A native of Bangalore, India, Chaitanya Bhat came to Purdue University as a graduate student in mechanical engineering, researching the acoustic properties of diesel engines at Herrick Labs. At the same time, he has always had a love for North Indian (Hindustani) classical music. Now he can pursue his two favorite kinds of sound: as an acoustical engineer for Honeywell in Bangalore, and as a performing musician in concerts and recordings. In his own words, here is Chaitanya's story...

Yung Shin (Donald A. and Nancy G. Roach Professor of Advanced Manufacturing), has been awarded the S.M. Wu Research Implementation Award for 2016.

Cummins, Inc. and Purdue University have been industry partners for many years. At a recent networking event, members of Cummins and Purdue shared a lunchtime "speed dating" session, where they could learn about each other's research -- and then 5 minutes later, move on to learn about the next person's research. More connections between industry, researchers, and students, translates to more opportunities to move the world forward.

The students of Purdue Solar Racing, who come from all majors and backgrounds, collaborate on the design, construction, and operation of a car powered purely by solar cells; then they race the car in international competitions. The current car, Renatus, will be 17 feet long and 8 feet wide when it competes in 2017's Formula Sun Grand Prix.

More than 70 students from Purdue Engineering are working on a prototype for Hyperloop, the new form of rapid transportation proposed by SpaceX. A competition in January will determine whose capsule will work best in the new system.

Steve Florence is the Technical Services Manager for Purdue's School of Mechanical Engineering. Before that, he taught at West Lafayette Junior-Senior High School for 32 years, and is still involved with the school's FIRST Robotics team. His decades of helping kids with STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) led him to be nominated as a torchbearer for the Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay.

Southwire is the largest manufacturer of wire and cable in North America. In their Lafayette, Indiana facility, mechanical engineering interns from Purdue are changing the way the factory operates. As part of a senior project, Bryan Fouty (BSME '16) helped to design a machine that grinds the point of a wire, making it easier for workers to shape in the drawing process. Southwire financially supported the project, and as a result of the prototype, is now putting the innovation into production -- improving plant safety, and building relationships with the next generation of engineers.

The Purdue Neurotrauma Group is focused on studying and preventing damage to the brain from sports like soccer and football. With high school football players wearing tiny sensors on their heads, Purdue researchers are able to pinpoint exactly how much impact individuals receive. Their early findings show that current football helmets are great at preventing one-time catastrophic fractures, but not great at mitigating the numerous smaller hits, which can be just as damaging. Through their research, they are hoping to develop a much safer "crumple zone" style helmet to absorb that energy and protect the brain.

Purdue ranks fourth among public institutions in the United States, based on a new survey by the Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education.

Mechanical clocks seem appropriate to showcase in a Mechanical Engineering building -- but there's more to this clock than meets the eye. Professor Galen King gives the history of the Heavilon Hall clock: built in 1895, found and fully restored by Jack Fessler, and now proudly keeping time in the Gatewood wing of the Mechanical Engineering building at Purdue University.