From the Macy's Day Parade to its annual appearance at the Indianapolis 500 auto race, Purdue University's All-American Marching Band has been at the heart of celebrations across the United States (and the wider world) since 1886, less than twenty years after the university itself was founded in central Indiana. While the marching band is the musical flagship of the university, the Department of Bands also includes jazz and concert ensembles as well as a symphony orchestra, and its alumni range from astronaut Neil Armstrong to popcorn legend Orville Redenbacher. The book follows the lives of...

Mechanical Engineering was the first school of engineering to be established at Purdue University in 1882. From just 120 students, the School has grown over the last 130 years to serve over 1,800 undergraduate and graduate students annually. Originally located in Mechanics Hall, a one-story red brick building, Mechanical Engineering now has extensive facilities that include two major satellite research laboratories, Ray W. Herrick Laboratories and Maurice J. Zucrow Laboratories, named in honor of the first director. There are more than 30 additional instructional and research laboratories,...

From the age of ten, looking up at the stars, Jerry Ross knew that he wanted to journey into space. This autobiography tells the story of how he came not only to achieve that goal, but to become the most-launched astronaut in history, as well as a NASA veteran whose career spanned the entire US Space Shuttle program. From his childhood in rural Indiana, through education at Purdue University, and a career in the US Air Force, Ross charted a path to NASA after overcoming many setbacks-from failing to qualify for Air Force pilot training because of "bad" eyesight, to an initial failure to be...

In 1869, the State of Indiana founded Purdue University as Indiana's land-grant university dedicated to agriculture and engineering. Today, Purdue stands as one of the elite research and education institutions in the world. Its halls have been home to Nobel Prize- and World Food Prize-winning faculty, record-setting astronauts, laurelled humanists, researchers, and leaders of industry. Its 13 colleges and schools span the sciences, liberal arts, management, and veterinary medicine, boasting more than 450,000 living alumni.

Ever True: The First 150 Years of Purdue University...