Arvind Varma (13 October 1947 – 14 July 2019) was the R. Games Slayter Distinguished Professor, School of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University . His research interests are in chemical and catalytic reaction engineering, and new energy sources.
104-744: Varma served as the R. Games Slayter Distinguished Professor and Head, School of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University from January 2004 until June 2016 - he was named Jay and Cynthia Ihlenfeld Head in 2012. Prior to joining Purdue, he was the Arthur J. Schmitt Professor of Chemical Engineering and director of the Center for Molecularly Engineered Materials at the University of Notre Dame . A native of India, he received all his degrees in Chemical Engineering: B.S. from UICET , Panjab University (1966), M.S. from
208-522: A yield rate (the percentage of accepted students who choose to attend the university) of 24.9%. Purdue's freshman retention rate is 92%, with 81.5% going on to graduate within six years. The university started test-optional admissions with the Fall 2021 incoming class in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and has extended this through Fall 2023. Of the 62% of the incoming freshman class who submitted SAT scores;
312-570: A discipline, computer science spans a range of topics from theoretical studies of algorithms and the limits of computation to the practical issues of implementing computing systems in hardware and software. CSAB , formerly called Computing Sciences Accreditation Board—which is made up of representatives of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), and the IEEE Computer Society (IEEE CS) —identifies four areas that it considers crucial to
416-672: A distinct academic discipline in the 1950s and early 1960s. The world's first computer science degree program, the Cambridge Diploma in Computer Science , began at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory in 1953. The first computer science department in the United States was formed at Purdue University in 1962. Since practical computers became available, many applications of computing have become distinct areas of study in their own rights. Although first proposed in 1956,
520-407: A locomotive, and for a Corliss steam engine —one of the most efficient engines of the time. Programs in education and home economics were soon established, as well as a short-lived school of medicine . By 1925, Purdue had the largest undergraduate engineering enrollment in the country, a status it would keep for half a century. President Edward C. Elliott oversaw a campus building program between
624-464: A mathematical discipline argue that computer programs are physical realizations of mathematical entities and programs that can be deductively reasoned through mathematical formal methods . Computer scientists Edsger W. Dijkstra and Tony Hoare regard instructions for computer programs as mathematical sentences and interpret formal semantics for programming languages as mathematical axiomatic systems . A number of computer scientists have argued for
728-443: A mathematics emphasis and with a numerical orientation consider alignment with computational science . Both types of departments tend to make efforts to bridge the field educationally if not across all research. Despite the word science in its name, there is debate over whether or not computer science is a discipline of science, mathematics, or engineering. Allen Newell and Herbert A. Simon argued in 1975, Computer science
832-533: A mentor, Varma has directed 41 completed Ph.D. dissertations, and the research of 26 post-doctoral research associates. He organized and chaired numerous technical sessions at professional society meetings, and served as Chair of ISCRE-18 held in June 2004. He also served on many national-level committees, including service as founding director of the AIChE Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division (1996–98) and member of
936-463: A network while using concurrency, this is known as a distributed system. Computers within that distributed system have their own private memory, and information can be exchanged to achieve common goals. This branch of computer science aims to manage networks between computers worldwide. Computer security is a branch of computer technology with the objective of protecting information from unauthorized access, disruption, or modification while maintaining
1040-516: A number of institutions, including Caltech (Chevron Visiting professor), Princeton , University of Wisconsin , University of Minnesota (Piercy Distinguished Visiting professor), Univ of Cagliari, Italy (Visiting Chair Professor), IIT -Kanpur and Institute of Chemical Technology -Mumbai (Kane Visiting professor; Golden Jubilee Fellow; Tilak Visiting Fellow). Varma was first diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in November 2015. He died on 14 July 2019. He
1144-540: A number of terms for the practitioners of the field of computing were suggested in the Communications of the ACM — turingineer , turologist , flow-charts-man , applied meta-mathematician , and applied epistemologist . Three months later in the same journal, comptologist was suggested, followed next year by hypologist . The term computics has also been suggested. In Europe, terms derived from contracted translations of
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#17328843558901248-495: A particular kind of mathematically based technique for the specification , development and verification of software and hardware systems. The use of formal methods for software and hardware design is motivated by the expectation that, as in other engineering disciplines, performing appropriate mathematical analysis can contribute to the reliability and robustness of a design. They form an important theoretical underpinning for software engineering, especially where safety or security
