Photo Index 2006

These photographs are publishable JPEG's listed in the order in which they were produced.

Links to previous years are at the bottom of this page.

A comprehensive high-resolution photo archive, which includes mug shots, is available at our FTP site

• CooksBacteria --This illustration depicts the use of a technique developed at Purdue to identify bacteria in its ambient environment using mass spectrometry. The technique, called desorption electrospray ionization, or DESI, could be used to create a new class of fast, accurate detectors for applications ranging from food safety to homeland security.

• Akkus.fractures (2 photos)--Jared Diegmueller (seated), a doctoral student in Purdue's Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, and associate professor Ozan Akkus discuss details about a prototype device that could help to prevent stress fractures by monitoring the formation of "microcracks" in bones. The tiny cracks can lead to hairline stress fractures unless detected in time. The research goal is to create a device that would alert the person wearing it when a stress fracture was imminent so that they could stop rigorous physical activity long enough for the bone to heal. (second photo) Nick Wasserman, a doctoral student in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, conducts research to analyze how tiny "microcracks" that form in bones can lead to stress fractures in work ultimately aimed at preventing fractures.

• Sozen.WTC (2 photos)--Santiago Pujol, an assistant professor in structural engineering, loads a projectile into an impact simulator in Purdue's Robert L. and Terry L. Bowen Civil Engineering Laboratory for Large Scale Research. The apparatus fires beverage cans at various objects to study the impact and energy transfer between a fluid and a solid structural element, such as a support beam. Data from experiments using the simulator have been used to test the accuracy of a simulation to study what likely happened structurally when a commercial airliner crashed into the World Trade Center's North Tower on Sept. 11, 2001. (second photo) This image was taken from a simulation created by researchers at Purdue University in connection with NSF-funded work to study what happened structurally to the World Trade Center's North Tower when a commercial airliner crashed into it on Sept. 11, 2001.

• Low.reduc (2 photos)--Jun Yang, from left, a former doctoral student and researcher in the Low research group, and Philip Low, Purdue's Ralph C. Corley Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, are shown in the group's lab. Low and Yang created a color-coded method to visualize the mechanisms of drug release within a cancer cell, advancing the field of targeted drug delivery. (second photo) This image depicts drug release within a treated cancer cell. Once inside the cell, the drug turns from red to green as receptor endocytosis releases it from its folate-linker. By linking to the vitamin, toxic drugs are transported directly to the cancer cell and do not harm healthy cells. 

• Paczolt.volunteer (2 photos)--Purdue resident assistants did volunteer labor at 13 nonprofit organizations in an effort to help the local groups and increase community engagement. The University Residences student leaders did a variety of tasks such as installing a playground safety surface, landscaping, packaging donated school supplies and cooking meals. The inaugural program, called Extreme Makeover: Community Edition, was organized by Sarah Casares, residential life manager at Hilltop Apartments. (second photo) Purdue University resident assistants (R-L) Drew Sittley, of South Bend, Blake Ratajack, of Munster, Ind., and Richard Ham, of Bartlett, Tenn., install new safety surface material at a playground in Lafayette. More than 270 university residential life student employees volunteered at community nonprofit organizations during the service-learning training exercise "Extreme Makeover: Community Edition."

• Evans.computers--Andy Howard, from left, an undergraduate student who works in Jeff Evans' lab, answers a question from Fengping Hu, one of Evans' graduate students, while working in the Adaptive Computing Systems Lab in Purdue's Michael Golden Engineering Labs. Evans teaches a course that allows students to modify old computers and give them a new life as part of a supercomputer that is used by faculty and students. The course has expanded this fall to the College of Technology's statewide location in South Bend. The students there are able to link to the same supercomputing system used by students in West Lafayette.

• McKinnis.fair--Kelsey Jonkman, an electrical engineer with Crown-ESA, obtained his job through Purdue University's High Tech Job Fair for Indiana Companies last year. Jonkman of Highland, Ind., graduated from Purdue in 2005 with a degree in electrical and computer engineering technology. Crown-ESA, an engineering and manufacturing firm in Portage, Ind., will interview more prospective employees at this year's fair, which will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 25 in the Purdue Memorial Union ballrooms. More than 60 companies from throughout Indiana are expected at the fair, which attracts students with prospective degrees in technology, science, engineering, management and agriculture.

• Lugar.Jischke.summit--Purdue President Martin C. Jischke, from left, and Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., exit the podium Tuesday (Aug. 29) during the Sen. Richard G. Lugar - Purdue University Summit on Energy Security, which took place on the university's West Lafayette, Ind., campus. About 900 leaders attended the daylong event to discuss national energy issues and policy and ways to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil and to develop new strategies for alternative fuels.

• PRP.International--Purdue president Martin C. Jischke, from left, West Lafayette Mayor Jan Mills and Steve Shook, partner in The Shook Agency/Coldwell Banker Commercial Realty Services cut the ribbon at a ceremony today (Monday, Aug. 28) at the Purdue Research Park. The ribbon-cutting ceremony marked the completion of construction of the International Technology Center, a facility that includes space for high-tech companies and a full-scale health club.

