Latest news with #PurdueUniversity
The Independent
2 hours ago
- Science
- The Independent
Researchers launch new search to find Amelia Earhart's plane
On Wednesday, researchers at Purdue University announced a new expedition that hopes to find some material evidence of Earhart's airplane. Using satellite imagery, the researchers have identified a spot on the tiny, remote island of Nikumaroro in Kirabati which they believe may be the final resting place of Earhart's plane, according to NBC News. The expedition was announced on July 2, exactly 88 years after Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared during their famed attempt to circumnavigate the world in her airplane. Earhart worked for Purdue University, and the institute helped to fund her historic, if tragic, final flight. Purdue said it plans to send a team in November to examine the site and, hopefully, find evidence of her Lockheed Electra 10E airplane. 'We believe we owe it to Amelia and her legacy at Purdue to fulfill her wishes, if possible, to bring the Electra back to Purdue,' Steve Schultz, Purdue's general counsel, said in a statement. The satellite photo fueling the new expedition was captured in 2015, just one year after a powerful tropical cyclone shifted the sands at the island, potentially revealing the plane, according to Richard Pettigrew, the executive director of the nonprofit Archaeological Legacy Institute in Oregon. Pettigrew took the satellite imagery to Purdue, which kickstarted the upcoming expedition. According to Pettigrew, the size and composition of the object matches parts of Earhart's plane, and the island's location is close to Earhart's planned flight path, and almost exactly where four of her last radio calls for help originated. 'It satisfies all the criteria,' he said. 'Everything fits.' Earhart's disappearance was a tragic final act after a decade of newspaper and radio stories documenting her record-setting flights. On June 17, 1928, at the age of 30, she became the first woman to pilot a plane — a bright red Lockheed Vega 5B, which she called "old Bessie, the fire steed"— across the Atlantic. The endeavor made headlines across the nation. Later, she became the first person to complete a solo flight across the Pacific, traveling from California to the Hawaiian islands in 1934. Earhart was initially treated as an aviation oddity due to her gender; news reports at the time called her the first "girl" to fly across the Atlantic, and another referred to her as an "aviatrix.' But as she continued to prove her prowess in the cockpit, she gained notoriety as a great pilot, rather than as a curious outlier. Even still, she used her growing prominence to push for equality in the skies; in an interview with the Evening Star in 1929, Earhart pleaded with the public to "give women a chance in the air." "Women can qualify in the air as in any other sport. Their influence and approval are vital to the success of commercial aviation," she said at the time. "Women and girls write to me by the thousands to learn the truth about aviation and what women's chances are. There is nothing in women's make-up which would make her inferior to a man as an air pilot. The only barrier to her swift success is her lack of opportunity to receive proper training." After numerous successful and record-setting flights in the late '20s and early '30s, Earhart set her sights on a new goal: becoming the first woman to circumnavigate the planet in an aircraft. Following her disappearance, the public remained somewhat hopeful that she would be found to fly again another day. But, after a two-month search that turned up no trace of her or Noonan, the pair were presumed dead. Pettigrew has been trying to find the remains of Earhart's flight for years. He has visited Nikumaroro, and said that a period-appropriate medical vial and American-made tool were found on the island, suggesting someone from the West — perhaps Earhart — had been on the island in some capacity around the time of her disappearance. According to National Geographic, four forensic dogs and a team of archaeologists with the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery traveled to the island in 2017. During that trip, the dogs reportedly detected the scent of human remains, though none were actually found. No one lives on Nikumaroro, and there is scant evidence of there ever being continuous inhabitation on the island. Two years later, famed ocean explorer Robert Ballard led an expedition to locate Earhart's plane or evidence that it had landed on the island. After days of searching both the island's cliffs and the surrounding waters, Ballard found no evidence of a wreck on the island. "We felt like if her plane was there, we would have found it pretty early in the expedition," Allison Fundis, Ballard's chief operating officer for the expedition, told The New York Times. The Executive Director of the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, Richard Gillespie said he doubts the Purdue expedition will turn up any evidence of Earhart's plane on their upcoming expedition. 'We've looked there in that spot, and there's nothing there,' he told NBC News. Gillespie has launched a dozen expeditions over the last 35 years searching for Earhart, including searches of Nikumaroro. He said the satellite image guiding the Purdue expedition shows an overturned coconut palm tree with a root ball that had been washed up by a storm. 'I understand the desire to find a piece of Amelia Earhart's airplane. God knows we've tried,' he said. 'But the data, the facts, do not support the hypothesis. It's as simple as that.' Despite his skepticism, Purdue will undertake the expedition regardless. The Purdue Research Foundation has extended a credit line of $500,000 to the first phase of the expedition, according to Shultz. The expedition members will depart in November and spend six days traveling to reach Nikumaroro. From there, they'll have five days on the island to investigate the object from the satellite imagery and determine whether or not it is evidence of Earhart's missing plane. 'If we hopefully solve the mystery and confirm that it is, then there will be further efforts to bring it back, hopefully to a permanent home,' Schultz said.