1352-472: A pilot program in 1995 and made a permanent program in 1999. The College of Health and Human Sciences was established in 2010 and is the newest college. It offers BS , MS and PhD degrees in all 9 of its academic units. Purdue's College of Liberal Arts contains the arts, social sciences and humanities programs at the university. Liberal arts courses have been taught at Purdue since its founding in 1874. The School of Science, Education, and Humanities
1456-531: A public university in the state of Indiana, subject to multiple levels of approval. That school now operates as Purdue University Global , and aims to serve adult learners. On July 1, 2024, Purdue launched Purdue University in Indianapolis , an extension of the West Lafayette campus, after the formal split of Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis . It conveys Purdue West Lafayette degrees and has
1560-512: A significant amount of computer science does not involve the study of computers themselves. Because of this, several alternative names have been proposed. Certain departments of major universities prefer the term computing science , to emphasize precisely that difference. Danish scientist Peter Naur suggested the term datalogy , to reflect the fact that the scientific discipline revolves around data and data treatment, while not necessarily involving computers. The first scientific institution to use
1664-410: A specific application. Codes are used for data compression , cryptography , error detection and correction , and more recently also for network coding . Codes are studied for the purpose of designing efficient and reliable data transmission methods. Data structures and algorithms are the studies of commonly used computational methods and their computational efficiency. Programming language theory
1768-936: A wide range of technology-related disciplines. With over 30,000 living alumni , it is one of the largest technology schools in the United States. In addition to the main school in West Lafayette, Purdue Polytechnic operates nine satellite campuses in Anderson , Columbus , Indianapolis , Kokomo , Lafayette , New Albany , Richmond , Vincennes , and South Bend . These locations offer certificate, associate, and/or bachelor's degrees, some of which are ABET -accredited technical degrees. The Polytechnic Institute also maintains three high school campuses (two in Indianapolis and one in South Bend ) that focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and feature hands-on project-based learning. Computer science Computer science
1872-415: Is a branch of computer science that deals with the design, implementation, analysis, characterization, and classification of programming languages and their individual features . It falls within the discipline of computer science, both depending on and affecting mathematics, software engineering, and linguistics . It is an active research area, with numerous dedicated academic journals. Formal methods are
1976-449: Is a member of the Association of American Universities and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". Purdue enrolls the largest student body of any individual university campus in Indiana, as well as the ninth-largest foreign student population of any university in the United States. The university is home to the oldest computer science program in
2080-422: Is an empirical discipline. We would have called it an experimental science, but like astronomy, economics, and geology, some of its unique forms of observation and experience do not fit a narrow stereotype of the experimental method. Nonetheless, they are experiments. Each new machine that is built is an experiment. Actually constructing the machine poses a question to nature; and we listen for the answer by observing
2184-484: Is an open problem in the theory of computation. Information theory, closely related to probability and statistics , is related to the quantification of information. This was developed by Claude Shannon to find fundamental limits on signal processing operations such as compressing data and on reliably storing and communicating data. Coding theory is the study of the properties of codes (systems for converting information from one form to another) and their fitness for
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#17328843558902288-475: Is associated in the popular mind with robotic development , but the main field of practical application has been as an embedded component in areas of software development , which require computational understanding. The starting point in the late 1940s was Alan Turing's question " Can computers think? ", and the question remains effectively unanswered, although the Turing test is still used to assess computer output on
2392-615: Is between the Stadium and Centennial Malls. The Bell Tower is considered an icon of the university and can be found on many Purdue logos and those of the cities of Lafayette and West Lafayette . Southwest of the Stadium Mall is the Edward C. Elliott Hall of Music , one of the largest proscenium theaters in the world. Elliott Hall of Music serves as the home of the WBAA (AM) and WBAA-FM studios, and
2496-543: Is connected to many other fields in computer science, including computer vision , image processing , and computational geometry , and is heavily applied in the fields of special effects and video games . Information can take the form of images, sound, video or other multimedia. Bits of information can be streamed via signals . Its processing is the central notion of informatics, the European view on computing, which studies information processing algorithms independently of
2600-409: Is considered by some to have a much closer relationship with mathematics than many scientific disciplines, with some observers saying that computing is a mathematical science. Early computer science was strongly influenced by the work of mathematicians such as Kurt Gödel , Alan Turing , John von Neumann , Rózsa Péter and Alonzo Church and there continues to be a useful interchange of ideas between
