Here follows a list of notable alumni of Purdue University.

Notable alumni

Academia

College chancellors, presidents and vice-presidents Robert Altenkirch – former president of the New Jersey Institute of Technology and University of Alabama in Huntsville Rebecca Ehretsman – eighteenth president of Wartburg College Hank Foley – current president of the New York Institute of Technology Tony Frank – president, Colorado State University Domenico Grasso – chancellor, University of Michigan-Dearborn Richard J. Grosh – former president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Arthur G. Hansen – former president of the Georgia Institute of Technology and Purdue University Edwin D. Harrison – former president of the Georgia Institute of Technology Renu Khator – chancellor of the University of Houston System and president of the University of Houston Dorothy Leland – president, Georgia College & State University Duane Litfin – president, Wheaton College Sally Mason – president of the University of Iowa, former provost of Purdue University Hanna Nasser – former president of Birzeit University, political figure Sunder Ramaswamy – president of the Monterey Institute of International Studies Kenneth "Buzz" Shaw – chancellor of Syracuse University Gary Allan Sojka – president of Bucknell University Hugo F. Sonnenschein – economist and educational administrator, president of the University of Chicago James J. Stukel – former president of the University of Illinois Blake Ragsdale Van Leer – former president of the Georgia Institute of Technology Larry N. Vanderhoef – chancellor of the University of California, Davis Brent W. Webb – academic vice president of Brigham Young University John T. Wolfe Jr. – former president of Savannah State University

Deans Srinivas Aravamudan – dean of the Humanities, Duke University Arthur J. Bond – dean of the School of Engineering and Technology at Alabama A&M University and civil rights activist Paul Weber – dean of Faculties and interim president of the Georgia Institute of Technology

Professors Christopher R. Agnew, social psychologist and professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences Nolan B. Aughenbaugh – Antarctic explorer and professor emeritus of Geological Engineering at the University of Mississippi Ibrahim (Abe) Baggili – CSE Division chair and Roger Richardson professor of computer science and cybersecurity, Louisiana State University James R. Barker – professor of Organizational Theory and Strategy, Waikato University Michael Baye – Bert Elwert Professor of Business Economics, Indiana University L. W. Beineke – professor of graph theory at Purdue University Fort Wayne Ronald A. Bosco – expert on Ralph Waldo Emerson, Puritan homiletics and poetics Ronald Breaker – Henry Ford II Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at Yale University Monty Buell – chair of the Department of History and Philosophy at Walla Walla University George Casella – statistician at Rutgers University, Cornell University, and the University of Florida James Samuel Coleman – author of the Coleman Report on the sociology of education Carl W. Condit – architectural historian, Northwestern University Clarence Cory – first professor in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering at UC Berkeley; received BME degree from Purdue University in 1889 at age 16 and a Doctor of Engineering degree from Purdue University in 1914 Bruce E. Dale – professor of Chemical Engineering, Michigan State University Kenneth E. deGraffenreid – professor of Intelligence Studies, Institute of World Politics Victor Denenberg – developmental psychobiologist Ralph Faudree – mathematician, combinatorialist, provost at University of Memphis James Fieser – professor of philosophy at the University of Tennessee at Martin Allan Friedman – Guy L. Odom Professor of Neurological Surgery at Duke University Medical Center Michael T. Goodrich – mathematician, computer scientist, department chair at the University of California, Irvine Kevin Granata – adjunct professor, Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics and Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech; victim of the Virginia Tech massacre Ann E. Hagerman – professor of biochemistry at University of Miami William D. Haseman – computer science professor at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and Carnegie Mellon University Larry Howell – professor of mechanical engineering, Brigham Young University Robert Owen Hutchins – professor organic chemistry at Drexel University Roger G. Ibbotson – professor of finance, Yale School of Management Richard Ian Kimball – professor of history, Brigham Young University Benn Konsynski – Goizueta Business School, Emory University Lawrence Landweber – John P. Morgridge Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Arthur H. Lefebvre – professor; head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering 1976–1993; pioneer of gas turbine technology and developer of fuel spray technology; professor at Cranfield University, UK G. V. Loganathan – professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech; victim of the Virginia Tech massacre Fred Mannering – professor, College of Engineering, University of South Florida Donald Matthews – political scientist, University of Washington James McDonald – economist at Brigham Young University Deborah E. McDowell – English professor and author Scott A. McLuckey – John A. Leighty Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Purdue University Dorothy Runk Mennen – theatre professor, author, founding president of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association Gary Milhollin – law professor, anti–nuclear weapons activist William F. Miller – vice president and provost, Stanford University William E. Moore – chemistry professor and vice chancellor for academic affairs at Southern University; first Black PhD in chemistry to graduate from Purdue Toby Moskowitz – financial economist, University of Chicago David Mount – computer scientist, University of Maryland J. Keith Murnighan – Harold H. Hines Jr. Distinguished Professor of Risk Management at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University Donna J. Nelson – chemistry professor; Nelson Diversity Surveys author, scientific workforce scholar (postdoctorate 1980–1983) Robert W. Newcomb – professor of electrical engineering at the University of Maryland Dallin D. Oaks – linguistics professor at Brigham Young University Peter N. Peregrine – anthropologist and archaeologist Larry L. Peterson – computer scientist at Princeton University Ronald L. Phillips – biologist, University of Minnesota T. Pradeep – professor of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India Steven Pray – Bernhardt Professor of Nonprescription Products and Devices at Southwestern Oklahoma State University John C. Reynolds – computer scientist Sherwin Rosen – labor economist Lyle F. Schoenfeldt – business management professor, known for a standard textbook on human resources Granville Sewell – mathematician and intelligent design advocate Thomas B. Sheridan – professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, pioneer of robotics and remote control technology Carolyn Sherif – social psychologist Stephen C. Smith PhD – sociology professor and researcher; family therapist Murray Sperber – professor emeritus of English and American Studies at Indiana University, author of several books on college sports John W. Sutherland – professor and Fehsenfeld Family Head of Environmental and Ecological Engineering (EEE), Purdue University Yizhi Jane Tao – Rice University biochemist who mapped the structure of the influenza A virus nucleoprotein to an atomic level James Tour – synthetic organic chemist and nanotechnologist at Rice University Ralph von Frese – geophysicist who identified the Wilkes Land mass concentration in Antarctica Gregory Weeks – international relations scholar at Webster University Vienna Donald Weeks – Maxcy Professor Emeritus of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Jill Zimmerman – computer scientist and the James M. Beall Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at Goucher College

