CS Graduate Student Survival Guide

Originally this guide was targeted at new Purdue Computer Science graduate students. Since its creation, it has expanded to also be helpful for returning graduate students and perspective students. The guide provides information about the department, Purdue, the Lafayette area, Indiana, and surrounding states.

Be warned that the information in this guide is not complete and not guaranteed to be correct. If you are not sure about something, do not be afraid to ask a fellow student or to e-mail the CS Graduate Student Board (gsb@cs.purdue.edu). If you would like something added or changed in the Guide, please e-mail the GSB.

This document is not intended to describe departmental and school policies and is not a publication of the Department of Computer Sciences nor the School of Science. As the regulations constantly change, it is always best to check with the Graduate School Office (YONG 170), the Computer Science Graduate Office (LWSN 1137), and the Dean of Students Office (SCHL 230).

This guide has a long and distinguished history, dating back to 1979 when a CS Graduate Guide was founded by Dave Schrader, Eric Dittert, and Bob Brown. Through hard research, diligent work, and ideas stolen from similar guides at other schools, they created an impressively useful document for generations of new students. For a time, it was shared with the EE department, who made additional improvements. Since then, the Graduate Guide has survived countless ordeals, including conversion from the old CDC machines to VAXen and Sequents, departments moving to new buildings, major surgery (both additions and removals) to all sections, and finally, in 1993, conversion to LaTeX. In the Summer of 2007, the guide was ported to the GSB wiki.

The list of people who have helped over the years is far too long to list in its entirety, but includes many students, professors, and department secretaries. Some of the people who have contributed the most in recent years include:

• Nate Andrysco
• Ethan Blanton
• Marina Blanton
• Abhinav Jain
• Chris Mayfield
• Paul Rosen
• Andy Scharlott
• Abhilasha Spantzel
• Lukasz Ziarek

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• Indiana Basics
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• Other Places of Interest

If you do not have any housing by the first week of the semester, run, do not walk, to the Dean of Students Office in Schleman Hall to obtain the Off Campus Housing listing and advice on obtaining a place to live. They have a copy that you can look at in the office, or you can buy a copy to take with you for a small sum. If you have access to a computer, then you can also search for off campus housing through Purdue's Student Services INFOrmation online.

To access SSINFO, visit http://www.ssinfo.purdue.edu/. The Off Campus Housing section is located in the “General” part of the main menu. Also check the Exponent, the Journal and Courier, and http://www.boilerapartments.com for housing ads and roommate classifieds. If you're an international student, you may want to contact ISS and/or your country's student organization for help.

Assuming that you already have obtained housing for your first term but are interested in other options for the future, we can make the following observations on the housing situation:

• The on-campus housing problem is quite acute.
• The dorms are always filled.
• Grad students often live in one of the Grad Houses or in Purdue Village.

Despite their labels, the Young and Hawkins Grad Houses contain both undergraduates and grad students. The only requirement to be a resident is to be 21 years of age or older. If you wish to live in Purdue Village (PV), you should apply ASAP. Purdue Village, which used to be only for married students (and sometimes is still called Married Student Housing), does allow single students. Spots in PV tend to fill up fast.

There are a numerous student apartment complexes all around campus and many old houses that have been divided into multiple living units. The apartments right around campus tend to be leased in January and February for the following fall semester, so start your search early in the spring for your fall housing. In addition, if you have a group of friends that you can live with, you can usually find an older house for rent if you check the classifieds. One other resource available to grad students is the Purdue Research Foundation (PRF), which has many old houses around campus for rent. Unfortunately for undergrads, PRF will only rent to faculty and grad students.

Apartments within walking distance of campus tend to be quite expensive but if you have transportation, there are numerous apartment complexes all over the Lafayette area that are quite reasonable. If you don't have a car, you can see if the bus line runs nearby. Of course, you always run a risk if you depend heavily on the buses. One more thing to consider when deciding on off-campus housing is related to restrictions on obtaining parking permits. The University will not sell you a parking permit if you live too close to campus. If you plan on driving to campus, make sure you live far enough away to get a university parking permit.

If you are moving into an apartment or house, you will probably need to hook up some utilities. When you sign a lease, check with the landlord to see what utilities are not included in the rent. Then a few days before you move in to your new domicile, call the utility companies to hook up the necessary utilities. Many of the utility companies will demand a deposit for new service if you did not have an account with them previously.

The City of West Lafayette provides curb-side service for recycling and garbage pickup only for houses with four units or less. If you live in a complex or house with more than four units then a private contractor must be hired for garbage disposal. Labeled bins are provided for anyone wishing to drop-off recyclable materials at 705 S. River Road. There are also bins for recyclable materials around Purdue Village. For more information please call the Street Department at 775-5242.

There are a number of bookstores around campus that will be happy to take your life savings in exchange for a text book. University Book Store's main location is across the street from the Union at 360 W. State Street. University Bookstore is the original home of Purdue Pete. The Book Store used Purdue Pete for their logo, and the University later adopted him as the Purdue Mascot. University Book Store also has a smaller branch across from Mackey Arena at 720 Northwestern Avenue. Follett's Bookstore has three locations, 1400 W. State Street in Purdue West, 308 W. State Street in The Village, and 714 Northwestern Avenue across from Lambert Fieldhouse.

Text books are sometimes held on reserve in the Undergrad Library or the Math Library. A few CS text books are also available in the ACM/UPE CS Student Library located in the Undergraduate Resource Center, CS G14. Also check the newsgroup purdue.forsale.books for text books.

Parking at Purdue can be a nightmare. Public parking near campus is in very short supply, and permit parking isn't much better. The largest public parking lot is behind the Stadium, quite a hike from the CS building. A, B, and C parking permits allow you to park on campus. A and B parking permits are for faculty and three-quarter time staff only, so students are normally limited to C parking permits.

A C parking permit allows you to park in C parking places, which are marked by red signs. Unfortunately, the C parking places are generally not close to the CS building with most of the C parking in a lot off State Street by the dorms. To obtain a C parking permit, you must prove that you live more than 1.5 miles from campus (what they call walking distance). A C permit costs roughly $60.

C Garage permits are also availible. These allow you to park at the top of a specific parking garage. Wood St., Marsteller St., and Grant St. garages have CG permits availible. The cost for one is $200.

Parking permit stickers are are sold at the Campus Visitor's Center on the first floor of the Northwestern Avenue Parking Garage, which is across the street from the MSEE Building. You need to take your driver's license and a copy of your lease with you.

If you drive but don't buy a permit, there is public street parking near the building on some of the side streets. However, these spaces are generally all gone by 8:30 am daily and most have a 3 hour time limit, for two reasons:

1. Many folks forget about this time limit, and their vehicles become easy prey for West Lafayette police who roam about with ticket pads armed and ready.
2. The pointless shuffling of vehicles from one parking spot to another amuses the neighborhood children.

Note that cars are time-stamped with a swatch of chalk on one of the rear tires so that the time they've been parked in one spot is known, and, therefore, the time that they're eligible for ticketing is known. Also note that the chalk comes off rather easily (especially when water is applied from a spray bottle, hint, hint). Parking at night is no problem. All A, B, and C spots are open after 5 pm and on weekends. Also, never park in a 24 hour reserved spot; you will be ticketed and towed.

Residence hall parking permits are available to people living in Grad Houses or the Dorms. Stop by the Grad House or Dorm main office to inquire about permits, and check early since the number of residence hall permits is limited. One final note for students living in Purdue Village, you should stop by the PV office on Nimitz Drive after obtaining your Purdue permit in order to get a PV permit. It's free and allows you to park your car near your apartment.

This section presents, roughly, a day-by-day outline of some of what you should do in your first week on campus. See the sections following for more detailed information.

Select courses you want to take if you have not already done so. Fill out a registration form (available in LWSN 1137) and get your advisor's signature on it. Ask Amy Ingram (LWSN 1137) to check it. Take your completed form to the Registrar's Office (basement of Hovde).

Go to Room 130 in the Purdue Memorial Union to get your student ID card. You might want to start a Boiler Express account. This account makes your PUID a campus debit card. Boiler Express is accepted at most eateries and other places on campus.

• If you are athletic, go to the Recreational Sports Center and get a locker (see the section on the RSC later in this guide).
• If you have a Purdue University or department assistantship or a fellowship, get to know Candace Walters in LWSN 2116H by picking up your keys. Then wait for your staff I.D. card to appear in your mailbox with your first pay stub. This card is not the same as your student I.D., and it is good for a 10% discount at the bookstores. If you can't wait for the I.D. card, ask for a letter of authentication from Amy Ingram in LWSN 1137, and take it to the University Bookstore on the corner of State and Grant to get a book discount card.
• Pick up free documents about various things around Purdue, available in the police station (on traffic regulations), from the Dean of Students Office in Schleman Hall 207, on the shelves in the middle of the main hallway of Stewart Center, and at the information desk in the main entrance of the Memorial Union (of particular interest here may be the CityBus schedules, if you plan to use public transportation).
• If you are an International Student, you should have gone through the orientation for International Students. If not, report to the ISS in Schleman Hall 136 as soon as possible.
• If you dont have a career account yet, visit http://www.purdue.edu/securepurdue/careeraccount/ for information on how to get one. You need this account for access to Information Technology at Purdue's Computer Labs and for your @purdue.edu email address, and hence you should get it as soon as possible.

During your first few weeks here at Purdue, you'll encounter many new acronyms and buzzwords. Here is a list of those used most frequently.

• ACM - Association for Computing Machinery. An international organization for computer scientists. Locally, ACM refers to the student ACM chapter which performs numerous services for the students.
• BOSO - Business Office for Student Organizations. This is the office that handles the money and some other matters related to official student organizations such as ACM and UPE. Hopefully, you will not have to deal with them unless you are an officer in a student organization in campus.
• Co-Rec - See RSC.
• ECN - Engineering Computer Network. ECN is the name given to the extensive network of machines maintained by the engineering school.
• ITaP - Information Technology at Purdue; this is the university group that operates and maintains the main university computer system.
• LAEB - Liberal Arts and Education Building. This is an old name for the large building to the south of the CS building, which is now called Beering Hall. Many people still call it LAEB, which can be confusing as this is not somthing you will find on any map. All buildings in the Purdue Campus have esoteric acronyms assigned to them, and by which they are referred to. Consult the map and list at the end of this guide for the complete reference.
• PMU - Purdue Memorial Union. The building next to Stewart Center. See the section about it on page .
• PUCC - Purdue University Computing Center. PUCC is the former name for ITaP; again, you will still see this acronym in use from time to time.
• RSC - Recreational Sports Center. This is one of Purdue's main sports facilities, where you can go practice a large number of sports and physical activities. In 1998 it was officially renamed the Recreational Sports Center, but many people still call it the Co-Rec.
• UPE - Upsilon Pi Epsilon. It is the international Computer Sciences Honor organization, whose objectives are to recognize and promote scholastic achievement and original investigation in the computer sciences. There is a UPE chapter at Purdue. Membership is by invitation only.

During the 1996-1997 school term, General Telephone (GTE) installed a new, modern telephone system. That is what the building across University Ave. from Beering was built for. The new phone system is all digital, and allows computers to attach to the campus backbone from any office. The new system officially went on-line during the 1996 spring semester.

To call another number on campus, dial just the last 5 digits.

To call an off-campus number, dial 7, then dial the number.

If you want to place a long distance call , you first dial 7 + 0 + area code + number. You will be given an opportunity to enter a calling card number. If you want to make a collect call or bill the call to a third party, hit 0 to get an AT&T operator.

Toll-free calls can be made from any phone on campus by dialing 7-1-800-xxx-xxxx or 7-1-888-xxx-xxxx.

Should you need information, you can talk to Purdue information by dialing 0. From off-campus, Purdue information is 494-4600.

For emergencies, dial 911 from any campus phone.

To place a three-way call, briefly touch the cradle switch on your phone (hanging up the phone for under a second) or press the flash button if your phone has one. You can then dial your third party and touch the cradle switch again to have all three parties on the line. Due to this, when hanging up the phone between calls, you must hang it up for at least two seconds.

Call 911 for all emergencies.

Call 911 for all emergencies

• Purdue University Student Health Center (PUSH)
  • 49-46995
  • http://www.purdue.edu/PUSH

• Home Hospital
  • 2400 South Street, Lafayette
  • 447-6811

• Saint Elizabeth Hospital
  • 1501 Hartford Street, Lafayette
  • 423-6011

• Purdue University
  • 494-8221

• West Lafayette
  • 463-3535

• Lafayette
  • 742-4045

• Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Department
  • 423-9388

• Lafayette Crisis Center
  • 1244 North 15th Street, Lafayette
  • 742-0244 (Available 24 hours)

• Planned Parenthood of Tecumseh Area
  • 103 Northwestern Avenue, West Lafayette
  • 742-7281

• Rape Hotline
  • 427-RAPE (7273) (Available 24 hours)

In case you didn't know, Purdue's CS department is the oldest in the country, formally authorized in October 1962. Dr. Sam Conte was the first department head, serving until July 1979, when Dr. Peter Denning took over. Dr. Denning took a position with NASA in June, 1983 at which point Dr. John Rice became department head. After 13 years of distinguished service, Dr. Rice stepped down and returned to teaching. He was succeeded by Dr. Ahmed Sameh who came aboard during the 1996-1997 academic school year. Dr. Susanne Hambrusch, was appointed in the year 2002 and held the position until the summer of 2007. At that point in time Aditya Mathur took over as department head.

We are also one of the largest and most highly-rated departments in the country. This year the department has about 150 graduate students, about 45 faculty, and more than 600 undergraduate majors.

The CS department was originally located in the Math building. In 1985, the CS department moved into a building all to itself. This building was formerly the Memorial Gymnasium. (The Memorial is to a group of Purdue students and alumni who died in a train wreck while traveling to a game). It has been completely renovated to hold us. During the renovation it was rumored that a swimming pool would be left in the basement, but this idea was apparently dropped. Finally, in the fall of 2006, the department moved into our new location, the Lawson Computer Science Building.

On March 28, 2003, we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Purdue Computer Science Department. It was a wonderful event, from recounting the early history of computing and the Computer Science Department, to recollections of people and the good times we had, to a look into what the future holds. For more details and interesting facts please refer to http://www2.cs.purdue.edu/40th/default.htm.

Part of the reason that the department is highly-regarded is that the faculty are active in research, publication, and service to the CS community. It would take pages to describe all the current research projects. Therefore, for reference, the department Annual Reports (which can be found online at http://www.cs.purdue.edu/AnnualReports/) contain a summary of current projects.

There is a research project for anyone here. There are research centers and institutes specializing in particular topics, a complete list of which is given at http://www.cs.purdue.edu/research/centers/. A brief decription of the centers is given as follows: The Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS) is currently viewed as one of the world's leading centers for research and education in areas of information security that are crucial to the protection of critical computing and communication infrastructure. CERIAS is unique among such national centers in its multidisciplinary approach to the problems, ranging from purely technical issues (e.g., intrusion detection, network security, etc) to ethical, legal, educational, communicational, linguistic, and economic issues, and the subtle interactions and dependencies among them. CERIAS evolved from the COAST (Computer Operations, Audit, and Security Technologies) lab in 1999, which was a multiple project computer security research laboratory in Purdue's computer science department. For more information please refer to http://www.cerias.purdue.edu/. Software Engineering Research Center (SERC) is part of the National Science Foundation's Industry/University Cooperative Research Center program. SERC is devoted to software technology, more specifically, investigating the development and assessment of tools and methods for improving productivity and software quality throughout the life cycle. The SERC research program has been structured to improve the management of the software engineering process, the productivity of software engineers, and the quality of software engineering products. SERC began operation in October, 1986. For more information please refer to http://www.cs.purdue.edu/research/serc.html The Indiana Center for Database Systems (ICDS) takes an interdisciplinary approach to solving practical problems in a wide variety of database systems and their applications. Research activities and projects in the center include multimedia databases, data mining, data streaming and sensors, database security and privacy, knowledge bases and web services. The research is applied to areas in digital government, life sciences, healthcare, and defense. A characteristic of the research in the center is that it is practical research, system oriented and high quality. Resources in the center include powerful computing and storage servers. The center infrastructure was enhanced through many grants from several agencies to build a database research infrastructure. For more information please refer to http://www.cs.purdue.edu/icds/.

A complete list of all projects and their areas is given at http://www.cs.purdue.edu/graduate_program/projects.htm. Some of them are as follows:

The SoftLab project focuses on the creation of environments, tools and infrastructure needed for building virtual laboratories for Computational Science and Engineering.

