Two AAE faculty members have been promoted to full professor. The promotions of Dr. James L. Garrison and Dr. Wenbin Yu were approved by the Purdue University Board of Trustees at a meeting April 21. The promotions are effective starting with the 2017-2018 academic year.

Several AAE graduate students are recipients of annual awards from Purdue's College of Engineering. Awards were presented at the Graduate Student Research, Teaching, and Service Awards ceremony April 19th.

AAE graduate student Chao Han is a 2017 recipient of the Award for Outstanding Research from Purdue’s College of Engineering. This award goes to students who have demonstrated excellence and leadership in research through publications, participation in professional organizations, and willingness to mentor others. Han is a student of Professor Haifeng Wang.

Students in AAE 450/EAPS 391: Senior Spacecraft Design presented their senior design project to Gemini and Apollo astronaut Dr. Buzz Aldrin on April 18, 2017. Project Destiny evaluated the feasibility of Elon Musk's plan to colonize Mars with 1,000,000 people, in the time frame of 100 years, for only $200,000 a ticket.

AAE Prof. Inseok Hwang has been named a University Faculty Scholar. Recipients of this honor are tenured associate professors and full professors who have been in that rank for no more than five years and are named in recognition of their scholarship.

Kathleen Howell, the Hsu Lo Distinguished Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and associate dean in the College of Engineering, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honorary societies. The new class of 228 members will be inducted at a ceremony on Oct. 7 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

AAE graduate students Julia Crowley Farenga and Eric Westphal are among the honorees of the 2017 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). Westphal was also selected for a NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship (NSTRF), along with Michael Baier and Monique McClain.

Prof. William Crossley is the recipient of the 2017 Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award, as voted on by graduate students in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Eleven faculty members were nominated by AAE graduate students for this annual award, and representatives from AeroAssist chose Prof. Crossley as the winner.

Matt Cirillo is an AAE junior who is studying abroad this semester in Spain as part of the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) program.

Sam Albert is an AAE junior who is studying abroad this semester in Spain as part of the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) program.