So You Want to Do Field Research?

It’s easy to believe that academic research is all about paging through dusty books or carefully pouring colorful liquids from test tube to beaker. And yes, professors love their libraries and labs. But it’s far from the whole picture. It turns out that some of Purdue’s brainiest faculty are also adventurers and explorers who have chased down tornadoes, spent weeks isolated in rainforests teeming with poisonous snakes, and come nearly face to face with heavy-breathing polar bears. They do it all not in the pursuit of fame or even fortune — but for knowledge.