2704-508: Is determining what can and cannot be automated. The Turing Award is generally recognized as the highest distinction in computer science. The earliest foundations of what would become computer science predate the invention of the modern digital computer . Machines for calculating fixed numerical tasks such as the abacus have existed since antiquity, aiding in computations such as multiplication and division. Algorithms for performing computations have existed since antiquity, even before
2808-630: Is generally considered the province of disciplines other than computer science. For example, the study of computer hardware is usually considered part of computer engineering , while the study of commercial computer systems and their deployment is often called information technology or information systems . However, there has been exchange of ideas between the various computer-related disciplines. Computer science research also often intersects other disciplines, such as cognitive science , linguistics , mathematics , physics , biology , Earth science , statistics , philosophy , and logic . Computer science
2912-584: Is intended to organize, store, and retrieve large amounts of data easily. Digital databases are managed using database management systems to store, create, maintain, and search data, through database models and query languages . Data mining is a process of discovering patterns in large data sets. The philosopher of computing Bill Rapaport noted three Great Insights of Computer Science : Programming languages can be used to accomplish different tasks in different ways. Common programming paradigms include: Many languages offer support for multiple paradigms, making
3016-426: Is involved. Formal methods are a useful adjunct to software testing since they help avoid errors and can also give a framework for testing. For industrial use, tool support is required. However, the high cost of using formal methods means that they are usually only used in the development of high-integrity and life-critical systems , where safety or security is of utmost importance. Formal methods are best described as
3120-545: Is mathematical and abstract in spirit, but it derives its motivation from practical and everyday computation. It aims to understand the nature of computation and, as a consequence of this understanding, provide more efficient methodologies. According to Peter Denning, the fundamental question underlying computer science is, "What can be automated?" Theory of computation is focused on answering fundamental questions about what can be computed and what amount of resources are required to perform those computations. In an effort to answer
3224-423: Is now Butler University as Indiana's land-grant, as well as the addition of an agriculture department at what is now Indiana State University . By 1869, Tippecanoe County 's offer included $ 150,000 (equivalent to $ 3.4 million in 2023) from Lafayette business leader and philanthropist John Purdue ; $ 50,000 from the county; and 100 acres (0.4 km ) of land from John Purdue and local residents. On May 6, 1869,
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3328-519: Is of high quality, affordable, maintainable, and fast to build. It is a systematic approach to software design, involving the application of engineering practices to software. Software engineering deals with the organizing and analyzing of software—it does not just deal with the creation or manufacture of new software, but its internal arrangement and maintenance. For example software testing , systems engineering , technical debt and software development processes . Artificial intelligence (AI) aims to or
3432-487: Is remembered for his call in 1894 to rebuild the original Heavilon Hall "one brick higher" after it had been destroyed by a fire. By the end of the nineteenth century, the university was organized into schools of agriculture, engineering (mechanical, civil, and electrical), and pharmacy; former U.S. President Benjamin Harrison served on the board of trustees . Purdue's engineering laboratories included testing facilities for
3536-575: Is required to synthesize goal-orientated processes such as problem-solving, decision-making, environmental adaptation, learning, and communication found in humans and animals. From its origins in cybernetics and in the Dartmouth Conference (1956), artificial intelligence research has been necessarily cross-disciplinary, drawing on areas of expertise such as applied mathematics , symbolic logic, semiotics , electrical engineering , philosophy of mind , neurophysiology , and social intelligence . AI
3640-464: Is surrounded by other buildings used for academic and cultural purposes. Near this section of campus is Felix Haas Hall, which was constructed in 1909 as Memorial Gymnasium in memory of the 17 Purdue University football players, coaches, alumni, and fans who died in the Purdue Wreck railroad accident of 1903. The structure was renovated in 1985 to house the computer science department . In 2006, it
3744-432: Is the field of study and research concerned with the design and use of computer systems , mainly based on the analysis of the interaction between humans and computer interfaces . HCI has several subfields that focus on the relationship between emotions , social behavior and brain activity with computers . Software engineering is the study of designing, implementing, and modifying the software in order to ensure it
3848-783: Is the field of study concerned with constructing mathematical models and quantitative analysis techniques and using computers to analyze and solve scientific problems. A major usage of scientific computing is simulation of various processes, including computational fluid dynamics , physical, electrical, and electronic systems and circuits, as well as societies and social situations (notably war games) along with their habitats, among many others. Modern computers enable optimization of such designs as complete aircraft. Notable in electrical and electronic circuit design are SPICE, as well as software for physical realization of new (or modified) designs. The latter includes essential design software for integrated circuits . Human–computer interaction (HCI)
