When invited to speak to groups, I often talk about Purdue’s public service mission which plays out with many public benefits such as medical, technical, and educational breakthroughs, but today I want to highlight another: competitiveness.

Executive Vice President for Research Dr. Karen Plaut provides an update on the Purdue Excellence in Research Administration (PERA) system.

Through our work, we all strive to make a positive and lasting impact on students, our fields of expertise and the world. Each edition of Dimensions of Discovery contains numerous examples of Purdue faculty doing exactly this. In this edition, I also want to briefly highlight the role of authoring academic books as another means of achieving this goal.

Leaders from industry, academia, government along with faculty, staff and students will soon gather at Purdue for the Competitiveness Conversation: The Indiana-Illinois Innovation Corridor — Chips, Qubits, and Molecules event. The event is hosted by Purdue University, Argonne National Laboratory, and the University of Illinois System along with the Council on Competitiveness.

The Office of Research is seeking nominations for Purdue’s three most prestigious annual research awards. The deadline for nominations is Dec. 3.

The Office of Research has announced upcoming application deadlines for funding available to researchers.

It is a pleasure to begin this introduction with a message of congratulations. Supriyo Datta, the Thomas Duncan Distinguished Professor in the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was recently elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). This outstanding achievement recognizes his distinguished research and pioneering contributions to quantum science and nanotechnology through his work on current flow in nanoelectronic devices.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Office of Research recently hosted four information sessions on the Purdue Excellence in Research Administration, or PERA, software system. More than 680 members of the research enterprise attended. Each session’s purpose was to provide a deeper understanding of why we are implementing PERA now and what the system will mean to users when the initial modules roll out this fall.

 As we end this academic year,  I am struck, yet again, by the high level of recognition for excellence that our researchers regularly receive.

IRB wants to encourage your involvement. As faculty, we are all busy with research and teaching, but serving on the IRB would be one of the best ways you could directly affect IRB operations. We have received an overwhelming amount of feedback since our survey in October. If you have an interest in serving as a faculty reviewer, please reach out to Jamie Mohler (jlmohler@ppurdue.edu).

Chair office hours will continue into the summer. Walk-in sessions are Mondays and Wednesdays from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Tuesdays 1-2:30 p.m., and Thursdays 10-11:30 a.m. in HOVDE 328 conference room, just inside the Office of Research. You can check to ensure availability here: https://form.jotform.com/240074866672059

Glioblastomas are almost always lethal. Traditional treatment methods used against other cancers, like chemotherapy and immunotherapy, are often ineffective. A team of Purdue researchers, led by cancer institute member Sandro Matosevic, is developing a patent-pending treatment.