With Perseverance on the ground and moving, Briony Horgan, who has a courtesy appointment in AAE, is now focused on analyzing data from the instrument she works with: Mastcam-Z.

"It's an incredible honor," O'Hara said. "I feel very fortunate to be a part of the Purdue community, both then and now. So it's pretty humbling to get nominated for and receive this award."

"It never crossed my mind that I would one day get an OAE award," Yen Matsutomi said. "I remember sitting in the OAE banquet when I was a Purdue student, admiring in awe at the achievements that the awardees have accomplished. Being selected as an OAE means a great deal to me and is deeply humbling."

DeLaurentis was one of two professors on Purdue's campus selected to receive the faculty award for leadership.

As renowned as Steven Collicott is within the aerospace industry for his research in low gravity fluid dynamics and as a leader in advocacy for suborbital commercial spaceflight -- and he appreciates both of those roles -- there's little doubt from former students that his most profound impact is beyond research and engagement.

"For years I have seen the announcements of the selected honorees in the Purdue newsletters never anticipating that I would be so honored. I am so very grateful," Doug Joyce said.

"It's a great honor to be included among some of the most accomplished Purdue alumni," Darin DiTommaso said.

"The education I received at Purdue was instrumental to my career and allowed me to participate in solving some of naval aviation's most challenging aircraft and aviation development problems," Chris Clark said.

Since 1998, AAE has been ranked among the nation's top 6 graduate programs in the aerospace/aeronautical/astronautical engineering category by U.S. News & World Report.

"Being selected as an OAE is a great honor, and I am humbled by the experience," Doug Adams said. "It is truly the highlight of my career."