Dr France Cordova, an accomplished Astrophysics Professor (Stanford and CalTech educated, and earlier served in UC Riverside and UC Santa Barbara as well as NASA)) and President of the renowned Purdue University (one of the largest Engineering Schools in USA) is in India for 10 days.
As an Alumnus I had the privilege of meeting her and talking to her today. Dressed in an Indian dress, it took a second for me to recognize her (We all had seen her picture on the Web page).
She was articulate and graceful. We were particularly happy as Americans were celebrating their election result and Senator Obama taking a historic win.
For a State University in the conservative mid-west State of Indiana that too set in a rural setting (the City of West Lafayette has just a population of 50,000!), it is indeed heartening that Purdue University chose a woman as President of the University.
I do hope the able leader will take the University to greater heights.
Tags: France Cordova, Purdue University President visits India
