Academic and Research Excellence Update
May 6, 2026
Dear colleagues,
As the academic year draws to a close, we can take pride in many outstanding achievements across academics and research. Among these are faculty receiving prestigious recognitions from national and international professional societies and academies, several Purdue colleges earning high national rankings, surpassing a billion dollars in research expenditures for the first time, and creating a record number of research collaborations with companies and national laboratories. Along with many others, these accomplishments highlight Purdue’s impact in the state, nation and world.
To support your continued pursuit of academic and research excellence, we are sharing the latest updates on key initiatives and tools for faculty and staff, along with more outstanding faculty recognitions.
Thank you for all you do!
Dan DeLaurentis, Executive Vice President for Research
Chris Ruhl, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
Patrick Wolfe, Provost
Key Milestone
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SCALE expands its national impact and becomes Purdue’s largest federally funded research effort. Purdue announced that the Scalable Asymmetric Lifecycle Engagement (SCALE) program, the only U.S. defense microelectronics public-private-academic workforce development consortium, is now Purdue University’s largest-ever federally funded research effort.
SCALE leaders announced more than $100 million in total funding from the Department of War, a recent increase to the current contract through fiscal year 2027. That funding, to be distributed among SCALE’s 35 partner universities, will help SCALE expand efforts to meet workforce needs in the microelectronics design and manufacturing chain through unique courses, mentoring, internship matching and targeted research projects for college students in several microelectronics specialty areas.
Initiatives and Programs To Support Faculty and Staff
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Purdue Research Growth Faculty Forums. To support the continued growth and success of Purdue’s research ecosystem, the Office of Research is hosting a series of interactive, faculty-driven discussions. Research Growth Faculty Forums took place during the first week of May. During these sessions, presenters discussed the status of the external research funding landscape and its impact on the Purdue enterprise. Also, faculty were asked to offer ideas on how to drive a phased approach to help Purdue and our research enterprise adapt, innovate and thrive in an evolving national research funding landscape.
Faculty input sessions are opportunities for discussion, feedback and collaborative brainstorming that will shape a future road map for success. They also inform the university’s next steps as we implement and scale initiatives to sustain our research excellence.
More sessions will be announced soon and are open to all faculty members.
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Faculty Enhanced Research Appointment Program renewed. The Office of Research has announced the renewal of the Faculty Enhanced Research Appointment Program for fiscal year 2027. FERAP is a pilot initiative that recognizes the exceptional research-focused efforts, duties and activities of eligible faculty.
Under FERAP, some faculty members from all Purdue campuses may be eligible for new concurrent faculty appointments. For eligible individuals, this could allow for up to 0.75 FTE to be established in a separate research appointment at a salary up to 25% higher than their current institutional base salary. To apply for a FERAP appointment, faculty must be dedicating at least 0.25 FTE to externally funded grants and contracts and have qualified external funding sources in place that cover the appointment during the academic year.
FERAP is open to tenured/tenure-track faculty and clinical faculty, including faculty subject to a National Institutes of Health or other agency salary cap.
Applications for 2026-27 academic- and fiscal-year faculty must be received by May 31. Details of this initiative — including program guidelines, qualifications and the application process — are available at the FERAP webpage.
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New faculty C&P support capability: SciENcv XML upload. In its ongoing efforts to identify ways to improve service delivery and reduce administrative burdens on research teams, Sponsored Program Services (SPS) recently introduced a new XML process for completing current and pending (C&P) support documents in SciENcv.
When making federal research funding proposals, faculty are required to disclose all active, pending and previous sources of support. Historically, SPS has compiled this information in a format for researchers’ submissions to the agencies. The recent adoption of the SciENcv by NSF, NIH, DOE and USDA means these SPS-generated forms are no longer allowable, creating considerable work for research teams to manually enter the data into the required forms.
Because SciENcv now permits XML file uploads, SPS can now generate XML files for faculty. Faculty can then review and modify the information within the SciENcv platform after uploading the bulk of the data.
Faculty can expect to receive an XML how-to guide from SPS shortly. Meanwhile, sponsor-specific guidance is available here. Research teams can also refer XML process questions to their pre-award specialists.
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New speaker training program for faculty. Purdue Brand Studio has launched a new speaker training initiative for faculty.