The Computer Graphics and Visualization Lab located in CS 151 and CS 115 specializes in 3d reconstructions from 2d images, model camera, simulation of September 11 attacks, distance learning and related work

The goal of the Network Algorithms and Analysis Laboratory (NAAL) at Purdue is to identify and solve key modeling and algorithmic problems arising in real-world networks including ad hoc networks (especially sensor and P2P networks), the Internet and WWW, biological networks, and social networks.

Current research projects include random graph-theoretic approach for protein structure determination, random geometric graph models and algorithms with applications to sensor networks, local distributed algorithms for resource-constrained networks, and models and algorithms for problems arising in Internet and WWW. For more information please refer to http://www.cs.purdue.edu/naal/.

You can find detailed information about research going on in the department at http://www.cs.purdue.edu/research.html.

First, look at the list of courses being offered on the CS Department web site, http://www.cs.purdue.edu/academic_programs/courses/. If you are a first-year masters students, you will face many choices of classes. The choices for a first-year Ph.D. student are somewhat restricted. Talk to second or third year graduate students. The best place to get information about a course and a professor is from someone who has taken the course, and not neccessarily your advisor or professors in the department. This is probably the most important step in the registration process.

Most people find it best to select courses so that their workload is balanced among various types of work: reading, programming, theory, mathematics (calculus, real analysis, linear algebra), etc. Taking two heavy programming courses together is a lot of work, three can be suicidal.

There is also the number of course hours to consider. Typical and maximum course loads are shown below. Keep in mind that what is said to be “typical” below may be a lighter or heavier load than what is right for you. If you are a masters candidate, how much of a rush you are in to complete your degree will also be a factor. Taking the maximum number of credit hours in your first semester, however, is probably a recipe for disaster.

• fellowship or self-supported 9 - 12 hours typical, 18 hours maximum
• quarter-time assistantship 6 - 12 hours typical, 15 hours maximum
• half-time assistantship (most TAs) 6 - 9 hours typical, 12 hours maximum
• half-time research assistantship (most RAs) less than 18 hours, at least 6 hours thesis work
• full-time research assistantship less than 18 hours, at least 12 hours thesis work

A graduate student is classified as a full-time student if he or she is registered for 6 credit hours when funded by an assistantship or 9 credit hours when funded by a fellowship. Masters students need (eventually) to complete 10 three-credit courses, or 8 three-credit courses with a thesis, for their degrees. One of CS 502 or CS 565, one of CS 503 or CS 536, and one of CS 580 or CS 584 are required; the others are chosen by the student. You should get an idea of the courses you might like to take now, but don't bother trying to work out a schedule more than a semester in advance–the actual scheduling of courses (regardless of what the course descriptions say) is quite variable. There are also “topics” courses that are offered each semester, some of which you might find interesting. A 590 topics course is directed study for students who wish to undertake individual reading and study on approved topics. A general topics course is worth three credit hours and at most 2 three-credit 590 courses can be used towards satisfying MS degree requirements. It usually takes three to four semesters to complete the work for a Masters degree.

Ph.D. students should schedule carefully to be sure that, by the end of the third semester in the department, they will have passed at least one Qualifying Course Examination in each of these four boxes:

Course Advice: plan on taking three courses in each of your first two semesters, chosen from the required list above. Taking three (rather than four) courses a semester will allow you to concentrate on passing the four qualifiers. Also remember to try and balance the types of course work for each semester, as we described earlier.

Qualifier Advice: even MS students should plan on taking qualifying exams. Should you later decide to switch the the Ph.D. program, having the qualifiers completed will make the transition much easier.

Financial Advice: note that late registration or late fee remission can result in a hefty financial penalty (about $200). Make sure to get some sort of schedule in place and your fees paid by the time the first scheduling deadline comes around (typically right at the beginning of the semester). This fine can be assessed even if you don't actually owe money if your schedule is not confirmed, so make sure you finalize your schedule on SSINFO.

More information on the courses can be found at http://www.cs.purdue.edu/graduate_program/curriculum/

About The Different Courses…
The following section contains descriptions of CS courses that are offered on the graduate level in our department. It does not include courses offered by other departments (i.e. MATH, EE, STAT, MGMT) that are also available to obtain graduate credit in the M.S. and Ph.D. programs in CS. For transferring credit check with your academic advisor, or with Dr. Gorman.

As there are substantial differences among the courses offered in regard to the amount and type of work for assignments, projects, in-class presentations, term papers, and exams, we are presenting a table that shows the major differences among these courses. The info given is mostly drawn from a survey among grad students in our department in Spring 1993, although some additions have been made for courses which were not included in the 1993 survey. Although some of the courses have changed over the years, this list will give you a rough idea of the type of workload to expect. However, course contents and workload depend considerably on the professor who teaches the course. The same number of programming assignments for two courses does not necessarily indicate a comparable effort in writing the code. Therefore, nothing presented here should be taken literally, only as an outline. Do not be afraid to talk to the professor who will teach the course and ask him more detailed information. Not all courses are offered every semester. Check with the bulletin board across from CS 172, or http://www.cs.purdue.edu/acad-info/. Furthermore, it is not our purpose to show you a way to a degree at Purdue with the least possible effort, but to give you the chance to balance your course load for each semester according to your interests and degree program requirements.

The official prerequisites listed on the course pages are not completely accurate in terms of what you really need. The survey disclosed that unstated prerequisites for nearly every course, except theory courses, are a good understanding of the C programming language, the UNIX Operating System, and the X Window System. It is not absolutely necessary to know these to do well in every course, but knowing them can greatly increase your efficiency. A comment nearly everyone made at some point was: ``The course is hard and requires lots of work…but in the end it's worth it.'' So, you can look forward to a lot of pain during the semester, and a very good feeling afterwards.

The course-request forms are on the table in front of Amy Ingram in LWSN 1137, along with some instructions for filling out the top portion. Add the courses you want, get the form signed by your advisor, and take the form back to LWSN 1137. Amy Ingram will either keep of all it and take care of your registration (this happens before semester begins), or keep the yellow copy and instruct you to take the white copy to the registrar (This happens during the semester). Dr. Gorman sends reminders regarding important scheduling dates and process every semester.

The Registrar’s Office is in the lowest level of Hovde Hall, Room 45. Take your white copy and wait in line, doing what the signs tell you to do. Your requests will be typed into the University’s computer system on the spot, but the actual registration is an overnight batch job. Your course schedule and invoice can be picked up the next day at the same place.

Once you have your invoice, you can pay (in cash) at the Bursar’s Office teller windows, or (by check) at the Bursar’s drop box.

The schedule you pick up may not have all the courses you requested. Over-full courses and other problems may not be detected when your request is typed in, but only when the overnight registration job runs. If you are requesting very popular courses, it can be a good idea to include second choices on your original course request. If you didn’t do that, you can submit another request form to add other classes. You will have another overnight wait to get your revised schedule and invoice.

If you decide to add or drop a course after your registration, you must fill out an “ADD/DROP” form (the very same form you used to register), available in room LWSN 1137. Depending on when you do this, you may need your advisor’s signature and/or instructor’s signature. Directions are on the back of the form.

If you are paying for your education with some loan money, there is an additional step or two to the process, at least involving the infamous Window M in Hovde. This is where you sign your loan check(s) and have your account with the University credited. You may now be able to arrange direct deposit and avoid standing in line for checks. Ask questions at the information desk in the lower level of Hovde if things aren’t obvious when it comes time to show the money

The basic requirements for getting a Ph.D. at Purdue are fairly straightforward. This section is a quick overview of what needs to be done to satisfy those requirements. For more information, we suggest talking to older grad students (we've all been through at least part of this stuff) and professors. In a nutshell, you begin by satisfying the English proficiency requirements if you are not a native speaker of English. You do the requisite number of courses, taking care to do the proper core courses. You pass the quals, find an advisor, dream up a problem, take a prelim, solve the problem, undergo a public defense, wear a black robe with a blue hood, have your photograph taken with assorted luminaries at the Hall of Music, and then ride into the blue yonder. Allow us to elaborate…

The phrase “core courses” used to refer to seven specific courses every Ph.D. candidate was required to take. Starting with the Fall of 1999, you get some latitude in choosing those seven courses. They will be the four you choose for your qualifying course examinations, which already cover four different areas, plus three more eligible courses that you choose. At least one of these must be in another area, so that your seven core courses represent at least five areas. The only official list of eligible courses is the one at http://www.cs.purdue.edu/grad-info/gradinfo/qual.html. You should try to take these courses as early in your grad student career as possible, to prepare for the qualifying exams.

These are the exams that decide if you are capable of doing a Ph.D., or at least so the department claims. The format has recently been revised, so some older graduate students may not be completely familiar with the new process. Dr. Gorman is a definitive source for information. The Qualifying Exams (usually known as Qual 1s) are tests taken in addition to a core course's final examination (it may be a separate exam, or additional problems on the final examination). You must pass these exams in four courses, in the first three semesters of your graduate work (so at least four of the courses you take in your first three semesters must be qual courses).

The exams are usually graded within two weeks. The Graduate Committee then meets in a smoke-filled room, studies the entrails of a farm herbivore (or uses another equally scientific, inscrutable, and never really disclosed method) and decides who passes. The last step is sometimes delayed, resulting in extra secretion of HCl in the duodenum of the candidates. Usually, a student will pass or fail outright, but sometimes students are asked to take an additional oral or written exam in one of the areas they were weak in. There is no set percentage of students that pass.

The key to passing Qual 1s is studying. Hard. The best way to study is to do lots of problems, and then do some more. When you get tired of this and want to take a break, do some MORE problems. Repeat this the last two months of a course. The best source of problems is old qualifiers, copies of which (back to about 1987) can be obtained from Amy Ingram (CS 102) and in the Math Library on the 3rd floor of Math Building. Some old grad students have pre-worked sets of old qualifiers and other tests (midterms and finals). There are now reading lists available for all of the classes; see Amy Ingram for these.

Following the Qual 1s, you will have two semesters to pass the second stage Qualifying Exam, or Qual 2. The Qual 2 is currently an oral examination, for which you will be asked to read a number of important papers in your chosen area of research and then discuss their finer points with a committee of examining professors. Qual 2s seem to be a widely varying and often unique experience, so you might want to talk to a few post-Qual students and your advisor to get a feel for what to expect in your area. If you pass quals, you've leaped the highest hurdle on the way to that coveted sheepskin.

After passing Quals, get a thesis advisor (if you don't already have one). This will be the person overseeing your research while you work on your dissertation. In other words, a thesis advisor is a combination friend, co-worker, guru, and mother/father figure. He or she will therefore be one of the more important people in your life for the next couple of years, so choose carefully. Desirable traits in an advisor include:

• Easy for you to get along with
• Interested in the same area(s) you are
• Will not be leaving in the next couple of years (that you can tell)
• Can supervise your work closely (if you like that)
• Won't pressure you (if you want it that way)
• (Optional) Has grant money to support you

Usually, you talk to several professors in your area before making a decision. It is possible to change advisors after making your decision, but it is not generally recommended because it tends to add a year to the time you spend here. Once you have an advisor, your next job is to form the rest of your advisory committee. These will be the people who read your thesis, point out flaws, and eventually decide whether you have done Ph.D.-caliber work. As such, they are important people in your education. You and your advisor find (at least) two other professors interested in your area to be on this committee, one of which should be a senior faculty member. About the time you are doing this, you should also file a Plan of Study, an official document telling the administration what classes you have taken, what courses you plan to take, your area of interest, and other vital information. See Amy Ingram for the form. Normally, you should find an advisor and file the plan of study by the end of the semester after you pass Quals. The plan must include at least five more courses (in addition to the core seven) that are not independent studies or seminars.

Now that you've demonstrated your aptitude at passing hard tests, and thus qualified yourself for research work, you have to thrash about, reading landmark papers from your area, trying to find a thesis topic. This is probably the second most difficult step in the process (the most difficult is, of course, passing Quals). Remember that your goal at this point is to find a topic that you can learn to do research on; that's what the degree process is about. The topic doesn't have to be earth-shattering; in fact, you'll probably get out much more quickly if it isn't. Save the good stuff for when you're on your own trying to get grants and such. Also, consider that by the time you get done with your thesis, you will be eating, sleeping, living and breathing your topic. Try to pick something that you can survive becoming incredibly intimate with for 12 to 24 months; also, by the time you're done, you'll probably be burned out on the topic, so pick something you won't regret not working on for some time after you've graduated.

Once you've figured out exactly what it is that you're going to research, take your Preliminary Examination (usually known as Prelims). The party line on this exam is that it tests the student's competence in a research area and readiness for research on some specific problem. In practice, it is a public thesis proposal, given so that your committee can see what you've been up to, where you're headed, and give constructive criticism. The Graduate Committee will appoint one extra member to your advisory committee for this exam, presumably to keep everyone honest. Usually, this is given about one year after Quals, after you get your first results on your thesis topic. Note, however, that the official rule is that Prelims must be taken by the end of the third semester following the one in which the student passes the qualifying exam and at least two semesters before the examination on the dissertation.

Now, work like crazy, trying to prove whatever it is that you're trying to prove. Build, measure, tear down, read, build some more, and conclude. Write it all down in a nice form; we'll call that your dissertation. Hope no one else is doing exactly the same thing at another university; if they are, and manage to publish their results before you, even by one week, you're probably out of luck, and have to start all over again on a new topic. Get your committee to agree that they like your dissertation. Then you have to make it satisfy the department's rules for Thesis Format, which define what a CS dissertation must look like, dealing with margins, figures, captions, etc. This used to be set by the University, but recently control has been given to each department. You can find the rules in http://www.cs.purdue.edu/acad-info/thesis.format. Fortunately, there are macro packages for LATEX (the most-used typesetting system in the department) that do most of the nitty-gritty stuff for you. There may also be a format file for Word for Windows, if for some incomprehensible reason you want to subject yourself to that. Finally, schedule a final defense. This is a public oral exam before your committee and anyone else that cares to come; it is where you present what you've done for the past few years. It's also the last chance for people to pick your work apart and point out flaws; if there are some major ones, you may have to go back and cover them and schedule another defense (ouch). Hopefully, your committee will have pointed them out before the defense, so you have all the answers right at your fingertips. If you've done all your work, this should be a breeze.

Most people are funded by either a Teaching Assistantship (TA), a Research Assistantship (RA), or a Fellowship. Some people have sources of funding outside of these three types, but it is uncommon. To be considered a “full-time” student, you must register a certain amount of hours depending on your type of funding. TAs and RAs need to have 6 credit hours, while Fellows need 9. Being considered a full-time student has many benefits that include your ability to receive student health insurance, government loans, etc.

Most students enter the department with this type of funding. If you are going to be a teaching assistant, you are probably wondering just what your duties will be. Your teaching assignment will probably fit into one of the following three categories:

• A recitation instructor teaches recitation sections which normally consist of 20-30 students. The class will also have other lecture sections that are taught by the professor in charge of the course.
• A lab instructor teaches lab sections which normally consist of 15-25 students. The class will also have other lecture sections that are taught by the professor in charge of the course.
• A grader grades assignments, projects, and possibly exams for a course that is taught by a professor or another TA.

It is very rare that a teaching assistant is the sole instructor for a course, but it has happened in the past. Teaching assignments are often not finalized until the week before classes begin. If you did not receive your teaching assignment before arriving at Purdue, see Amy Ingram or Dr. Gorman in LWSN 1137 to pick up your teaching assistant packet. Once you have learned your assignment, contact the supervisor of the course as soon as possible. Also, all new teaching assistants must attend ``training sessions'' during the week before classes. These sessions will explain nearly everything you need to know about being a TA.

As a TA, you will be responsible for holding office hours, usually at least three hours a week. If your office hours schedule looks like a typical class schedule (e.g., MWF 1:30-2:30), you risk shutting out students who happen to have a class in that slot. It is much better to make your office hours schedule somewhat irregular. You also will be responsible for maintaining your grades. Most people use Doug Comer's grader program, which is available on the CS network. If you are financially supported by the department (TA, RA, grader) and need supplies for your work, they can be obtained in the mail room, LWSN 1151. The secretaries maintain a supply of paper, transparencies, manila folders, tape, pens, and pencils for instructors' and researchers' use. You may also get a copy of the text for the course that you are teaching from Amy Ingram in LWSN 1137.

