Past News
Grant will help Purdue scientist develop rapid test for produce safety
October 19, 2020
Foodborne illnesses linked to produce make regular news headlines these days. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has investigated outbreaks of Salmonella, Listeria and E. coli related to mushrooms, peaches, onions and clover sprouts just this year. FDA averages more than a dozen similar outbreaks annually. Detecting contamination in the field is difficult because samples must be sent off to labs that can take several days to report results. But Purdue University biological engineer Mohit Verma is developing a test that could take less than an hour and help producers track the source of contamination. His efforts have been boosted by a nearly $400,000 grant from the Center for Produce Safety.
Grant will help Purdue scientist develop rapid test for produce safety
From farm to forest, Songlin Fei has built a career and better life
October 13, 2020
When Songlin Fei was a young boy in China, his parents took him to a local fortune teller to assess his balance in the five elements that many Chinese people believe make up everything in the world. Their son, they were told, had enough fire, earth, water and metal, but he lacked wood. Maybe this wasn’t a surprise. Fei’s family lived on a delta in southeast China where cropland and rice paddies stretched as far as the eye could see. Scanning his family’s property and the landscape beyond, Fei might have seen only a handful of trees.
From farm to forest, Songlin Fei has built a career and better life
Purdue Ag dean appoints Linda Prokopy as new dept head for horticulture and landscape architecture
October 12, 2020
Karen Plaut, the Glenn W. Sample Dean of Agriculture, has announced that Linda Prokopy, professor of forestry and natural resources, will be the new department head for horticulture and landscape architecture (HLA). Prokopy, a member of the College of Agriculture faculty for 17 years, was selected after a national search.
Purdue Ag dean appoints Linda Prokopy as new dept head for horticulture and landscape architecture
Wildfires can leave toxic drinking water behind – here’s how to protect the public
September 21, 2020
Less than halfway through the 2020 wildfire season, fires are burning large swaths of the western U.S. As in previous years, these disasters have entered populated areas, damaging drinking water networks. Water systems have lost pressure, potentially sucking in pollutants, and several utilities are warning of possible and confirmed chemical contamination.
Wildfires can leave toxic drinking water behind – here’s how to protect the public
Zhou, Liang Earn Maple Syrup Industry Grant
September 14, 2020
Purdue Forestry and Natural Resources assistant professors Mo Zhou and Jingjing Liang will be part of a collaborative study with the University of Kentucky on “Enhancing the Awareness, Knowledge and Understanding of Sustainable Maple Syrup Production Practices Among Current and Potential Maple Syrup Producers.” The duo has been awarded a $100,000 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture - Acer Access and Development Program for their portion of the study.
Purdue professors to develop course on agriculture informatics for agriscience students
September 2, 2020
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A multidisciplinary team from Purdue University, under the leadership of Dharmendra Saraswat, a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, recently received funding from the Higher Education Challenge Grants Program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). The team will develop a curriculum to inculcate computational thinking, teach software development skill sets and increase agriscience students’ competencies for agriculture informatics careers.
Purdue professors to develop course on agriculture informatics for agriscience students
Melissa Remis, CLA Anthropology Department Head, Changes The Way We Think About The Ecological Role Of Elephants
September 1, 2020
Elephant trails may lead the way to better conservation approaches. "Think of elephants as engineers of the forests,” said Melissa J. Remis, professor and head of anthropology at Purdue University, who is best known for her work in ecology and behavior of western gorillas and their ecosystems. “Elephants shape the landscape in many ways that benefit humans.
Melissa Remis, CLA Anthropology Department Head, Changes The Way We Think About The Ecological Role Of Elephants
Purdue group prominent in studying chemical compounds that are everywhere — and shouldn’t be
August 26, 2020
As interest in “forever chemicals” increases, a Purdue group in Discovery Park’s Center for the Environment emerges as a preeminent team researching them. At first glance, a pizza box, raincoat, nonstick pan and firefighting foam don’t have much in common. But a group of researchers in the Center for the Environment at Purdue wants us to understand that in using these seemingly unrelated products, we introduce chemicals into the environment that may linger for millennia — and in the shorter term, affect animal and human health.
Purdue group prominent in studying chemical compounds that are everywhere — and shouldn’t be
Purdue Faculty Funded in NSF Project to Examine Interfaces for Materials Transport in the Environment
August 26, 2020
Professor of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Studies (EAPS) and Agronomy (AGRY) Tim Filley, along with assistant professor of EAPS, Lisa Welp, have been funded for their role in a research team led by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professor Praveen Kumar. The grant of more than $6 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) will enable the team to study critical interfaces, such as hillslopes, flood plains, and tile drains, in the environment that affect the transport and transformation of materials such as water, sediment, carbon and nutrients.
Associate Director Laura Zanotti Procures Fund for Conference on Environmental Justice, a Center focus for 2020-2021
August 24, 2020
Last week, the Susan Bulkeley Butler Center for Leadership recently announced five grant recipients for project proposals enabling inclusion at Purdue. One of these project proposals, “Next Steps – Environment Justice, Climate Change, and Racial Justice," is led by Discovery Park’s Center for the Environment’s associate director and professor of Anthropology Laura Zanotti. This project involves the planning and implementation of a conference scheduled for spring 2021 entitled, “Next Steps – Environment Justice, Climate Change, and Racial Justice” that will leverage Purdue University’s convening power and its leadership in intersectional approaches to racial justice, climate change research, and the environmental sciences. The goal is to create a digital toolkit and a regional action network to improve environmental justice literacy and visibility.