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- Science
- The Guardian
US researchers launch new mission to solve mystery of Amelia Earhart's fate
A new mission to locate Amelia Earhart's long-missing plane is being launched, researchers announced on Wednesday, following fresh clues that suggest she may have crash-landed on a remote island in the South Pacific. A satellite image may show part of Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10E protruding from the sand on Nikumaroro, an isolated island in Kiribati about 1,000 miles from Fiji, according to Richard Pettigrew, head of the Archaeological Legacy Institute, a nonprofit based in Oregon. 'What we have here is maybe the greatest opportunity ever to finally close the case,' Pettigrew said in a news release. 'With such a great amount of very strong evidence, we feel we have no choice but to move forward and hopefully return with proof.' Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan vanished on 2 July 1937, exactly 88 years ago, during their attempt to circumnavigate the globe, leaving behind one of history's most puzzling aviation mysteries. Now, Purdue University, where Earhart once taught and which contributed funding for her flight, is organizing a team to travel to Nikumaroro this November. The group hopes to uncover and recover remains of the aircraft. 'We believe we owe it to Amelia and her legacy at Purdue to fulfill her wishes, if possible, to bring the Electra back to Purdue,' Steve Schultz, the university's general counsel, told NBC News. Pettigrew believes the object spotted in the satellite photo aligns in size and material with Earhart's aircraft. He also noted its position is near her intended route and close to where four of her emergency radio transmissions are thought to have originated. The image was taken in 2015, a year after a powerful cyclone may have exposed the site by shifting sand, Pettigrew said. He later presented the findings to Purdue. Additional signs suggesting Earhart's presence on the island include American-made tools and a small medicine bottle, Pettigrew added. Back in 2017, four specially trained dogs and archaeologists from the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (Tighar) also explored Nikumaroro. Still, not everyone is convinced. Ric Gillespie, Tighar's executive director, has led 12 previous expeditions to the island and believes Earhart likely landed and died there. However, he doubts the satellite image shows a plane. Instead, he told NBC he thinks the object could be a coconut palm tree and root ball pushed ashore during a storm. Schultz said Earhart had intended to return the plane to Purdue after the journey so it could be studied by future aviation students. The Purdue Research Foundation has approved $500,000 in funding for the first phase of the trip. The team will take six days to reach Nikumaroro by boat and will have five days on the island to search for the object and attempt to identify it as the missing plane.
New York Post
6 hours ago
- Science
- New York Post
Purdue-backed team to search for Amelia Earhart's lost plane in remote Pacific island
Purdue University researchers are sending a new expedition team to find Amelia Earhart's missing plane based on evidence that it may have crashed in a remote island in the South Pacific. The University, which had employed the iconic aviator and helped fund her historic flight 88 years ago, announced Wednesday it will team up with the Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI) to send researchers to the Nikumaroro island in November to investigate the mysterious 'Taraia Object.' The object was first flagged in satellite photos following an intense tropical cyclone in 2015, with ALI believing it is the main body of Earhart's Lockheed 10-E Electra, which disappeared on July 2, 1937, during her ill-fated attempt to fly around the world. 6 Purdue University marked the 88th anniversary of Amelia Earhart's disappearance with a renewed effort to find her missing plane. Bettmann Archive 6 Researchers believe satellite images of the Nikumaroro Island following a powerful 2015 storm depicted images of Earhart's plane. 'What we have here is maybe the greatest opportunity ever to finally close the case,' ALI executive director Richard Pettigrew said in a statement. 'With such a great amount of very strong evidence, we feel we have no choice but to move forward and hopefully return with proof,' he added. 'I look forward to collaborating with Purdue Research Foundation in writing the final chapter in Amelia Earhart's remarkable life story.' Nikumaroro lies between Hawaii and Fiji near the center of the Pacific Ocean, Pettigrew has believed for years that the island hides the secret to Earhart's disappearance. Despite previous trips to the island, with turned up human remains in 2017, there is still no conclusive evidence that Earhart had landed there, and the Taraia Object has yet to be located since the shifting sands caused it to vanish. 6 Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic in a solo venture. AFP via Getty Images 6 The aviator was attempting to fly around the world when she disappeared in 1937 on her way to the Howland Island. Purdue, however, said it is committed to the search, which will embark from the Marshall Islands on Nov. 5 and allow researchers to spend five days on Nikumaroro to search for clues. If the initial expedition proves successful, the university said a larger excavation effort will be put in motion to retrieve the remains of the plane next year. 'Purdue Research Foundation began its commitment to Earhart's aeronautical explorations in 1935,' Purdue Research Foundation CEO Chad Pittman said. 6 Earhart was employed at Purdue university as a career counselor and aeronautical engineering adviser. CAMERA PRESS/ Retna Ltd. 