliaga says. “We want to differentiate a copy of the object from its original. Counterfeiting is a problem in industries, including the car indus-try. There is an annual $10 billion loss due to that.”

Infringers are skilled enough to add the logos and even serial numbers on counterfeit parts.

Aliaga’s work on 3-D printing watermarks looks to show differences between the real and the fake. Even if a watermarked object is copied, the watermark will be altered to allow the consumer to know whether or not it is a copy.

“To recreate this watermark, you will need a special code, a 128- or 256-byte key code,” Aliaga says.

WHAT’S INSIDE A 3-D-PRINTED OBJECT?

Computer science professor Christoph Hoffmann and visiting professor Ulas Yaman are using their

algorithms to help strengthen the inside of 3-D-printed pieces. The challenge is coming up with

a design that offers strength but conserves the plastics that fuel most pieces on the Visualization Lab’s MakerBot Replicator 2X printer.

Hoffmann and Yaman mostly use polylactic acid (PLA) plastic along with thinner T-Glas for clear pieces. An example is two pieces that when connected form a yellow and blue cube made from PLA, which is kept in a thin, clear cube-shaped case made from T-Glas.

Hoffmann and Yaman are working from hexagons that create the honeycomb-like interior structure of 3-D pieces. They are experimenting to see if there are better, more efficient ways to give 3-D-printed materials their third dimension.

“By modifying the interior, we want to have different mechanical properties,” says Yaman, who is visiting from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey.

The research is critical as 3-D printing could bring about important items like car parts and surgical tools that are strong, not flimsy. Hoffmann cited the U.S. Navy’s use of 3-D printing technology for parts. Manufacturing on the ship will make for fewer trips to shore.

Hoffmann is not surprised by the popularity of 3-D printing. In January, the Hershey Co. unveiled its own 3-D printing technology for “printing” choco-late. “Such sweet technological leaps will increase research in the College of Science because it’s not so abstract,” he says. “You can touch it.”

Ulas Yaman, a visiting professor of computer science, displays a Purdue “Motion P” created using 3-D printing technology. (Photos by Charles Jischke and Tim Brouk)

Spring 2015 | 39

40 | insights

A former mass spectroscopy superstar in Purdue chemistry, Livia Eberlin is a rising star in the field of analytical chemistry.

Eberlin, an alumna from the research group of R. Graham Cooks, the Henry Bohn Hass Dist ing uished Professor of Chemistry, is having a strong run as a postdoc researcher at Stanford University.

Her past year has been amaz-ing: At 28, she was selected as a Forbes magazine “30 Under 30” scientist in the health care category; she won a $60,000 fellowship from the L’Oréal USA Women in Science program, accompanied by visits with Congress and a seat at a White House Roundtable. She also has been interviewing for faculty posi-tions across the nation.

Eberlin is quick to acknowledge that her attention-getting work in cancer detection originated from years of research in Cooks’ lab.

“I loved what I did at Purdue so much that I just couldn’t let it go,” Eberlin says, laughing. “When I came to Stanford to work with Professor Richard Zare, our goal was to test and to improve the tech-nology we developed at Purdue and apply these tools to a variety of biomedical problems. I used the

CHEMISTRY ALUMNA

CONTINUES HER AWARD-WINNING PURDUE RESEARCH

AT STANFORD

mass spectrometry technology devel-oped at Purdue for surgical-margin assessment in gastrointestinal cancers and adapted sophisticated statistical tools developed at Stanford to evaluate the data and find cancer biomarkers.

“ We a l so pa r t ner ed w it h researchers in cancer biology to investigate the relationship between specific oncogenes and metabolism using sophisticated animal models of human cancers.”