3952-562: Is the study of computation , information , and automation . Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms , theory of computation , and information theory ) to applied disciplines (including the design and implementation of hardware and software ). Algorithms and data structures are central to computer science. The theory of computation concerns abstract models of computation and general classes of problems that can be solved using them. The fields of cryptography and computer security involve studying
4056-450: Is well known for its competitive engineering curricula. The university has also been integral 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
4160-642: The Indiana General Assembly voted to take advantage of the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act of 1862 and began plans to establish an institution with a focus on agriculture and engineering with the preliminary name of the Indiana Agricultural College. Communities throughout the state offered facilities and funding in bids for the location of the new college. Popular proposals included designating Indiana University or what
4264-463: The Mercury Seven . Many of Purdue's engineering disciplines are recognized as top-ten programs in the U.S. The college as a whole is currently ranked 4th in the U.S. of all doctorate-granting engineering schools by U.S. News & World Report . The university's Exploratory Studies program supports undergraduate students who enter the university without having a declared major. It was founded as
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4368-591: The Purdue Airport . Lyles Porter Hall houses interdisciplinary healthcare facilities and classroom space within the College of Health and Human Sciences as well as the West Lafayette branch of the Indiana University School of Medicine . The western portion of campus consists of student housing, dining, and recreation facilities. The Córdova Recreational Sports Center, built in 1957, is the first building in
4472-590: The Slayter Center of Performing Arts and Cary Quadrangle, one of the largest all-male housing units in the country. Purdue University is ranked 43rd in the annual ranking of 2024 U.S. News & World Report. The 2022 annual ranking of U.S. News & World Report categorizes Purdue University-West Lafayette as "more selective". For the Class of 2025 (enrolled fall 2021), Purdue received 59,173 applications and accepted 40,759 (68.9%). Of those accepted, 10,157 enrolled,
4576-529: The University of New Brunswick (1968) and Ph.D. degree from the University of Minnesota (1972). He remained at Minnesota for one year as an assistant professor, and was a senior research engineer with Union Carbide Corporation for two years before joining the Notre Dame faculty in 1975. He achieved the rank of full professor in 1980, received the Schmitt Chair position in 1988, and was named founding director of
4680-475: The "technocratic paradigm" (which might be found in engineering approaches, most prominently in software engineering), and the "scientific paradigm" (which approaches computer-related artifacts from the empirical perspective of natural sciences , identifiable in some branches of artificial intelligence ). Computer science focuses on methods involved in design, specification, programming, verification, implementation and testing of human-made computing systems. As
4784-554: The 100th anniversary of the invention of the arithmometer, Torres presented in Paris the Electromechanical Arithmometer , a prototype that demonstrated the feasibility of an electromechanical analytical engine, on which commands could be typed and the results printed automatically. In 1937, one hundred years after Babbage's impossible dream, Howard Aiken convinced IBM, which was making all kinds of punched card equipment and
4888-400: The 1910s the teams became segregated, and remained so until a student protest in 1947. Black students were not allowed to live in the residence halls until the 1940s. Black males were able to live in cooperatives, but Black females were not allowed to live anywhere in West Lafayette. In 1946, the women's dormitories were integrated by an order of the governor of Indiana. Helen Williams became
4992-451: The 2nd of the only two designs for mechanical analytical engines in history. In 1914, the Spanish engineer Leonardo Torres Quevedo published his Essays on Automatics , and designed, inspired by Babbage, a theoretical electromechanical calculating machine which was to be controlled by a read-only program. The paper also introduced the idea of floating-point arithmetic . In 1920, to celebrate
5096-825: The AIChE Awards Committee (1994–99). He was a member of AIChE's international committee, chair of the awards committee, I&EC Division-ACS, and also chair of the Engineering Research Council Awards Committee, ASEE. He was the founding editor of the Cambridge Series in Chemical Engineering , a series of textbooks and monographs published by the Cambridge University Press. Varma served as department chair at Notre Dame during 1982–1988. He held Visiting Professorships at
5200-618: The Analytical Engine, Ada Lovelace wrote, in one of the many notes she included, an algorithm to compute the Bernoulli numbers , which is considered to be the first published algorithm ever specifically tailored for implementation on a computer. Around 1885, Herman Hollerith invented the tabulator , which used punched cards to process statistical information; eventually his company became part of IBM . Following Babbage, although unaware of his earlier work, Percy Ludgate in 1909 published
5304-688: The Center for Molecularly Engineered Materials in the year 2000. Varma's research interests were in chemical and catalytic reaction engineering, and new energy sources. He published more than 275 archival journal research papers in these areas, and co-authored three books (Mathematical Methods in Chemical Engineering, Oxford University Press, 1997; Parametric Sensitivity in Chemical Systems, Cambridge University Press, 1999; Catalyst Design: Optimal Distribution of Catalyst in Pellets, Reactors and Membranes, Cambridge University Press, 2001) and co-edited two books. As