'By embarking on this joint partnership with ALI, we hope to come full circle on our support of Earhart's innovative spirit, solve one of history's biggest mysteries, and inspire future generations of aviators, adventurers, innovators and Boilermakers.' Earhart, the first woman to fly over the Atlantic in a solo trip, began working at Purdue in 1935 as a career counselor for women and an adviser to its aeronautical engineering department. Then-University President Edward Elliott invited the aviator to the school to inspire female students to complete their educations and pursue careers, just as Earhart had done. 6 Richard Pettigrew, the executive director of the Archaeological Legacy Institute, will join the trip to Nikumaroro in November. Earhart remained with the school until her 1937 disappearance aboard the Electra, along with navigator Fred Noonan. The pair had set off from Lae, Papua New Guinea, with plans to refuel on Howland Island before continuing their journey to Honolulu and their final destination of Oakland, Calif, but faced a strong headwind in Lae when Earhart's radio transmissions eventually went silent. The US Navy and Coast Guard conducted a 16-day search for the missing duo without success, and Earhart was officially declared dead on Jan. 5, 1939.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Purdue says students in 'low enrollment programs' will not be affected mid-degree
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN — Purdue University officials said in a release Tuesday that students enrolled in programs that fall into "low enrollment" standards under Indiana's new Public Law 213 will not be affected mid-degree. Purdue's release followed questions surrounding what would happen to students currently enrolled in majors facing potential elimination and faculty who specialize in those subjects. Public Law 213, born out of House Bill 1001 in the 2025 legislative session setting Indiana's state budget, states that academic programs must meet a three-year average number of students who graduate from the program in order to automatically continue. That threshold is 10 students for an associate's degree program, 15 students for a bachelor's degree program, seven students for a master's degree program, or three students for a doctorate degree program. The university said in the release it has received only a "preliminary (and now outdated) list" of low-conferred degree programs from the state of Indiana and is told to expect an updated version later this summer. "Any potential decisions would follow in accordance with that future list by the end of the 2025-26 academic year. Lists recently shared by the media are not accurate," the release said. Through data provided by Purdue University to the U.S. Department of Education from 2021 to 2023, at least 48 majors were identified by the Journal & Courier to fall into the "low enrollment program" threshold. In an email provided to the Journal & Courier, Joel Ebarb, executive associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts, sent to CLA department heads a list of bachelor's, master's and doctorate programs that do not meet the new state requirements. Ebarb said in the email that a plan for each degree must be provided to the Indiana Commission for Higher Education to preserve the program, but that not all degree programs will be preserved, and some could possibly consolidate with other programs. "Please note: we cannot save and/or defend each of these credentials," Ebarb said in the email. "If there was ever a time you wished to suspend/expire a program, this is it." Of the degrees at risk listed in the email, 17 were bachelor's programs, 10 were master's programs and two were doctorate programs. The state of Indiana allows its public universities to complete the existing commitment to all currently enrolled and incoming students, the university release said. Degree programs "are not expired," the release explained, until current students have completed their studies. "There are multiple options of potential decisions, one of which is merging multiple low-enrollment programs into one program," the release said. "Merging programs will not impact student opportunities: Any merging of existing programs into or under larger degree programs and Classification of Instructional Programs codes will not reduce student opportunities. In fact, historically and currently there are many cases where multiple majors reside in one degree program." Jillian Ellison is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. She can be reached via email at jellison@ This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Purdue: 'Low enrollment program' students will not be affected mid-degree
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Purdue opts to cut or consolidate 7 programs ahead of new state law; more to be evaluated
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN — Some of Indiana's public colleges, including Purdue University, have opted to cut or consolidate a selection of degree programs ahead of a new state law that went into effect on July 1. The Indiana Commission for Higher Education said in a release Monday those 400 programs cut or consolidated across the state were those with "zero-to-low enrollment and completions." Gov. Mike Braun said in the release that one of the state's top agenda items included ensuring that Indiana's higher education institutions are preparing students for career opportunities in the "most in-demand fields of today and the future." 