Now a mother to a young daughter, Leah, Eberlin credits Cooks and her other mentors, colleagues, friends, family and husband, Nathan Sanders — also a Cooks’ lab alumnus — for her recent accolades. While the Forbes honor brought Eberlin and her work national exposure, the L’Oréal fellowship allowed her to network with some of the nation’s

top female scientists in Washington, D.C. She received face-time with U.S. Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith and Jo Handelsman, associate director for science at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

“We discussed how to overcome current issues that women scientists in our career stage face in academia, such as the lack of appropriate maternity leave policies, on-campus lactation and child care facilities, and the still-present gender bias that we face on an everyday basis,” says Eberlin, a native of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

“We shared many ideas, and we hope that our insights will help promote new efforts to ensure a more equal representation of women as professors and leaders in the scientific field in the next decade,” she says. “We want little girls to know that science, technology, engineering and math are exciting fields, and that they are cool careers for both boys and girls.”

Before moving to California in 2012, Eberlin spent countless hours in the basement of Wetherill Laboratory helping develop Cooks’ DESI-MSI technology, a desorption electrospray ionization mass spectroscopy imaging process and instrumentation for tissue analysis. As part of that work, she also demonstrated the technology’s potential for human brain-cancer diagnosis and surgical-margin evaluation.

Soon after finishing at Purdue, Eberlin was acknowledged with a Nobel Laureate Signature Award from the American Chemical Society, which goes to the best PhD dissertation of the year.

“It is so exciting to now see many other laboratories and researchers testing and building on the work we accomplished at Purdue,” Eberlin says. “The rigorous training in analytical chemistry and mass spectrometry

that I received at Purdue were key for my success at Stanford.

“I have to say that this set of skills is quite unique, and my strong background in mass spectrometry enabled me to spearhead a team at Stanford using this technology in a variety of research projects. I have been able to share my knowledge in mass spectrometry to assist others who were interested in learning and using these tools, which is also very neat and rewarding. I couldn’t have done any of this without the training and education I received at Purdue and I am very grateful for that.”

Although Cooks has mentored many accomplished scientists from around the world, he says Eberlin was a standout talent in his lab.

“Livia Eberlin fully deserves her successes, which have come through diligent application, fascination with the importance of her research and from her innate ability,” Cooks says. “Her research on molecular intra-surgical diagnosis of brain cancers is of obvious importance, and this provides an additional strong, driving force to be successful.”

I LOVED WHAT I DID AT PURDUE SO MUCH THAT I

JUST COULDN’T LET IT GO.

B Y T I M B R O U K

(Photo provided by James Kreidler for L’Oréal)

Spring 2015 | 41

CLASS NOTES

1950sPaul Mostert (PhD ’53, Mathematics), Lexington, KY, recently traveled to Slovakia to deliver a key address at the Centennial Celebration of two great mathematicians that assisted in the rejuvena-tion of mathematical and scientific communications after the Cold War. He is still active in academia as a mentor for a team of researchers at the University of Kentucky.

Joseph Reader (BS ’56, MS ’57, Physics), Rockville, MD, recently retired from the federal government after 50 years in atomic physics at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, MD, where he is now a scientist emeritus.

1960sRichard Fredricks (BS ’69, Chemistry), Appleton, WI, and his children, Arthur and Peggy, wrote three books about American football. You can order Terms and Definitions of American Football, Pocket Guide to American Football, and A Comparison of Some Federation, NCAA, and NFL Football Rules from Fredricks Publishing LLC.

1970sMichael Tortorella (MS ’70, PhD ’73, Mathematics), Middletown, NJ, retired from Bell Telephone Laboratories as distin-guished member of techni-cal staff. He also wrote a new book, Reliability, Maintainability, and Supportability Best Practices for Systems Engineers, published by John Wiley and Sons in April.

David L. Hoof (MS ’71, PhD ’74, Chemistry), Washington, DC, has published the book Demythologizing Michael Phelps. It is the first com-prehensive evaluation of the rise and fall of the most decorated Olympian in history. The book is available to purchase online at Amazon.com.

Robert K. Myers (BS ’76, Computer Science), West Lafayette, IN, is now retired.

