WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – During their meeting Friday (Oct. 6), Purdue University trustees were updated on five of the university’s Next Moves initiatives.
Purdue’s Next Moves were launched in April 2021 to advance the university’s competitive advantage in its continuing quest to lead the world’s top research and teaching institutions.
Here are the updates, based on Friday’s presentations:
Plant Sciences 2.0
Purdue Agriculture is leading our world into the future by using data and technology to improve the productivity, resilience and nutritional value of plants in changing environments. Plant Sciences 2.0 makes investments in digital forestry, a new phenotyping greenhouse facility and data sciences, the Center for Food Demand Analysis and Sustainability, and commercialization through Ag-Celerator.
The new phenotyping greenhouse will support research and discoveries in plant health, nutrition, drought and disease stress, and root health while enabling integration into Purdue’s controlled-environment phenotyping facility; in September ground was broken on the facility.
The Institute for Digital Forestry has also made progress in its goal to measure every tree and crop on the planet, mapping the location of 273,485,688 trees in 330-plus cities nationwide and 3,341,088 trees on 137,970 acres in Indianapolis. It has engaged at Purdue with 15 departments or schools in Agriculture, Engineering, Libraries, Science and the Polytechnic Institute. The U.S. Department of Agriculture also has issued a $10 million grant, “Promoting Economic Resilience and Sustainability of the Eastern U.S. Forests,” with Purdue as the lead, and a $9 million grant, “Engaging Family Forests To Improve Climate-Smart Commodities,” with Purdue as the subcontractor.
National Security and Technology Initiative
The National Security and Technology Initiative focuses on hypersonic and space vehicles, energetic materials and systems, cybersecurity, and secure microelectronics. Purdue has secured several new partnerships in these areas, including with the Office of Naval Research and the Air Force Research Laboratory Regional Hub Network.
In addition, the Defense Civilian Training Corps is a new program for undergraduate students that builds civilian careers in the U.S. Department of Defense related to acquisitions, digital technologies, critical technologies, science, engineering, finance and more. Purdue is one of four universities selected to pilot the program, which hosts a cohort of 20 students who receive scholarship-for-civilian-service awards. For the first time ever, Purdue’s largest source of sponsored research awards came from the Department of Defense; the DOD also recently selected eight Microelectronics Commons Hubs. Indiana is home to the largest hub in the Silicon Heartland, with Purdue as the lead university.
Purdue Applied Research Institute (PARI)
Areas of focus for the Purdue Applied Research Institute include technology acceleration through the Digital Innovation in Agri-food Systems Laboratory, national security and technology, global development and innovation, and infrastructure research and innovative solutions. PARI’s executive leadership team recently met to refine its business model, operating assumptions and future organizational structure. Additions have been made to the research team, and new facilities such as the Hypersonics and Applied Research Facility and a permanent presence at WestGate Academy contribute to PARI’s mission. Several partnerships have also developed, including one with Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division.
Transformative Education 2.0
Purdue seeks to offer the most innovative residential learning program in the United States among large research universities. By the end of the fall 2023 semester, 5,000 students will have access to EduNav, a smart, personalized degree-planning tool that allows them to select from multiple, optimized scenarios while planning the sequencing of their courses according to their goals. Designed to support student decision-making and time to degree, EduNav will be available to most of Purdue’s West Lafayette undergraduate students by the spring of 2024.
In a continued effort to support a dynamic portfolio of high-value degrees and programs, the institutional processes for launching new degrees, majors and certificates have been simplified, reducing the number of forms and distinct approval steps and resulting in a faster and more efficient process. An estimated 1,500 hours have been saved in faculty time each academic year. Institutional process improvements have also been made that will provide more transparency regarding degree requirements for students.
Equity Task Force
The mission of the Equity Task Force is to develop a plan with specific actions to ensure all members of the Purdue community can equitably experience all the university has to offer. The task force seeks to increase Black student applications over the next three to five years with a plan to identify and target metropolitan areas; cultivate authentic relationships with high schools and communities; engage alumni; create and increase on-campus activities; expose students to college life; and create hands-on activities in robotics, math and science. The Purdue Marketing and Communications team will promote these plans during campus visits, at college fairs, on precollege pathways, to student transfers, to Purdue Polytechnic High Schools students, and at Purdue regional campuses and neighboring community colleges.
About Purdue University
Purdue University is a public research institution with excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top 4 in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, with 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 12 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap, including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the new Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, and Purdue Computes, at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.
Sources: Patrick Wolfe
Karen Plaut