'Just in the past month, our state institutions have taken bold, proactive steps to increase the value of higher education for both students and families, first, through keeping tuition flat, and today, by beginning the process to streamline degree offerings," Braun said in the release. "This will help students make more informed decisions about the degree they want to pursue and ensure there is a direct connection between the skills students are gaining through higher education and the skills they need most.' Public Law 213, born out of House Bill 1001 in the 2025 legislative session setting Indiana's state budget, states that academic programs must meet a three-year average number of students who graduate from the program to automatically continue. That threshold is 10 students for an associate's degree program, 15 students for a bachelor's degree program, seven students for a master's degree program, or three students for a doctorate degree program. Indiana state Rep. Chris Campbell in a statement Tuesday called the new law an "overreach of government into higher education, echoing a dangerous national trend." "The majority isn't outright controlling students' education, but they're restricting it, which achieves the same goal," Campbell said. "Students should be able to study whatever they choose, especially since they're paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for it. Programs impacted include economics, secondary education, finance and three engineering disciplines. I was especially shocked to see special education degrees on the list." The seven degrees Purdue University's West Lafayette campus submitted to the commission to be suspended, classified as "teach-out toward elimination," are bachelor's degrees in microbiology, mathematics with computer science, design and production, art history, and a master's degree program in health sciences. A master's and doctoral program in comparative literature were proactively identified by Purdue's West Lafayette campus for merger or consolidation. Indiana Sen. Spencer Deery said he sees the new law as an opportunity for public institutions, but he noted things to be cautious about. "From my experience in higher education, these are very political environments, and sometimes there are actions that need to be taken that can be hard," Deery said. "Sometimes that's investing money in a program because it is being underserved, or it may not make financial sense to continue doing so. Which sometimes that could be because it is a program popular with a certain influential faculty member. So, I think it's a good idea to go back and evaluate, and this is that opportunity." In its guidance to institutions, the commission said it didn't expect this voluntary round to encapsulate all "under-threshold" programs. Students currently enrolled in any eliminated or suspended degree program will have the opportunity to complete their studies through an orderly teach-out, the release said, echoing a June 10 statement by Purdue officials. Newer degree programs will receive special consideration as they need time to grow enrollment and produce graduates, the commission said. Those programs, however, must still obtain approval to continue. "In requesting approval to continue an under-threshold degree program, institutions will have the opportunity to contextualize data through a fact-based, context-dependent narrative justifying the approval to continue category requested," the commission said in its guidelines. "It must elaborate on the program's essentialness to mission and planned fiscal support, as well as its relative importance in relation to evolving program offerings, career relevance, student outcomes, and service to the region/state/nation." Campbell, who graduated from Purdue with a master's degree in audiology, recalled in her statement the small size of her own graduate program. "It was offered because students were interested, and even though the discipline is small, audiologists provide essential services," Campbell said. "Our public university is arguably our state's greatest strength. Purdue is globally recognized. But to continue their record of success, Purdue has to be a great place to work and study. The General Assembly has continued to undercut these efforts with tenure reviews, monitoring instruction and now eliminating degree programs. It will get harder and harder for Purdue to pitch itself to out-of-state students and the nation's top researchers." Looking at enrollment for programs such as soil science and artificial intelligence at Purdue, Deery said he was unaware those numbers were low enough to fall into consideration of the new law. He said his worry would be if the commission implemented the new requirements in a "heavy-handed or nonstrategic way." "I don't think that's their intent, but I think there is some opportunity here and we have to watch out for it," Deery said. "My concern is in the next round if they start saying no on things like AI or soil sciences, if they cross those lines, I won't hesitate to voice displeasure." In conversations with colleagues, Deery said he has found himself educating others on the reality of what cuts like this would do to a public university, explaining that cost savings by cutting a program aren't always so cut and dry. "Elimination doesn't mean immediate cost savings," Deery said. "There are faculty teaching more than one class, and I would anticipate there will be some form of savings. Maybe it doesn't make sense to have an art history major, but we still want to offer that opportunity as a class to students." Data from the 2024 fiscal year will be validated by the commission in early July, the commission said. The decisions will then be provided to Indiana's public institutions by mid-July. "The commission and institutions will collaborate to validate and arrive at a Mutual Consensus List of under-threshold degree programs with newer degree programs flagged," the commission said. "Only degree programs on the Mutual Consensus List must obtain approval to continue from the commission." Jillian Ellison is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. She can be reached via email at jellison@ This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Purdue opts to cut or consolidate 7 programs ahead of new state law