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#17328843558905408-469: The College of Liberal Arts. The university's College of Agriculture supports the university's charge as a land-grant university for the study of agriculture throughout the state. The College of Education offers undergraduate degrees in elementary education , social studies education, science education and special education , and graduate degrees in these and many other specialty areas of education . The Purdue University College of Engineering
5512-525: The General Assembly established the institution in Tippecanoe County as Purdue University, in the name of the principal benefactor. Classes began at Purdue on September 16, 1874, with six instructors and 39 students. Professor John S. Hougham was Purdue's first faculty member and served as acting president between the administrations of presidents Shortridge and White. A campus of five buildings
5616-547: The Machine Organization department in IBM's main research center in 1959. Concurrency is a property of systems in which several computations are executing simultaneously, and potentially interacting with each other. A number of mathematical models have been developed for general concurrent computation including Petri nets , process calculi and the parallel random access machine model. When multiple computers are connected in
5720-546: The UK (as in the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh ). "In the U.S., however, informatics is linked with applied computing, or computing in the context of another domain." A folkloric quotation, often attributed to—but almost certainly not first formulated by— Edsger Dijkstra , states that "computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes." The design and deployment of computers and computer systems
5824-620: The United States. Purdue is the founding member of the Big Ten Conference and sponsors 18 intercollegiate sports teams. It has been affiliated with 13 Nobel laureates , 1 Turing Award laureate, 1 Bharat Ratna recipient, 27 astronauts , 2 World Food Prize laureates, 3 Pulitzer Prize winners, 18 Olympic medalists, 3 National Medal of Technology and Innovation recipients, 2 National Medal of Science recipients, 3 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients, 7 members of Congress , 3 U.S. governors , and 2 heads of state. In 1865,
5928-529: The West Lafayette campus to give a speech about the influence of technological progress on job creation. In the 1990s, the university added more opportunities to study abroad and expanded its course offerings in world languages and cultures. The first buildings of the Discovery Park interdisciplinary research center were dedicated in 2004. On April 27, 2017, Purdue University announced plans to acquire for-profit college Kaplan University and convert it to
6032-516: The accessibility and usability of the system for its intended users. Historical cryptography is the art of writing and deciphering secret messages. Modern cryptography is the scientific study of problems relating to distributed computations that can be attacked. Technologies studied in modern cryptography include symmetric and asymmetric encryption , digital signatures , cryptographic hash functions , key-agreement protocols , blockchain , zero-knowledge proofs , and garbled circuits . A database
6136-433: The application of a fairly broad variety of theoretical computer science fundamentals, in particular logic calculi, formal languages , automata theory , and program semantics , but also type systems and algebraic data types to problems in software and hardware specification and verification. Computer graphics is the study of digital visual contents and involves the synthesis and manipulation of image data. The study
6240-410: The binary number system. In 1820, Thomas de Colmar launched the mechanical calculator industry when he invented his simplified arithmometer , the first calculating machine strong enough and reliable enough to be used daily in an office environment. Charles Babbage started the design of the first automatic mechanical calculator , his Difference Engine , in 1822, which eventually gave him the idea of
6344-533: The classical universities, White believed Purdue should be an "industrial college" and devote its resources toward providing a broad, liberal education with an emphasis on science, technology, and agriculture. Part of White's plan to distinguish Purdue from classical universities included a controversial attempt to ban fraternities, which was ultimately overturned by the Indiana Supreme Court . White resigned in protest. The next president, James H. Smart ,
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#17328843558906448-492: The company Chegg, which provides AI-generated "homework help" that some consider to be plagiarism. Purdue is organized into 10 colleges and schools. In 2010, the College of Health and Human Sciences was formed, through combining existing academic units, including the School of Nursing, the School of Health Sciences, the College of Consumer and Family Sciences, and non-humanities majors psychology and hearing and speech pathology from
6552-750: The design and principles behind developing software. Areas such as operating systems , networks and embedded systems investigate the principles and design behind complex systems . Computer architecture describes the construction of computer components and computer-operated equipment. Artificial intelligence and machine learning aim to synthesize goal-orientated processes such as problem-solving, decision-making, environmental adaptation, planning and learning found in humans and animals. Within artificial intelligence, computer vision aims to understand and process image and video data, while natural language processing aims to understand and process textual and linguistic data. The fundamental concern of computer science