• Bashir.nanocant--This rendition depicts an array of tiny, diving-boardlike devices called nanocantilevers. The devices are coated with antibodies to capture viruses, which are represented as red spheres. New findings about the behavior of the cantilevers could be crucial in designing a new class of ultra-small sensors for detecting viruses, bacteria and other pathogens.

• Dixon.club--Maria Dixon, speech language pathologist and clinical assistant professor at Purdue, gives 8-year-old Thomas Owens a thumbs-up during the summer Kids CLUB carnival. The club is offered to children with a form of autism called Asperger's syndrome to help them with their social interaction skills.

• Chapple.poplar (2 photos)--With funding from the Department of Energy, Clint Chapple, from left, and Rick Meilan are using genetic tools to find ways to convert trees into ethanol as a replacement for fossil fuels. (second photo) Purdue researchers believe that hybrid poplars and similar trees planted like row crops could be processed into ethanol as an alternative fuel.

• Moskowitz.clinic--Krannert professors Suresh Chand, from left, and Herbert Moskowitz with a screen display of their research.

• Sanders.ecoli--A surface representation of exopolyphosphatase, a protein with great potential as an antibiotic target. David Sanders, an associate professor of biology, determined the structure using X-ray crystallography and discovered unique features. The protein is involved in the starvation response of E. coli.

• Herr.Alexander--Randy Woodson, Purdue's Glenn W. Sample Dean of Agriculture, presents Sue Alexander of Winamac, Ind., a handmade wooden clock after she was named the first Indiana Women in Agriculture award winner on Aug. 16 at the Indiana State Fair. Alexander was honored for her role in helping to run and expand the family farm after an accident paralyzed her husband, Tim, in 1993.

• Purdue Day at the State Fair (3 photos)--Jefferson High School seniors John Schell and Andria Smith, members of the Precision Guesswork First Robotics team, display their prowess with radio-controlled robots on Wednesday (Aug. 16) at the Purdue College of Engineering booth at the Indiana State Fair. (second photo) Angie Morehouse of Lafayette has her blood pressure checked on Wednesday (Aug. 16) by Purdue senior nursing student Laura Knueven. (third photo) Riley Enoch, from left, 9, from Cutler, and Chloe Lachmund, 9, from West Lafayette, examine a Tokay Gecko on Wednesday (Aug. 16) at the Purdue College of Science booth at the Indiana State Fair.

• Resident assistant volunteers--On Monday (Aug. 14) nearly 300 Purdue resident assistants did volunteer labor at 13 nonprofit organizations in an effort to help the local groups and increase community engagement. The University Residences student leaders did a variety of tasks such as installing a playground safety surface, landscaping, packaging donated school supplies and cooking meals.

• Scheumann.NYSP--Kelly Amaizo, a camper at Purdue's National Youth Sports Program, plays lacrosse during the 2006 camp. The camp, organized by the Department of Health and Kinesiology, will receive $250,000 from June and John Scheumann to endow a youth sports fund. The camp is an annual five-week program that promotes sports, healthy lifestyles, learning skills and community service. Amaizo is one of 400 children, ages 10-16, who participated in this year's program.

• Rossmann.westnile--Purdue researchers created these three- dimensional reconstructions of the West Nile virus attached to fragments of an antibody that neutralizes the virus and prevents infection. The reconstructions are based on images taken with a technique called cryoelectron microscopy. The image on the left shows a virus alone. The center image shows the virus attached to neutralizing antibody fragments. The viral surface is colored green and the antibody fragments are shown in light blue. Each antibody attaches to a protein called an E protein, for envelope protein, which makes up the virus' outer shell.

• Weitekamp.tracks (3 photos) --Janet Rush and Murray Blackwelder, Purdue's senior vice president for advancement, look at the plaque in the middle of Rush Crossing, a replica of the old Purdue railroad tracks that ran near the area prior to 1953. The tracks are located just north of the Memorial Mall between Stanley Coulter Hall and Wetherill Laboratory of Chemistry. (second photo) Alumni Jim and Janet Rush walk with their great nephew, Todd Rush (center), across Rush Crossing. The Rushes provided the lead gift to build the tracks, which will be included in a new tradition for all incoming and graduating students. (third photo) Bryan Musser, a mason for Purdue Building Services, works on Rush Crossing. During Boiler Gold Rush, more than 5,000 freshmen will cross the tracks to signal the beginning of their relationship with Purdue.

• Anderson.rocket --James Sisco, a doctoral student in Purdue's School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, assembles portions of an experiment to study unstable combustion inside rocket engines. The NASA-funded work aims to help the U.S. space agency develop rockets faster and less expensively for future missions to Mars and the moon. The work might also help the U.S. Air Force develop rockets that use a kerosenelike fuel instead of liquid hydrogen, which must be cryogenically cooled and kept in insulated tanks. Using kerosene would enable engineers to create sleeker, more compact and lighter rockets that pack the same power as liquid hydrogen rockets.