Anna Budde (BS ’78, Chemistry), Novi, MI, joined Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP as a partner in its growing intellectual property department. Budde brings 20 years of experience as a patent attorney and 17 years as a research chemist.

David Donald Koch (BS ’74, Chemistry; PhD ’79, Analytical Chemistry), Lilburn, GA, is a professor of pathology and labora-tory medicine at Emory University in Atlanta, GA, and director of clinical chemistry at Grady Memorial Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in the Southeast. He is also the 2015 president of the American Association for

Clinical Chemistry, an orga-nization of about 8,000 pro-fessionals from clinical lab-oratories in hospitals and medical schools, pharma-ceutical companies, the in- vitro diagnostics industry, reference laboratories and public health laboratories.

1980sBrian Miller (BS ’80, Computer Science) Manassas, VA, recently transferred from being the director, In-Service Aircraft Carrier Engineering Division of the Naval Sea Systems Command, U.S. Navy, to his current position as director, Warfare Systems Integration, Certification and Readiness within the Naval Sea Systems Command at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, DC.

Lisa Braden-Harder (BS ’82, Computer Science), took her company Appen public on the Australian Exchange (ASX) in January. The company is listed on the exchange as APX.

Craig Lunte (PhD ’84, Chemistry), Lawrence, KS, received the Dolph Simons Award in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Kansas for his research achievements. He is a pro-fessor of chemistry at the University of Kansas and is a leader in the development, calibration, and pharma-ceutical application of microdialysis sampling.

Jeffrey Seeger (BS ’85, Mathematics), Lafayette, IN, was recently named wrestling head coach for McCutcheon High School.

1990sDavid Brown (MS ’90, PhD ’92, Physics), Louisville, KY, won the Trustees Award at the University of Louisville this year. This award is given to one professor at the university each year and is presented by the Board of Trustees at the spring commencement.

2000sAdam Myers (BS ’00, Chemistry), Lafayette, IN, is now a research investigator — preformulation at SSCI, a division of Aptuit, located in the Purdue Research Park.

Alex Cardenas (MS ’98, PhD ’02, Physics), Tampa, FL, obtained a new job as chief physicist at Watson Clinic in Lakeland, FL.

Shu Hui Chen (BS ’00, Biological Sciences), Rockville, MD, is a technolo-gy development specialist-ORISE fellow for NIAID in the fields of vaccine design and allergic and infectious dis-eases. She helps develop the technology and services for researchers and compa-nies to access materials to facilitate collaborations that promote innovation for translation of basic science to commercially viable products.

Emily M. Smith (BS ’07, Biological Sciences), Worcester, MA, received her PhD in biomedical sci-ences at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in November.

2010sRussell Balliet (PhD ’12, Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences), Indianapolis, IN, spent 18 months as a science educa-tion postdoc at Indiana University. At IU, he worked on several research proj-ects related to children’s interests in science and how undergraduate research projects help col-lege students develop their scientific interest and skills. He also started a new posi-tion in December as an instructor at STARBASE Indiana, an educational pro-gram where students par-ticipate in challenging, “hands-on, minds-on” activities in science, tech-nology, engineering and math. Students also inter-act with STEM profession-als to explore careers and observe applications in the real world. Balliet looks for-ward to applying his science degree and science educa-tion experience to this new and exciting career.

Cole M. Chandler (BS ’13, Computer Science), Columbus, IN, is now a computer software developer for Amazon.

George Todd (BS ’14, Biological Sciences), Carmel, IN, is pursuing a master’s degree in biology at Georgia Southern University, where he also serves as vice president of the Biology Organization of Graduate Students.

42 | insights

CLASS NOTES

ARRIVALSPaul Seal (BS ’01, Chemistry) and wife, Heidi, St. Louis, MO, welcomed their first child, Emma Elizabeth Seal, Sept. 19.

IN MEMORIAMRobert S. Ramsey (BS ’36, Science), Iowa City, IA, Nov. 9, 2013.

Edith M. (Herman) Buck (BS ’39, Science), Pensacola, FL, April 22, 2014.

