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Office of Research

Academic and Research Excellence Update
March 27, 2025

Dear Colleagues,

In this update, we are proud to share a wealth of examples of Purdue faculty members earning prestigious recognitions for their work. These are tangible evidence of the excellence in academics and research for which Purdue faculty are known nationally and worldwide.

You will also find several new programs and investments that support the growth of academic and research excellence by Purdue faculty, staff and teams. We encourage you to take advantage of these opportunities and look forward to celebrating your future successes this year!

Thanks,

Karen Plaut, Executive Vice President for Research
Chris Ruhl, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
Patrick Wolfe, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Diversity

Important Notices

  • Research security considerations: international conferences and foreign solicitation. International conferences and collaborations that often play important roles in research are increasingly being leveraged to recruit faculty into Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Programs (MFTRPs). Participation in MFTRPs is prohibited by Purdue policy and federal funding agencies. With some foreign governments increasing recruitment efforts through conferences and unsolicited messages, recognizing the risks is critical. To learn more about the risks, how to avoid them, and which foreign governments are involved, faculty members are encouraged to read this security notice. Also visit the Research Security and Export Control website or email the (RSEC) team.

  • Bridge funding during government transition. In recent weeks, several changes in federal and state priorities with possible impacts on research funding have been announced. We continue to closely monitor these developments and any governmental agency actions that could result in reduced research funding at Purdue. In cases with a high certainty that funding will be resumed or restored, bridge funding may be considered to address temporary pauses or disruptions in funding. These funds can come from a variety of sources including faculty discretionary accounts, departmental and college reserves, or central funds.

    Researchers notified of specific award terminations who have an expectation of future resumed funding should contact their business offices to review individual circumstances.

    Researchers can find updates on the latest developments at Purdue’s 2025 Government Transition website. We ask researchers who receive communications from federal or state agencies to forward them to Sponsored Program Services.

Key Initiatives Supporting Faculty and Staff

  • ‘Building Research Collaboration with Corporate Sponsors’ workshop series. Research collaborations with industry are vital at Purdue. With industry accounting for roughly 12% of our external research funding ($77 million in fiscal year ’24), we are doubling down on efforts to strengthen existing partnerships and forge new ones. Among these efforts is a new series of workshops designed to help faculty successfully engage with industry partners. Starting in April, the Office of Industry Partnerships will offer a series of workshops focused on supporting individual principal investigators as well as groups of faculty members who lead teams with industry participants. These workshops will help faculty identify the right corporate partners and build effective partnerships. The first workshop will be 3-5 p.m., April 2 in STEW202. It will include panelists from the colleges of engineering, science, agriculture and pharmacy. To attend, please use this registration link or email Luna Lu.

  • Reducing procurement system complexity. Acting on feedback from research teams, Purdue’s IT, finance, and administration operations teams are working to simplify purchasing processes and improve the Ariba user experience. During the coming months, the following process improvements will be implemented: offering enhanced training for all Ariba requisitioners; streamlining processes through fast-track improvements in guided buying; leveraging AI and automation to simplify processes and prevent user errors; improving the user interface in Ariba; and reducing system customization by adopting out-of-the-box features and capabilities. Stay tuned for announcements as these are introduced.

  • Purdue University Books Initiative. Purdue authors are off to a strong start in 2025 with at least 25 academic books published to date and more than 400 more projects underway. The university offers a range of central and college-level resources to support scholarly publishing, including the Purdue University Books Initiative and Purdue Publisher Webinar.

    Launched in 2024, the Purdue University Books Initiative provides robust support for authors through substantive overload payments and individualized “concierge service” support in book design, editing and production. This service is available for all types of books, including adaptations of lecture notes, training materials, case studies, dissertation-to-book conversions and new editions of existing works.

    In addition, the Purdue Publisher Webinar series — offered monthly — connects prospective authors with representatives from a variety of publishing houses and offers insights into the publishing process. Whether you're working on your first manuscript or your next major project, the team is here to help bring your book to life.

    Faculty, staff, and students interested in publishing are encouraged to complete this brief author survey or email Cristina Farmus for more information.

  • Celebration of Books! Purdue Libraries will hold the second annual Celebration of Books! to celebrate Purdue book authors. The event will be held from 3-5 p.m. April 7 in the HSSE Library in Stewart Center. Celebration of Books! is open to the entire campus community with registration required. Please use this registration link or contact Mandi Gramelspacher with questions.

  • 2025-26 Faculty Enhanced Research Appointment Program. Information about the Faculty Enhanced Research Appointment Program (FERAP), which recognizes exceptional research efforts, is available at FERAP Info. Questions or comments about this program can go to FERAPquestion@purdue.edu.

