Purdue University has long been associated with accomplished and distinguished students and faculty. Purdue alumni have headed
corporations, held federal offices, founded television networks, and flown through space. Purdue’s distinguished faculty
have won Nobel prizes, solved long-standing riddles in science, headed
government agencies, and received countless awards.Purdue alumni have an especially strong relationship with NASA and the space program.
All together, Purdue has produced 22 astronauts, including the first and last men to walk on the moon. Over one third of all of
NASA's manned space missions have had at least one Purdue graduate as a crew member. The only other non-military institution that
has more alumni who have become astronauts is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). These alumni have led significant
advances in research and development of aerospace technology and established an amazing record for exploration of space.
Accomplished alumni
- George Ade - humorist
- Chuck Armstrong -
President and COO of the Seattle Mariners
- Neil Armstrong – astronaut, first man to walk on the moon
- Joe L. Barton - Congressman (6th District of Texas)
- Birch Bayh - US Senator
- John Blaha – astronaut, flew on Mir in 1996
- Drew Brees - quarterback for the San Diego Chargers
- Roy D. Bridges - astronaut
- Mark N. Brown - astronaut
- Michael J. Burke - CEO
of Tellabs
- Earl L. Butz - former Secretary of Agriculture
- John H. Casper - astronaut
- Eugene Cernan – astronaut, last man to walk on the moon
- Roger Chaffee – astronaut, killed in Apollo 1 accident
- Richard O. Covey - astronaut
- Ward Cunningham - inventor of the wiki concept
- Carolyn Curiel - US
ambassador to Belize
- Len Dawson - Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback with the Kansas City Chiefs
- Thomas J. Engibous
- current Chairman, President and CEO of Texas Instruments
Incorporated
- Michael L. Eskew
– CEO of UPS
- Kirk Fordice - Governor of Mississippi
- David Fuente - CEO of Office Depot
- Gen Fukunaga - President of FUNimation
- Guy S. Gardner - astronaut
- Bob Griese - Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback with the Miami Dolphins
- Virgil “Gus” Grissom – astronaut, killed in Apollo 1
accident
- Gregory J. Harbaugh - astronaut
- Brian Lamb - Chairman and CEO of C-SPAN
- Sun Liren - Chinese Nationalist General who excelled in the Burma Campaign during World War II
- Michael J. McCulley - astronaut
- John T. McCutcheon - american cartoonist
- Elwood Mead - oversaw the
construction of the Hoover Dam
- Ben Roy Mottelson - 1975 Nobel laureate in physics
- Ian Murdock - founder of the Debian Project
- Gary E. Payton - astronaut
- Bart Peterson - Mayor of
Indianapolis, Indiana
- Mark L. Polansky – astronaut, piloted Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2001
- Edward Mills Purcell – 1952 Nobel laureate in physics
- Orville Redenbacher - popcorn entrepreneur with a bow-tie
- Donald B. Rice - former
Secretary of the US Air Force
- Jerry L. Ross – astronaut, holds the US record for spacewalks
- Kenneth A. Shaw -
president of Syracuse University
- Loren J. Shriver - astronaut
- James J. Stukel -
president of the University of Illinois
- Booth Tarkington - novelist
- Gordon Teter - former CEO of
Wendy's
- Janice V. Voss -
astronaut, aboard space shuttle Space Shuttle Endeavor
in 2000
- Charles D. Walker – astronaut, aboard Space Shuttle Discovery
- Charles R. Weaver -
former CEO of Clorox
- Mary E. Weber – astronaut, aboard space shuttle Discovery in
1995
- Donald E. Williams - astronaut
- David A. Wolf – astronaut, flew on Mir in 1997
- John Wooden - Basketball Hall of Famer
- Rod Woodson - Former NFL cornerback
Distinguished faculty
- Dr. Arden Bement Jr. -
Professor of Nuclear Engineering, Director of NIST,appointed by George W. Bush as
director of the National Science
Foundation
- Herbert C. Brown - Nobel laureate
- Amelia Earhart - aviator
- Eugene Spafford - CS Professor Extraordinaire, Director of
CERIAS, one of 25 presidential appointees to
the President’s Information Technology Advisory committee, discovered/analysed/helped to stop the first Internet Worm
(Morris Worm) in 1988
- Dr. Richard P. Vine -
wine consultant for American Airlines