Patricia L. (Heine) Collins (BS ’40, Science), Lacey, WA, Nov. 9, 2014.

C. Austin Sprang (PhD ’41, Chemistry), Cincinnati, OH, Sept. 27, 2014.

Marjorie F. (Kuntz) Hodapp (BS ’42, Science), Adrian, MI, Oct. 7, 2014.

Robert D. Keim (BS ’42, Science), Columbus, OH, July 13, 2014.

Franklyn K. Levin (BS ’43, Physics), Winston Salem, NC, Oct. 16, 2014.

Elizabeth (Carlson) Rumble (BS ’43, Science), San Juan Capistrano, CA, March 20, 2014.

Margaret (Miller) Bennett (BS ’46, Chemistry), Tryon, NC, May 24, 2014.

Melvin J. Glimcher (BS ’46, Physics), Coral Gables, FL, May 12, 2014.

Herman H. Broene (PhD ’47, Chemistry), Grand Rapids, MI, Nov. 18, 2014.

Ralph Tekel (MS ’47, PhD ’49, Chemistry), Philadelphia, PA, Oct. 8, 2014.

Eleanore (Kropp) LaBaw (BS ’48, MS ’50, Science), Greenwich, CT, Aug. 16, 2014. She is survived by her husband, Glenn (BS ’49, MS ’50, Biology).

Carolyn (Levin) Sachs (BS ’48, Science), Lexington, MA, May 26, 2014.

James V. Hewett (MS ’48, PhD ’50, Chemistry), Waynesboro, VA, April 3, 2014.

Lesly G. (Robinson) Leeder (BS ’49, Science), West Milton, OH, March 3, 2014.

Suzanne (Hilt) Sherrier (BS ’49, Natural Science Teaching), Vero Beach, FL, May 13, 2014.

Joseph P. O’Brien (MS ’49, PhD ’52, Chemistry), Richmond, VA, April 1, 2014.

Richard H. Shaw (MS ’49, PhD ’59, Mathematics), Fayetteville, NY, June 13, 2014. He is survived by his wife, Carol (HHS ’48).

Moore J. Burns (PhD ’50, Chemistry), Auburn, AL, May 21, 2014. He is survived by his wife, Teresa.

Norman Joseph Doctor (BS ’51, Physics), Rockville, MD, March 7, 2014.

F. Carden Meine (BS ’51, Science), Carmel, IN, May 31, 2014.

Nancy (Klein) Killeen (BS ’52, Biology), Gretna, LA, Aug. 1, 2014.

Dorothy (Steward) Koehl (BS ’52, Science), Tacoma, WA, July 14, 2014.

Lloyd P. Richardson (BS ’52, Natural Science Teaching), Tell City, IN, Oct. 5, 2014.

Allen Smith (BS ’52, Natural Science Teaching), Champaign, IL, May 18, 2014. He is survived by his wife, Myrna.

Raymond J. Wilhelm (MS ’52, Chemistry), Ringwood, NJ, Sept. 18, 2014.

James B. Lear (MS ’52, PhD ’54, Chemistry), Pittsburgh, PA, Jan. 3, 2014.

Edward J. Mead (MS ’52, PhD ’55, Chemistry), Wilmington, DE, Nov. 14, 2014.

Kathryn M. (Lennertz) Brier (BS ’53, Science), Zionsville, IN, Aug. 13, 2014.

Robert J. Collins (PhD ’53, Physics), Cary, NC, July 17, 2014.

Betty L. (Hinkle) Ulery (BS ’53, Science), Staunton, VA, Oct. 23, 2014.

W. Arthur Brock (BS ’54, Biology), Denton, TX, Oct. 5, 2014. He is survived by his wife, Gertrude.

Vernon F. Coty (PhD ’54, Biology), Salisbury, MD, July 30, 2014.

James E. Keith (BS ’54, Chemistry), Houston, TX, Oct. 24, 2014.

