People Category: Tuesday Sessions

Gerry McCartney is executive vice president for Purdue Online, the online education initiative adopted in June 2018 by Purdue University President Mitch Daniels and the Board of Trustees with the goal of systematically developing and growing a coordinated, unified systemwide portfolio of offerings from Purdue’s physical campuses and from Purdue Global that serves all types of students.

McCartney is overseeing development of a one-stop-shop system for matching prospective students with courses and programs that best fit their needs – even pointing them to options they may not have considered. He also is positioning Purdue as a top provider of tailored corporate training and re-training.

Under McCartney, Purdue’s online offerings are being rooted in sophisticated market research and online analytics to provide the best experience and most value for students seeking the same kind of world-class education traditionally available from Purdue.

McCartney served as Purdue’s chief information officer from July 2007 to December 2018. In 2013, his role was expanded to include responsibility for the Office of Institutional Research, Assessment and Effectiveness (OIRAE) and oversight of information technology at the regional, as well as West Lafayette, campuses. In 2017, he was named executive vice president with the additional duty of leading an effort to develop a more organized, strategic approach to online and digital offerings for the entire Purdue system, which resulted in Purdue Online.

Under McCartney’s IT leadership, Purdue developed the nation’s largest campus cyberinfrastructure for research, with multiple supercomputers listed in the internationally known Top 500 list. Also during his tenure, Purdue developed some of the nation’s best learning and classroom technologies, including Hotseat and Passport and pioneering academic analytics apps Signals and Forecast.

McCartney holds tenure at the rank of professor in the Purdue Polytechnic Institute and is the Olga Oesterle England Professor of Information Technology.

Before becoming CIO, McCartney served two years as assistant dean for technology at Purdue’s Krannert School of Management, executive MBA and engineering management programs. From 1993 to 2004, he was associate dean and chief information officer at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He was director of the Krannert Computing Center from 1990 to 1993 and was manager of user services at the Purdue Computing Center from 1988 to 1990. He also has held managerial positions in the computing centers at both the University of Notre Dame and Maynooth College in Ireland.

McCartney holds a patent on a product providing authenticated access to Internet-based research and data services. He also earned the CIO Enterprise Value Award in 2003, the 2013 Global Leader in IT Value Award and the 2015 Computerworld Premier 100 Award. He frequently speaks and comments on the entrepreneurial management of technology for national media.

In 1995, McCartney received his doctorate in sociology and anthropology from Purdue. He also earned diplomas in advanced computer programming and systems analysis from the Graduate School of Engineering at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, in 1982 and 1984. He took first class honors in both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in 1981 and 1984, respectively, from Maynooth College.

Dr. Suder joined NASA Glenn in 1983.   He holds a Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University.  His experience includes computational and experimental research in multistage turbomachinery for advanced air breathing propulsion systems. He is most noted for his contributions to the NASA Rotor 37 and Rotor 67 Benchmark data sets used for CFD validation.    He chaired the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Turbomachinery Technical Committee from 2010-2013, and he is an ASME Fellow.

Dr. Suder has also held several key leadership roles within the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. As the Chief Technologist for NGLT (Next Generation Launch Technology) TBCC (Turbine Based Combine Cycle) Revolutionary Turbine Accelerator   project and the Principal Investigator for NASA (Fundamental Aeronautics Program) Hypersonic project 1999-2010, he led the development of a Mach 3-4 turbine engine for the first stage of a 2-stage to orbit launch system. From 2010-2014, Ken was the Sub-Project Manager for Propulsion Technology in the Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project, leading combustor, propulsor and core turbomachinery research & development efforts to demonstrate enabling technologies to meet the NASA Subsonic transport goals to reduce fuel burn, emissions, and noise.    For the last 5 years,  Ken served as the Chief of the Turbomachinery and Turboelectric Systems Branch, and most recently he was selected as the  NASA Senior Technologist for  Airbreathing Propulsion at NASA Glenn Research Center.

Sunil James is currently a Senior Manager of Propulsion Technologies at Honeywell Aerospace. He is responsible for the development of compressor, combustor, and turbine technologies for propulsion engines. Prior to this role, Sunil was a combustor design and development manager and led teams on propulsion combustor programs for HTF7000, TFE731, and F124. He also led teams on APU combustor programs for 777X, A350, A220, and COMAC C919. Additionally, he was also involved in demonstrator programs such as HPW3000, VAATE STF, and TPE. In addition to combustor design and development, Sunil has extensive experience in the development and application of large eddy simulation tools for gas turbine combustor design and has published several technical papers on this subject. He is an associate fellow of AIAA.

Mr. Cummings has been with Rolls-Royce since 1998, focusing primarily on combustionaerothermal design work for in-production or near-production engines. He has worked on the AE3007, focusing on NOx and UHC reduction for regional jet applications, successfully meetingthe Class 5 requirements of the Zurich airport; the F136 for which he served as CFD specialistand then combustion aero tech lead; and the Trent 1000, for which he oversaw externalaerodynamics, i.e., the airflow emanating from the compressor and flowing around thecombustor. His work on the Trent 1000 took place during an assignment to Rolls-Royce Derbyin 2004-2005. Subsequent work back at Indianapolis included combustion aero for a supersonicbusiness jet program sponsored by NASA, alternative fuels programs, and the Rolls-RoyceDerby team that set the course for future large engines as recently demonstrated in the Advance 3tech demo. Mr. Cummings now manages the combustion and turbine aero team in Indianapolis,which is responsible for the functional design of combustion and turbine systems for enginesranging in size from 600 hp helicopter turboshafts up to 100k-lb thrust turbofans. The group isdeveloping the latest advances in fuel burn and particulate matter reduction and is involved inassessing alternative fuels for compatibility with engine hot sections. To support fuel burnreductions a turbine development partnership has recently been established with PurdueUniversity, where an annular cascade and rotating rig are being brought on line.