• Fisher.vertical (2 photos) --This diagram shows the "porous anodic alumina template" created by Purdue engineers to grow carbon nanotubes vertically out of tiny cavities on top of a silicon wafer. (second photo) This picture, taken with a transmission electron microscope, shows carbon nanotubes that have been grown out of tiny cavities in a "porous anodic alumina template" created by Purdue engineers. A layer of iron in the template acts as a catalyst to grow the nanotubes from methane gas flowed into the template.

• Stansbury.noise --Workers from Oscar Winski Inc. use a shearer to demolish a 1960s-era Boeing 727 on Monday (July 31, 2006) at the Purdue Airport in West Lafayette, Ind. The plane will be cut into chunks, then shred into smaller pieces that can be hauled away and melted for recycling. The airplane, donated to Purdue 13 years ago, had been used as an on-ground training station for students. Airport director Betty Stansbury said it is unusual for a plane to be demolished in Indiana. Planes are usually flown to the deserts of California or Arizona to be demolished, but the Purdue plane was not in flying condition. The university also has a 1970s-era Boeing 737 donated by United Airlines that is used for on-ground training.

• Garner.autism --Joseph Garner is part of an international research team using mice to help diagnose many human mental disorders, including autism. Garner is a Purdue University assistant professor of animal sciences.

• Robinson.scatter --Arun Bhunia (standing) and Padmapriya Banada use a laser and a computer monitor to observe scatter patterns in a petri dish in their Purdue University lab. The technique may provide cost-cutting applications for medicine, food processing and homeland security. Bhunia is a professor of food microbiology, and Banada is a postdoctoral researcher.

• Collicott.vomit --A team of Purdue University students conduct an experiment in NASA's reduced-gravity aircraft in Houston as part of NASA's Reduced-Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program. The flight was one of six that Purdue students took this year. Facing the camera from left are Kate Bonamici, a Fortune Magazine reporter who flew with the team; Kathryn Bradley, a Purdue senior in aeronautical and astronautical engineering; and Andrew Maurer, a senior in aeronautical and astronautical engineering and physics. In the background are NASA officials participating in the flight.

• Groll.aconference --Eckhard Groll, a professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, demonstrates a prototype portable air conditioning unit that uses carbon dioxide as a refrigerant instead of conventional chemicals. The prototype has been developed as part of research funded by the U.S. Army. Carbon dioxide is a green alternative to conventional refrigerants, which cause about 1,400 times more global warming than the same quantity of carbon dioxide.

• Stach.microscope --Eric Stach, an associate professor of materials engineering at Purdue University, loads a sample into the new FEI Titan electron microscope at the Birck Nanotechnology Center. The $4 million instrument, located in a new lab at Discovery Park, will allow researchers to take pictures of the internal structure of nanomaterials, capturing dynamic images of atomic motion during materials processing.

• Campbell.interns --Allias Jones, a senior at Arsenal Technical High School in Indianapolis, works in a chemical engineering lab as part of his internship through Purdue's Science Bound program. This is the first year Science Bound has arranged internships with Indianapolis companies and Purdue academic departments.

• Conley.hail --Corn plots at the Throckmorton-Purdue Agricultural Center near Lafayette, Ind., show the effects of hail damage.

• Suckow.race --Katherine Conrad, from left, a senior in aviation technology from Cincinnati, and Katie Sparrow, a junior in aviation technology from Sanford, Fla., unload one of their trophies today (Tuesday, June 27) at the Purdue Airport after competing in the Air Race Classic. Conrad and Sparrow represented Purdue in the annual race, placing first in the collegiate competition and third overall.

• Lu.cellchannel --Purdue researcher Chang Lu, from left, and Hsiang-Yu Wang demonstrate a low-powered laser used to view a microchip through a microscope. Wang, a graduate student in chemical engineering, is a member of Lu's research team. Lu's research could lead to advances in drug and gene screening and early disease diagnosis.

• Adams.cleanroom (2 photos) --Vistec Semiconductor Systems technicians John Cunanan, (standing) a field simulation engineer, and Paul Whitwood, a final test engineer, conduct tests on a Leica Vector Beam photolithography machine in the cleanroom at the Birck Nanotechnology Center's Scifres Nanofabrication Laboratory. The $6 million instrument will help Purdue nanotechnology researchers write on computer chips ultra-high resolution lines that are as small as 6 nanometers, or 70,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. (second photo) John Weaver, facility manager at the Birck Nanotechnology Center, works at an optical pattern generator in the Scifres Nanofabrication Laboratory. The instrument, which was donated to Purdue by Raytheon Co., will allow researchers at the Birck cleanroom to add thin films with atomic layer precision on computer chips. The instrument rests on a 4,000-pound granite table in a specially lit lab to protect photo-sensitive images on the silicon chips.

• Huber.northpole --This image shows one type of tropical plankton discovered by