6656-467: The development of sophisticated computing equipment. Wilhelm Schickard designed and constructed the first working mechanical calculator in 1623. In 1673, Gottfried Leibniz demonstrated a digital mechanical calculator, called the Stepped Reckoner . Leibniz may be considered the first computer scientist and information theorist, because of various reasons, including the fact that he documented
6760-583: The discipline of computer science: theory of computation , algorithms and data structures , programming methodology and languages , and computer elements and architecture . In addition to these four areas, CSAB also identifies fields such as software engineering, artificial intelligence, computer networking and communication, database systems, parallel computation, distributed computation, human–computer interaction, computer graphics, operating systems, and numerical and symbolic computation as being important areas of computer science. Theoretical computer science
6864-424: The distinction more a matter of style than of technical capabilities. Conferences are important events for computer science research. During these conferences, researchers from the public and private sectors present their recent work and meet. Unlike in most other academic fields, in computer science, the prestige of conference papers is greater than that of journal publications. One proposed explanation for this
6968-459: The distinction of three separate paradigms in computer science. Peter Wegner argued that those paradigms are science, technology, and mathematics. Peter Denning 's working group argued that they are theory, abstraction (modeling), and design. Amnon H. Eden described them as the "rationalist paradigm" (which treats computer science as a branch of mathematics, which is prevalent in theoretical computer science, and mainly employs deductive reasoning),
7072-511: The expression "automatic information" (e.g. "informazione automatica" in Italian) or "information and mathematics" are often used, e.g. informatique (French), Informatik (German), informatica (Italian, Dutch), informática (Spanish, Portuguese), informatika ( Slavic languages and Hungarian ) or pliroforiki ( πληροφορική , which means informatics) in Greek . Similar words have also been adopted in
7176-457: The first programmable mechanical calculator , his Analytical Engine . He started developing this machine in 1834, and "in less than two years, he had sketched out many of the salient features of the modern computer". "A crucial step was the adoption of a punched card system derived from the Jacquard loom " making it infinitely programmable. In 1843, during the translation of a French article on
7280-494: The first Black faculty member in 1968. Purdue's campus is situated in the small city of West Lafayette , near the western bank of the Wabash River , across which sits the larger city of Lafayette . Mitch Daniels Boulevard (formerly State Street) divides the northern and southern portions of campus. Academic buildings are mostly concentrated on the eastern and southern parts of campus, with residence halls and intramural fields to
7384-524: The first person to walk on the Moon; and Eugene Cernan , who was the last person to walk on the Moon. The English department at Purdue launched the first Online Writing Lab (OWL), in 1994. Many colleges and universities use the Purdue OWL website as an academic writing reference source for proper word usage, punctuation, grammar, and style. Professors criticized the partnership, begun in 2020, between OWL and
7488-477: The first question, computability theory examines which computational problems are solvable on various theoretical models of computation . The second question is addressed by computational complexity theory , which studies the time and space costs associated with different approaches to solving a multitude of computational problems. The famous P = NP? problem, one of the Millennium Prize Problems ,
7592-502: The machine in operation and analyzing it by all analytical and measurement means available. It has since been argued that computer science can be classified as an empirical science since it makes use of empirical testing to evaluate the correctness of programs , but a problem remains in defining the laws and theorems of computer science (if any exist) and defining the nature of experiments in computer science. Proponents of classifying computer science as an engineering discipline argue that
7696-461: The means for secure communication and preventing security vulnerabilities . Computer graphics and computational geometry address the generation of images. Programming language theory considers different ways to describe computational processes, and database theory concerns the management of repositories of data. Human–computer interaction investigates the interfaces through which humans and computers interact, and software engineering focuses on
7800-584: The middle 50 percent Composite scores were 1190–1430. Of the 31% of enrolled freshmen in 2021 who submitted ACT scores; the middle 50 percent Composite score was between 26 and 33. Purdue University is a college-sponsor of the National Merit Scholarship Program and sponsored 88 Merit Scholarship awards in 2020. In the 2020–2021 academic year, 127 freshman students were National Merit Scholars . Purdue offers both undergraduate and graduate programs in over 211 major areas of study, and
7904-400: 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 nicknames Cradle of Astronauts and Mother of Astronauts . 26 Purdue graduates have become astronauts, including Gus Grissom , one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts; Neil Armstrong , who was
8008-428: The nation created solely to serve university student recreational needs. Much of the northern part of campus sits on land purchased for the university by industrialist David E. Ross and author George Ade in the 1920s. Many of Purdue's athletic facilities are there, including Ross–Ade Stadium ( American football ), Mackey Arena (basketball), and Lambert Fieldhouse (indoor track and field). This area also includes