Gayther L. Plummer (PhD ’54 Biology), Athens, GA, Sept. 20, 2014.

Norman L. Clear (BS ’55, Science), South Bend, IN, Oct. 30, 2013. He is survived by his wife, Crystal.

James R. Waring (MS ’55, Chemistry), Binghamton, NY, Nov. 25, 2014.

Robert Windsor (BS ’55, Physics), Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, Jan. 15, 2014.

Gail (Roach) Mack (MS ’57, Mathematics), Lexington, KY, Nov. 28, 2014. She is survived by her husband, John (MS ’56, PhD ’59, Mathematics).

Robert E. Pechin Jr. (BS ’57, Science), West Lafayette, IN, May 10, 2014. He is sur-vived by his wife, Martha.

Harold O. Beals (MS ’57, PhD ’60, Biology), Opelika, AL, June 10, 2014.

Creed W. Abell III (MS ’58, Chemistry), Austin, TX, Sept. 9, 2014.

Edith (Williams) Beale (BS ’58, Biology), Gainesville, GA, Oct. 1, 2014. She is survived by her husband, John (MS ’58, Chemistry).

Stanley J. Back (MS ’59, Mathematics), Dayton, OH, Nov. 22, 2014.

Travis G. Haws (PhD ’59, Biology), St. George, UT, March 25, 2014.

William H. Nordin (MS ’59, Mathematics), Orlando, FL, Feb. 21, 2014.

Vincent P. Pongracz (BS ’59, Mathematics), Columbus, IN, June 12, 2014.

Eleanor (Scott) Annable (BS ’60, Mathematics), Centennial, CO, June 20, 2014.

Charles C. Griffith (BS ’60, Science), Evansville, IN, July 4, 2014.

Paul J. Zwier (PhD ’60, Mathematics), Grand Rapids, MI, Aug. 21, 2014.

Wayne L. Milstead (MS ’61, PhD ’64, Biological Sciences), Kearneysville, WV, Oct. 6, 2013.

Sue (Gosswiller) Broberg (BS ’63, Biology), Winfield, IL, Aug. 7, 2014. She is sur-vived by her husband, Bruce.

Roger L. Brunstrum (BS ’63, Mathematics), Alexandria, VA, Aug. 16, 2014. He is survived by his wife, Constance.

Kathleen R. (Colvett) Keene (BS ’63, Science-Pre-Med), Lone Tree, CO, Oct. 25, 2014.

Dale E. McCauley (MS ’63, Mathematics), Venice, FL, June 5, 2014.

Marian L. Pressler (BS ’63, Mathematics), North Fort Myers, FL, Sept. 27, 2014.

William E. Woenker (BS ’63, Science-Pre-Med), Fort Wayne, IN, Dec. 17, 2013.

Willard T. Allen Jr. (MS ’64, Biology), Green Bay, WI, May 7, 2014.

Harold E. Guard (BS ’64, Chemistry), San Leandro, CA, March 16, 2014.

Richard Lee Fox (MS ’65, Biology), Springfield, IL, March 27, 2014. He is survived by his wife, Ellen.

W. Terrell Moore (BS ’66, PhD ’73, Biology), Tullahoma, TN, May 9, 2014.

Lewis C. Jones (BS ’67, Mathematics), San Pierre, IN, May 24, 2014.

Barbara J. (Greenberg) Morley (BS ’67, Chemistry), Skokie, IL, April 26, 2014.

Fred J. Smith (PhD ’67, Mathematics), Fort Lauderdale, FL, Aug. 6, 2014.

Patricia M. Iuele (MS ’68, Chemistry), Tenafly, NJ, July 13, 2014.

Spring 2015 | 43

CLASS NOTES

David A. Legg (BS ’69, MS ’70, PhD ’73, Mathematics), Fort Wayne, IN, July 5, 2014. He is survived by his wife, Colette.

Sandra L. Badylak (MS ’70, Mathematics), Merrillville, IN, June 3, 2014.