Depending on your temperament, teaching can either be great fun or a terrible burden. On the positive side, you get paid for the work, you get to meet a lot of new people, and you get to see your students learning and share in their learning process. On the negative side, your students constantly pester you for information and answers, especially before an exam or the due date of a big project. Also, be assured that students will not confine requests for assistance to your office hours. If you have any problems with your assignment, see the course supervisor or Dr. Gorman.

These are given to you by a professor who has procurred funding from, typically, an outside source such as a government agency (e.g. NSF) or a corporation. Ideally, your RA will support work that interests you and work that will contribute toward your Master's or Ph.D. thesis.

Links to fellowship resources

The Computer Sciences Department has lots of machines; most of them you cannot and will not be using, unless you are involved with a particular project or with the facilities staff. In general, undergrad accounts are on lore, grad students’ and secretaries’ accounts are on ector, while faculty accounts are on arthur. Accounts on the main CS machines are available to faculty, Ph.D. students who have passed qualifiers and are doing research, and students engaged in writing software for the CS machines (often as a CS590 or CS690 independent study course). Because the machines all run NFS (Network File System), files on any machine can be read from any other, so accounts on all machines are roughly equivalent except for response times. The exception to this is the ugrad (undergrad) group which is all accounts on lore and the machines in CS G56, which can only access each other. All graduate students get accounts on ector.cs. Workstations are divided among the various research project labs and faculty offices. In general, a workstation in a lab belongs to the project there and is not available to students not connected with the project. (Workstations in the XINU lab are used for CS503 and CS636 classes.)

If you’re interested in finding out more, talk to Ron Castongia (the computing facilities manager). If you’re interested in actually working with the hardware, your best bet is probably to get involved with the project that owns the machine. For more information regarding the facilities please efer to http://www.cs.purdue.edu/help/CSWelcome/.

The Facilities Staff is responsible for the continued smooth operation of the Department’s equipment. This includes just about anything and everything; it certainly deals with software problems and administrative details. Ron Castongia, the computing facilities manager, is the fearless leader of this merry band. His office is in CS 207. There are two real systems administrators (that is to say, they are full-time University staff): Dan Trinkle and Steve Plite. Dan and Steve live in room 264 of the CS building when they’re not running around putting out fires. Candace Walters is in charge of creating accounts. We also have two full-time hardware technicians, who fix hardware not supported by ITaP or a vendor. They go by the names of Mike Matuliak and Brian Board. They do not get involved with software support, but they are always available for questions and problems concerning machines and printers in the CS department. They inhabit Room 279. There is also a group of people in charge of maintaining non-Unix (Windows and Macintosh) machines. The full time windows care takers are Kip Granson and Nathan Heck, who live in Room 271 and Room 275. Finally, Nick Hirschberg is the department’s web master. He is also in Room 264. The staff will do all they can to help you use the system more efficiently, but sometimes you won’t be able to find any of them! In this case, your best bet is to try to find a fellow student who’s been around for a while, or just ask the person at the terminal next to you. If this doesn’t help, just type trouble at a UNIX prompt to file a trouble report (which can be used for any system related problem or question). In general, everyone tries to be as helpful as possible; it’s just that some people are better informed than others.

ITaP (Information Technology at Purdue) serves the entire university community (excluding administration). This includes Krannert (business school), CPT (computer technology), Computer Sciences, and other divisions of the University. ITaP provides many varieties of computer systems, and administers several public computer labs. You might also have access to mentor.cc, a SparcServer for doing course work in CS courses. The other SparcServer, expert.cc, is now reserved for personal accounts.

For more in-depth information, check the schedule of ITaP short courses. These courses are taught by ITaP staff members and run one to six sessions. Usually they are given in the evening to avoid conflicts with classes or other activities. These courses give you a chance to ask specific questions and increase your knowledge about certain topics. Schedules appear in the ITaP Newsletter and are posted on various bulletin boards. For more information about courses, please visit http://http://www.itap.purdue.edu/training/index.cfm.

Another very important computing resource at Purdue is the Engineering Computing Network (ECN). The ECN serves the Schools of Engineering with computing facilities. Since a lot of collaboration occurs between CS and the Engineering departments, you will probably at some point work with machines that belong to the ECN.

The Computer Science Graduate Student Board is the liason between the department administration and its graduate students. The Graduate Student Board (aka GSB) is also affiliated with the Purdue Graduate Student Government. The board organizes technical talks, pizza parties, summer picnics, bowling nights, movie nights, participates in the graduate and undergraduate committees, and the faculty search process. To learn more about the Graduate Student Board, visit http://www.cs.purdue.edu/gsb.

The International Association for Computing Machinery is an international professional and educational organization dedicated to advancing the art, science, engineering, and application of information technology. The local chapter is open to all Purdue students interested in the field of Computer Science. The goal of the local student chapter is to aid and support student academic, professional, and social development.

ACM supports a number of developmental activities as well as social events throughout the year. ACM sponsors the orientation program for graduate students, the Computer Science fall picnic, programming contests, monthly pizza parties, and guest lecturers. ACM also compiles and distributes the Computer Science Resume Book.

2004 TopCoder Open winner Tomek Czajka, volunteered to teach undergraduate students the tricks of winning programming contests. Tomek opened his bag of programming secrets Thursday, February 24, 2005 to anyone who wanted to join. He will continue to teach undergraduates how to code under time constraints, with the long term goal of these training sessions being to have fun and to train a team of two for the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest. Be sure to catch a training session to learn from a champ. Email czajkat@cs.purdue.edu to receive an account to be added to the mailing list.

Early in the fall semester, ACM invites Computer Science students to submit resumes which are compiled into a book. The Resume Book is distributed to any company willing to donate a nominal sum. Last year over 100 students participated and over 60 companies donated. The Resume Book sale is ACM's main fund raiser and a great way for students to distribute their resumes to potential employers.

Dr. Tim Korb is the ACM faculty advisor, and the joint ACM/UPE office is located in CS G47. ACM is always looking for new members with new ideas. Stop by the Fall ACM Callout to see what is planned for the school year or drop by the office. To learn more about Purdue ACM, visit http://www.cs.purdue.edu/acm.

The Computer Science Women's Network (CSWN) is an organization at Purdue University consisting of people (both students and staff) who are dedicated to helping women in the field of computer science. The leadership team that organizes most activities is made up of female students who want to reach out and help all of the women in CS.

CSWN organizes different activities meant to encourage young women to meet one another and also learn more about their chosen field of study. These activities range from picnics to technical talks to helping students find tutors if they are needed. Their goal is to encourage women in computer science to stay in the field and prosper. For information, contact the faculty advisor, Barbara Clark (clark@science.purdue.edu) or look at the CSWN web site (http://www.cs.purdue.edu/cswn).

Upsilon Pi Epsilon is an honor society founded in 1967 to recognize scholarship and professionalism in the Computing Sciences. The Purdue chapter of UPE was established in 1992. The local chapter of UPE sponsors a number of activites, including the annual CS Awards Banquet. One of the goals of the local chapter of UPE is to foster communication and the exchange of information within the Computer Science community at Purdue.

Membership is by invitation only, based on scholarly and professional accomplishments in the Computer Sciences. Candidates for membership must also meet minimum GPA and course hours requirements. In the spring semester, qualified juniors, seniors, and graduate students are invited to join. Receiving an offer of membership is quite an honor.

Dr. Samuel Wagstaff is the UPE faculty advisor, and the joint ACM/UPE office is located in CS G47. To learn more about the local UPE chapter, visit http://www.cs.purdue.edu/upe.

The undergraduate student board is the liason between undergraduate students and the department administration. For more information, visit http://www.cs.purdue.edu/usb.

Purdue is the home of Tomek Czajka - the top coder. Tomek has started training classes for ACM regional programming contests. Traditionally, our team has done fairly well at this contest. Top teams at the Regional Contest are invited to compete in the Nationals. Since the Nationals started around 1980, Purdue has been there eight times, taking second place three times. The team is made up of three programmers, plus an alternate, and usually consists of both graduate and undergraduate students. The object of the game is to write programs which solve some number of problems (correctly) as quickly as possible. Programming languages are limited to a subset of FORTRAN, Pascal, and C/C++. Rules and format vary from year to year. If you love writing quick-and-dirty code, working under unrealistic deadlines, and tearing your hair out, this is your kind of contest. Please mail Tomek at czajkat@cs for more information.

Some of the biggest names in computing will visit Purdue while you are here. Some of the visitors are big-names-to-be. When they visit, you want to attend these talks. Some will be boring, some will be incomprehensible, but they will give you a view of computing and current research that you probably can't get any other way. You might even get an idea for a research topic from the talk.

The current faculty sometimes give talks, including CS590 and CS690 seminars. Again, this is a good way to get exposure to some interesting research and faculty here at Purdue. Although you may wonder about it sometimes, the CS faculty here at Purdue is one of the best in the country. Take advantage of your time here to hear what they think is interesting.

If you are planning on getting a Ph.D. here, you probably also want to attend Ph.D. prelim and defense talks by other students. This is the best way to find out what is expected for a Ph.D. degree, and to see what kinds of topics are of current interest. It is also a good way to get some insight into potential advisors.

If a faculty search is on for the year, there will be lots of faculty candidate talks in the spring semester. Attendance at these talks is beneficial both to you and the department. The department takes into consideration feedback from students when making a hiring decision, so please attend these talks and give your feedback to a GSB representative after candidate-student meetings which will be announced at least a week in advance.

In approximate order of appearance, the big departmental social functions are:

• Deparment BBQ - In the beginning of the fall semester the department organizes a barbecue on the CS lawns in front of the CS building to welcome and socialize with old and new CS faculty, graduate students, and staff. There is a variety of food and games like frisbee and badminton. For date and time please refer to the CS calendar at http://www.cs.purdue.edu/calendar/.
• Employee Appreciation Social - a semi-formal affair not to be missed, although it does not happen every year. This is about the only time that you can see faculty members swinging to the music. There is general merriment, and yes, dinner!
• Awards Banquet - held in April for recognizing the many achievements and contributions of members of the CS Department. The Outstanding Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior Awards and the Outstanding Instructor, Teaching Assistant and Staff Member Awards are presented and a great buffet is consumed. An invited distinguished speaker completes the evening with a (usually) very interesting talk.

Starting with the 2006-2007 school year, the department funded a weekly social hour. Each week a new host, either a an organization, research lab, or CS administrative office, bought food and beverage for everybody to enjoy while they mingled. These occur on Friday at 3 PM.

The GSB hosts numerous events for graduate students each year. These include pizza socials, bowling, BBQs, and Q&As with faculty (over topics like getting an academic job, whats going on in the department, etc.).

link to gsb events page

The following article, “Look at Purdue” by Arthur Utay, appeared several years back in the Exponent and is reprinted with the Exponent's and the author's permission.

Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis, is a school renowned for its academics - and conservatism.

The academics of this “land-grant”, public institution are well-known, with strong departments in engineering, agriculture, pharmacy and veterinary science. Especially respected are the engineering schools, which are continually highly ranked and heavily recruited by industry; and the agriculture school which advises and consults numerous agencies in government and industry, in addition to performing basic research to improve farm technology. Courses at the upper class levels in most curricula are taught by professors. Freshman lectures are led by professors and are often accompanied by smaller “recitations” taught by teaching assistants.

The campus is ideally suited for half the student population of 30,000 it now supports. The strain on facilities necessitates the class day to stretch from 7:30 a.m. to 5:20 p.m. during the week, with Saturday classes from 7:30 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. Night classes also exist for some courses as do night exams for freshman and some upper class courses.

The student body is 75 percent “home-grown” Hoosiers, with the remainder composed of students representing all 50 states and 37 foreign countries. The ratio of guys to girls has been approaching unity in recent years with a current proportion of about 1.5:1. With all the diversity of the student body, however, the attitude here is one of general apathy towards campus, national, and international issues.

Almost half the student body lives off campus, with the dorms housing about 12,000 students, and the Greek and Co-Op systems sheltering under 5000 students.

Of the three housing options, the residence halls are the least admired. Purdue still has restricted visitation hours for men and women in its dorm system, with men allowed in women's living areas (and vice versa) only between the hours of 12:30 to 11:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday. The weekend hours are extended to 1:30 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, with a corresponding rollback of the morning hours to 10:30 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Visitation is heavily enforced on the female side by matrons who guard the entrances after hours, and by the counseling staff which “writes up” offenders. Sanctions against the offenders by the dorm or Dean of Students may result.

Seven of the thirteen dorms are co-ed; however, this means only that meals are eaten with members of the opposite sex. Living areas for males and females are in separate buildings.

The administration has fought successfully against open-visitation proposals, claiming alumni support and academic integrity as reasons to maintain the status quo.

Greek life is big on campus - at least for Greeks. Many sororities are as strict as the dorms, but fraternities are largely unsupervised. Forty seven frats and twenty five sororities have houses here, and a general animosity between dormies and Greeks exists, as can be evidenced by the annual scuffles on the opinion page of the Purdue Exponent.

Off-campus housing is popular, although some of the older sections of West Lafayette have been termed ``slums'' by locals. Even with declining (sic) enrollments, off-campus housing is tight, and apartment hunting season begins around spring break. Usually the lease goes for 12 months starting from June or August. If you don't plan on being on campus during summer time, subleasing apartments is a popular trend.

No “college town” atmosphere exists here, as the land around the University is almost exclusively residential with only a few eateries at opposite ends of the campus. About six miles away, on the U.S. 52 bypass, almost every national franchise is available, as are a few places a half mile east of the campus on the “Levee.”

There are a few bars and alcohol stores in West Lafayette area, though a recent crackdown on underage drinking has resulted in the only under-21 drinkers being those with false IDs. Parties are mostly off-campus or at frats since restrictions against alcohol consumption are rarely, if ever, enforced. Some parties happen in dorms, but only behind closed doors so as not to attract the attention of the counseling staff.

Drug busts occur whenever authorities are aware of their (sic) presence, regardless of location. Dormies are especially vulnerable due to the presence of counselors.

Frequent concert appearances by top name groups draw many students, as do numerous films shown on campus each week. Students are fanatical supporters of Boilermaker football and basketball teams, selling out almost every home game. Grand Prix, an annual go-cart race is a popular student attraction, as are the evangelists who entertain students on the malls when the weather becomes warm.

Editor's note: Total enrollment on the West Lafayette campus, as of fall 2003, is close to 39,000, with 59 percent male and 41 percent female students, who come from 50 states and 126 foreign countries. 59 percent of undergraduates in West Lafayette campus are from Indiana. 35 percent of all students live in the 15 on-campus housing units; 18 percent of the undergraduate students are members of the 50 fraternities and 28 sororities on campus. The visiting hours in the dorms have been extended to more reasonable times. Apartment hunting season now starts in winter, right at the beginning of the spring semester.

As the story goes, when other college teams met the Purdue football squad they were in awe of the size of the Purdue players. Believing that no man of academic ability could be so enormous, rivals were sure that the Purdue team was made up of workers from the old Lafayette Boiler Factory. Hence, Purdue was the victim of many insulting names, one of which was “Boilermakers.”

Other tellers of this tale (probably Purdue opponents) state that the team members actually were boilermakers and not students. Do not believe them. Purdue, being a famous agricultural school, attracted many farm boys who were typically large, healthy, and powerful.

Many Boilermaker alumni have distinguished themselves in one way or another. A few of them are Neil Armstrong, Birch Bayh, Earl Butz, Eugene Cernan, Len Dawson, Bob Griese, Durwood Kirby, Chris Schenkel, Orville Reddenbacher, Roger Chaffee, Virgil Grissom, Abe Gibron, John Wooden, Hank Stram, and Herbert Brown.

Sports have always been big at Purdue, gaining the support of students and nearby residents alike. As a member of the Big Ten football league, Purdue went to the Rose Bowl in 1967 and beat Southern California 14-13. In 1978 the Boilermakers went to the Peach Bowl and beat Georgia Tech 41-21. In 1979 they went to the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl and beat Tennessee 27-22. The 1980 Liberty Bowl saw Purdue squeak by Missouri, 28-25. Then Purdue suffered three straight losing seasons, before an impressive 1984 season, which ended in a 27-24 loss to Virginia in the Peach Bowl. The team then languished in obscurity until the arrival of coach Joe Tiller. Tiller's Boilermakers have now played–and won–the Alamo Bowl two years running, returning pride to the hearts of fans everywhere. As of 1999, the men's basketball team has shared six Big Ten championships in the last 16 seasons. Three of them came from 1994, 1995, and 1996! The 1987-88 season was the sixth straight year the team won 20 or more games and qualified for NCAA tournament action. Not to be left behind, the women's basketball team was national champion in 1998! If you want current Boilermaker sports info, visit http://www.purduesports.com.

