PPRI seeks faculty-student bids for unique State Department policy-development program

September 27, 2024

A Purdue student team presents its work at the April 19 Diplomacy Lab Fair in Washington, D.C. The team’s project, In the Zone: Boundaries, Buffers, Diplomacy, guided students in analyzing, researching and documenting the historical layers of the Rome Chancery, the building that houses the U.S. Embassy in Rome. The students were led by Ashima Krishna, clinical associate professor, and Nathan Swanson, clinical assistant professor, both of the John Martinson Honors College.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Purdue Policy Research Institute (PPRI) is inviting proposals for participation in the spring 2025 Diplomacy Lab, a U.S. Department of State initiative that connects with academic institutions to address real-world policy challenges.

Through the PPRI Diplomacy Lab initiative, students can gain valuable learning opportunities while giving the State Department fresh perspectives on complex problems. The program covers a wide range of topics such as climate change, sustainable development, human rights, economic policy, global health, energy security, conflict and stabilization, and more.

The Diplomacy Lab seeks teams of Purdue students, each led and supervised by a faculty member, to conduct research in those and other areas of interest relevant to the State Department’s affairs.

Those wishing to apply can use the menu of projects available in creating their project bid. PPRI is coordinating the application process, which is currently open to faculty at all Purdue campuses. Project bids, which are limited to 200 words, are to be submitted in a Word document or directly via email to ppri@purdue.edu, before noon ET, Oct. 3.

Each bid must state the project of interest and explain how the project will be conducted (as a course, capstone, stand-alone project, etc.). It also must explain the planned approach(es) and note whether the student team will be composed of undergraduates, graduate students or both. Purdue will submit up to six project bids.

The State Department will review submissions from the first round of bidding and respond with decisions after Oct. 18. A second round of bidding will be announced in late October.

General queries regarding the Diplomacy Lab initiative or the bidding process should be emailed to Krista Kelley, PPRI senior operations manager, kokelley@purdue.edu. To learn more about Purdue’s partnership with the Diplomacy Lab program, please watch this PPRI-led info session. For more information, please visit PPRI’s Diplomacy Lab web page.

About Diplomacy Lab

Launched by the Department of State in 2013, Diplomacy Lab enables the State Department to “course-source” research related to foreign policy challenges by harnessing the efforts of students and faculty experts at colleges and universities across the United States. Diplomacy Lab underscores the State Department’s commitment to engage the American people in its work, and the need to broaden its research base in response to the proliferation of complex global challenges.

About the Purdue Policy Research Institute

The Purdue Policy Research Institute (PPRI) catalyzes and leverages extant policy-relevant transdisciplinary research among members of the Purdue research community, facilitates enduring connections among local and global actors, and generates impact on policymaking and beyond. The institute is guided by the principle that policy development must consider the interdependencies among technological, economic, ethical, and social factors. Together with collaborators in academia and the public and private sectors, PPRI inspires the development of nonpartisan policies that solve pressing global challenges.

Source: kokelley@purdue.edu