Frank E. Platko (PhD ’70, Chemistry), Shelton, CT, May 23, 2014.

Barbara A. (Szarkowicz) Duncan (BS ’70, MS ’72, Science), Indianapolis, IN, July 22, 2014. She is sur-vived by her husband, Rodney.

James J. Thompson (MS ’70, PhD ’72, Bionucleonics), Albuquerque, NM, Aug. 4, 2014. He is survived by his wife, Jeanette.

Patricia J. (Krull) Combs (BS ’71, Science), Treasure Island, FL, Oct. 20, 2014.

Edwin E. McCartney (MS ’71, Mathematics), Loup City, NE, June 10, 2014.

Sally M. (Adams) Johnston (BS ’72, Biological Sciences), Altadena, CA, Aug. 21, 2014.

Evelyn H. (Feldman) Sergent (BS ’72, Biology), Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, Oct. 3, 2014. She is survived by her husband, Rodney.

Martin J. Zigler (BS ’72, Science), Creve Coeur, MO, Oct. 7, 2014. He is survived by his wife, Kathryn.

Michael D. Gladden (BS ’73, Science), Red Lion, PA, June 13, 2014.

William R. Gommel (PhD ’73, Atmospheric Sciences), Greenwood, IN, May 13, 2014.

John T. Hilgendorf (BS ’73, Science), Ventura, CA, April 2, 2014.

Allen W. Anderson (BS ’74, Biology), Hernando, FL, July 4, 2014.

Stuart C. Maudlin (BS ’74, Mathematics), Houston, TX, Sept. 14, 2014.

Hector J. Rosquete (MS ’75, Biology), Freeport, ME, July 2, 2014. He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth.

Walter Dywane Sedlacek (BS ’76, Mathematics), Michigan City, IN, May 1, 2014.

Dennis R. Anderson (MS ’78, Computer Science), Raleigh, NC, Nov. 3, 2014.

Deborah J. (Golden) Perisho (BS ’78, MS ’80, Mathematics), Winfield, IL, December 2014. She is survived by her husband, Gregory.

Harold N. Frazier Jr. (BS ’79, Science-Pre-Med), Boone, NC, Sept. 2, 2014.

Anthony C. Lullo (BS ’79, Biology), Lombard, IL, Sept. 7, 2014.

Kevin Morris Gartenhaus (BS ’80, Mathematics), Carmel, IN, May 30, 2014.

Russell Anthony Gazzara (PhD ’80, Biology), Doylestown, PA, Apr. 28, 2014.

Steven E. Frank (BS ’81, Biology), Youngstown, OH, Dec. 18, 2014. He is survived by his wife, Shelley.

Daniel B. Laubacher (PhD ’81, Physics), Wilmington, DE, May 22, 2014.

Tracy Brian Cather (BS ’82, Computer Science), Chicago, IL, Sept. 5, 2014.

Robert A. O’Brien Jr. (MS ’82, Chemistry), Chicago, IL, Nov. 26, 2014.

Philip H. Wetmore (MS ’82, Physics), Pittsburgh, PA, Oct. 28, 2014.

Myra L. (Aberman) Campa (BS ’83, Computer Science), Mountain View, CA, April 11, 2014. She is survived by her husband, Ramon.

John P. Shepherd (PhD ’84, Physics), Rochester, NY, June 26, 2014. He is survived by his wife, Cheryl.

Lisa H. (Nakamura) Luttrell (BS ’86, Computer Science), San Diego, CA, Sept. 14, 2014.

Craig W. Bowen (MS ’88, Chemistry), Norfolk, VA, June 15, 2014. He is survived by his wife, Patricia.

Gordon R. Roberts (PhD ’88, Mathematics), Mars Hill, NC, April 9, 2014.

Luis Mario Paredes-Mejia (MS ’89, Earth Sciences), Sacramento, CA, Nov. 30, 2014. He is survived by his wife, Kellie.

