Featured Alumni

Dr. Andrew “Drew” Feustel, B.S. ‘89, M.S. ‘91, Ph.D. SIGMA PHI EPSILON, PURDUE UNIVERSITY

Dr. Andrew “Drew” Feustel, B.S. ‘89, M.S. ‘91, served on the crew of STS-125, the final Space Shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, from May 11-24, 2009. The mission successfully extended and improved the observatory’s capabilities through 2014. In completing his first space mission, Drew logged almost 13 days in space and a total of 20 hours and 58 minutes in actual spacewalks. A NASA bio on Drew can be seen on page 4. Welcome back Brother Feustel!
Drew was raised and educated in Lake Orion, Michigan. He graduated from Lake Orion High School and earned an Associate Science degree from Oakland Community College in Michigan. While at Purdue, he earned a B.S. in Solid Earth Sciences and a M.S. in Geophysics. Drew served three years as Grand Prix Chairman for SigEp and was the Kart driver for the Chapter. He also served two years as a Residence Hall Counselor at Cary Quad.

After Purdue, Drew obtained his Ph.D. in 1995 in Geological Sciences specializing in Seismology at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. There he met his wife and married the former Indira Devi Bhatnagar of Ontario, Canada. Drew’s Ph.D. thesis investigated seismic wave attenuation in underground mines and measurement techniques and applications to site characterization. For three years he worked as a Geophysicist for the Engineering Seismology Group, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, installing and operating microseismic monitoring equipment in underground mines throughout Eastern Canada and the United States.

In 1997, Drew began working for the Exxon Mobile Exploration Company in Houston, Texas as an Exploration Geophysicist designing and providing operational oversight of land, marine, and borehole seismic programs worldwide. Selected as a Mission Specialist by NASA in July 2000, Drew reported for training in August 2000. Following his two years of training, he was assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Space Shuttle and Space Station Branches. In 2007, he was assigned to the Hubble Mission.

Drew enjoys many hobbies including auto restoration. While attending Oakland Community College, he worked as an auto mechanic at International Autoworks, Ltd. in Farmington Hills, Michigan, restoring 1950’s Jaguars. Drew also enjoys playing the guitar and water and snow skiing.