Although Purdue offers no music performance degrees, 650 students participate in various band ensembles for credit each year. The “All-American” Marching Band is one of the largest university bands in the Big 10 and the nation with 320 members. Highlights of that band include the World's Largest Drum (Built in 1921) and the Golden Girl (A tradition since 1954). The Department of Bands also boasts two to four concert bands each semester and three jazz bands, as well as a 100-member symphony orchestra and the university's pep bands.

The present Purdue seal was adopted in 1974. The griffin head sits on a 3-sectioned shield which represents the 3 educational thrusts of Purdue: science, technology, and agriculture. The lines representing the griffin's mane are for the 5 campuses: West Lafayette, IUPU Fort Wayne, North Central, Calumet, and IUPU Indianapolis.

The Purdue Mascot is the Boilermaker Special V, the locomotive which can be seen around campus primarily before home football games.

Purdue is one of 68 land-grant colleges established with the Morrill Act, an act signed by President Abe Lincoln by which the federal government offered to turn over public lands to any state which would use the land to maintain a college for the study of agriculture and the mechanical arts. The Indiana General Assembly accepted $150,000 from John Purdue and $50,000 from Tippecanoe County. In 1874 classes began at Purdue University with 6 instructors and 39 students.

The West Lafayette campus, including housing areas, recreation areas, the airport, and service areas, covers 2,307 acres. Additional lands away from West Lafayette are used for agriculture and recreation.

The Edward C. Elliott Hall of Music (seating 6,077, it is considered the largest and best-equipped theatre of any educational institution in the world), the Loeb Playhouse (seating 1,052), the Experimental Theatre, the Memorial Union, Stewart Center, Slayter Center, Ross-Ade Stadium (capacity 67,861), and Mackey Arena (seats 14,123) make Purdue a cultural and recreational center for northwestern Indiana.

The Purdue Radio Station is WBAA 920AM or 101.3FM, “The Fine Arts & Information Center on Your Radio Dial;” available online at www.wbaa.org.

The Purdue Airport, established in 1930, was the first university-owned airport in the country.

The Tippecanoe County morgue is in Lynn Hall on the south edge of campus.

The School of Veterinary Medicine provides veterinary services to the public and has even treated the lions at the zoo. They will care for injured strays when people bring them in.

Where most faculty, students, and research labs are located. The adminstrative staff for the CS department is located here. The basement houses the TA offices and computer labs for students. Including the basement, there are 5 floors (though most people will never enter the top floor). The 3rd floor has a balcony that overlooks University St. and 3rd St.

The main computer science building until Lawson was completed in Fall 2006. Even though other departments have taken over much of the space, a few labs and faculty still remain in this building.

With the addition of the Computer Science building, very little of our department remains in good ol' “Math-Sci.” A brief tour of the building, starting from the basement (remember, there are two basements, but the elevators are only on the south side) and moving skyward, follows:

• Basement: There are graduate student offices and, more importantly, there is an ITaP lab which is open 24 hours. The lab has Windows boxes, Mac computers, and Sun workstations. Additionally, the basement floor has machines which dispense milk, pop, coffee, candy (beware, the chocolate bars are often gooey) and various munchies.
• Ground: More student offices.
• Main Floor: There's a mailbox in the south (elevator) side of the building. MATH 175 on the other side is often used for colloquia. Basically, the main floor is a large wind-tunnel, called the “breezeway.”
• 2nd Floor: This has mostly offices that deal with undergrads (in particular, counseling).
• 3rd Floor: Math Library. It is accessible only from the elevator (south) side of the building. This can be a good place to hide, as there are numerous study carrels and desks. It is sometimes a good place to go for meetings on projects. Additionally, the library has a couple of copy machines (5 cents per sheet).
• 4th Floor: The fourth floor hosts the Indiana Center for Database Systems (ICDS) with faculty and student offices.
• 5th Floor: Presently inhabited by statisticians and mathematicians.
• 8th Floor: Main math offices. Sometimes you also need to go there to obtain a key to your office.
• 9th Floor: Offices of the Dean of the School of Science, his staff, and Women in Science Program (WISP) staff.
• 10th Floor: Reachable only through the stairs, this is a mysterious place to which few venture.

Until a few years ago, the Recitation (REC) building, directly east of MATH, was only of interest if you had a class there. Starting from the Fall of 1999, however, the second floor of REC is home to the Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS, pronounced like “serious”). CERIAS grew out of the COAST laboratory in Computer Science, but with its current Center status is able to have a much larger multidisciplinary reach, although it still has very strong connections with CS. Several CS faculty and staff members as well as grad students have offices there. So if you are interested in matters related to security, healthy paranoia and being a white hat, make sure you visit there.

Schleman and Hovde Halls are the main student services and administration buildings. There are a number of major administrative attractions in these two buildings including:

• The Registrar's Office - Hovde
• The Bursar's Office - Hovde
• The Dean of Students Office - Schleman
• The Admissions Office - Schleman
• Registration Headquarters - Schleman
• International Student Services - Schleman
• Business Office of Student Organizations - Schleman
• Office of Space Management and Academic Scheduling - 4th floor of the Engineering Administration Building (ENAD 402)

The Memorial Union (in memory of Purdue alums killed in wars) was built back when it was stylish and economically feasible to incorporate a good deal of wood in finishing the interior of a building. The varnished woodwork, solid wood tables and chairs, and stone and wood floors are a refreshing change from the plastic, concrete, veneer and linoleum which surrounds you in most places. Also featured are lots of old moldy plaques commemorating people who would otherwise be forgotten, and a 3-D model of the campus (a must for visiting parents).

Functionally, the predominant features of the Union are eating places, meeting places (various ballrooms and lounges), and sleeping places (the “Union Club” hotel rooms for convention attendees, visiting parents, etc.). For details about the eating places, see the section about on-campus dining. Other useful facilities in the PMU include:

• The Student ID Card Office - west end of the main floor, room 130. They also handle BoilerExpress in that office.
• Check Cashing Service - east end of the main floor; $50.00 limit and $.100 charge per check.
• BoilerCopyMaker - a pretty well-equipped copy center is in Room 157 of the Union. Purdue has an agreement with Microsoft that allows Purdue students, faculty and staff to buy Microsoft software for $5. See http://www.purdue.edu/MSCA/ for more information.
• PEFCU Branch - a branch of Purdue Employees Federal Credit Union is located in the west wing of the main floor.
• STA Travel Office - west wing of the building, on the ground floor, where you may find discount student tickets for domestic and international travel.

The Purdue Memorial Union also possesses facilities for a number of entertainment and recreation activities:

• television lounges on the ground and first floors
• an art gallery on the first floor
• bowling lanes in the basement
• pool tables underground between PMU and Stewart Center
• video arcade on the ground floor

From here it is possible to walk through tunnels and buildings all the way to either Grad House without going outside, as well as to either of the three parking garages, Marsteller Street (across from Hawkins Grad House), Wood Street (across from Young Grad House), or Grant Street (across from the Union). The main attractions of the Stewart Center are:

• Fowler Hall, on the first floor, an auditorium equipped for movie screenings
• Loeb Playhouse, the Purdue Experimental Theatre
• An Art Gallery, off the west foyer on the first floor
• HSSE library, on the first floor, see the section on libraries for details
• An ITaP Lab, first floor, often very crowded
• ITaP Customer Service Center, on the ground floor, room G68, phone 49-44000; a first and single point of contact for support with many ITaP services
• Audio-Visual Center, ground floor
• Candy Stand, main floor, sells candy to rot your teeth, paperbacks to rot your mind, and practically every magazine you've ever heard of plus hundreds more that you've never heard of
• Envision Center, on the ground floor level between Steward Center and PMU, the center for data perceptualization, see also http://www.envision.purdue.edu

The Center for Career Opportunities is located on the main floor on the east side of the north end of the east hall of the Stewart Center (and you thought directions had to be clear!). They provide helpful advice free of charge to everyone regardless of their career interests or visa status. You can register with CCO on CCO Express at https://www.cco.purdue.edu/student/CCOExpress.shtml. Details relating to corporate interviewing on campus and job vacancy postings are found there along with some pretty good job search help videos. More than 600 companies show up at the CCO every year to hire both internship candidates and graduating students. They also conduct quite a few workshops including ones that target graduate students.

The Purdue Library System is dispersed throughout many buildings on campus which can make locating a particular book very difficult. Fortunately, their web-based catalog can direct you to the right location if you remember to check it before you leave home. There are over a dozen different libraries spread around campus including:

• HSSE Library in Stewart Center
• Undergraduate Library adjacent to Stewart Center
• Mathematical Sciences Library in the Math Building
• Potter Engineering Library in Potter Center
• Chemistry Library in Brown Laboratory
• Krannert Management Library in the Krannert Building

Notable items in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Education (HSSE) Library include the complete, out-of-date card catalog for all the university's libraries, the Interlibrary Loan Service, several photocopiers, and a complete collection of all Masters and Ph.D. theses written at Purdue. The latter are kept in a steel vault 700 feet underground, guarded by rabid reference librarians. At the reference desk you may obtain in-library use of one (a dissertation, not a reference librarian) by posting your life as security for its return.

There is also a lab, called Digital Learning Collaboratory, at the lower level of the library from which you can check out nice digital equipment, including digital cameras and video cameras and laptops, with a student ID. Information about the lab is also available online at http://dlc.purdue.edu.

The Undergraduate Library, just south of Stewart Center, is oriented toward freshman and sophomore students but there are useful items for all students. You may want to check out the comfortable vending lounge. Notable items in ``Undergrad'' are Purdue's film library, a 24 hour lounge/study room, and the Independent Study Center. One can also find popular reading materials (i.e. paperbacks, magazines, American and foreign newspapers) and a lot more photocopy machines in this building. Also, in recent years, the undergraduate library has been open 24 hours during dead and finals week, so it is a good place to hide/study/sleep during that period.

The Mathematical Sciences Library occupies the third floor of the Math Science building and serves the Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Sciences departments. One large room is a reading room for Math graduate students and faculty and has a fair amount of blackboard space, as well as coffee and cookies every day from 3-4 pm (though rumor has it, this is for math majors only). There are several smaller study rooms in the back with smaller amounts of blackboard space. There are two photocopy machines near the main desk. As for holdings, the collection of CS journals is quite good and includes Computing Reviews, many conference proceedings are available but may be hard to find, and copies of most Math, Stat, and CS dissertations from Purdue are kept in the grad/faculty room. Many CS books must be requested at the desk because they have been prone to mysterious disappearance. The organization of this library is usually not obvious to the uninitiated, but the staff are quite friendly, so don't hesitate to ask at the desk for help in locating materials.

The Engineering Library is housed in the Potter Engineering Center, which is just east of the building with the big smokestack. It features numerous copies of all the IEEE Transactions, MIT PhD dissertations, and a sensor which beeps at you if you try to exit with an unchecked-out book.

The Krannert Library takes up the second and third floors of the Krannert Building. In the Corporate Records Room you can read all about how your favorite corporation is doing. It is also a great place to learn more about companies before interviews.

Purdue University Libraries online provides access to the Purdue Libraries' on-line catalog, media catalog, bibliographic databases, and access to Indiana and Big 10 catalogs. You can access it at http://www.lib.purdue.edu.

In addition, Purdue has university-wide online subscription to the ACM and IEEE digital libraries (http://www.acm.org/dl and http://ieeexpert.ieee.org, respectively), and also recently subscribed to the LNCS digital archive (www.springer.de/comp/lncs/). Publications from all of these digital archives are accessible from the purdue.edu domain.

Yes, all of African-Americans, Hispanic, and International Students have found homes near or on campus which they have made into cultural centers.

The Black Cultural Center is a place where the Black Experience in America can be explored, celebrated, and shared. Located on 3rd Street, about a block west from the CS building. The BCC sponsors:

• a combination sitting and African Art Exhibit room with background music from the black station in Chicago
• several Performing Arts Ensembles which consist of students and community members, including The Black Voices of Inspiration
• a library focusing on African-American poetry, fiction, and the social sciences
• prominent scholars, speakers, performing artists, and Purdue alumni who are brought to Purdue to enhance cultural diversity
• cultural sensitivity workshops

The BCC also offers a number of interesting courses related to African American studies. To learn more about the BCC, visit http://www.purdue.edu/BCC.

The International Center was founded in 1971 to enrich the cultural diversity in the Greater Lafayette area. The center is located at 523 Russell Street. The Center provides free ESL classes, foreign language instruction and conversation groups, meeting facilities for foreign student organizations, cultural presentations, and international dinner series. For more information about the center, visit the International Students Association's web page at http://www.intlctr.org or call 743-4353.

The Latino Cultural Center was established in 2003, is a place to gather, learn, share, and support Latino cultures. The LCC serves as the home base for Latino students, faculty and staff members, and student organizations, fostering a welcoming environment for all Purdue students. The center hosts a variety of educational and social events throughout the year, which include lectures, picnics, and dances. The center is located at South Campus Courts Complex. Additional information about the center can be obtained on their website http://www.purdue.edu/LCC/ or by phone 49-42530.

The Office of International Students and Scholars in located in Schleman Hall. ISS is a division of International Programs and offers many services that are useful to foreign students. ISS is the expert resource for the University in the areas of F-1, J-1, and H-1B rules and regulations. The office, SCHL 136, is open between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm each weekday, and if you are an international student, you will be visiting every now and then. They are nice folks, even though they may appear a bit harried when you first encounter them around orientation time. To learn more about ISS, visit http://www.iss.purdue.edu.

The ISS has assembled a handbook for international students which contains a lot of useful information about getting along here at Purdue. The 2002 edition can be found at http://www.iss.purdue.edu/resources/docs/Immigration/ISSHandbook2002.pdf

The Purdue University Student Health Center (PUSH) is where the folks with white coats, stethoscopes, and benign smiles are simply waiting to have a look at your innards. They provide the health services to full and part-time students and their spouses, and in certain cases to Purdue employees and visitors.

The hours of operation below are for the regular semesters; while the appointment desk is stays on the same schedule during the summer, some other offices have somewhat reduced hours during summer session and between sessions.

The following services are available without charge. Many of the doctors will accept appointments and a walk-in service is always provided during clinic hours. Walk-ins are first-come-first-serve and you should expect a 15 to 40 minute wait.

• Routine clinical care, i.e., anything a General Practitioner would take care of during an office visit. The Appointment Desk is open Monday through Friday 8:00am-4:30pm, the Medical Clinic is open 8:00am-5:00pm. To contact the Appointment Desk, dial 49-46504; general information is available by dialing 49-41700.
• Routine gynecological services, including the prescription of birth control materials (same as Medical Clinic hours). To make an appointment with the Women's Clinic, call 49-46504.
• Other services such as nutrition consultation, health education services, and a limited number of consultations with staff in their Counseling and Psychological Services unit.

Fees are collected for the following (in many cases, with Purdue student insurance you will be charged only a $10 deductible):

• Services provided by the Allergy and Immunization Clinic.
• Lab work, physical therapy, and X-rays as prescribed by physicians at the Health Center.
• Prescriptions which can be filled at the University Pharmacy right next door to PUSH.
• Urgent care services, from 8am to 9pm pm Monday-Friday, 10am-6pm on Saturday and Sunday. Their number is 49-41724.

All of the Allergy Clinic, Immunization Clinic, Laboratory, Radiology unit, and Physical Therapy have different hours, which you can find at http://www.purdue.edu/PUSH or by calling 49-41700. Exact rates for any of these services are available on request from the Health Center Business Office - call 49-41677.

If you can hang on until the end of the semester and get out of Lafayette, you will probably recover without assistance. If, however, you find yourself trying to wrench open one of the windows on the top floor to escape, there are two professionally-staffed mental-health facilities on campus.

Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) offers consultations to full and part-time students. Included in your student fees are eight free hours of individual consultation or treatment; otherwise, a fee applies (part-time students are eligible only to one free consultation). They offer same-day initial appointments with counselors on a first-come, first-served basis, Monday through Friday 8am-5pm. The center has two main offices (PSYC 1120 and PUSH 246), as well as three satellite offices at Purdue Village, Vawter Residence Hall, and School of Veterinary Medicine. For more information call 49-46995 or visit http://www.purdue.edu/caps/.