The Purdue Faculty Speaker Initiative is a series of half-day faculty workshops held throughout the year. Each workshop features speakers on a variety of topics to help faculty communicate their research to nonexpert audiences such as media, donors, alumni, policymakers and the public. Topics include key message development, basics of effective storytelling, executive presence and delivery, translating science and technology for nonexpert audiences, building presentations for impact, working with media and preparing for interviews, and social media best practices.
Faculty interested in joining an upcoming workshop should speak to their college communicator or email Peter Shelby.
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Purdue University Books Initiative. With nearly 500 publishing contracts signed over the last two years, Purdue authors are making excellent progress on book publishing.
Through the Purdue University Books Initiative, many forms of support and incentives are available to Purdue authors. These include the Purdue Publisher Webinar Series and the newly launched Emerald-Purdue Research Impact Series, which spotlights cutting-edge scholarship across multiple disciplines. This series amplifies innovative thinking that advances societal, industrial and global progress, going beyond citation metrics to focus on evidence-driven impact.
Importantly, incentives are also available to authors who can complete their manuscript by April 30, 2027.
Additionally, Purdue regularly hosts webinars for authors as well as campus visits by major publishers to facilitate access to leading editors and publishing services for Purdue authors. Details are available at https://purdue.link/books.
Any faculty, staff and students interested in going from idea to ISBN are encouraged to complete this brief author survey or email Cristina Farmus.
Faculty Recognitions
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Excellence in Research Award winners. The Office of Research has announced the winners of the Excellence in Research Award for 2025. They are:
- Laura Murray-Kolb, winner of the 2025 Lu Ann Aday Award
- Tongcang Li, winner of the 2025 Arden L. Bement Jr. Award
- Songlin Fei, winner of the 2025 Herbert Newby McCoy Award
These award winners spoke at the Excellence in Research Award Lectures event May 6.
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Gebisa Ejeta elected to the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Gebisa Ejeta, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Agronomy and Presidential Fellow for Food Security and Sustainable Global Development, will be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame Class of 2026 on May 7. His patented work on drought- and disease-resistant sorghum hybrids has helped increase crop yields and strengthen food security for millions of people in Africa and around the world. The honor recognizes both his scientific innovation and his broader impact on global agriculture and society.
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Michael Manfra receives Buckley Award. Michael Manfra, Purdue’s chief quantum officer and director of the Purdue Quantum Science and Engineering Institute, was awarded the 2026 Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Physics Prize in March. The prize, awarded annually by the American Physical Society, is the most prestigious honor given by the society for outstanding contributions to condensed matter physics.
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Zubin Jacob named a 2026 Guggenheim fellow. Zubin Jacob, the Elmore Family Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was named to the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation’s 101st class of fellows, which includes 223 artists, scientists and scholars across 55 fields. He is one of only three fellows recognized in engineering nationwide. The Guggenheim Fellowship is among the most prestigious honors in American intellectual life, awarded through a rigorous peer-review process based on prior career achievement and exceptional promise.
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Mung Chiang elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Mung Chiang, Purdue president and the Roscoe H. George Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering, among the highest honors accorded to an engineer. Chiang was recognized for his “contributions to networks and edge computing and leadership in U.S. higher education.”
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Upcoming application deadlines for prestigious fellowships: Guggenheim, ACLS and Fulbright. Applications for these fellowships are approaching in September:
- Guggenheim Fellowship (all disciplines): The Guggenheim Fellowship is among the nation’s most distinguished honors for scholars, artists and scientists, recognizing exceptional prior achievement and future promise. Information about the 2027 competition is expected from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation later in the summer, with an anticipated deadline around mid-September. For further details on the application process, contact facultyawards@purdue.edu.
- ACLS Fellowships (humanities and social sciences): American Council of Learned Societies fellowships support outstanding scholarship in the humanities and interpretive social sciences by helping scholars pursue full-time research and writing. The program provides six to 12 months of support for scholars undertaking ambitious research projects. Competition details will be posted in July, with an anticipated deadline around late September. For further details on the application process, contact facultyawards@purdue.edu.
- Fulbright U.S. Scholar Awards (all disciplines): The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program offers more than 380 awards in over 120 countries for U.S. citizens to teach, conduct research and carry out professional projects around the world. The deadline for the 2027-28 competition is Sept. 15. For further information on the Fulbright U.S. Scholar program, contact Chris Lukasik, director of Fulbright faculty awards, at clukasik@purdue.edu.