8112-478: The principal focus of computer science is studying the properties of computation in general, while the principal focus of software engineering is the design of specific computations to achieve practical goals, making the two separate but complementary disciplines. The academic, political, and funding aspects of computer science tend to depend on whether a department is formed with a mathematical emphasis or with an engineering emphasis. Computer science departments with
8216-484: The reliability of computational systems is investigated in the same way as bridges in civil engineering and airplanes in aerospace engineering . They also argue that while empirical sciences observe what presently exists, computer science observes what is possible to exist and while scientists discover laws from observation, no proper laws have been found in computer science and it is instead concerned with creating phenomena. Proponents of classifying computer science as
8320-421: The same academic rigor as the flagship campus. Purdue currently has a 28-acre (11 ha) footprint in downtown Indianapolis that includes space in the existing engineering and technology buildings, and has established partnerships with companies for facilities and shared spaces throughout the metro area . Purdue had black graduates by the 1890s, and in 1905 a Black man ran for its track team. But some time in
8424-409: The scale of human intelligence. But the automation of evaluative and predictive tasks has been increasingly successful as a substitute for human monitoring and intervention in domains of computer application involving complex real-world data. Computer architecture, or digital computer organization, is the conceptual design and fundamental operational structure of a computer system. It focuses largely on
8528-575: The site of the country's first college-credit flight training courses. Amelia Earhart joined the Purdue faculty in 1935 as a consultant for these flight courses and as a counselor on women's careers. In 1936, the Purdue Research Foundation provided the funds for the Lockheed Electra 10-E Earhart flew on her attempted round-the-world flight. Every school and department at the university
8632-559: The term computer came to refer to the machines rather than their human predecessors. As it became clear that computers could be used for more than just mathematical calculations, the field of computer science broadened to study computation in general. In 1945, IBM founded the Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory at Columbia University in New York City . The renovated fraternity house on Manhattan's West Side
8736-743: The term "computer science" appears in a 1959 article in Communications of the ACM , in which Louis Fein argues for the creation of a Graduate School in Computer Sciences analogous to the creation of Harvard Business School in 1921. Louis justifies the name by arguing that, like management science , the subject is applied and interdisciplinary in nature, while having the characteristics typical of an academic discipline. His efforts, and those of others such as numerical analyst George Forsythe , were rewarded: universities went on to create such departments, starting with Purdue in 1962. Despite its name,
8840-561: The term was the Department of Datalogy at the University of Copenhagen, founded in 1969, with Peter Naur being the first professor in datalogy. The term is used mainly in the Scandinavian countries. An alternative term, also proposed by Naur, is data science ; this is now used for a multi-disciplinary field of data analysis, including statistics and databases. In the early days of computing,
8944-443: The two fields in areas such as mathematical logic , category theory , domain theory , and algebra . The relationship between computer science and software engineering is a contentious issue, which is further muddied by disputes over what the term "software engineering" means, and how computer science is defined. David Parnas , taking a cue from the relationship between other engineering and science disciplines, has claimed that
9048-481: The type of information carrier – whether it is electrical, mechanical or biological. This field plays important role in information theory , telecommunications , information engineering and has applications in medical image computing and speech synthesis , among others. What is the lower bound on the complexity of fast Fourier transform algorithms? is one of the unsolved problems in theoretical computer science . Scientific computing (or computational science)
9152-404: The university established programs in veterinary medicine, industrial management, and nursing, as well as the first computer science department in the United States. Undergraduate humanities courses were strengthened, graduate-level study in these areas were slowly established. Purdue awarded its first Bachelor of Arts degrees in 1960. The official seal of Purdue was officially inaugurated during
9256-466: The university under the G.I. Bill , first-year classes were taught at some of these sites to alleviate the demand for campus space. Four of these sites are now degree-granting regional campuses of the Purdue University system . On-campus housing became racially desegregated in 1947. After the war, a decade-long construction program emphasized science and research. In the late 1950s and early 1960s
9360-562: The university's centennial in 1969. Consisting of elements from emblems that had been used unofficially since the 1890s, the current seal depicts a griffin , symbolizing strength, and a three-part shield, representing education, research, and service. In 1975, Purdue University joined ARPANET , an early packet-switching network that would ultimately become the foundation for the modern internet. In recent years, Purdue's leaders have continued to support high-tech research and international programs. In 1987, U.S. President Ronald Reagan visited