Another place to go is Purdue Counseling and Guidance Center located in Beering Hall, Room 3202. They assist everyone with a variety of career and personal concerns at no charge; staff members are qualified graduate counseling students. For an appointment and information call 49-49738 or visit http://www.edst.purdue.edu/cd/pcgc/.

Purdue Individual, Couple and Family Therapy Clinic (PICFTC) is run by the Department of Child Development and Family Studies. The clinic is staffed by supervised graduate student therapists who assist with personal and family-related problems and is located in Fowler Hall. Their fees are reasonable and depend on the income and family size. For appointments and information call 49-42939 or visit http://www.cfs.purdue.edu/mft/clinic.html.

Additionally, for immediate and/or short term help, the Lafayette Crisis Center provides 24-hour, confidential, crisis counseling. This service is free and available on a walk-in basis at 1244 North 15th Street (in Lafayette) or over the phone at 742-0244 or toll free (877) 419-1632. If you need to talk to someone about anything, they invite you to call or stop by. Their website is at http://www.lafayettecrisiscenter.org.

Unfortunately, the choices for finding a music room on campus are more limited now than they were a number of years ago. Here is what Purdue currently has available: Both Hawkins and Young have music rooms, but you must live there to check out the key (or know someone who lives there). Hawkins has a moderately large room with a servicable baby grand, while Young has a smaller room with a small upright piano and an organ inside. Both rooms can be checked out for two hours.

The South Tower in the PMU (accessible from the top floor, in the middle of the building just where the campus map is) also has a piano, but only student organizations are permitted to book that room. In addition, that piano is not in the greatest condition.

If you live in one of the dorms or one of the grad houses, you have a cafeteria available for all your eating needs. The Lawson Computer Science Building, The Purdue Memorial Union, and Stone Hall also have cafeterias which are available to the general public.

• The Port - Located in the Lawson Building. You immediately see it when you enter the front door. Breakfast items, fruit, sandwiches, mini-pizzas, soup, salad, coffee, and smoothies can be found here.
• HTM Cafe - The HTM Cafe is located in Stone Hall and serves breakfast and lunch at good prices. Soup, sandwiches, and hot lunches are the normal fare.
• Purdue Memorial Union - The Union offers a wide range of food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner at reasonable prices. There is a cafeteria with a variety of cafeteria foods. Purdue students are tax exempt at the cafeteria, so be sure to bring along your Student ID. The Union also serves pizza, ice cream, burgers, and other munchies on the ground floor.

Restaurants surround the campus on every side. Some of the more popular eating establishments are located in Purdue West, The Village and Chauncey Hill Mall, and the area north-east of campus.

In the fall, you can buy one-gallon jugs of apple cider and ten-pound bags of apples (many varieties) at the Purdue Farm. Prices are comparable to those in local grocery stores, but the quality is much higher. Sometimes they also sell pumpkins, squash, and other fall vegetables. The farm is located about 3 miles west on State Road 26 from the Purdue West Shopping Plaza. Watch carefully for signs on the left. Turn off (left) after passing the orchard. The farm is about 1/4 mile on the right.

Purdue offers classes in butchery, and where there's a butcher, there's raw meat. The fruits of the aspiring butchers' labors are sold each Wednesday from 3:00 to 5:30pm and Friday from 12:00 am to 4:30 pm in Smith Hall, room 170. (Smith Hall is on the south side of State St., nearly due south of Matthews Hall. Room 170 is in the west wing of the building.) Most of the common cuts of beef and pork are produced, though not all cuts are available every week. Occasionally, turkey and lamb are also available. As with produce, the prices are comparable to those in local supermarkets, but the quality is outstanding (which is what you will be if you don't get there early and beat the rush). If you need more information about the Boilermaker Butcher Block, call them at 49-48285.

The Department of Convocations sponsors a wide variety of events including:

• chamber music groups
• individual virtuoso musicians
• various symphony orchestras and ballet troupes
• theatrical companies doing musical plays and revues
• individual performers as diverse as Rich Little and Marcel Marceau

Many of the events have ``big names,'' and most are worthwhile. However, boring convocations are not unknown.

Near the beginning of fall semester, slick brochures appear around campus describing the coming year's slate of convocations and the season ticket options available (these are usually cheaper; amounting to getting one or two of the tickets free when compared to the single ticket price). If you are buying season tickets, you must decide upon the series you want to buy (there are several and they sometimes change over time) or commit to a number of performances of your own choice. The brochures describing the coming events state which series contains which convocations. Also, several weeks before each event, ads appear in the Exponent (campus newspaper) stating when individual tickets will be sold.

With a student ID, you can buy Convocations tickets at the (lower) student rate. This also applies to season tickets. For further information, go to http://www.purdue.edu/convos or to the ticket office at the north end of the lobby in the Hall of Music or to the ticket windows in Stewart Center, located at the south end of the lobby with the mural.

SCC books popular musical groups as their tour schedules become known during the year. Copious, full-page advertising in the Exponent serves to notify the campus community of each concert as it is scheduled. For more information, contact the SCC at 49-62913 or visit them online at http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~scc.

For those of you who plan to be at Purdue in the summer, the Summer Theatre is highly recommended entertainment. Brochures are available at Loeb Playhouse box office.

Purdue Theatre offers a number of performances throughout the school year, both mainstage and studio plays. The brochures which list plays of the season are normally available by the ticket offices. You can obtain more information about the plays by phone 49-43933 (Loeb box office) or on the web www.cla.purdue.edu/theatre.

Purdue Repertory Dance Company performs Winter Works and Spring Works concerts at the end of fall and spring semesters, respectively. Tickets can also be purchased in the Loeb box office in Stewart Center (49-43939).

Information about other events may be found in Purdue Arts and Entertainment online calendar (available from the calendars web page http://calendar.purdue.edu). In addition, Purdue Student Union Board (PSUB) organizes student events on campus (sign up for the PSUB email events list at http://www.union.purdue.edu/PSUB/).

Purdue is part of the Big 10 conference and as such people around here go crazy for football and basketball. However, non-revenue sports events at Purdue are rather poorly attended. University fees include an activity fee which entitles students to reduced tickets for sporting events such as football, basketball, and volleyball.

With a student ID, you get reduced price season football tickets (for Fall 2005, the prices is $84 for all 6 home games). Single game tickets are also available, but in most cases they cannot be purchased at discounted price and run as high as over $40 per game. So unless you plan on attending just one game, you save by purchasing a season pass.

For ticket information or to place an order, call 49-43194 or 800-49-SPORT, stop by the Athletic Ticket Office (in the athletic facility between Mackey Arena and the stadium) between 9 AM and 5 PM Monday through Friday, or do it online at http://www.purduesports.com.

• Women's Basketball - As of fall 2005, student season pass is available for $42 (based on 14 games). Individual student tickets are $10 each.
• Women's Volleyball - Purdue has an excellent women's volleyball team. Students can buy a season ticket for fall 2005 for $33.00 (covers 14 games) or single tickets for $5.00 each.

The Purdue Student Union Board (PSUB) regularly schedules film series each semester. The movies are shown on Friday and Saturday evenings in Fowler Hall (which is part of the Stewart Center) for $3.00 with a Purdue Student ID (and it is $5.00 for general public). Show times are usually at 7:00 and 9:30 PM. For PSUB calendar of events, see http://www.union.purdue.edu/PSUB/.

The greater Lafayette area has a population of over 85,000, with approximately one-third of that number residing on this side of the river. This population increases about 30 percent when Purdue is in session. The Wabash River separates the cities of West Lafayette and Lafayette. West Lafayette and Lafayette are two distinct cities connected by a number of bridges. If a resident hears you say that West Lafayette is a part of Lafayette or that Purdue is in Lafayette you should immediately fear for your well-being. Remember, Purdue is in West Lafayette.

Lafayette was founded in 1825 by William Digby who named the town after French General Marquis de Lafayette on Lafayette's visit to America that year. Lafayette became a thriving commercial center because of its location on the Wabash River and its proximity to the Old Wabash and Erie Canal. West Lafayette was created in 1866 with the name of Chauncey when the town of Chauncey merged with the town north of it, Kingston. Plans for Purdue were set in 1869 and classes began in 1874. In 1888, Chauncey was renamed West Lafayette.

Purdue is the largest employer in Tippecanoe County. (Tippecanoe is an Indian name for buffalo fish.) Many other industries have been attracted to this area including Alcoa Aluminum, Duncan Electric, Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals, Fairfield Manufacturing, Landis & Gyr, National Homes, Ralston Purina, Great Lakes Chemical, Subaru-Isuzu, and Caterpillar Tractor.

A great source of further information on the greater Lafayette area is Lafayette Online, an electronic source of information about our community. The web address for Lafayette Online is http://www.lafayette-online.com/, and the site contains information regarding coming attractions, lodging, dining, and other community resources. You can also get information about events and attractions in the Lafayette area from http://www.qklink.com.

The weather in Lafayette is a constant source of conversation. Summers tend to be hot and winters tend to be cold but the weather is never predictable. One day you may be wearing shorts, and the next day you may be bundled in your warmest winter clothes. Most winters include snow with heavy snowfall at times. The wind-chill factor will occasionally drive the temperature down to or below (Celsius or Fahrenheit, at it really doesn't matter). Spring weather is windy with wide temperature ranges. Some days are very pleasant and others very rainy. Summers bring big thunderstorms and high humidity. Indiana has one of the highest tornado-hit rates in the nation, and Tippecanoe County enjoys the distinction of having the most tornadoes of any county in Indiana. Sometimes flooding occurs in the low-lying areas near the Wabash. The city golf course, many cornfields, and occasionally roads are flooded for weeks at a time. Fall is perhaps the nicest time of the year, with two months of perfect weather for football games and camping.

Weather forecasts for Lafayette are invariably wrong, especially in the Spring when the winds cause weather changes by the hour, but if you insist on calling, the number is 447-0550. Online weather information is also available at http://weather.unisys.com, which uses WXP, a Weather Processor originally developed by the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department at Purdue.

Note that these numbers are somewhat outdated since the greater Lafayette area has grown quite a bit since the last census (the national census figures are collected once every 10 years).

(2000 census figures)

For some additional information (including crime statistics and more detailed weather information check out http://www.city-data.com/city/West-Lafayette-Indiana.html).

The greater Lafayette area is home to many interesting places and organizations. You could spend an afternoon visiting a museum, attending a performance, or just lazing around one of the many parks in the area.

• Convention and Visitors Bureau
  • 800-872-6648
  • http://www.lafayette-in.com/
• International Center
  • 523 Russell St., West Lafayette, 743-4353
  • http://www.intlctr.org
• Morton Community Center
  • 222 N. Chauncey, West Lafayette, 775-5120
  • http://parks.city.west-lafayette.in.us/morton.asp
• Civic Theater and Monon Art Gallery
  • 5th and North Streets, Lafayette, 463-1669
  • The Civic Theater provides five productions each season with children's programs in the historic Monon Depot.
• Clegg Botanical Gardens
  • 1782 North 400 East, Lafayette
  • Clegg Botanical Gardens features many interesting wild flowers, lush green trees, and rugged terrain for hiking.
• Columbian Water Park & Zoo
  • Main Street (SR 38), Lafayette, 447-9351
  • Columbian Park has many attractions including a water park, a zoo, and the baseball field where the Lafayette Leopards, a minor league baseball team, play. Columbian Water Park is located a few miles south of downtown Lafayette on Main Street. The picnic and playground areas are open year round but the water park is only open during the summer months. The Columbian Park Zoo is home to llamas, cougars, snow leopards, flamingos, lemurs, eagles, and many other animals. Highlights of the zoo include Monkey Island, the summer home of the monkey troupe, the petting zoo, and the Kinkajous. The zoo has one of the few breeding Kinkajou colonies in existence.
• Fort Ouiatenon Historic Park and Museum
  • South River Road, West Lafayette, 742-8411
  • Fort Ouiatenon Park is located on the banks of the Wabash River on South River Road four miles south of the State Street/River Road intersection. The park has a boat launch, fishing access, picnic shelters, and swimming. Fort Ouiatenon was the site of the first European settlement in Indiana. The current blockhouse was built in 1930 on the site where the original fort was thought to have been. Archaeologists later discovered in 1968 that the original fort was actually located a mile downstream. The park features a Blockhouse Trading Post and Museum and is also the the setting of Lafayette's yearly Feast of the Hunter's Moon, a recreation of an 18th Century French and Indian encampment on the banks of the Wabash River, which is held in October.
• Fowler House
  • 909 South Street, Lafayette, 742-8411
  • An English Gothic house built in 1851 is now home to the Tippecanoe County Historical Museum.
• Greater Lafayette Museum of Art
  • 101 S 9th Street, Lafayette, 742-1128
  • The Museum of Art is a contemporary art center housing permanent art collections and national traveling exhibitions.
• Long Center for the Performing Arts
  • 111 N 6th Street, Lafayette, 742-6463
  • Located in the heart of downtown Lafayette, the theater is home to the Lafayette Symphony Orchestra.
• Prophet's Rock
  • Prophet's Rock Road, Battle Ground
  • Prophet's Rock, though small, is of historic value and is good for rock-climbing and picnicing. In addition, it provides a scenic overlook of the Wabash Valley. You can see the Tippecanoe Battlefield Monument from there. To find it, look for a stone marker on the left side of the road as you are driving out Prophet's Rock Road. See directions to Wolf Park below.
• Riehle Plaza and the Pedestrian Bridge
  • Main Street Bridge and North 2nd Street, Lafayette
  • Riehle Plaza is home of the historic Big Four Railroad Depot and host to many fun activities and events. It is also home to Amtrak and CityBus services and facilities. The Main Street Pedestrian Bridge spans the Wabash River and joins Riehle Plaza and Tapawingo Park. The bridge used to be the main bridge spanning the two cities, and now it provides walkers and bicyclist a great way to cross between Lafayette and West Lafayette.
• Tippecanoe Battlefield
  • Canal Road, 7 miles north of Lafayette off SR 43, 567-2147
  • This is the site of the defeat of Tecumseh and The Prophet by the General William Henry Harrison during the Battle of Tippecanoe. The site is a national historic landmark and a State memorial with a 112-acre park, museum, picnic area, and scenic trails. The Tippecanoe Battlefield is also home of the Indiana Fiddlers Gathering held in July. This regional festival attracts traditional, folk, and country musicians from across the United States.
• Tippecanoe County Amphitheater
  • SR 43 North, Lafayette, 463-2211
  • This state-of-the-art amphitheater includes a main stage, side stages, a rain shelter, and more within it's 166 acres.
• Tippecanoe County Courthouse
  • Courthouse Square, Lafayette, 423-9326
  • Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this courthouse is the architectural focal point of the center of Lafayette.
• Wolf Park
  • Two miles north of Battle Ground, 567-2265
  • Wolf Park is a research wildlife park that is home to twenty wolves and a herd of bison, as well as foxes and coyotes. Visitors can observe the behavior of wolves up close as well as wolf-bison interaction. Howl Nights occur Saturdays at 7:30 PM year round and Fridays at 7:30 PM May through December. Wolf-Bison Demonstrations occur Sundays (weather permitting) at 1:00 PM May through November. Both demonstrations have admission fees. Visit Wolf Park's web site at http://www.wolfpark.org/ for additional info.
  • To get to Wolf Park, go north on North River Road. About 5 miles past the State Street/River Road intersection, you'll get to a right turn on Burnett Rd (if you get to I-65 you have gone too far), followed by a quick left turn onto Prophet's Rock Road. Take Prophet's Rock Road and continue to the town of Battle Ground. In Battle Ground, stay on Prophet's Rock Road until it ends, then turn left on Railroad Street. When you get to North Street, turn right and cross the tracks where North Street takes you into Main Street. Continue on Main to Jefferson and turn left on to Jefferson. One mile on Jefferson, out of town on a gravel road, is the entrance to Wolf Park.

There are a number of movie theaters in Lafayette, as well as the Wabash Landing 9 on the Levee by the river. A variety of groups sponsor movie series on campus, and there are a number of video rental stores around campus.