Elisabeth A. (Geler) Bakich (MS ’90, Biology), Middletown, OH, Aug. 31, 2014. She is survived by her husband, Michael.

Paul M. Steed (PhD ’92, Biology), San Diego, CA, Aug. 11, 2014. He is sur-vived by his wife, Jill (MS ’92, Biology).

Chyun K. Lu (BS ’99, Computer Science), Waltham, MA, April 2, 2014.

Harikiran Vasu (BS ’10, Biology), West Lafayette, IN, Aug. 22, 2014.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Please send us all of your accomplishments, honors, awards, milestones, new jobs and celebrations by filling the form at www.science.purdue.edu/e-newsletters/class-notes.html or email us at science-news@purdue.edu.

CLASS NOTES

44 | insights

LAST WORD

When I arrived at Purdue in 1990, technol-ogy was swirling. Things were rapidly changing. Biotechnology and the computer revolution were gathering steam. Instructional computing became possible. The Web was only a few years away. Software applications let teachers develop their own “courseware.” Digital video emerged. This was the atmosphere where I began my job as the outreach coordinator in the Department of Biological Sciences, a newly created position as part of a Howard Hughes Medical Institute grant. I had no idea that my concepts about science education were about to be challenged.

I was tasked to “visit high schools, talk to teachers and get a feel for high school biology in Indiana.” I soon real-ized this would be a complex journey, but a few central themes were obvious. There was a clear disconnect between biology in high school and the “new” biology of academia. What could we do about this problem? The increasing pace of technology complicated what was already difficult for teachers to maintain. New instructional computing meant that teachers would need new computer skills. Where was it taking us? What did teachers need to educate a future workforce? How could we improve the college-readiness of high school students?

Meanwhile, the College of Science took a bold initiative by creating a K-12 outreach program with coordinators who were specialists in their respective fields and experienced in science education. They became the link between the K-12 community and the college at a time when it was rare for science disciplines at large research universities to engage directly in such partnerships.

This provided a forum to share ideas and teaching skills and discuss common problems in science education. Could we put the vast resources and expertise of the college to better use for the schools? I gained important insight as the boundaries between science and mathematics were blurring. While biology had become a more difficult discipline in its own right, the other sciences also were clearly essential.

We established the Biology Resource Center to provide academic support for first- and second-year undergrads. We developed an eight-week survival course for entering freshmen and summer workshops in instructional computing. We established Biology Focus Visits allowing high school students to visit Purdue and learn about opportunities for study. Biology teachers train in our Advanced Placement Institute and at weekend workshops to stay abreast of the latest developments in their fields. Our Faculty Visitation Program brings college faculty to high schools to share research interests and discuss career opportunities for biology students.

These outreach efforts have grown and matured into strong initiatives. We

have served hundreds of high school teachers and thousands of their students. It has now extended beyond biology and is aided and strengthened by a synergy with other departments in the college.

It has been a privilege to be associ-ated with the K-12 Science Outreach Team and work with an amazing array of faculty and staff.

The goal of fully preparing students to study science in college persists. I am proud of our achievements and continue to work with dedicated professionals who know the best in K-12 outreach is yet to come. But little did we know that what we began 25 years ago would make STEM a core before STEM was cool!

Isidore Julien

APPROACH TO K-12 OUTREACHB Y I S I D O R E J U L I E N

A STEM

Spring 2015 | 45

NonprofitOrganizationU.S. Postage

PAIDPurdue University

150 N. University St. West Lafayette, IN 47907-2067765-494-1729 www.science.purdue.edu

Science Nobility

Bronze busts in the Wetherill Laboratory of Chemistry near the newly renovated Leighty Commons showcase the Department of Chemistry’s two Nobel laureates. Ei-ichi Negishi, the Herbert C. Brown Distinguished Professor and Teijin Limited Director of the Negishi-Brown Institute, won the 2010 Nobel Prize in chemistry and was mentored by Purdue’s first Nobel Prize winner, the late Herbert C. Brown.

(Photo by Tim Brouk)