Purdue News

January 30, 1998

Purdue, Caterpillar research partnership pays off

"We couldn't be more pleased with the partnership," said Robert A. Berdine, Caterpillar's university relations manager for research and development. "The relationship is synergistic in that Purdue has significant technical strengths that we can benefit from, and Caterpillar offers the faculty, staff and students some 'real world' experience with applied research and interaction with Caterpillar personnel through plant visits and internships."

The agreement with Purdue, signed in the summer of 1996, is one of three strategic partnerships for Caterpillar. The others are with the University of Illinois and Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

"We are seeing a trend in business and research partnerships between corporations and universities across the country," said John A. Schneider, director of the Purdue office of Industry Research and Technology Programs. "Companies such as Caterpillar, Ford, Motorola and Dupont, for instance, are taking their university alliances to a level beyond philanthropy and recruiting. And each side wins-- the university gets money for research, and the companies can leverage the intellectual resources of the university. Industry, now the largest provider of U.S. research funding, pumps about $1.5 billion into university research programs each year."

A key feature of all three sponsored research agreements is the assignment of a Caterpillar senior executive to each campus. Robert B. Taylor is the visiting scientist supporting the sponsored agreement at Purdue.

"The response from faculty and staff has been very positive, with approximately 25 ongoing Caterpillar-sponsored research projects on the West Lafayette campus," Taylor said. "Some of the research is in the areas of harvesting and forestry and acoustics and noise control. For instance, findings from the acoustics research could be applied to noise control in a tractor cab. So these projects have broad 'real world' applications."

Purdue schools that are involved in the research agreement are engineering, technology, agriculture, science and management.

In addition to the research funding, the Caterpillar Foundation also has awarded a four-year, $500,000 grant to Purdue. The first installment of $125,000 was presented in the fall, and a second $125,000 was received this month.

Half of the total grant is earmarked for Purdue's new Electrohydraulic Control Research Center. In addition, $210,000 of the grant will be pumped into eight different Purdue programs, including the Krannert Center for Management of Manufacturing Enterprises and School of Technology minority scholarships, minority faculty development and student recruitment. The Center for Collaborative Manufacturing and the Black Cultural Center also will receive $25,000 and $15,000, respectively.

Caterpillar is the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, natural gas engines and industrial gas turbines, and it is a global supplier of diesel engines.

Sources: Robert A. Berdine (309) 578-6528
Robert B. Taylor (765) 496-2383
John Schneider (765) 494-0743; e-mail, jaschneider@sps.purdue.edu
Writer: Kate Walker (765) 494-2073; e-mail, kate_walker@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu

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