• Von's Video
  • 317 W State Street, West Lafayette, 743-1974
  • The Von's series of stores is located in the village by Chauncey Hill and provides one of the most interesting shopping areas within walking distance of campus.
• Video Update
  • 1251 Sagamore Parkway (WL), 15 Creasy Lane (Laf), 228 Teal Road (Laf), 220 Elmwood Avenue (Laf), 224 Teal Road (Laf)
  • A nation-wide chain of video stores.
• Blockbuster Video
  • 311 Sagamore Parkway, Lafayette, 447-3335
  • A nation-wide chain of video stores.
• Hollywood Video
  • 3540 State Rd., Lafayette, 448-2829
  • A nation-wide chain of video stores.
• Wabash Landing 9
  • 300 E States St
  • (Note: the movie theater is on States St which is not State Road 26). The Wabash Landing 9 is located North of SR 26 on the Levee just this side of the river, behind Starbucks. Directions and movie listings for this theater, the Eastside 9, and the Lafayette 7 are available at http://www.wabashlanding9.com/.
• Eastside 9 Theater
  • 300 Farabee Drive N, Lafayette, 447-3446
  • The Eastside 9 Theater is located off of SR 26 about a 1/4 mile past Sagamore Parkway (US 52) in Lafayette. Remember that SR 26 is State Street in West Lafayette. To get to the theater, go east on SR 26 from West Lafayette, through Lafayette, to Farabee Drive and turn left.
• Lafayette 7
  • 3525 McCarthy Lane, Lafayette, 447-3446
• PSUB Films
  • Fowler Hall, Stewart Center, Purdue University
  • The Purdue Student Union Board (PSUB) sponsors second run movies which are shown on the weekends in Fowler Hall at Stewart Center. Check the Exponent or Stewart Center display cases for show times. More information on the web at http://www.union.purdue.edu/HTML/PSUB/committees/Films.html
• Cinema Now
  • Fowler Hall, Stewart Center, Purdue University
  • The Department of Convocations sponsors the Cinema Now series of international and independent films. Call 494-3933 for more information.

A number of local bars have dance floors and a few even bring in live music on occasion. The Boiler Room across from Chauncey Hill Mall is one bar that has featured live music in the past. One thing to be aware of is that the bar scene around campus is in constant flux with the bars changing names, management, and decor. So don't be surprised if your favorite campus music spot suddenly becomes a restaurant or the location of the newest set of student apartments.

The Knickerbocker Saloon, the oldest bar in the Hoosier state, has jazz or blues bands playing live almost every weekend. Usually, bands from Indianapolis and Cincinnati come into town and perform on Fridays and Saturdays. If you like import beer, they also hold the largest collection of import beer in Lafayette. The Knickerbocker is located at 113 N 5th Street in downtown Lafayette.

Each year the Department of Convocations brings a wide variety of musical entertainment to Purdue. Past performances have included operas and Broadway musicals. Several big-name entertainers (pop, rock, and jazz) appear in concert each semester under the sponsorship of the Student Concert Committee and the Department of Convocations. Check out their website at (http://www.purdue.edu/convos/) or the box office in Stewart Center for information on upcoming events.

Some of the coffee shops near campus, notably Cafe Vienna in the Village, host live music from time to time.

• Bach Chorale Singers - http://www.bachchorale.org/
• Friends of Bob Music Cooperative - http://www.dcwi.com/~fobob/
• Lafayette Symphony - http://lso.nlci.com/

• The Village and Chauncey Hill Mall
  • East of the Memorial Union on State Street
  • The shops and restaurants on State Street east of campus to Chauncey Street at the bottom of State Street hill are collectively know as The Village. This includes the stores in Chauncey Hill Mall. The stores tend to be expensive because of their proximity to campus. Most of the campus bars are located in this area along with two of the academic bookstores, University Bookstore and Follet's Bookstore.
• Purdue West Shopping Center
  • West of campus on the corner of State Street and Airport Road
  • Purdue West is the closest shopping center to most of the dorms. It is located just west of McCutcheon Hall north of State Street. It includes a Dairy Queen, several restaurants (including Subway and Pizza Hut), ATMs, and even a branch of Follet's Bookstore.
• Brown Street Levee Plaza
  • East of campus on Brown Street near the Wabash River
  • Often called simply The Levee, this area near the Wabash has seen a lot of growth in the past few years. It is now home to a Borders Books & Music, Panera Bread Company, Starbucks Cafe, Buffalo Wild Wings, a health club, a gaming store (actually two; one for the board variety and one for the electronic variety!), a movie theater, and any number of other restaurants and shops.
• Stadium Square Shopping Center
  • North of campus at the corner of Northwestern and Stadium Streets
  • Stadium Square, just east of Lambert Field House and Mackey Arena, has a few fast food restaurants, a couple of academic bookstores, a store with Purdue clothes and gifts, and a florist.

There are also a number of small shopping centers on Sagamore Parkway (US 52) in northern West Lafayette. There is a Walmart along with a couple of grocery stores and some nice novelty/gift shops. Be sure to check out The Mole Hole in the University Square Shopping Center if you are shopping for gifts.

The West Lafayette Post Office is located in northern West Lafayette at 610 W Navajo Street. Proceed up Salisbury Street from campus and make a left on Navajo Street. If you reach Sagamore Parkway (US 52), then you have gone a little too far. The post office will be on your right, located across from the police station and next door to the license bureau.

• Downtown Lafayette
  • Main Street and the Courthouse Square
  • Just over the Pedestrian Bridge by the Courthouse on Main Street, there are a number of antique stores, second-hand shops, and restaurants in downtown Lafayette.
• Market Square Shopping Center
  • Between Elmwood Avenue and Greenbrush Street
  • Market Square has some novelty/gift shops. To get to Market Square from Campus, take Wiggins Street east of campus over the Harrison Bridge. Wiggins turns into Union Street in Lafayette. Stay on Union Street until 18th Street. Turn left on to 18th Street and proceed two blocks to Elmwood Avenue. Turn right on to Elmwood Avenue. Proceed on Elmwood Avenue a few blocks. Market Square will be on your left.
• Tippecanoe Mall
  • Between Sagamore Parkway (US 52) and SR 38
  • Tippecanoe Mall, or simply The Mall, is the largest shopping area in town. It has many of the standard chain stores including Eddie Bauer, Gap, Old Navy, and Victoria's Secret. The Mall is anchored by Sears, JC Penny, and LS Ayres. There are a number of shopping centers surrounding the Mall that also have many more stores and restaurants. There is also a hobby store called Hobby Time in one of the surrounding shopping centers off SR 38. Check out the mall's website at http://www.simon.com/mall/default.aspx?ID=171 for directions and store listings.
• Super Target
  • 3630 SR 26E
  • The Super Target is located several blocks east of Highway 52 on State Road 26. Remember that SR 26 is State Street in West Lafayette and South Street in Lafayette, so to get to Target, simply go east on State Street and stay on SR 26 through Lafayette till you see the Super Target on your left.
• Walmart Supercenter and Sam's Club
  • 4205 Commerce Dr (Walmart), 3819 SR 26E
  • Lafayette has both a Walmart Supercenter and a Sam's Club, both located just off of State Road 26. To get to both head east on State Road 26 from campus for several miles (both are on the right side of the road - Sam's Club is closer to campus).
• SR 26
  • SR 26 between Sagamore Parkway (US 52) and I-65
  • SR 26 between Sagamore Parkway and I-65 is lined with restaurants, hotels, and stores. There is a Walmart, a Sam's Club, a Target and a Lowe's. The Lafayette Post Office is also located on SR 26 not far past US52 heading east and the UPS is just off SR 26 on 36th Street. The Eastside 10 Theater complex is also off SR 26 on Farabee Drive. The FedEx office is near Eastside 10 on Farabee Drive. Unfortunately, with all the stores, restaurants, and the movie theater, SR 26 has a tendency to become very, very congested in this area.

There are a number of other shopping areas in Lafayette including Jefferson Square and Lafayette Square on Teal Road and Mar-Jean Village at the corner of Earl Avenue and South Street. More detailed information about department stores, bike shops, grocery stores, bars, liquor stores, and dining is best obtained by asking students in the department for their recommendations or, of course, checking the local yellow pages.

As with the rest of the country, the minimum drinking age is 21. To verify age bring your driver's license or passport with you. To make sure fake IDs are not used by people underage, many places around campus require you to bring two forms of identification. The first form will be your driver's license or passport. The second form can be anything issued to you that has your name on it. This includes a credit card, student ID, pay-stub (though I have never seen anyone actually try this), etc.

Bars are open until 3 AM Monday through Saturday. Some bars may be open on Sunday, but most are closed due to lack of business. You can buy alcohol at grocery stores (hard liquor included) or liquor stores. However, alcohol sale is prohibited at these places on Sunday.

If you want to join a group that goes to various bars and restaurants each week, join the “beer” mailing list. Although the name suggests drinking, you are welcome to join and just enjoy the food. Beer @ CS typically meets every Thursday around 6 PM.

Most campus bars are located on top of Chauncey Hill. A few can also be found if you go down to Wabash Landing. These are most frequented by undergraduates, so if you are tired of that scene you may wish to go to Downtown Lafayette (see below). However, the cheapest alcohol is found here.

Free hotdogs and popcorn Saturday nights. Decent food menu.

Often crowded. Horrible food.

Most popular on Friday.

One of two places to go dancing. $0.25 pitchers on Wednesday ($3 cover).

Considered a frat bar.

Good food. Every day special of a pitcher (any beer you want) and 12 wings for ~$10. Pitcher and one-topping pizza for ~$13. Closes early.

Home of the piano bar and the largest dance floor in the area (seperate areas of the same bar). The piano bar is very popular and worth going to at least once while you are at Purdue. The Cactus is very popular on Thursdays due to its drink specials. Buy a 32 oz. mug (~$3, or bring a mug that you bought previously from the bar) and fill it up with beer ($0.10) or well mixers ($1.50). The other nights they are open, Friday and Saturday, also have good specials. There is a $5 cover each night.

A popular place years ago and was recently re-opened Spring 2007. The owner has good food and drink specials to try and attract students.

Good food, but do not recommend going there. The last time Beer @ CS went there, two people's credit card numbers were stolen. Even though it was not proven that the numbers were stolen there, comparing the credit card statements basically points a finger at this place.

Like any typical BW3s. Thursday is $0.50 boneless wings and $3.00 cheeseburgers.

The only Irish pub in the area. They have live music on most Fridays and often show soccer or rugby on their TVs. A nice patio area that has space warmers for nights that get a little chilly. Attracts a more upscale crowd, most likely due to the price of their food and beer.

Purdue has a tradition known as Breakfast club. This means that students hit the campus bars at Chauncey Hill around 7 AM. This happens on football game day Saturdays during the Fall, and once during the Spring, Purdue Grand Prix. If you plan to go (and you should go at least once while you are at Purdue), wear a costume. If you do not, you will be one of the very few who did not, and will be heckled.

On campus you will often see shirts that say “Go Ugly Early”. Going “ugly” refers to getting drunk, with the slogan orginating from Harry's. Harry's rival, Jake's, countered that slogan with their own popular t-shirt slogan of “No Uglies Allowed”.

Many places stay open to get that closing-time food rush. Taco Bell, Arby's, and Qdoba (burrito place) stay open. If you want breakfast type food, or generally hate your body, go to Triple XxX.

Located right across the Wabash river is the Downtown Lafayette area. There are numerous bars and restaurants, most of which are more upscale than the campus bars. Since it often requires a short drive for students, few undergraduates make their way over the river.

As the name suggests, the bar is located underground.

By far the largest beer menu selection. 50 different beers on tap plus 50+ others from the bottle. Thursday is schooner night. Buy the schooner (32 oz glass) and get a discount on your alcohol purcahse. You can keep and bring back the schooner.

They brew their own beer. Some people are obsessed with it.

Some nights they have very cheap domestic drafts.

A number of different newspapers are available in the Lafayette area. The Lafayette Journal and Courier is Lafayette's number one newspaper, and it is considered to be politically moderate. It covers some national, a smattering of world, and most of the local news, and it has good sports coverage. The Lafayette Leader is a little weekly newspaper handling primarily local news from nearby small towns. USA Today is a popular national newspaper. The Indianapolis Star is also available in the Lafayette area.

The New York Times has a cheap subscription rate for students during the semester, and subscription forms are available from Von's Bookstore. Subscribers can pick up their paper in the Math Building during the week or at Von's Bookstore on Saturdays. The student ACM chapter subscribes to the New York Times, and their copies may be read in the ACM/UPE office (CS G77) on weekdays.

The Purdue Exponent is the campus paper that is printed Monday through Friday during the school year. It is a typical college newspaper and has good campus coverage, and it also features a crossword puzzle and a couple of comic strips. The Exponent is distributed to pick-up points throughout campus, including the first floor of the CS building near the mailboxes, and it is usually available until mid-morning. Of course, the best thing about the Exponent is that it's free. The bad side of this is that you get what you pay for.

There are two public libraries in the greater Lafayette area to satisfy your appetite for leisure reading. The newly rebuilt West Lafayette Public Library (http://www.wlaf.lib.in.us/) is located a few blocks from campus at 208 W Columbia in West Lafayette. The Tippecanoe County Public Library (http://www.tcpl.lib.in.us/) is located in the heart of downtown Lafayette at 627 South Street. A driver's license is usually required to get a library card.

There are also a number of good bookstores in town. There are, of course, the academic bookstores around campus, which are great for technical references, but there are also some bookstores with more diverse selections of leisure reading. Von's Books is located just east of campus at 315 W State Street by Chauncey Hill. There is also a Borders Books & Music on the Levee, and a Barnes and Noble store near the Tippecanoe Mall. These are good places not only to buy books and CDs, but also to read, have coffee, and play board games (available from the coffee counter at Barnes and Noble). Check the local yellow pages for other bookstores around town.

• West Lafayette Public Library - 743-2261
• Tippecanoe County Public Library - 429-0100
• Von's Books - 743-1915
• Barnes & Nobel - 449-4330
• Borders - 743-7775

The building that houses basketball courts, swimming pools, weight room, running track, indoor soccer field, etc. Membership is free if you are a student, and you can get discounted memberships for non-student family members. The place may seem large for people coming from smaller Universities, but the place is too small to accomodate the student population at Purdue.

Parking can be found in the back. The two rows nearest the back enterance are for “A” parking permits until 6 PM. After 6, anyone can park there. The rest of the parking spots are reserved for “C” permits until 3 PM. After 3, anything goes… and it gets fills up fast.

There are a number of swimming pools around town that are open to the public. Many of the larger apartment complexes off campus also have swimming pools. So dig out your bathing suit and sunscreen and have some fun getting wet.

• West Lafayette Municipal Swimming Pool
  • N Salisbury Street, West Lafayette, 743-3334
  • The West Lafayette Municipal Pool is open Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day 1-8pm daily. The pool is behind West Lafayette Junior High and Kingston Elementary School on the corner of Salisbury Street and Leslie/Kingston Avenue.
• Columbian Water Park
  • Columbian Park, Lafayette, 771-2233
  • See the Columbian Park description in the Parks section for directions.
• Edgelea Swimming Pool
  • 1800 Manitou Drive, Lafayette, 772-7300
  • Edgelea Pool is located at the corner of South 18th Street and Manitou Drive, south of Teal

Purdue has many courts around campus with a large contingent right around the RSC. Tapawingo and Tommy Johnston parks both have tennis facilities. See the parks section for directions to the parks. In addition, Burtsfield School at 1800 N. Salisbury Street, West Lafayette has tennis courts open to the public. Call 463-3571 for reservations.

In the Fall of 2006, Purdue opened an indoor tennis facility (the last school in the Big Ten to do so). Students receive a discount on court fees.

It's Indiana, and as such, people want to play basketball. Outdoor courts can be found around campus and in the Lafayette area.

There are a number of golf courses around town that are open to the public but be careful around the rainy season since some of the courses along the Wabash have a tendency to flood.

• Purdue University Golf Courses
  • Cherry Lane, West Lafayette, 494-3139
  • Purdue University has two 18 hole golf courses and a driving range off of Cherry Lane just north of campus. The course entrances are about a 1/4 mile west of Northwestern Avenue on Cherry Lane.
• Edwood Glen Country Club
  • 1601 E 650 N, West Lafayette, 463-1100
  • Edwood Glen Country Club has an 18 hole course that is open to the public. It is located off of SR 43, 6 miles north of West Lafayette. SR 43 is River Road in West Lafayette.
• Lafayette Municipal Golf Course
  • 800 Golfview Drive, Lafayette, 448-1099
  • The Lafayette Municipal Golf Course is an 18 hole course located on the Wabash River bank. It also has a lighted driving range. To get to the course, go east on Wiggins Street from campus over the Harrison Bridge and take a left on to Canal Road. Go north on Canal Road and the course will be on your left after a couple of miles.
• Par View Golf Course
  • 3121 SR 26 W, West Lafayette, 743-9912
  • Par View is a small 18-hole par 3 course two miles west of Purdue West Shopping Center on State Street (SR 26).

