Purdue University Mechanical Engineering

SPACEX 🤝 FORMULA SAE
Purdue's Formula SAE team is the #1 team in America — and some of the most highly recruited students in industry. According to The Wall Street Journal, SpaceX specifically recruits students from Formula SAE for their engineering prowess: https://www.wsj.com/tech/spacex-engineering-cornell-racing-team-de13905b?mod=e2fb

IN-SPACE MANUFACTURING: To be in space, you've got to build in space. That’s the idea behind the first ever university course focused on In-Space Manufacturing: https://engineering.purdue.edu/ME/News/2026/factories-in-space-purdue-hosts-first-ever-inspace-manufacturing-class

ASTRONAUT CHIEF: The most important aspect of NASA's Artemis mission is the astronauts flying to the Moon. And the person responsible for them is the Chief of the Astronaut Office, Purdue alum Scott Tingle: https://engineering.purdue.edu/ME/News/2026/nasas-chief-of-the-astronaut-office-scott-tingle-reflects-on-historic-artemis-ii-mission

Who are the outstanding teachers in Purdue ME, as voted on by students? These 25 instructors got the highest evaluation scores from students:
Thomas Beechem
Laura Blumenschein
Satish Boregowda
Brad Geswein
Marcial Gonzalez
Yan Gu
Jim Jones
Julia King
Chuck Krousgrill
Junfei Li
Heather Liddell
Min Liu
Nina Mahmoudian
Austin McDonald
Morgan Murphy
Najmus Saqib
DHR Sarma
Charlie Schwartz
Thomas Siegmund
Greg Stutz
Ganesh Subbarayan
Andres Tovar
Justin Weibel
Shengfeng Yang
Davide Ziviani

https://engineering.purdue.edu/Engr/AboutUs/News/Spotlights/2026/2026-0427-College-recognizes-teachers-with-top-evaluation-scores

Liquid metal jet printing uses tiny drops, less than half a millimeter wide, overlapping to form a solid foundation. Purdue University researchers have successfully used this method to 3D print aluminum alloy 7075 for the first time: https://engineering.purdue.edu/ME/News/2026/the-first-successful-3d-printing-of-aluminum-alloy-7075

Congratulations to these Purdue ME grad students, selected for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship: Abaigeal Aydt, Andrew Dahm, Grant Dierking, Katie Hart, Emilio Manuel Pereira, and Benjamin Wassgren: https://engineering.purdue.edu/ME/News/2026/purdue-me-students-selected-for-nsf-graduate-research-fellowships

Congratulations to Arvind Raman, confirmed as Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST): https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/2026/Q2/raman-confirmed-as-u-s-undersecretary-of-commerce-for-standards-and-technology-lundstrom-appointed-dean-of-engineering/

Thanks to Inside INdiana Business for visiting our Motorsports Engineering program in Indy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ihoi3rOYiw

David Cappelleri recently hosted an event discussing Internet of Things for Precision Agriculture (IoT4Ag): https://engineering.purdue.edu/Engr/AboutUs/News/Spotlights/2026/2026-0528-purdue-iot4ag-annual-retreat-precision-agriculture

SHOOTING BATTERIES WITH LASERS: Lithium-ion batteries can emit gases that cause them to dangerously puff up. By using lasers, Purdue University researchers can detect those gases before they cause trouble: https://engineering.purdue.edu/ME/News/2026/shooting-lasers-at-batteries-to-characterize-outgassing