Today’s top 5 from Purdue University

‘Purdue News Now’

The fall 2024 semester is underway and there’s plenty of campus news to catch up on. Trevor Peters has all the latest headlines in this week’s “Purdue News Now.”

Plus, check out five good stories below you may have missed. 

Inspired by the human body, engineer designs chips that could make wearable AI more energy efficient

Shreyas Sen, an Elmore Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University, is taking lessons from the human body’s nervous system to design chips that might get AI to work offline for a network of wearable devices without needing to frequently charge them. Doing something as complex as learning the whole internet, like ChatGPT does, isn’t possible for a chip right now because it requires too much energy. Sen is custom-designing chips for wearable devices that would allow them to work with edge devices to handle more complex problems with AI using less power, similarly to how a human’s nerves and brain work together.

Media contact: Kayla Albert, wiles5@purdue.edu

Purdue Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Research Building project to go to state lawmakers in 2025-27 capital request

Purdue University’s 10-year capital plan, which was reviewed and approved by trustees on Aug. 2, includes an Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Research Building project on the university’s West Lafayette campus that will soon be submitted to the state as part of the process to request funding in the upcoming biennium budget. The 140,000-square-foot facility will include a new, shared space for research institutes such as the Purdue University Institute for Cancer Research and other life science research and teaching programs across campus, enhancing the connection to existing core facilities and fostering a collaborative environment among researchers.

Media contact: Trevor Peters, peter237@purdue.edu

Purdue’s rankings, media visibility, engagement metrics reach new heights nationally, globally

Purdue University’s enhanced national and global profile continues to play a major role in driving student applications to record levels while accelerating the institution’s research and industry engagement activities. Purdue has enjoyed six consecutive years as a top 10 Most Innovative university as designated by U.S. News & World Report, and 13 of its undergraduate programs were ranked in the top 10 in the U.S. in its 2024 survey. Overall, Purdue also ranked No. 43 among 435 U.S. universities, up eight spots from 2023 and rising to the highest position in school history.

Media contact: Derek Schultz, dcschultz@purdue.edu

AP video — Transforming education with AI

Bill Watson, a professor of learning design technology in Purdue University’s College of Education explains how artificial intelligence can be used to create a personalized learning experience for students. Watson says AI can have a profound effect on the current educational system. In today’s standardized educational system, students are being trained to be passive learners rather than active ones. If AI is used responsibly, it has the potential to create a learning environment where students get the individual attention they deserve, setting them up for success in a rapidly changing world.

Media contact: Trevor Peters, peter237@purdue.edu

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A revamped hub for Purdue University News is now live for media to utilize. The site features all the latest happenings at Purdue, with top stories, research excellence articles and our “Purdue News Now” weekly video archive. A full suite of media resources is also available.

Media contact: Trevor Peters, peter237@purdue.edu

MORE: Recent AP video stories

The AP Newsroom (for AP members) and Purdue News YouTube channel (for all reporters) provide comments from Purdue experts on timely topics.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research institution demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top four 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, including nearly 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 13 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 Mitch Daniels School of Business, Purdue Computes and the One Health initiative — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.