The Wabash River Cycling Club has club rides several times a week, with various levels of difficulty. Riders of all abilities are invited to join. Members get 10% discounts at most of the bike shops in town. Contact Hodson's Bay on the Brown Street Levee at 743-3506 for details.

As the legend goes, the sparsely populated Indiana Territory, before statehood in 1816, bordered on the “Great Unknown”. Whenever an early settler heard noises around his cabin, he knew the sounds could be made by anything from Enemy Indians to Grizzly Bears to Wild Outlaws to Space Aliens. As the nearest neighbor was miles away, he generally picked up his loaded rifle and yelled, “Who's there?” which, through his drawl, was usually incomprehensible and came out as “Whoshier?” So, the Indianans became known as the “Whosier People” or the “Hoosiers”.

There are other tales. Once there was a company of hussars who drew the objections of Kentuckians because of their drinking and rowdiness. Kentuckians came to call any objectionable outsiders “hussars” or Hoosiers. Some think hoosier is derived from the word “hoose,” a disease of calves which causes their hair to stand on end and puts a wild, staring look in their eyes, the same way a man from the Indiana wilderness may have appeared. And then, in 1825, there was said to have been a contractor named Sam Hoosier who preferred Indiana men as laborers on his projects. Hoosier's men became known as Hoosiers. Another claim is that Hoosier came from the old Saxon word “Hoozer” meaning “Hill Dweller,” but no one really knows.

The most believable legend suggests that Hoosier was derived from the question asked at the end of a bloody saloon fight. One of the participants pulled a chunk of skin out of his clenched teeth and asked: “Whose Ear?”

Indiana got its name from the many Indians who came here to live when their lands were taken over by white men.

“Hoosier Hysteria” is basketball. Indiana consists of many small towns with fewer than 100 teenagers but much community pride. Part of that pride is the hope of getting together their able high school boys and sending a basketball team to the State Basketball Tournament. Hoosiers have fought against classification of high schools by size because they know the smallest school in Indiana can go to Indianapolis and beat the largest school. Don't laugh, it's been done. (The movie Hoosiers was based on a real Indiana high school, filmed on location near here.)

For those who insist that Hoosiers are relatively illiterate and intellectually backward, Indiana authors rank second only to New York's in the number of books on best seller lists. Lew Wallace, author of Ben Hur, James Whitcomb Riley, who became a millionaire with his poetry, and Kurt Vonnegut are all Hoosiers. Additionally, Reverend Jim “Koolaid” Jones sports an Indiana background.

The state song is On the Banks of the Wabash by Paul Dresser:

Round my Indiana homestead wave the cornfields,
In the distance loom the woodlands clear and cool,
Oftentimes my thoughts revert to scenes of childhood,
Where I first received my lessons - nature's school.

Oh, the moonlight's fair tonight along the Wabash,
From the fields there comes the breath of new-mown hay.
Through the sycamores the candlelights are gleaming,
On the banks of the Wabash, far away.

The state flower is the Peony. The state bird is the Cardinal. The state tree is the Yellow Poplar, also called the Tulip tree. The state motto is “The Crossroads of America.” Indiana ranks first nationally in the harvest of popcorn.

As of Fall 2005, most of Indiana (including Lafayette) is on Eastern Standard Time (New York time). There are few areas Northwest that are in the Central Time Zone (Chicago time). Previously, most of Indiana had not participated in Daylight Savings Time during the summer. That meant when most of the country set their clocks forward or backward an hour for Daylight Savings, Indiana did nothing. Indiana shared time with New York in the winter and shared time with Chicago during the Summer.

Not in front of the Union. The University Police frown on it. Besides the idea is to get away from Lafayette. One pleasant way to spend a weekend is to pack up some gear and head for the woods. Fortunately, there are a number of recreational areas not too far away which offer good camping and hiking opportunities. There are also cabins available for around thirty dollars a night if you prefer a more stable roof over your head. Turkey Run is about an hour's drive from West Lafayette and offers many camping opportunities. If you are more adventurous, or have more time on your hands, Mammoth Cabes in Kentucky is worth the drive. There is a lot of information on the state parks in Indiana at http://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/.

These three lakes are about 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours northeast of Purdue and are actually reservoirs created by the Army Corps of Engineers in the late sixties. The lakes serve to control the flood stage of the Wabash River. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources maintains a recreational area around each lake that includes campgrounds, boat launches, hunting regions, swimming areas, and hiking trails. Each lake has a small, man-made beach, and the lakes are popular local motor-boating and fishing spots. Campgrounds at the beaches are not among trees, but each lake has a camping area separate from the beach region. Salamonie State Forest has especially nice campsites; each is separated from its neighbors by a stand of trees.

The best way to get to the lakes is to take SR 25 northeast out of Lafayette to Logansport. Then pick up US 24 and take it to Peru. In Peru, turn left on SR 19. Cross the bridge, then turn left (east) on SR 124. SR 124 passes just north of Mississinewa and just south of Salamonie. Watch for the signs to the lakes. Warning: Heavy doses of viewing corn may be hazardous to your health.

Mississinewa Lake info can be found at http://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/properties/res_mississinewa.html, Slamonie Lake is at http://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/properties/res_salamonie.html, and Huntington Lake (also known as Roush Lake) has information at http://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/properties/res_huntington.html.

These parks, both within an hour south of Lafayette, are well-maintained, and are not too crowded in early spring and late fall. Both have many miles of beautiful trails, some of which run through gorges and quite rugged (and perpetually wet - wear your boots!) terrain. Sometimes you forget that you are in the heart of the corn belt!

Try to get into Turkey Run, if possible, because it has better trails. If it is full, you can almost always camp at the Shades. To get to both, take 231 south to Crawfordsville, then head south on 47. Watch for signs for the turnoff to the Shades (about 10 miles). If you want to go on to Turkey Run, just stay on 47. There are two entrances: the first one you encounter is the main entrance, and the second leads to a campground. There is also a trail riding barn if you wish to view the beauty of Turkey Run from the back of a horse. For camping reservations or additional information about Turkey Run State Park, call 765-597-2635 or visit their web site at http://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/properties/park_turkeyrun.html.

Located in the beautiful hills of Brown County near Bloomington, this park is bursting with color when the leaves turn in the fall. It has excellent hiking and bridle trails. It takes about 3 hours or so to get to the park, which is 15 miles east of Bloomington. If you have problems getting into Brown County, you might consider going to nearby McCormick's Creek State Park, which, although smaller, is just as nice. For those of you who enjoy horseback riding, there is a trail ride barn which offers rides close to the park (call 812-988-8166). For camping reservations or additional information about Brown County State Park, call 812-988-6406 or visit their web site at http://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/properties/park_browncounty.html.

While you are in the area, be sure to visit the little town of Nashville, Indiana, which is an artists' colony. On nice days you can spend hours poking around in the quaint specialty shops, visiting the small art galleries, and viewing historic homes. Nashville is also known for its ``Little Nashville Opry.'' Local restaurants and accommodations are very good should you desire a brief respite from the hard camping life.

Also near Bloomington, this area offers 182,000 acres of rolling hills, hiking trails, lakes, and streams. The best place for camping is at the Hardin Ridge Recreation Area. The campsites are very nice and spacious. Since this area is right on Lake Monroe, there is a beach for swimming. To get to Hardin Ridge, take 46 east out of Bloomington, then go south on 446. Within several miles is the Hickory Ridge Hiking Trail. Being about 15 miles long, this trail can be used for both day hiking and backpacking.

Located on the shores of Lake Michigan, these areas each have nice, large, sandy beaches for sunning and swimming, and good camping facilities. Also, there are hiking trails, and, at Indiana Dunes, a bicycle trail. But watch out for Trail #2 at Indiana Dunes. To get through alive you need wading boots and several cans of mosquito repellent per person. Over the years, the dunes have slowly moved inland and as they do so, more and more stable vegetation is able to grow on them. It is interesting to see how the type of plant life is related to the distance from the beach.

To get to these fine spots, take I-65 north to I-94 (near Gary), then go east on I-94. For Indiana Dunes, follow the signs from I-94. For Warren Dunes, continue northeast on I-94 into Michigan to New Buffalo and take the Red Arrow Highway. From New Buffalo, go north on the Red Arrow Highway and then follow the signs. It is about 2 hours to Indiana Dunes and 2 1/2 hours to Warren Dunes. For camping reservations or additional information about Indiana Dunes, call 219-926-1952 or or visit http://www.in.gov/dnr/parklake/properties/park_dunes.html. For camping reservations or additional information about Warren Dunes, call 800-5432-YES.

Kentucky Mammoth Cave National Park is next to Cave City (what else!) in the heart of Kentucky. The park provides camping and hotel accommodations. Mammoth Cave is the world's largest cave system; the name comes from the size, not from the mammals. Total length of connected caves is over 215 miles, but “only” some 25 miles are open for tourists. You can't enter the cave by yourself for obvious reasons, but park rangers lead groups on many different tours. The easiest ones are only a few miles long in developed caves with paved walkways, and the most difficult is an all day “wild tour” (helmets and headlights provided by the park; you need just old clothes and boots). The wild tour is offered only in the summertime, and you should make reservations for it weeks or months in advance. There is usually room in the other tours, but we recommend making a reservation. Also reservations for a campsite are a must.

The park is open year-round (a few holidays excluded), and the temperature in the cave is a constant cool 55-57 degrees. To get there you follow I-65 south for 5 hours. Turn right at the Cave City exit (about 30 miles before Bowling Green) and just follow the signs. There are other caves in that area too (they may be connected to Mammoth Cave), but you really want to go to the official Mammoth Cave National Park. For more info call (270)758-2180 or check out http://www.nps.gov/maca/.

You have three choices when it comes to canoeing (assuming you don't own your own canoe): you can either rent a canoe and take it anywhere you want to, or you can get in on a packaged trip, or you can get in touch with the folks in the Purdue Canoe Club. The state of Indiana provides an extensive list of local canoe liveries at http://www.ai.org/dnr/outdoor/canoegui/liver.htm. If you dare put a canoe on the top of your car, and you know of a good stretch of river to take it on, you can rent a canoe from Burnham's (743-2136, on the Levee) or from Midwest Rentals (423-5541, Brown Street on the east side). Monitor Canoe Rental (589-3506) offers canoe trips on Wildcat Creek. They are located about 10 miles east of campus on SR 26.

A little further from home, you can canoe on Sugar Creek at either Turkey Run or the Shades. Turkey Run Canoe Rental (phone: 569-6705 or 597-2456), located about an hour and a quarter south of Lafayette, is probably your best bet. It is located near Turkey Run State Park, about a half mile north of the junction of 41 and 47 on the east side of the road. They have approximately 600 canoes (some of which float) and offer you a choice of 5 trips lasting from 4 hours to 2 days. Usually, we go on their `A' (gentle) or `B' (Indiana whitewater which is the same as 'A') trips which last 4 to 6 hours and cost $13 for 2 people for all equipment and transportation. The rental corporation will pick you up downstream (`A' trip) or take you upstream (`B' trip). Clements also offers similar canoe trips on Sugar Creek near the Shades. They have a launch site at Deer's Mill near the entrance to the Shades, and another in Crawfordsville. The phone number is 362-9864.

Additionally, Clements rents kayaks for those with an adventurous spirit. Don't attempt to eskimo roll in Sugar Creek, though; it isn't deep enough in most places, and you're liable to be run over by crazed canoeists while upside-down. Besides which, the kayaks don't come with a spray skirt, so the boat will just fill up with water and you'll be embarrassed. If you're really into whitewater, there's an artificial whitewater slalom course in South Bend; contact them at (219) 233-6121. It's usually open on weekends in the summer, and is benign enough for beginners.

The Purdue Canoe Club holds callouts early each semester, and “roll sessions” in the RSC pool most Friday evenings. The Friday evening sessions are a good time to meet club members (and join up yourself; all you have to do is pass a pretty simple swimming test) and to work on your kayak/decked canoe roll, if you like. The club has a good selection of kayaks and canoes, including some nice Perception boats. They also take several trips each semester, involving streams of varying difficulty. If you'd like to progress beyond the “bambi whitewater” found in Indiana, these are the people to learn from.

Some tips on your float trip: Wear old clothes and tennis shoes. Pack your lunch and camera in waterproof bags. Bring along a change of clothes in the car. Leave your wallet in your car and your car keys with the rental people. Bring along sunscreen and plenty of fluids to drink. Beer is allowed, but make sure you don't leave any cans in the river; just because some locals occasionally think it's a trash can doesn't mean that you have to reinforce the idea. Reservations may be a good idea if you are planning a weekend jaunt. Start early in the day; some canoe liveries won't let you start any later than 10 a.m. (to ensure that you'll get back in time to return the canoe). Don't run over kayakers - some of them edit survival guides and would like to be around for next year's edition.

Tubing can be done on Wildcat Creek and Tippecanoe River. The Wildcat Creek is narrower and faster flowing than the Tippecanoe, but at certain times of the year the Tippecanoe is the only waterway around (besides the Wabash) with enough water in it. Be careful about blocking the road when you park. The local police have been known to tow as many as ten cars from near the creek on a Summer's afternoon. There are numerous access points to Wildcat Creek which have sufficient space to park your car.

• Wildcat Creek Park (Eisenhower Road, near 5200 East). This is where the north and south fork of the Wildcat join.

• Tippecanoe/Carroll county line (also 900 East and 650 East) - just go out State Road 26 East until you come to the aforementioned road, turn left and keep going until you reach the Wildcat.

Topographical Maps of the area can be obtained at Hodson's Bay Company on the Levee (limited selection) or at Blue Print Specialty (1500 Union, Lafayette). Highway Engineering Dept. in the Courthouse Annex downtown Lafayette also sells a large-size county map for 50 cents.

You will probably want to get a truck or tractor tube as opposed to a car tube. The tractor tubes are preferable because they generally don't have a long, possibly painful stem in them. One of the best places to buy tubes is McCord's Tire Store on Sagamore Parkway near the intersection with Main Street, or at their Levee Plaza location.

Fishing opportunities are limited, but not nonexistent. Although there are no large lakes in the immediate vicinity, there are several rivers that contain bass, bream, and catfish. The Wabash always has people fishing for catfish (watch for them when you cross the bridge), but if you've ever looked at the water at the end of the summer, you may have second thoughts. The Tippecanoe River and Sugar Creek have smallmouth bass and catfish. It is best if you have access to a boat or canoe if you're interested in bass. There are 2 man-made lakes near Monticello (45 minute drive). The lakes themselves are overrun with speedboats, but the fishing below the dams can be quite good. It can also be terrible.

Some of the best fishing can be found on small local ponds. Be careful where you fish - you might get more than you bargained for if you pick a pond on private property. You also need to have a valid state fishing license.

Deer Creek Stable, just south of Delphi, Indiana offers hourly trail rides when the weather is nice. The stable is a little grungy but the trails are great. The stable also offers longer trail rides on occasion with a stop at one of the local bars. Deer Creek Stable is located about 1/2 hour north of West Lafayette on SR 25. To get to the stables, take Sagamore Parkway east and turn left on to SR 25. After a half hour or so, the stables will be on your right. If you hit Delphi, then you have gone a little too far. It is usually a good idea to call ahead to make sure the trails are in working order. Phone number is 765-564-6350.

For a somewhat different summer Saturday night experience, you might try driving to Monticello (45 minute drive North) for a nighttime cruise on a sternwheeler on Lake Freeman. The cruises leave every two hours or so (beginning around 7:30) from the dock on the East side of the bridge in Monticello. The admission price ($7) buys you a ride for all evening (as many trips as you wish until 2 AM) and a free drink. The boat holds about 200 people and usually has a dance band. It is probably best to call ahead for information and reservation.