9464-438: The way by which the central processing unit performs internally and accesses addresses in memory. Computer engineers study computational logic and design of computer hardware, from individual processor components, microcontrollers , personal computers to supercomputers and embedded systems . The term "architecture" in computer literature can be traced to the work of Lyle R. Johnson and Frederick P. Brooks Jr. , members of
9568-521: The west, and athletic facilities to the north. The Purdue Mall is the central quad of Purdue University and was created to connect the academic campus with Ross-Ade Stadium. It is also known as the Engineering Mall due to its proximity to several engineering buildings. The most prominent feature of the Purdue Mall is the 38-foot (12 m)-tall concrete Engineering Fountain . The Purdue Bell Tower
9672-488: The world wars. Inventor, alumnus, and trustee David E. Ross coordinated several fundraisers, donated lands to the university, and was instrumental in establishing the Purdue Research Foundation. Ross's gifts and fundraisers supported such projects as Ross–Ade Stadium , the Memorial Union , a civil engineering surveying camp, and Purdue University Airport . Purdue Airport was the country's first university-owned airport and
9776-521: Was 71 years old. Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana , United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system . The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money to establish a college of science, technology, and agriculture; the first classes were held on September 16, 1874. Purdue University
9880-440: Was IBM's first laboratory devoted to pure science. The lab is the forerunner of IBM's Research Division, which today operates research facilities around the world. Ultimately, the close relationship between IBM and Columbia University was instrumental in the emergence of a new scientific discipline, with Columbia offering one of the first academic-credit courses in computer science in 1946. Computer science began to be established as
9984-536: Was also in the calculator business to develop his giant programmable calculator, the ASCC/Harvard Mark I , based on Babbage's Analytical Engine, which itself used cards and a central computing unit. When the machine was finished, some hailed it as "Babbage's dream come true". During the 1940s, with the development of new and more powerful computing machines such as the Atanasoff–Berry computer and ENIAC ,
10088-515: Was completed by the end of 1874. In 1875, Sarah A. Oren , the State Librarian of Indiana, was appointed professor of botany. Purdue issued its first degree, a Bachelor of Science in chemistry, in 1875. The first female student was admitted that autumn. Emerson E. White , the university's president from 1876 to 1883, followed a strict interpretation of the Morrill Act. Rather than emulate
10192-608: Was dedicated in 1877. University Hall originally housed the office of the president, a chapel, and classrooms. At the request of John Purdue , he was buried in the Memorial Mall, directly across from the main entrance of University Hall. The area south of Mitch Daniels Boulevard is home to Purdue's agricultural, fine arts, life sciences, and veterinary buildings. This area also includes the Krannert School of Management, Horticulture Gardens , Discovery Park , Lyles Porter Hall and
10296-495: Was established in 1874 with programs in Civil and Mechanical Engineering. The college now offers BS , MS , and PhD degrees in more than a dozen disciplines. Purdue's engineering program has also educated 27 of America's astronauts , including Neil Armstrong and Eugene Cernan , who were the first and last astronauts to have walked on the Moon , respectively, and Gus Grissom , a member of
10400-416: Was formed in 1953. In 1963, the School of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Education was established, although Bachelor of Arts degrees had begun to be conferred as early as 1959. In 1989, the School of Liberal Arts was created to encompass Purdue's arts, humanities , and social sciences programs, while education programs were split off into the newly formed School of Education. The School of Liberal Arts
10504-542: Was involved in some type of military research or training during World War II . During a project on radar receivers, Purdue physicists discovered properties of germanium that led to the making of the first transistor . The Army and the Navy conducted training programs at Purdue and more than 17,500 students, staff, and alumni served in the armed forces. Purdue set up about a hundred centers throughout Indiana to train skilled workers for defense industries. As veterans returned to
10608-580: Was renamed in honor of retired Provost Felix Haas and began to also house the Statistics department. East of the Memorial Mall is the Purdue Memorial Union , Purdue's student union building, and the adjacent Union Club Hotel. University Hall is the only building remaining from the original six-building campus. Construction began in 1871, when the building was known as "The Main Building". The building
10712-451: Was renamed the College of Liberal Arts in 2005. The Daniels School of Business offers management courses and programs at the undergraduate, master's, and doctoral levels. The university's College of Pharmacy was established in 1884 and is the 3rd oldest state-funded school of pharmacy in the United States. The Purdue Polytechnic Institute, formerly known as the College of Technology, offers bachelor's , master's and PhD degrees in
10816-592: Was the base of operations for Purdue Bands and Orchestras until the completion of the Marc and Sharon Hagle Hall in 2022. West of the Elliott Hall of Music is the Armory Building. The Armory Building was rebuilt in 1918 after a fire and houses the university's ROTC programs and other clubs. The Purdue Memorial Mall, south of the Purdue Mall, is the original section of campus. It is a popular meeting place for students and
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