Purdue research awards and philanthropic fundraising both new records in fiscal year 2023

“Excellence at scale is both reflected in and further supported by these two new watermarks, simultaneously achieved at Purdue this past year,” Purdue President Mung Chiang said. “Annual percentage increases around 10% for research funding and for philanthropic gifts continue the compounding rise and are based on the persistent pursuit in excellence by our faculty, staff and students and the incredible generosity of Boilermaker family and friends.”

Research Funding

The university’s total research awards have steadily climbed each year since 2013. The total amount represents a 9% increase in awards from fiscal year 2022 and a 92% hike over the last 11 years (FY 2013 to FY 2023), with this year’s funding supporting approximately 3,500 research projects. This year’s funding is benchmarked as high for a university without either a medical school or a major Department of Defense establishment.

As part of this record funding, Purdue has seen a significant uptick in larger awards from federal agencies through highly competitive processes, which account for 70% of the research funding at Purdue, with the U.S. Department of Defense topping the list for the first time at $98 million. In FY23, DoD authorized $20 million to advance SCALE, the preeminent U.S. program for semiconductor workforce development in the defense sector.

Other top sponsors include the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including the National Institute of Health ($95 million), National Science Foundation ($81 million), U.S. Department of Agriculture ($62 million), U.S. Department of Energy ($41 million) and state and local government ($43 million).

Private industry also contributed nearly $90 million to support Purdue research, and the university signed 11 master research agreements, including a new commitment of $50 million from Eli Lilly and Company toward a five-year strategic research collaboration. 

“This new record for research awards funding demonstrates the strength of Purdue research and, perhaps even more importantly, the impact of our work by our faculty, staff and students,” said Karen Plaut, executive vice president for research. “Through concentrated effort, Purdue has successfully increased the diversity of our funding sources, providing more opportunities for our researchers across all areas of study and training the next generation of scientific leaders.”

Highlights include:

• $7.8 million in funding from the Semiconductor Research Corp., DARPA and Georgia Institute of Technology for research in two JUMP 2.0 research centers – the Center for the Co-Design of Cognitive Systems (CoCoSys) and the Center on Cognitive Multispectral Sensors (CogniSense) – to accelerate U.S. advances in information and communications technologies.
• A $10 million award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fuel economic resilience and sustainability in Eastern U.S. forests.
• A $6.8 million award from the National Institutes of Health in support of the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, which works to increase collaboration among the brightest minds in Indiana to solve the state’s most pressing health care challenges.
• A $3.9 million award from the National Institutes of Health to demystify the link between obesity and breast cancer.

Philanthropic Gifts

In addition to research awards, Purdue hit an all-time high of more than $610 million from 83,836 donors. These gifts come from generous donations from alumni, students, families, partners and foundations, and are often specified for each gift’s intended purpose.

FY23 is also the 11th consecutive year that the total raised for student support has increased. Purdue raised $183 million for student support – a 22% increase over last year.

“Purdue has had another monumental year in private giving, thanks to the generosity of our alumni, friends and fans,” said Matt Folk, president and CEO of the Purdue for Life Foundation and vice president of university advancement and alumni engagement for Purdue University. “Together, through small steps and giant leaps, we are strengthening Purdue’s reputation in teaching and research while remaining affordable and accessible to brilliant young minds.”

Records that Purdue donors set this year include: 

• Total dollars raised: $610.3 million, an increase of 12.6% from last year’s total and the previous record of $542.1 million.
• Dollars raised for student support: $183 million, up from last year’s record of $150 million. The university has seen a giant leap in private support for scholarships, fellowships and student programming each year since 2012-13, when Purdue raised $32 million for student support.
• Largest single-day fundraising campaign in higher education: $110.8 million from Purdue Day of Giving, shattering last year’s record of $68.2 million and bringing Purdue Day of Giving’s cumulative total since it launched in 2014 to $420.5 million.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research institution with excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities (Times Higher Education/Wall Street Journal and QS), with two colleges in the top 4 in the United States (U.S. News & World Report), 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 Innovates, at https://stories.purdue.edu.