Mark Lewis’ Post

I generally abhor the US News college rankings. One of the ten things I hate about them is that four schools are #2. If you're going to make a ranking system, you should develop criteria that cause actual differentiation between the solutions. For example, Georgia Tech is four times better than MIT because MIT's cost of tuition is listed as $59,750 per year and Georgia Tech at $14,064. Using this math, Purdue is better than Georgia Tech because you get the exact same outcome (a degree from the #2 school) for $3000 less per year. Another thing I hate is that they decompose the schools down to a single ranking when it isn't even clear what they're ranking. Is one better for research and one better for instruction? Which college results in the greatest mid-career salary? What school is best if you seek a career in hypersonic propulsion? What if you want to be an Astronaut? Wouldn't a prospective student have real questions? If you value outdoor activities, Stanford is the clear winner here and if you only play video games, save your money and go to Purdue. If I was ever independently wealthy, I would buy US News and World Report and basically just delete it. :)

I just saw you quoted in an article about airborne lasers that said you were at Purdue. Congrats! Let us know if you come to Dayton!

Congratulations! Achievements in aerospace engineering are remarkable - Like what Aristotle expressed about excellence being a habit, not an act 🚀 Keep reaching for the stars 🌟

While many domestic educational institutions engage in bloody competition for the prize of being ranked high on some tabloid's list, our adversaries are building, educating better --not just providing optics-- and we are losing the education race. Education was commercialized after the great financial crisis of 2008. And even prior to that, research done at those same institutions was commercialized, leading to "incrementalism". We need to think long and hard on where we want to be in 5-10 years, and that better not be a list on a tabloid.

Does anyone work students harder than the Purdue aero program? I would be very surprised if they did. I recall Professor Gustafson ("Gus") explaining to me that this was by design. The aero program's goal was to give students so much work that the only way to get through was to find a way to collaborate in teams. Gus told me that learning how to collaborate was an essential skill set for an engineer, so they made sure to bury us with workload. I don't ever recall going to bed before 2AM (and it wasn't because I was socializing).

Sorry. Only #4.... lol ✈️

You’re not slowing down! 

Outstanding!