AI Resources

  • Proofig AI. This innovative AI research tool is available for Purdue researchers. Proofig AI is an AI-powered automated image-proofing resource to ensure research integrity for scientific publications. Proofig AI provides:

    • Automated detection: identifies image manipulation, duplication, reuse and plagiarism.
    • Specialized analysis: offers advanced capabilities for FACS, Western Blot and microscopy images.
    • AI-generated content detection: detects AI-generated images.
    • Extensive database: provides access to over 35 million PubMed images for plagiarism checking.
    • Time-saving efficiency: conducts rapid, automated analyses to focus more on your research.

    Researchers can use Proofig AI here. For more information about Proofig AI, email Jamie Mohler.

  • AI training events. This spring, the Rosen Center For Advanced Computing (RCAC) will offer several AI training sessions. Faculty, staff and graduate students can get more information by emailing the RCAC team. Sessions offered are: NVIDIA DLI Fundamentals of Deep Learning, Enhancing Generative AI with Retrieval Augmented Generation, and Generative AI Series: Prompt Engineering, Underlying Architecture and Mechanics, and Tuning Custom Models.

  • Liminal Collab. A new research collaboration resource is now available to faculty members with others doing work that may be complementary. Liminal Collab, developed by Steve Lindemann’s laboratory (food science), is an AI-powered network that facilitates building scientific teams – across colleges, disciplines and universities. Use of Liminal Collab is free for Purdue faculty members. To register, go to Liminal or contact Steve Lindemann or Dane Deemer.

Internal Funding

  • Department of Defense (DOD) Research Collaboration Travel Grants. The Office of Research recently announced the application deadline for the Purdue-sponsored Department of Defense (DOD) Research Collaboration Travel Grants. Travel grant applications for up to $1,500 are due April 15. Details can be found on the Department of Defense Research Collaboration Travel Grants webpage. A complete list of Purdue funding opportunities for researchers, including comprehensive descriptions, eligibility requirements, and timelines, is available at the Funding Resources webpage.

Faculty Recognitions

  • Highly Prestigious Award Achievement. Congratulations go to Igor Fernandes, (Department of Health and Kinesiology Sciences in the College of Health and Human Sciences), for being awarded the Arthur C. Guyton Award for Excellence in Integrative Physiology Medicine by the American Physiological Society. This award recognizes his outstanding contributions to the field.

  • New National Academy of Engineering members. Faculty members Yuehwern Yih (industrial engineering) and Vladimir Shalaev (electrical and computer engineering) are among six engineers affiliated with Purdue to earn one of the field’s highest professional distinctions, membership in the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). They represent the largest number of current Purdue faculty inducted into the NAE in nearly two decades.

  • New AAAS fellows. Purdue is proud to announce that ten faculty members have been elected as fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences. A prestigious honor within the scientific community, AAAS fellowship is recognition of members whose efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications are scientifically or socially distinguished. Congratulations go to Stephen Cameron (entomology), Yong Chen (physics and astronomy), Chris Greene (physics and astronomy), Matthew Huber (earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences), Ernesto Marinero (materials engineering), Bryan Pijanowski (forestry & natural resources), Alex Pothen (computer science), Christie Sahley (biological sciences), Ramaswamy Subramanian (biological sciences), and Peide Ye (electrical and computer engineering). This is the largest cohort of Boilermakers named as AAAS fellows in more than six decades.

    The 2025 nomination cycle for AAAS closes April 16. Those wishing to verify individual or college eligibility, or anyone who needs assistance with a nomination, can contact the Faculty Recognition Program.

  • College of Liberal Arts faculty recognition. The Purdue College of Liberal Arts is pleased to share that several faculty members recently received significant honors and awards in their fields:

    • Trenton Mize (sociology) recently received the 2025 Southern Sociological Society Junior Scholar Award. The award recognizes early-career scholars whose work demonstrates great promise, and who are making a significant contribution to their field of research.

    • David Peterson (sociology) was recently announced as a 2025 SOCRATES fellow. Fellowships promote interdisciplinary and inner-disciplinary exchange among global philosophy researchers at the Institute of Philosophy at Leibniz University Hannover.

    • The Methodology Center at Purdue (MCAP) was recently awarded a $935,000 NIH Research Education Program (R25) grant to establish the Summer Institute on the Longitudinal Data Analysis and train graduate students. Congratulations to MCAP’s James McCann (political science), Trenton Mize (sociology), Sharon Christ (human development) and Kristine Marceau (human development).

  • NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Awards. Four Purdue assistant professors received National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Awards between August and December 2024 to fund their research. Congratulations to Aravind Machiry (electrical and computer engineering), Joseph Makin (electrical and computer engineering), Junjie Qin (electrical and computer engineering), and Yexiang Xue (computer science).

  • Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). Four Purdue faculty members received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in January. This award is given by the U.S. government to honor exceptional innovation and leadership by outstanding scientists and engineers who are beginning their research careers. Recipients are nominated by federal agencies that fund their research, and the awards are based on scientific merit and the potential for broader societal impact. Congratulations to Rajamani Gounder (chemical engineering), Joseph Lukens (electrical and computer engineering), David Purpura (human development and family science) and Michelle Thompson (earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences).

Additional Resources

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