Purdue University

Purdue University is a member of the Association of American Universities and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". Purdue has 24 American astronauts as alumni and as of April 2019, the university has been associated with 13 Nobel Prizes. Purdue offers both undergraduate and graduate programs in over 211 major areas of study, and is well known for its competitive engineering curricula. The university has also been highly influential in America's history of aviation, having established the first college credit offered in flight training, the first four-year bachelor's degree in aviation, and the first university airport (Purdue University Airport). Purdue's aviation technology and aeronautical engineering programs remain among the most competitive aviation-specific programs in the world. In the mid-20th century, Purdue's aviation program expanded to encompass advanced spaceflight technology giving rise to Purdue's nickname, Cradle of Astronauts. Twenty-three Purdue graduates have gone on to become astronauts, including Gus Grissom (one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts), Neil Armstrong (the first person to walk on the moon), and Eugene Cernan (the last person to walk on the moon). In addition to its strong engineering and science programs, the English Department at Purdue has achieved prominence for having created the first Online Writing Lab (OWL) in 1994. Many colleges and universities use the website for the Purdue OWL as a reference for the proper word usage, punctuation, grammar, and style in academic writing. Purdue is organized into ten colleges and schools. On July 1, 2010 the College of Health and Human Sciences was formed. The new college was created by combining existing academic units. These units include the School of Nursing, the School of Health Sciences, the College of Consumer and Family Sciences, and non-humanities majors from the College of Liberal Arts; namely psychology and hearing and speech pathology. The university also offers 19 master's degree programs exclusively online, including for subjects like aviation management, communication, computer science, construction management, education, economics, and engineering.