Science and technology

Astronauts and aviators Neil Armstrong – Gemini 8, Apollo 11; first man to walk on the Moon John Blaha – STS-29, STS-33, STS-43, STS-58, STS-79, STS-81 Roy D. Bridges – STS-51-F Mark N. Brown – STS-28, STS-48 John H. Casper – STS-36, STS-54, STS-62, STS-77 Eugene Cernan – Gemini 9A, Apollo 10, Apollo 17; most recent man to walk on the Moon Roger Chaffee – killed in Apollo 1 accident Richard O. Covey – STS-51-I, STS-26, STS-38, STS-61 Andrew J. Feustel – STS-125, STS-134 Guy S. Gardner – STS-27, STS-35 Henry C. Gordon – Air Force colonel selected for Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar program Virgil I. Grissom – second American in space, Gemini 3, killed in Apollo 1 accident Guy Gruters – fighter pilot and prisoner of war in the Vietnam War Gregory J. Harbaugh – STS-39, STS-54, STS-71, STS-82 Iven Carl Kincheloe Jr. – flying ace of the Korean War, first pilot to fly above 100,000 feet (30,480 m) Michael J. McCulley – STS-34 Loral O'Hara – Soyuz MS-24 Gary E. Payton – STS-51-C Mark L. Polansky – STS-98, STS-116, STS-127 Jerry L. Ross – STS-61-B, STS-27, STS-37, STS-55, STS-74, STS-88, STS-110; holds the US record for spaceflights Karl Schoen – one of the first U.S. flying aces of World War I Loren J. Shriver – STS-51-C, STS-31, STS-46 Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger – pilot of US Airways flight 1549 which successfully ditched in the Hudson River Scott D. Tingle – Soyuz MS-07 Janice E. Voss – STS-57, STS-63, STS-83, STS-94, STS-99 Charles D. Walker – STS-41-D, STS-51-D, STS-61-B Mary E. Weber – STS-70, STS-101 George Welch – World War II fighter pilot and test pilot; best known for shooting down four Japanese planes during the attack on Pearl Harbor Donald E. Williams – STS-51-D, STS-34 David A. Wolf – STS-58, STS-86, Mir 24, STS-89, STS-112, STS-127

Engineers Joy Lim Arthur – first female engineer at White Sands Missile Range Mohamed Atalla – Distinguished Engineering Alumnus, inventor of MOSFET (metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor), pioneer in silicon semiconductors and security systems, founder of Atalla Corporation Stephen Bechtel Jr. – chairman emeritus of Bechtel Group Don R. Berlin – chief designer of several military aircraft of World War II Afua Bruce – executive director of the National Science and Technology Council in the Office of Science Technology and Policy at the White House, chief program officer at DataKind Orestes H. Caldwell – one of the first five members of the Federal Radio Commission Abraham Burton Cohen – civil engineer notable for designing record-breaking concrete bridges such as the Tunkhannock Viaduct John P. Costas – electrical engineer, inventor of the Costas loop and the Costas array Wayne Hale – NASA engineer Mamoon Hamid – managing member and general partner at Kleiner Perkins Richard E. Hayden – acoustics engineer, won the Wright Brothers Medal in 1973 for a research paper on noise reduction for STOL aircraft Daniel Lau – electrical engineer John Joseph Martin – mechanical engineer, author of Atmospheric Entry John H. McMasters – aeronautical engineer Elwood Mead – commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation for construction of Grand Coulee, Hoover and Owyhee dams; namesake of Lake Mead Benjamin Franklin Miessner – engineer and inventor (did not graduate) Daniel Raymer – aerospace engineer Henry Sampson – inventor and nuclear engineer Malcolm Slaney – electrical engineer and research scientist at Google Games Slayter – chemical engineer, inventor of fiberglass Gunter Stein – electrical engineer Bill Young – chemical engineer and pharmaceutical industry executive

Researchers Chris Amemiya – geneticist