Unfortunately, all ski areas lie some distance from Lafayette. There is one place in southwestern Michigan that's pretty popular called Swiss Valley, sometimes known as Swiss Ditch, and two places in Indiana, one near Greencastle, and one down by Bloomington, may satisfy your needs. In any case, don't forget to take along old gloves for the rope tows, sunglasses, and extra socks and jeans. Swiss Valley is a good place for beginners, with reasonable rates, but it's about three hours away from Lafayette near Jones, Michigan. SV has three rope tows, a T-bar, a J-bar, and triple and quad chair lifts serving about 13 runs, most of which are ideal for beginning skiers. Runs are short, to be expected in the Midwest. The highest “peak” at SV appears to have been man-made, judging by the gravel pit next to it. Vertical drop is 210 feet. Lift lines are not bad (5-10 minutes max on weekends.) For more info call (616) 244-5635

To get to Swiss Valley, take Rt. 25 to Logansport. Stay on 25 until it intersects with 31 near Rochester. Drive north on 31 to South Bend and Michigan, bypassing the city. 31 merges with 33 near South Bend; continue north to Niles, Michigan. Follow signs as though you were going to Three Rivers, and get on Michigan 60 east. After passing through Cassopolis, and before getting to Jones, there'll be a Swiss Valley sign on your left. Turn immediately after the sign (Patterson Mill Road) and go north three miles to the resort.

Ski World is a new skiing resort in Nashville near Brown County State Park. To get there, go south on I-65 past Indianapolis until you get to Columbus. Then go west on 46 until you get to Nashville.

A little over an hour away down I-65 (or highway 52 to get away from traffic) lies Indianapolis. Indy is certainly not the culture capital of the world, but it does have some things to do not offered in Lafayette, and is much closer than Chicago. Here are a few ideas from those who have ventured to the heart of Indiana. For more info on what to do in Indy check out http://www.circlecity.com/.

• RCA Dome - Home of the Colts, just west of downtown. http://www.colts.com/
• Market Square Arena - home of the Pacers. They have been a resurgent team of late, making it to the post-season for the last few years. Just east of downtown. Check out http://www.nba.com/pacers/
• Shopping Triangle - consists of Keystone at the Crossing which has the Fashion Mall which is one of Indy's nicer shopping places. Located at I-465 and Keystone Rd. Next is Castleton which is a large shopping area and shopping center just down the road at I-465 and Allisonville Rd. On 62nd Street near Keystone is the third leg - Glendale Mall.
• Children's Museum - a fun spot especially if you have some kids along. Even big kids like us can enjoy it. It's just off of Meridian Street (actually Illinois Street) at 30th Street. There is some really funky art. You'll love it. Call them at (317) 924-5437
• Broad Ripple - a section of Indy centered on Broad Ripple Avenue (alias for 62nd Street is this area) east of Meridian with a few art shops and lots of restaurants and night life spots.
• Castleton Square - You can hardly go wrong for food and shopping along 86th Street from the Westside to the far-east area called Castleton. Castleton Square Mall area is Indiana's most congested shopping area. No wonder. It boasts several shops exclusive to the city, such as Designer Shoe Warehouse, 8510 Center Run Dr., with enough shoes to please Imelda Marcos, all at discount prices. The mall houses 125 speciality stores and six department stores, Lazarus, Sears, JCPenney, Kohl's, L.S. Ayres and Montgomery Ward.
• Circle Center - Indy's newest shopping area, this lavish Downtown mall opened Sept. 7, 1995. It houses more than 100 specialty stores (including such favorites as FAO Schwarz and Godiva Chocolatier) and features anchor stores Nordstrom and Parisian. A third-floor food court encompasses nearly a dozen restaurants, and a nine-screen movie theater dominates the top floor. Corner of Washington and Illinois streets (317) 236-1940
• Indianapolis Zoo - The Indianapolis Zoo is located at 1200 West Washington Street. Admission is $11.50 for adults and $7.00 for children. For additional information, phone (317) 630-2001 or visit http://www.indyzoo.com/. Kids love this place. It includes a new butterfly house, has elephant rides, and features a dolphin show. There are also gardens that you can visit, the admission price is only one dollar extra if you purchase a zoo admission.

The INDY 500, the event that made Indianapolis famous, is less than 70 miles from Purdue. The race is held every year on Sunday of Memorial Day weekend beginning at 11:00 am. Tickets for next year's race go on sale the day following this year's race. You can't see the race too well from the infield but you can party. Race? What race? The partying begins several days before race day and continues until the approximately 300,000 fans and workers finally leave. On race day, scenes of happy people lounging in their recently-constructed beercan lawn furniture in front of their campers with recently-constructed beercan fences outlining their campsites give an indication to newcomers just what they may have missed. Everybody's got a homepage so for additional info, check out http://www.brickyard.com

Besides the race, various “500” Festival events take place throughout the month of May. Many fans say that the time trials, which take place the weekend prior, are better than the race itself.

The two-and-a-half mile oval track sits on 559 acres of ground located seven miles northwest of the center of the Hoosier capital. Besides the annual “500”, the Brickyard 400 is also held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Speedway Hall of Fame Museum (located inside the track between the No. 1 and No. 2 turns) is open 9am to 5pm year-round. Admission for adults is $2.00. Bus rides around the track are available for 50 cents, whenever the course is not being used for competition or test purposes. The 18-hole golf course outside the track and the 9-hole infield course are open April to October.

If you begin to feel like a corn stalk, Chicago is the nearest oasis of civilization (Indy does not count). To get to downtown, take I-65 North almost to Gary/Hammond. Then get on I-80/94 going west. Then stay on I-94 going north. Chicago, in case you haven’t heard, is a very large town, so it would probably be best to track down a native to find out the real scoop.

• Museum of Science and Industry - in Jackson Park at 57th and Lakeshore. Free, invites participation in the exhibits (push buttons, etc.). Don't miss the coal mine, the Submarine, or the OmniMax theater. Free Thursday. (312)684-1414, Adults $6; Seniors $5; Children 5 - 12 $2.50; Under 5 free Combination Museum admission and Omnimax: Adults $10; Seniors $8; Children 5 - 12 $5.50
• Field Museum of Natural History - in Grant Park (1200 Lakeshore). Free Wednesday. Roosevelt Rd. at Lake Shore Dr. (312)922-9410 Adults $5; Seniors, students, and children 3 - 17 $3 Daily 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
• Adler Planetarium - just east of Lakeshore (1300 Lakeshore). (312)922-STAR, Adults: $3, Children (4-17) $2; Seniors $2; Sky Show $2 Monday - Thursday: 9 a.m.- 5 p.m.; Friday: 9 a.m.- 9 p.m.; Weekends: 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
• Shedds Aquarium & Oceanarium - (in Grant Park (1200 Lakeshore). 10,000 fish and sea creatures. They have a coral reef exhibit with Caribbean fish that are fed by scuba divers. The Oceanarium, added in 1990, features marine life rarely seen outside of the major coastal aquariums. Adults $8; Seniors and Children over 3 $6; Children under 2 free Daily 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Thursday evenings open until 9 p.m.
• Art Institute - Michigan Avenue at Adams Street. Minimal charge; a good collection especially of French 19th and 20th century paintings. Free Tuesday 111 S. Michigan Ave. (312)443-3600
• Chicago Historical Society, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago Academy of Sciences - museums also worthy of mention.
• Lincoln Park Zoo - Lincoln Park ( 2200 N. Cannon Dr. (312)742-2000 Daily 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., is downtown. http://www.lpzoo.com/
• Brookfield Zoo - 1st Avenue and 31st St. in Brookfield, (708) 485-0263. is bigger and expanding. To get to Brookfield Zoo, take I-290 or I-55 and get off at First Avenue. $2 charge.
• Rush Street - is the night-life center of Chicago. Lots of bars and restaurants.
• Sears Tower - Adams St. and Wacker Dr. (you can't miss it). Tallest building in the world by some measures. For best results, pick a clear day.
• John Hancock Center Observatory - 875 N. Michigan Ave. (312)751-3681 Adults $5.75; Children 5 - 17 $3.25; Children under 5 Free Open everyday 9 a.m. - 12 a.m.
• Water Tower Place North side of the loop. Full of exotic shops (by local standards). You have to see it to believe it.

There are many interesting clubs and bars all over Chicago. A good source of information on music, clubs, bars, theater, etc. in Chicago is http://centerstage.net/chicago/. Chicago is famous for its Blues music.

• B.L.U.E.S. - 2519 N. Halsted, (312) 528-1012
• B.L.U.E.S. Etcetera - 1124 W. Belmont, (312) 525-8989
• Blue Chicago - 736 N. Clark, (312) 642-6261
• Buddy Guy's Legends - 754 S. Wabash, (312) 427-0333
• Checkerboard Lounge - 423 E. 43rd St., (312) 624-3240

For more info on Chicago Blues bars, check out http://nitescape.com/chicago/blues/.

If you like sports, Chicago is the place to be. Chicago is home to a NFL football team, two major league baseball teams, an NBA basketball team, and a NHL hockey team.

• Baseball - Chicago White Socks and Chicago Cubs
  • Chicago's two major league baseball teams are the White Socks and the Chicago Cubs. The White Socks home turf is Comiskey Park located at 333 West 35th Street, and the Cubs home turf is Wrigley Field located at 1060 West Addison Street and, no, that is not where Elwood Blues lives. For White Socks info, call (312) 924-1000 or visit http://www.chisox.com. For Cubbies info, call (312) 831-CUBS.

• Basketball - Chicago Bulls
  • You want basketball? There's only one place to go. DA-BULLS. Don't even try to get tickets. For more Bulls info, visit http://www.nba.com/bulls.

• Football - Chicago Bears
  • For more Bears info, visit their official NFL web site at http://www.nfl.com/teams/bears/bears.html.

• Ice Hockey - Chicago Blackhawks
  • For more Blackhawks info, visit http://www.nhl.com/teams/chi/index.htm.

For those who just cannot bear to leave Purdue for more than 12 hours or so, there are still several attractive options. Of the places discussed above, the Wabash Reservoirs, Turkey Run, and Shades are close enough so that a day of swimming (only at the reservoirs), hiking, and picnicking followed by a return to Lafayette is feasible. Indiana Dunes and Warren Dunes are a bit farther, but the beaches are very nice. A little closer is Indiana Beach (Lake Shafer), about 45 minutes away, in Monticello. In addition to the beach, there is an old amusement park. There is a half-mile-long boardwalk, specialty shops, restaurants, night clubs, and a daily water ski show. A few words of warning, don't go if you can't stand tourist traps and don't expect much of a “beach”. To get there, take 43 North to Reynolds, then 24 East towards Monticello. As you pass several car dealerships, you'll see the sign telling you to turn left for Indiana Beach. Before you get to the entrance to the Beach, you'll pass Lake Shafer Cove Marina. You can rent water-skiing boats there by the hour. Figure on four people per boat. This is a lot of fun, but you'll probably find that one hour is not enough time to get your fill. One of the nicer small beaches in that area is on Lake Freeman at the Twin Lakes Marina. It is located off 421 south of Monticello. For more info, check out http://www.indianabeach.com/.

Conner Prairie is for those of you who enjoy the “living history” approach to history. The village was restored by the Eli Lilly Foundation, donated to Earlham College (Purdue turned it down!), and appears as it might have in the early 1800's. The “inhabitants” of the 25-building village perform their usual chores as you walk through the village. They are dressed as people of that era dressed, talk like people of the 1800's talked, and fill their days by making pottery, quilts, candles, and all kinds of home-baked pies and goodies. There's even an old schoolmarm who'll make you sit in her one-room schoolhouse and recite your lessons if you happen to walk by when she's ringing the bell to call students to class.

The place is open April to December, Wednesday through Saturday from 10am to 5pm, and Sunday from noon to 5pm. It takes a little over an hour to get to the village, which is located northeast of Indianapolis just south of Noblesville. To get there, hop on I-65 south to Indy. Take the belt I-465 east and watch for the exit for Noblesville, which is the Allisonville Road exit. Conner Prairie is north 7 miles (on the left). The street address is 13400 Allisonville Road and the phone is (317) 776-6000. For additional information, visit http://www.connerprairie.org/.

Parke County is renowned for its Covered Bridge Festival, a week-long fall event featuring the county's 30 or so still functional covered bridges. Last year some 400,000 visitors drove through bridges on the four marked routes during the colorful fall festival, usually held in mid-October. The town square at Rockville is the center of activities and the starting place for the tours. Numerous shanties and tents fill the square that week. Merchants offer locally grown produce, jams and jellies, and artwork. It's a good place to pick up some Indian corn and pumpkins.

Rockville is located just South of Turkey Run on route 41. Take route 231 South to Crawfordsville, then route 47 to Turkey Run and the 41 intersection. An alternative way to get there is to take route 25 South from Lafayette to Odell, then route 28 West to Attica, then route 41 straight South to Rockville. Driving time is about an hour and 30 minutes.

Write the Tourist Information Center, Rockville, IN 47872 for information on the festival. To avoid all the tourists, try to go during the week of the festival instead of on the two weekends. Of course, going the week before or after the festival allows you to avoid the crowds, too, at the expense of missing the festivities in the town square. The covered bridges will be there whenever you want to visit. Photographers might want to try them even in the winter. For additional information, visit http://coveredbridges.com/.

Living in West Lafayette does have some advantages. You are only an hour from Indianapolis and 2 1/2 hours from Chicago. Most bands that go on tour come to either or both of these cities. In Indy, Deer Creek Music Center gets the most shows. Take I-65 South to I-465 East to I-69 North to exit 10 (State Road 238). Really big concerts sometimes go to the Hoosierdome (football stadium). Whatever show is there probably goes through ticket master so check out http://www.ticketmaster.com/

One of the largest aviation museums in the world is located about 3 hours from Lafayette near Dayton, Ohio. The museum is part of the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base located on the east side of the city. Among the many exhibits are a Wright Brothers' plane, several space capsules from the Mercury and Apollo missions, an IMAX theater, and lots of military aircraft. It takes about 4 hours to go through the museum. It is impressive. For directions and more information see http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/.

If you have more time to spend in Dayton, try to visit Carillon Park, located south of the business district on Patterson/Dixie Highway (just off Route 25). This city park contains several restored buildings which were important to early Dayton, such as the Wright Brothers' Cycle Shop, Dayton's first building (a tavern!), an old schoolhouse, a water-powered grist mill, and the famous Carillon Bells. Guides take you through the park (open until 8:30 pm); the tour takes about 2 hours.

And the best thing is: both of these attractions are free! Dayton is easily reached by traveling on I-65 to Indy, then taking I-70 to Dayton. Suggestion: make a weekend trip; combine sightseeing in Dayton with a trip to King's Island (see amusement park description).

If you really want some action and can venture further than Columbian Park, there are several large amusement parks in neighboring states.

Located 4+ hours from WL, 30 minutes north of Cincinnati, Ohio on I-71 at the King's Island exit. The park is open daily (10am to 10pm) from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, and weekends starting in late April and ending around mid-October. It is a $30 million complex with 5 theme areas surrounding a 33-story replica of the Eiffel Tower. Go during the week if you can; the lines on weekends are very bad. For information, call 1-513-241-5600. The best ride in the park is backwards on “The Racer” (two roller coasters running in parallel - one forwards, and one backwards) in the last seat (with your hands in the air, of course). The ride lasts about three minutes. Another large attraction, “The Beast,” is one-and-three-quarter miles long, making it one of the world's largest roller coasters. The ride lasts 3 minutes and 40 seconds, including a 135-foot drop at a 45 degree angle.

Claims to be the world's largest ride park. It has 57 rides including at least 5 roller coasters, including the (at present) world's tallest and fastest. Currently, their most popular ride is “The Raptor” which is an inverted roller coaster (your legs hang free from the bottom). Cedar Point is in Sandusky, Ohio, midway between Toledo and Cleveland, and is open mid-May through Labor Day, 10 am to 10 pm. For information, call 1-419-626-0830.

Midway between Chicago and Milwaukee. Great America is relatively new and clean and has 37 rides, 4 live shows, 28 restaurants, and other miscellaneous attractions. It's open on weekends, May through mid-October, and daily (10am to 8pm) Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day.

Near St. Louis and is the largest place. There are more than 100 rides, shows, and special attractions at this park, which is 30 miles southwest of the St. Louis riverfront at the intersection of I-44 and Allenton Six Flags Road. Tickets are available at one-day and weekend rates.

For a break after spring finals, Holland, Michigan offers the world- famous Tulip Festival the second week in May. A week long, it offers a wide range of activities, including organ recitals at Hope College, two wooden shoe factories, parades every day, hundreds of Klompen dancers (authentic girls in authentic costumes performing authentic Dutch dances), street scrubbing, and band concerts. On Saturday there is a huge parade featuring about 50 bands and, of course, there are tulips lining all the streets. It takes about 3 hours to get to Holland. Campers will probably want to spend the night at the state park located 6 miles northwest of Holland on the beach of Lake Michigan.